Fafsa - did anyone here not get any money?

[clementine]

I just filled out the Fafsa information - using the estimator, since we haven't filed our taxes yet.  

 

I am thinking it might just be a waste of my time & added paperwork (even though it's online)  :tongue_smilie:

 

Did anybody here fill it out & not receive a dime?  I didn't really want to fill it out, but everything I've read said 'Do it...you'd be surprised.'

 

 

[BlsdMama]

Well, the offers come directly from the college's financial aid office after reviewing your FAFSA, not from FAFSA directly unless I'm misunderstanding your post.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but can you even get federal student loans if you don't fill out FAFSA?  I think it makes you ineligible to be considered for quite a lot.

[clementine]

I'm new to this, ha!  Thank you for your reply :)  I think I meant - not getting any aid after filling out the Fafsa?  I don't really even fully understand the whole process....I should really dig deeper, but I thought there was a bit of a time crunch.  I should have just waited until I was more comfortable with the whole thing.  Ahhhh.....it's Friday & I need a break!  Thank you for reading......

[FaithManor]

We likely won't. But all of the colleges C applied to require that FASFA is filled out, and campus jobs, federal student loans, and even some scholarships will be withheld if it is not done on time. So, we put the information in and submit even though we are in that no man's land of too much income to qualify for grants and such, not enough income to write mega thousands of dollars of checks for the boys, and a 529 that tanked during the mortgage scandal/stock slump and never recovered very well.

[clementine]

We likely won't. But all of the colleges C applied to require that FASFA is filled out, and campus jobs, federal student loans, and even some scholarships will be withheld if it is not done on time. So, we put the information in and submit even though we are in that no man's land of too much income to qualify for grants and such, not enough income to write mega thousands of dollars of checks for the boys, and a 529 that tanked during the mortgage scandal/stock slump and never recovered very well.

Thank you for your response!  That is where we are too, I think.  I am okay with it, but honestly I just would rather NOT have filled out the information in the first place.  Any aid will be helpful, so I shouldn't be so negative.  

[Jenny in Florida]

My son did not qualify for any federal aid based on the FAFSA. However, he would have been ineligible for the merit aid he received from our state and from the college, itself, if we had not submitted the FAFSA. So, I guess it depends on what you mean by "didn't get any money."

[clementine]

My son did not qualify for any federal aid based on the FAFSA. However, he would have been ineligible for the merit aid he received from our state and from the college, itself, if we had not submitted the FAFSA. So, I guess it depends on what you mean by "didn't get any money."

I meant any additional money, not including merit/athletic aid offered with admission - financial aid.  

[Pawz4me]

Our EFC is incredibly high.  So we knew DS wouldn't qualify for any financial aid.  But we did fill out the FAFSA for the reasons others have stated -- some universities seem to almost require it, especially if you hope for any merit aid.

[GailV]

Yeah, we didn't get anything based on FAFSA.  But it was another thing to check off.

[8filltheheart]

Jenny's point should not be overlooked. Some scholarships require filling out the FAFSA even if they are purely merit and not need based at all. (We made that mistake!)

 

If your student wants to take out a student loan ($5500 freshman yr to $7500 sr yr), you have to fill out FAFSA. It determines what type of loan they qualify for (unsubsidized or subsidized.)

 

To answer your actual question, it depends. Institutional grants are determined by FAFSA (or along with the CSS.) in terms of qualifying for subsidized loans, no. We don't qualify for anything other than unsubsidized loans. We refuse to have our kids take out unsubsidized loans (interest starts accruing the day the loan is taken out.).

 

We only fill it out when we have to (typically applying as a freshman to see financial aid packages to determine whether it is even feasible.)

[Nan in Mass]

We had to fill it out to get the merit aid from colleges and to get the government student loans. Don,t worry. It isn't,t a waste of time.

[Lori D.]

Well, nothing from the FAFSA as far as need, BUT...  DS was awarded a hefty partial scholarship based on merit, and the school requires us to fill out FAFSA each year for it to be renewed, even though our FAFSA EFC number will never garner any need-based aid.

