Can i expect FAFSA to pay for my school

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m a 19 year old planning my departure from home, it’s a somewhat scary issue for me and i like to know what i can expect in terms of school. I’m applying for FAFSA because that is where everyone seems to get their grant money…my questions are for those that are familiar with FAFSA. I am registering as a dependent student, my family made about 30,000 last year and i hardly have a dollar to my name, i earned about 1000 last year from jobs and i took a few classes at a two year school this semester…i expect about a 3.0 average. Without some sort of grant i have no way to pay for my education…so can i hope that FAFSA will pay

-My tuition?
-My housing? (dorm)
-Books?
-Cafeteria food?
(I do plan on getting a job once i get there, so general living expenses should be fine)

If you have any idea on what i can expect please let me know…if you need more information let me know. Thanks

2

I’ve been in college for two years, and FAFSA hasn’t done anything for me except let my University know how much I needed to borrow. My family makes substantially more than $30,000 per year, but I get literally no money except loans. That surprised me when I first found out, because I’d always been told that if you get good grades (and aren’t rich…we aren’t…), there would always be money for college, and there just wasn’t.

I believe that different grants have different stipulations on what they’ll pay for (e.g. some will only pay for tuition, some will pay tuition and housing, some will just cut you a check and you have to promise that you’ll use it for school). A lot of how much you’ll be able to pay for depends on where you go to school. A small community college will cost a LOT less than a state university, which will cost a LOT less than an out-of-state university.

Personally, knowing what I do now, if I were in your situation I would plan on getting SOME money (no idea how much), but paying the majority back in student loans.

3

Recent graduate here, and the best advice I can give you is to contact a financial aid counselor from the school you’re planning to attend and seek out their advice. There are many variables, but basically, FAFSA qualifies you for student loans. There are some grant programs available at the federal level, but anyone I knew who got them said they covered a relatively small portion of their costs. Your school will know about any scholarships or school-based grants for which you may be eligible. However, short of that, financial aid these days is usually spelled LOANS!

4

Your total family income was about $30,000? Do you have any (many?) siblings? That’ll make a big difference, from what I understand. My family’s dirt poor, and I’ve pretty much got more than tuition paid for with grants, and living expenses covered through loans. Tuition where I go is cheap, granted, but I should graduate with under $15,000 in loans.

5

Yup just like the above guy said, ask the peoples in the aid-office.

Where I went they only gave 2665 the first year, about 1/2 the tuition. Each year after that I got more.

What sucked was my parents in their greedy-ness claimed me as a dependant. They also made some money, but were still broke, so they couldnt afford to pay for anything college related. And your parents not being able to afford college doesnt count for you to get more money :(. I know I tried.

Being a dependant you get less monies. So by my 6th year in college I hit the cap and had to borrow from the bank.

I owe about 20k in monies for student loans and less than 2k for a personal loan.

22k for 6 years of edumacation aint that bad.

Course books are killer. I started as chemistry, @ 600 per semster for books, switched to Computer Science, @ 400 per semester for books, and then switched to German language and literature, @ 100 per semester for books, well except for the class with 20 required books and 32 recomended books.

I graduated with zero effort on my part, but alas some classes require a bit of work.

Step 1 = contact the fin-aid people at the school you are going to
Step 2 = Keep ALL the papers they give you and you get and put em in a safe place
Step 3 = see above step
Step 4 = figure out a budget
Step 5 = figure out what you wanna do
Step 6 = get to know the people in the department of the major you pick
Step 7 = learn to study if needed
Step 8 = make friends with a plethora of people
Step 9 = keep all paperwork you get from the University in a safe place
Step 10 = Have fun, cause the college world is a bit different than the real world

/babble

6

I have a single sibling (age 14)…I don’t so much mind loans, as long as the money is there for me to attend. I have confidence the money will be there when it comes time to pay it back.

