Fafsa woes

[bethben]

Basically, ds is not eligible for a Pell Grant and we, as parents are expected to contribute over $12K per year for college.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!  We are so behind on our retirement savings and we need to think about ourselves and our disabled son first.  We were never able to contribute much to retirement or college funds (nothing actually) due to having a pitiful income for so many years.  We're finally at a decent income and living well below our means so we can try to catch up.  Ds will for sure be living at home and working some decent hours if he wants to attend college.  So many people talk about the college bubble expense bursting, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.  I remember  a friend at church whose son was going to a Christian college.  They had been told their contribution for his education there was $3k per month.  She worked at a small boutique making slightly above minimum wage.  I'm not sure what her husband did.  They lived in a small house that wasn't updated because they couldn't afford it and drove later model cars.  I couldn't believe it at the time.  Now, I believe it.  All of this is discouraging.   

[JanetC]

Is the 12000 your FAFSA EFC or the output of DS's school's net price calculator? Is this a public or private college?

If the 12000 came from the FAFSA: The first chunk of any financial aid package is usually the federal direct student loan of 5500 (max for freshmen). Will you allow your son to take that loan? I do not recommend that families take on more debt than the federal direct student loan program, but for many families, debt free college is just not a possibility. The direct student loans have been a great deal in the past (in terms of flexible repayment plans, forgiveness programs, and ways to stay in compliance and not hit massive penalty rates), but I am always watching carefully for changes under Betsy DeVos.  (The public service forgiveness program is likely to be gone.)

In contrast, a school net price calculator will stuff in the loans in the output so you can't deduct that 5500. I know that DS's school has given him a 10K scholarship, but I do not know the remaining costs or whether they might add need based financial aid on top of it. Have you scheduled a meeting with the financial aid director to discuss your situation? Pull up the college on the college board big future website, and select "financial aid by the numbers" -- you should see the average percent of financial need met (you want as close to 100% as possible), how much is loans (you want that pie chart to be more green than blue), and the average debt a student has at graduation (you're looking for 27K or less -- the max federal direct student loan for four years of college). I also recommend checking collegeresults.org for retention and graduation rates. You want at least 75% of freshmen returning for sophomore year and at least 50% of students graduating in four years or it's a high risk school. Expenses for a special needs child are usually a good basis for a financial aid adjustment (a) if the school is generous and (b) if you can document the costs.

Depending on the remaining costs of the local option and whether it is public or private, I would also look at applying to at least one of the the lowest cost campuses in your state system that meets your son's educational needs. Sometimes that "in state tuition discount" beats a private university, even if you have to pay room and board or find an apartment and roommate (the latter is often cheaper, depending on the local cost of living). A local school that you can't afford and that doesn't give good aid and that doesn't graduate students is not a bargain.

Depending on test scores and grades, sometimes a school that recruits a lot of out of state students with scholarships can be a good deal, too. The poster child campuses for this are Bama and UAH. My daughter just looked in WUE and her best deal was U of Arizona.

[bethben]

The college he is thinking of going to at this point is around $11K-$12K per year.  The stats aren't great on graduation rates - 45%, but ds will have an associates by the time he graduates high school with guaranteed transfer.  I was just hoping he had options other than the university nearby.  He did get offered a $10K scholarship with $2500 per year.  I still have to figure out that stuff.  He's also not too motivated and I don't want to be "mommy do everything for me" when legally and just for him growing up, he needs to take care of things on his own.  

[Lori D.]

((((bethben))) hugs and JAWY (Just Agreeing With You) -- The financial aspect of college is probably the most stressful aspect of the college search and admission process. ?  

Below are some ideas that might be of interest, but if this needs to be a "JAWM" thread for right now, then don't read any further. (:D BEST wishes! Lori D.

ETA - I was cross-posting as you added your 2nd post with more details, so the info may be totally irrelevant now...