[Jenny in Florida]

I meant any additional money, not including merit/athletic aid offered with admission - financial aid.  

 

Our EFC was high enough that, by the time the state and college merit aid and performance scholarships were applied, my son did not qualify for need-based aid.

[bugs]

Our EFC is about 1/4 of our income - really?! Anyway, one college did add a grant money to their financial aid package.  I haven't heard from the others.

 

[clementine]

Our EFC is about 1/4 of our income - really?! Anyway, one college did add a grant money to their financial aid package.  I haven't heard from the others.

Yes - that's about what ours was too. 

[Pawz4me]

Our EFC is about 1/4 of our income - really?! Anyway, one college did add a grant money to their financial aid package. I haven't heard from the others.

Ours is very close to half of our annual earned income.

[mamato4]

My first time going through the college application thing and I just submitted the FAFSA.  Did not think we would get anything.  Lo and behold, the day after I submitted the FAFSA, state school where ds was accepted notified him of a $3500 merit scholarship annually for 4 years.  Totally unexpected.  

 

Okay, I must have missed something.  How do you find out your EFC?

[Lori D.]

Okay, I must have missed something.  How do you find out your EFC?

 

"About four to six weeks after you submit the FAFSA (2-3 weeks for FAFSA on the Web), you will receive your Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR summarizes the information you provided on the FAFSA, and indicates the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)." — FinAid: Student Aid Report (SAR) and Estimated Family Contribution (EFC)

[Pawz4me]

In addition to what Lori D posted, there are various online calculators you can use.  We found them to be pretty accurate.  And I believe schools are now required to provide net price calculators on their websites?  Or is my memory failing me on that?

[Lang Syne Boardie]

"About four to six weeks after you submit the FAFSA (2-3 weeks for FAFSA on the Web), you will receive your Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR summarizes the information you provided on the FAFSA, and indicates the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)." — FinAid: Student Aid Report (SAR) and Estimated Family Contribution (EFC)

Thank you! I hadn't been able to find this information on when we can expect to hear something.

[TranquilMind]

We likely won't. But all of the colleges C applied to require that FASFA is filled out, and campus jobs, federal student loans, and even some scholarships will be withheld if it is not done on time. So, we put the information in and submit even though we are in that no man's land of too much income to qualify for grants and such, not enough income to write mega thousands of dollars of checks for the boys, and a 529 that tanked during the mortgage scandal/stock slump and never recovered very well.

I still have not received a satisfactory answer on WHY any university needs personal financial information for a recipient's PARENTS when said recipient already knows no financial aid will be forthcoming.

Merit is merit,  One's merit should not be based on how much money one's parents happen to make.  How crazy is that?

 

So far, we have avoided it, and I will resent it mightily if we are forced into doing it.  It is no one's business, since we are asking for aid due to financial reasons. 

[TranquilMind]

Jenny's point should not be overlooked. Some scholarships require filling out the FAFSA even if they are purely merit and not need based at all. (We made that mistake!)

 

If your student wants to take out a student loan ($5500 freshman yr to $7500 sr yr), you have to fill out FAFSA. It determines what type of loan they qualify for (unsubsidized or subsidized.)

 

To answer your actual question, it depends. Institutional grants are determined by FAFSA (or along with the CSS.) in terms of qualifying for subsidized loans, no. We don't qualify for anything other than unsubsidized loans. We refuse to have our kids take out unsubsidized loans (interest starts accruing the day the loan is taken out.).

 

We only fill it out when we have to (typically applying as a freshman to see financial aid packages to determine whether it is even feasible.)

I cannot articulate how wrong and illogical this ridiculous requirement is, to demand all personal financial information from someone who is not asking for financial aid, but merely to be considered for merit aid. 

 

 Either the child is worth the merit scholarship or not, and it is irrelevant how much mom and dad make. 

I still get mad every time I hear this! 

[G5052]

I cannot articulate how wrong and illogical this ridiculous requirement is, to demand all personal financial information from someone who is not asking for financial aid, but merely to be considered for merit aid. 