7

I was exactly in your place when I started college (I’m a 2003 graduate). Just make sure you get your FAFSA in on time every year! I got grants from the state and feds, and the rest of my schooling was paid for by federal loans, and working summers and breaks to get together the money I needed to fill out the gaps. The government will help you pay for tuition, housing (*only *dorm housing, I believe), and your cafeteria plan. Books you’ll probably have to cover on your own or maybe with a small scholarship - many local organizations have scholarships you can apply for to help with that, also. Try checking out Dept. of Education websites on college financing for more info.

Best of luck - you can do it and it’ll be worth it. :slight_smile: Just keep pulling in good grades and you’ll be fine.

8

What other people have said.

FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Assistance?). Basically. it’s used by the school to determine your eligibility for need-based aid. This includes grants and loans (perkins - great if you can get them - and stafford, both subsidized and unsubsidized).

Beyond that, I’d go take a look at Fastweb - it requires registration, and you’ll end up with some spam, so if you have a throwaway e-mail address you can use, that’s best, but it will let you search for a variety of scholarships.

If you have a specific career path that you’re planning, go check out organization web sites related to that field. Sometimes, they’ll have scholarships for undergraduates. Sometimes they won’t.

Have your parents check with their employers for scholarship money - I got $500 from my father’s employer and just had to maintain a B average to keep it.

Until you’re 24, your parents income will be taken into consideration when looking at need-based aid (there are some situations where you will no longer be considered a dependent, but I don’t know what they are).

There are also parent loans that can be taken out - for some reason, I want to call them PLUS loans, but I’m not positive about that.

9

FAFSA is just the federal application for aid. They’re not the ones who actually grant aid.

Your school’s financial aid office puts together the aid package. They’ll include grants (like the Pell grant, and any state grant money you might be eligible for), university-administered scholarships, and finally, loans. Don’t worry about them shorting you on aid you’re entitled to; their goal is to make sure you get as much money as you can because that’s what pays the school.

As others have mentioned, do ask your parents about scholarship or loan programs that may be available through their employers. Also, their professional organizations or labor unions often have programs. If you belong to a credit union, there may be some money available through them, as well. My credit union offers an annual scholarship competition for children of members, for example.

My financial aid office referred me to srnexpress. I have not yet checked them out, but they seem thorough.

Make an appointment to sit down with your financial aid office to see what they suggest, as well.

Robin

10

You’ve had some good advice here already. If your parents make about $30K & you have one sibling, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get some amount from the federal Pell grant, but not knowing all the details, I wouldn’t stake my life on it :slight_smile: Pell grants range from about $400-2000/semester, depending on your enrollment. The Pell grant is pretty much the only federal grant that doesn’t run out–most other federal grants are very limited and you must apply by your school’s priority deadline (call them!) in order to be considered. Many states have their own state grants, too, which can pay a lot of your expenses. Here in Texas, if you’re lucky enough to qualify for a Texas Grant, it pays your entire tuition and fees.

There’s also Work-Study (my “area of expertise”), a great way to keep your loan debt down. WS is great because whatever you earn isn’t counted against you on next year’s FAFSA, unlike a regular part-time job at the mall or McD’s.

As far as loans, the biggies are the Stafford, Perkins, and PLUS (Parent) loans. Stafford is an entitlement–you will be eligible for a certain amount every year, no credit check or co-signer required. The amount every year can vary, but generally it’s $2625/freshman, $3500/sophomore, $5500/each for junior & senior years.

Perkins is another “good” loan, but the funding is limited and some schools restrict it to education majors. The PLUS is kind of a last resort, since the interest rate is higher than the Stafford and Perkins, and they will do a credit check on your parents. If for some reason your parents don’t pass muster with the lender and the lender denies their application, viola! you’re automatically eligible for more money under the Stafford loan program. However, if your parents are simply unwilling to borrow, that’s not grounds for giving you the extra Stafford.

Okay, that’s fin aid in a nutshell. Please don’t just take our word at the SD for it, since policies can vary from school to school. You really should call your prospective school ASAP.
Good luck, and if it turns out your school doesn’t offer you enough money the first time around, be persistent. Lots of times your counselor can come up with some more money if you ask early enough, and you’re willing to consider all options.

11

Thanks for all the good advice guys, it’s given me a lot to go on and i couldn’t find this much info anywhere else i looked. It’s already proved to be very helpfull, if anyone else has more to add though by all means do so.