_________________________

You might contact the financial aid office of whatever school your DS ends up attending and request that they reassess your family finances in light of the heavy expenses you have for your older disabled DS. You would need to provide financial statements and discuss with them in person, but many schools will work with you about reassessing you at a higher level of financial need when your family has extenuating financial circumstances that do not come to light in the standardized FAFSA form.

A few options jump to mind that may help reduce costs:

1. You mentioned DS living at home and working while at college. He could do his part time work for a company that has a program that helps pay for college tuition. (DS#2's good friend had 2 semesters of college paid for by Chipotle, once he had worked their long enough to be eligible for the benefit.)
33 [now lists 45!] Companies That Can Save You College Debt
30 Companies That Help Employees Pay for College
23 Companies That Will Pay for Your College Degree

2. Or, a similar idea, esp. if going into a medical or STEM field, is to work for a hospital or engineering company that does a tuition reimbursement program -- they pay you a salary while you work for them, AND they pay part of your tuition, in exchange for guaranteeing you will work for several years for them after graduation. (If you don't, you have to pay back the hospital or company the tuition money.) There is also the Dept. of Defense SMART scholarships which work on this same principle -- tuition paid for you in exchange for working several years after graduation as a civilian in a research type of position for the US Military.

3. Attend a tuition-free college: Top 35 Tuition Free Colleges of 2018
For many of these, students work part time (say, 15 hours a week), and over the summer, at the college to pay for tuition and room & board. Do be careful in researching these schools, as some have gigantic required fees to make up for the tuition. Some are very legit, though -- the DS of a good homeschooling friend is in his senior year at Berea this year, and has loved it -- and it really was tuition-free in exchange for working 15 hours/week.

4.  If DS is a self-disciplined/self-motivated learner and a good test-taker, consider doing an all-at home/distance college degree (such as through Lumerit --formerly CollegePlus); this option runs about $25,000 total for a 4-year degree, and usually takes 2 - 2.5 years, if the student works straight through, year-round; you can set this up yourself directly with a participating college for cheaper, but do have to do all of the research and administrative work yourself, and the student doesn't have the weekly coaching and encouragement to keep going, which is part of that cost for Lumerit.

You might also check out the threads on "Alternatives to funding college / reducing college costs" that are all linked on page 3 of the big pinned thread at the top of this board: "Going to College Motherlode". I'm copy-pasting them here, as well:

Alternatives to fund college / reduce college costs
s/o Cautionary Tale/high college costs — a brainstorm $$ ideas thread!
How are YOU managing to pay for college?
College as cheap as possible: need advice
College breaking the piggy bank? (how are homeschoolers affording college?)
Unexpected ways to save a little money in college?
GI Bill and dependents of active military funding?
CyberCorps: scholarship for service - anyone try it?
Anyone’s kid done the Disney College Program?
FYI: Disney Aspire offering hourly employees tuition paid upfront

Edited November 9, 2018 by Lori D.

[JanetC]

On 11/9/2018 at 11:09 AM, bethben said:

He's also not too motivated and I don't want to be "mommy do everything for me" when legally and just for him growing up, he needs to take care of things on his own.

 

Kids can't get into college on their own these days -- it is way too complicated.

As your child's parent you are responsible for helping him understand his financial constraints (does he have a budget? does he know enough about your income and assets to fill in a net price calculator on a college website?) and helping him explore his options (have you visited any other schools? gone to a national or regional college fair?)

As your child's guidance counselor, you are responsible for helping him do career exploration (he did communications for his associates and apparently doesn't like it?), understanding his academic strengths and weaknesses and how those map to colleges and careers, teaching him how to do a college search (through books and websites), teaching him about alternative careers which don't require a four year degree (and any trade-related career days or advising available in your region).

This isn't a homeschool-specific worksheet, but it's a good start to understanding whether you are getting the parent-part right. Add to the parent responsibilities those of the high school guidance counselor, or make sure that he is meeting with advising at the community college for that piece of the puzzle. (I went to some of the advising appointments with my community college kid as well to get my own questions answered.)

https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/riverside/Upload/Uploads/ghelicopter_parent.pdf