 

 Either the child is worth the merit scholarship or not, and it is irrelevant how much mom and dad make. 

I still get mad every time I hear this! 

 

Yup.  That's us.  I KNOW KNOW KNOW that we won't get any need-based aid.  But zero merit aid unless I do it.  AGONY!

[TranquilMind]

Yup.  That's us.  I KNOW KNOW KNOW that we won't get any need-based aid.  But zero merit aid unless I do it.  AGONY!

I also want to know what they are doing with the information.  They can tell me from here to eternity that it is completely private and no one at all has access, but I don't believe it.  Someone is benefiting. 

[justasque]

A school has two students, one who qualifies for lot of government stuff and one who does not.  If they know the status of both, they can maximize the money available for both students by taking into account government aid before spreading the institution's money around.  If a student doesn't fill out the FAFSA, the school could be spending sparse merit money on a student who wouldn't need it if they qualified for aid through the FAFSA.  

 

The school has 30K available to award, and tuition is 25K.  Student A qualifies for 20K in federal aid, student B qualifies for nothing.  The school can then decide to give 5K to student A, and 25K to student B, thus allowing both students to attend.  Without knowing the student's federal aid status, the school could have awarded 15K to each.  In that scenario,  student B would get less money than if both students filled out the FAFSA.  

 

 

[maize]

I wonder if schools require the FAFSA to award merit aid because they want to use need based aid (especially from outside sources such as government) first, thus making more aid available overall? If they award merit aid to someone who could have had part of that amount covered through need-based aid but who didn't apply for that aid, there will be less money available for those who do not qualify for need based aid.

 

ETA: I was posting at the same time as justasque, looks like we had similar thoughts.

[8filltheheart]

The scholarship we missed out on was automatic and based on stats.  It is really ridiculous that FAFSA was required to be filled out.

 

Thankfully, at this ds's university, it is not required and it can be avoided for the couple of few yrs.

[Tokyomarie]

We do not qualify for any need-based aid. The year my oldest started college, she was awarded a significant merit scholarship. Her college required that we fill out the FAFSA for the first year. Once it was established that we did not qualify for, thus would not be using, need-based aid, we were not required to keep filling out the form. I was happy to see that the universities my other two attended did not require us to fill out the FAFSA. I did not need one more thing to do that was a completely fruitless endeavor.

[G5052]

I wonder if schools require the FAFSA to award merit aid because they want to use need based aid (especially from outside sources such as government) first, thus making more aid available overall? If they award merit aid to someone who could have had part of that amount covered through need-based aid but who didn't apply for that aid, there will be less money available for those who do not qualify for need based aid.

 

Yes, the financial aid offices at the colleges I work for do it this way, as do the 4-years they feed into.

 

They separate out need-based and not need-based and go from there.  They try to award to as many students as possible, both meeting the need-based student's requirements and awarding merit-based to get those students.  One school uses very complex software with a rating system and the ability to compare multiple students at once.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I did it "just in case".  It was a waste of time.  Ds was offered (besides a merit scholarship which is not dependent on FAFSA):

- direct unsubsidized student loan

- direct parent plus loan

 

I don't think unsubsidized loans existed when I went to college.  We didn't accept either.  I might consider a subsidized loan at some point, but it doesn't look like ds could even get that.  I'm not filling it out this year.

[NancyNellen]

Is it a requirement for most schools that the FAFSA be completed BEFORE they will announce merit aid packages?

[8filltheheart]

Is it a requirement for most schools that the FAFSA be completed BEFORE they will announce merit aid packages?

It really depends on the school. Last yr our Ds knew all of his merit awards prior to FA offers. That was not the case with our older 2. We have learned to become familiar with individual school policies vs. blanket assumptions.

[FaithManor]

Is it a requirement for most schools that the FAFSA be completed BEFORE they will announce merit aid packages?

Full financial pictures? Yes, but not all merit awards take that long for determinations to be made.

 

Ds was awarded the half tuition scholarship at Alma when he was admitted. As a matter of fact, he kept waiting for an email or letter to tell him he was admitted or rejected when the admission's department called to congratulate him on earning the scholarship, LOL!

