bethben Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Is it worth filling this out? I tried an online estimator and it gave us no money in a grant. Dh and I have an adjusted gross income of $70K with an OK amount of assets (not the house) with a family size of 6. DS will have completed two years of college by the time he graduates high school. He has about $5k saved up for collegeThe estimate gave us an amount of the loan he can get through the federal government (which we will not do--we don't want him going into debt for an average paying job-he's not going to go into a specialty) and our cost that we would be expected to pay ($3500). Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 I would do it. It doesn't take long, and those numbers look like they should be mighty close to Pell grant territory (a certain amount of assets are shielded). If you will be giving him support throughout college, the money he has saved would be better off in a parental account rather than his own account. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 7 hours ago, bethben said: Is it worth filling this out? I tried an online estimator and it gave us no money in a grant. Dh and I have an adjusted gross income of $70K with an OK amount of assets (not the house) with a family size of 6. DS will have completed two years of college by the time he graduates high school. He has about $5k saved up for collegeThe estimate gave us an amount of the loan he can get through the federal government (which we will not do--we don't want him going into debt for an average paying job-he's not going to go into a specialty) and our cost that we would be expected to pay ($3500). Thanks! An EFC of $3500 is fairly small compared to the total net cost of attendance at the schools my kids applied to. Also some colleges require a FAFSA be submitted for consideration for merit based aid and other scholarships. The FAFSA isn't that hard. I would plan to complete it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 We have a higher income and our sons have gotten financial aid from the schools based on the FAFSA. So, no federal aid but aid from the schools based on FAFSA. I would definitely fill it out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Yes. We found that ds needed to have a FAFSA on file in order to be considered for school/ dept merit scholarships too 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 19 hours ago, teachermom2834 said: We have a higher income and our sons have gotten financial aid from the schools based on the FAFSA. So, no federal aid but aid from the schools based on FAFSA. I would definitely fill it out. Us too. I was actually surprised! Pleasantly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 I was just playing around on the estimator since we're still waiting to apply for next year. Did you know that if DH and I are divorced and everything else is the same, ds would get $200 more in aid? That doesn't make sense. Also, should we be hiding our savings? Is that legal? We have the advised "Dave Ramsey" 4-6 months in savings that will be looked upon negatively. And no, we don't want to throw it at the mortgage or something else like that to make our savings lower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 4 hours ago, bethben said: I was just playing around on the estimator since we're still waiting to apply for next year. Did you know that if DH and I are divorced and everything else is the same, ds would get $200 more in aid? That doesn't make sense. Also, should we be hiding our savings? Is that legal? We have the advised "Dave Ramsey" 4-6 months in savings that will be looked upon negatively. And no, we don't want to throw it at the mortgage or something else like that to make our savings lower. Your son’s savings count far more than yours. They will consider the vast majority of his savings available for school. Your income is counted more heavily than savings. It’s not legal to hide your savings, but you could consider putting your son’s savings in your name. My sister was a single mom with substantial savings, far more than 4-6 months of living expenses, but due to her relatively low income her daughter received substantial aid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 You don't need to hide your savings or worry about it. Six months of savings in aid-eligible income categories will easily fall into the "shielded" category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Yes, you absolutely should do it. I think the vast majority should if only to be considered for merit money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 On 7/9/2018 at 12:02 PM, bethben said: Is it worth filling this out? I tried an online estimator and it gave us no money in a grant. Dh and I have an adjusted gross income of $70K with an OK amount of assets (not the house) with a family size of 6. DS will have completed two years of college by the time he graduates high school. He has about $5k saved up for collegeThe estimate gave us an amount of the loan he can get through the federal government (which we will not do--we don't want him going into debt for an average paying job-he's not going to go into a specialty) and our cost that we would be expected to pay ($3500). Thanks! If your EFC is $3500, I am pretty sure that makes him Pell grant eligible. If you look at page 2 of this chart, if looks like your ds could receive up to $2600/semester. https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1804AttachRevised1819PellPaymntDisbSched.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 When do I apply for this? Ds is a senior this year. Also, he will have enough credits to enter as a junior. But I’m guessing I just let him enter as a freshman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 October of senior year is when the federal FAFSA opens. Do the FAFSA then. Do the CSS/Profile anytime after the FAFSA, but only if a college requires it (not all do). Whether you apply for admission as a freshman or a transferring junior is up to the admissions rules of the college. For the FAFSA, if your credits were all dual-enrollment while still officially in high school, you would be a freshman on the FAFSA. (You are also usually a freshman for admissions purposes in this scenario for most colleges.) The Net Price Calculator (found on each college's website) for a college you are considering applying to can be completed at any time. If the NPC estimates merit aid, you can also fill it out multiple times to see if (for example) scoring a little higher on the SAT or ACT gives you more scholarship money. Once your college application list is finalized, check on each college financial website to see if there are any college-specific requirements. (For example, one college wanted us to mail a copy of the 1040 and W-2's.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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