12

I put myself through college nearly 15 years ago. In addition to everything else the above posters mentioned, I wanted to point out there are other ways to make money to feed yourself or buy books. Generally, financial aid such as loans and grants will cover tuition, room & board, but you may find yourself SOL for daily living expenses such as food. (I had limited meal plans in the dorms so often had to make up for it by finding meals elsewhere.)

If you don’t qualify for work study, which you probably will, there are usually a number of on-campus jobs available. We had a bulletin board in the student union. For example, the highest paying on-campus job was to be a model for the art department. Nude model. But hey, if it bought the books and a couple beers, what’s a little nudity among artists? There were jobs inspecting backpacks in the library, working in the coffeehouse in the student union, etc. You may also attend school in a town where actual off-campus jobs are available, and if you’re really lucky, they’ll be in your chosen field. (Example: some people I went to school with worked at the student paper for nothing. Others went to the city’s paper, for the same experience and a small paycheck.) Just be sure any employer off campus knows you’re a student and most will be willing to work with you and your schedule.

You can put up a flyer advertising whatever skills you can sell. Example, I started typing papers for people (yes, kids, this was before every student had a PC). Eventually, as my editing skills improved, I ended up editing papers and typing them for people. Occasionally, if my schedule allowed and I really needed some extra cash, I’d break down, throw my morals out the window and research and write the paper for someone.

You could babysit, mow lawns, shovel snow – all those kinds of things, for extra cash as well. Avoid selling your plasma. A lot of students do that, and it can’t possibly be a good idea.

13

The only money I get from FAFSA is the Pell Grant which I think your income qualifies your for, even though it’s only like 3000$ a semester, it’s better than nothing.

14

I just tried that SRN Express link given above and I have to say, they ARE NOT thorough. They gave no options for my personal situation. i.e. have no parents, am or will be a veteran etc… They did give back search results though, so they might be good for the OP depending on your circumstances.

15

Father of three here, and dreading to do this year’s report.

Just to clarify a few things.

FAFSA doesn’t give anyone money, or even qualify anyone for money. FAFSA is simply a standardized form that most schools, lending organizations and the federal government have agreed to use for consistency.

You have three types of aid to qualify for – federal grants (very cool, you don’t have to pay them back) scholarships (you don’t have to pay them back, but they do have strings attached, like keeping a certain grade average) and subsidized or unsubsidized loans (there are some requirements for getting a subsidized loan, just about anyone who can get a credit card can get an unsubsidized loan.)

Except for scholarships, which may have conditions on what they can be used for (tuition, but not for room and board) all the aid can normally be used for direct expenses – tuition and fees, required books, room and board in a school facility and some other things(often they cover the purchase of a computer, unless the school provides one). Transportation and general living expenses are your own problem.

The way my daughter’s school (and I think most other schools) handles it is with a single student acccount. All the scholarships, wages from work study, grants and loans are put into a single account. Her scholarship can only be used for tuition and fees, so they’re charged against the scholarship total. And so it goes, until the miscellaneous stuff (books for example) are charged against her student loan.

By the way, you want all financial aid to go to the school. If it goes to you directly, it counts as income on your taxes.

Remember, that the school you choose may have other forms of financial aid. For example, one of my sons is going to a state school, which offered only a small scholarship. My daughter, who had almost the same GPA in high school, is going to a private college, which gave her a scholarship which amazingly just happens to pull her tuition down to the level of a state school. They also have a “supplemental” aid program, which is based on financial need rather than grades, just like the federal grant program. So don’t automatically choose the school with the lowest tuition. A higher-priced school may make it worth your while to choose them.

16

As far as federal aid is concerned, whether your parents claim you on their taxes or not does not matter for determining whether you are a dependent or independent student. From here:

When I was in college I qualified for the Pell grant, which is income based, and Stafford loans from the feds. I also qualified for California state grants A and B, and something called the Educational Opportunity Program at the school I went to, Cal State Hayward. You should check with your state and school to see what kind of aid programs they have.