 

Then there was the Scholars Summit for the top 90 or so students that they invite to compete for additional awards. They do not wait until FASFA to announce those either. Ds earned not the top award, but the next one down so we are proud of that. He received a letter about 10 days after the Summit that outlined the award. He may or may not hear about the Christian Leadership award before we receive the financial package. We don't know if we'll hear about his art portfolio before then. It's due Feb. 15th and he's still working on it, and will get it in maybe two days before the deadline. We will get the final financial package sometime in the middle of March. So, I could easily see that if they have many portfolios to examine, we might not hear about that until the packet actually arrives here.

[katilac]

Is it a requirement for most schools that the FAFSA be completed BEFORE they will announce merit aid packages?

 

I don't know about "most," but I would say many. 

[FaithManor]

And let me just say that the model the government uses to come up with the EFC is rather laughable, really. Someone needs to work on that and bring it up to date.

 

Our EFC could be the subject of an SNL skit! Were we to actually give it to each of our sons, it would total more than half of our take home income per year. Not certain how they think we are supposed to keep paying for medical insurance, car insurance, property tax and the like, but there you go! Of course, though we provide money to my parents and to my MIL both of whom have had life events they could not afford, they are not our legal dependents so we can't claim those expenses. We may try an appeal, but have been assured by both colleges that it is extraordinarily rare that they ever take extenuating circumstances into consideration.

 

Given what the government knows about the stagnation of wages over the last decade coupled with inflation and the exponentially rising cost of college tuition and fees, they should seriously consider changing their formula to reflect the times. However, given the way the federal budget is combined with some states, like Michigan, being terribly in the red, they aren't looking to give out more financial assistance and probably are looking for ways to prune off more students from receiving grants.

[katilac]

I also wanted to add that many private schools use the FASFA to decide on what they call "institutional aid," need-based money that comes directly from the college itself. 

 

We will not qualify for any federal grants, but, based on their calculator, one private school would offer us about $10,000 in institutional aid (on top of any merit-based aid). If any pricy schools are on the list, FASFA is definitely worth filling out. 

[Joules]

Ds is a junior planning to start dual enrollment next year, so we are not quite there yet. I did run the FAFSA estimator when I was working on taxes, so I would have an idea of what to expect. Now I expect it to be nothing. Our EFC is equal to our entire emergency fund, about five months of take home pay. I'm guessing that would be the same each year.

 

I'm thinking ds needs to fall in love with the state uni that he is dual enrolling at.

 

Does an EFC like that mean he doesn't qualify for subsidized loans either? I was thinking that might be an option since they aren't enormous amounts, but I'd hate to have the interest accrue throughout college.

[katilac]

 

Does an EFC like that mean he doesn't qualify for subsidized loans either? I was thinking that might be an option since they aren't enormous amounts, but I'd hate to have the interest accrue throughout college.

 

The FASFA forecaster will tell you if you are likely to be eligible for student loans (as will the actual FASFA, of course):  https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1

 

or just click on the Thinking About College? section on the main FASFA page. 

 

Edited to add that we do not qualify for any federal grants, but we are likely to qualify for work study and subsidized loans (and possibly institutional aid from certain schools, as noted above). 

[Laura in CA]

The FASFA forecaster will tell you if you are likely to be eligible for student loans (as will the actual FASFA, of course):  https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1

 

or just click on the Thinking About College? section on the main FASFA page. 

 

Edited to add that we do not qualify for any federal grants, but we are likely to qualify for work study and subsidized loans (and possibly institutional aid from certain schools, as noted above). 

 

 

Same here. My son qualified for work-study and subsidized loans, along with some merit aid from his college, but no federal or state grants. Qualifying for work-study has been a tremendous benefit for my son -- he "needed" a job to keep busy and make $$$ (unlike my other son, who found that working during the school year was too much), and it seems that all of the cool, highly coveted, high-paying (he makes $16/hr at one job, and $19/hr at the other -- and he's only 17!) jobs on campus, including tutoring, are reserved for work-study participants (since the government pays half (or more?) of the wages).

 

Anyway, we're now used to filling out two FAFSAs every winter :)

[JulieA97]

A school has two students, one who qualifies for lot of government stuff and one who does not. If they know the status of both, they can maximize the money available for both students by taking into account government aid before spreading the institution's money around. If a student doesn't fill out the FAFSA, the school could be spending sparse merit money on a student who wouldn't need it if they qualified for aid through the FAFSA.

 

The school has 30K available to award, and tuition is 25K. Student A qualifies for 20K in federal aid, student B qualifies for nothing. The school can then decide to give 5K to student A, and 25K to student B, thus allowing both students to attend. Without knowing the student's federal aid status, the school could have awarded 15K to each. In that scenario, student B would get less money than if both students filled out the FAFSA.

This is it exactly. I am a financial aid counselor and at all the school I have been, this is the reason we require the FAFSA. We want to help as many students as possible with limited funds.

 

I promise the school FA office is not looking at your financial information for personal reasons. They are all just numbers to us honestly (the financial information I mean, your student is not just a number of course). We are just trying to make it work for as many kids as we can. If a parent or student has questions, reach out to the financial aid office and find out. The vast majority of FA people I have met are kind and willing to help you through the process. HTH

[swimmermom3]

And let me just say that the model the government uses to come up with the EFC is rather laughable, really. Someone needs to work on that and bring it up to date.

 

Our EFC could be the subject of an SNL skit! Were we to actually give it to each of our sons, it would total more than half of our take home income per year. Not certain how they think we are supposed to keep paying for medical insurance, car insurance, property tax and the like, but there you go! Of course, though we provide money to my parents and to my MIL both of whom have had life events they could not afford, they are not our legal dependents so we can't claim those expenses. We may try an appeal, but have been assured by both colleges that it is extraordinarily rare that they ever take extenuating circumstances into consideration.

 

Given what the government knows about the stagnation of wages over the last decade coupled with inflation and the exponentially rising cost of college tuition and fees, they should seriously consider changing their formula to reflect the times. However, given the way the federal budget is combined with some states, like Michigan, being terribly in the red, they aren't looking to give out more financial assistance and probably are looking for ways to prune off more students from receiving grants.

 

Tonight was our first encounter with EFC. I'd like a stiff drink or three, but am now quite sure I cannot afford to. :tongue_smilie:

Our EFC is roughly 40% of our take home income. When dh initially crunched the numbers, he didn't include home equity. That killed us as we have been in our home for 20 years. I assume that since that made a $10,000 a year difference  in our EFC that we are expected to take out a second loan on our home to pay for school.

 

I have been playing out in my mind conversations we've had on the board about some debt being worth the college experience. Then I ran the NPCs a potential safety and the likely reach: $112,000 over four years for safety and $264,000 over four years for reach. In my mind, there are few undergraduate degrees that could justify $154,000 more in expenditures. That chunk of change could make a dent in graduate school.

 

I knew this was going to be bad, just not this bad.

 

 

 

 

[8filltheheart]

Lisa, FAFSA only schools will not look at home equity. CSS schools do. It is good to run them now bc those numbers are going to be fairly accurate unless you have unusual circumstances. It is good to know the numbers bc it will help your Ds apply to financially good options early on which opens up the door to better merit money, honors programs, etc.

We have friends this yr whose child didn't apply to financially realistic schools until too late to qualify for any of the special honors programs and dept scholarships. Too late now and in hindsight they regret it.

Acceptances are really worthless unless you can pay for them. ;) Your numbers are pretty close to ours. Why is ds at his school? Beyond the fact that he loves it, $0 over 4 yrs vs. over $120.000 (adding in his student contribution) for the next cheapest option......$120,000 is really no different than the more expensive options bc we don't have the ability to pay either, nor do I believe it makes that much of a life difference in the long term. Ds is definitely shining and thriving where he is planted, just like our older kids did. :)

Considering the information you posted, I would choose a Spanish option based on where you think he will most likely attend. I would also look at some of the cheaper options. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest
some of these schools, which might not accept the credit if taught on the high school campus, would probably allow him to take the CLEP for credit.

[mom31257]

Our EFC is about 1/4 of our income - really?! Anyway, one college did add a grant money to their financial aid package.  I haven't heard from the others.

 

What? I've only filed with our estimated numbers (which I think are very, very close), but our EFC is about 5% of our income.

 

Of course, we are living on one teacher's salary, and we have no investments and only a very small emergency fund in the bank. Dh worked in Christian schools for years, so he's still on the low end of the teacher pay scale, too. We hope to make up for a lot of lost time when I can go back to work someday. Hopefully my math degree will help me find something making some good money! 

[8filltheheart]

]I just wanted to point out that families really need to run the net price calculator available for each individual school. FAFSA is not the complete picture. It is only one slice of the whole. Some schools require the CSS. CSS requires far more financial detail than FAFSA. CSS schools have their own formula for determining your familial contribution. You might end up with more $$ from a CSS school, but you could end up being required to pay more. It depends on your investments, home equity, etc.

 

Many, many families are "gapped." The aid they qualify for and the amt they are expected to pay are numbers far apart from each other.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

Home equity and retirement plans do not count as assets on the FASFA. http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2014/02/14/how-assets-hurt-college-aid-eligibility-on-fafsa-and-css-profile/

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

dp.

[JulieA97]

Tonight was our first encounter with EFC. I'd like a stiff drink or three, but am now quite sure I cannot afford to. :tongue_smilie:

Our EFC is roughly 40% of our take home income. When dh initially crunched the numbers, he didn't include home equity. That killed us as we have been in our home for 20 years. I assume that since that made a $10,000 a year difference in our EFC that we are expected to take out a second loan on our home to pay for school.

 

I have been playing out in my mind conversations we've had on the board about some debt being worth the college experience. Then I ran the NPCs a potential safety and the likely reach: $112,000 over four years for safety and $264,000 over four years for reach. In my mind, there are few undergraduate degrees that could justify $154,000 more in expenditures. That chunk of change could make a dent in graduate school.

 

I knew this was going to be bad, just not this bad.

You don't put the value of the home you currently live in on the FAFSA. If you had a second home or a home you rented to others, you would put the net worth on the FAFSA then. But your current home and any retirement plans are not included. That should help. :)

 

There was talk several years ago about making the FAFSA simpler and easier. So what did they do? Add a bunch more questions. Yeah, that sure helped...

[8filltheheart]

You don't put the value of the home you currently live in on the FAFSA. If you had a second home or a home you rented to others, you would put the net worth on the FAFSA then. But your current home and any retirement plans are not included. That should help. :)

 

There was talk several years ago about making the FAFSA simpler and easier. So what did they do? Add a bunch more questions. Yeah, that sure helped...

I suspect the difference in costs between the safety and the reach schools on the NPCs was the difference between FAFSA type questions and CSS questions.

[Teachin'Mine]

Just another voice advising all parents, regardless of FAFSA's EFC, to run the NPCs for each of the prospective colleges.   Even with a low EFC and schools which claim to meet full need, the variety of ways in which they will do that can be quite creative.  :glare:  For those with low income especially, when you look at the student and family contribution needed per the NPC, also look at the ways in which they will meet need.  Some may be loan free, many will include the usual subsidized loans and student work and summer earnings, but some may also include unsubsidized parent loans.  Take that additional loan amount and add it to what you'll need to pay and I'd do the same for the student work.  Neither of those are a guarantee.  You may not want or qualify for the parent co-signed loan, and the student may not want or be able to get student work.

[swimmermom3]

You don't put the value of the home you currently live in on the FAFSA. If you had a second home or a home you rented to others, you would put the net worth on the FAFSA then. But your current home and any retirement plans are not included. That should help. :)

 

There was talk several years ago about making the FAFSA simpler and easier. So what did they do? Add a bunch more questions. Yeah, that sure helped...

 

I had only run the the EFC and have not done the FAFSA yet. The EFC does include home equity.