Have any college financial aid questions?

In My Humble Opinion
41

I’m reposting this here. I made my own thread (Finanial Aid help! Ahhhh! - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board), but someone mentioned this thread and thought that Daydream might be able to give me some good advice.

Well, it’s official. I’m going to go crazy in my current line of work (private security), so I’m looking at going back to college. The financials of the undertaking, however, are proving to be quite troublesome, so I’m seeking advice on how the heck to pay for it.

Here’s a quick rundown of my history/situation:
I graduated high school in 2002 with a 3.9GPA. I scored a 34 on the ACT. I went to university for four years and got a bachelor’s degree. All good, right?

Well, aparently the academic advising office wasn’t exactly truthful. I wanted a job in cyber security (or some variation), and since I’m self-taught in computers they recommended I get a Criminal Justice degree to round it out. Employers aparently don’t agree on this choice. Every business in that field wants a Computer Science degree regardless of what you already know, which sadly I didn’t find out until the post-graduation job hunt. I currently work for $8/hr part time, basically just enough to make the rent (yay economy). So, it’s time to get that Computer Science degree.

The only problem is paying for it. I’ve talked to financial aid people, but they are hung up on the idea that I’m somehow not independent from my parents. I’m only 22, never been in the military, not married, no children, and I’m not going for a grad degree. How the heck else can I be declared independent from my parents? I’ve already gone to college for four years, I live on my own, pay all my own bills, and only talk to them at Christmas (but only if I have to). I don’t like the looks of the career track I am on, and need to change course post-haste.

Does anyone know a way around the dependent/independent declaration? Are there other forms of financial aid other than FAFSA? Can I get a bank loan, and is that a good idea? (I have no real form of collateral) What about private loans? Even if I declare myself a dependent, will FAFSA still give me enough loan options that I can pay for classes?

I intend to work as much as I can while taking classes. I’m pretty sure I’ll have all the general education requirements done since I can transfer all of my previous credits, so I’ll only have to work on the core classes. Pre-req’s being what they are, I might only be able to take part time classes, so working 40 hours a week is possible. I forsee being able to cover my own housing/utilities, but definitely not tuition/fees/books. Currently, at the most I make $900 cash a month, so ‘saving up’ for a year or two wouldn’t exactly get me much headway.

Geez this stuff is confusing. Who knew a career that recommends 2 bachelor’s degrees would be so hard to get trained for…

42

When I first went to college, I did not qualify for federal financial aid because my parents made too much money. I dropped out of college.

Now, I am 21, fully financially independent from my parents (making my own money, paying my own bills). I would like to go back to college, but I am all but estranged from my family and I really, really don’t want to ask them for any money. But from other discussions on the matter it seems to me like I’m pretty much stuck until I’m 24 since they won’t believe (or just won’t care) that I’m not really dependent. Do I have any hope with an appeal or should I just wait it out?

43

Where do you live Captain_C? I never could get declared independent of my parents because I am still on good terms with them. At my school, they wanted a note from a religious official, psychologist, or some other person saying that you are estranged from your parents. I took the time to save up money which has become really useful because I wouldn’t be able to transfer next year if I didn’t have a nice little nest egg.

44

I live in Lansing Michigan. For what it’s worth, my criminal justice degree came from Western Michigan University.

For my (hopeful) computer science degree, I’ve been accepted to Michigan State University.

And something I forgot to add to my post: I’ve crunched the numbers, and I’m going to need approximately $3,000 in help per semester if I go 12 credits a semester, $2,000 if 6 credits.
I’m shooting for starting Summer of 07, so I have a few months to scrimp, save, take a second job, and figure this whole thing out.

45

I guess I am going to have to say it again :slight_smile: Everyone qualifies for financial aid*… you may not qualify for any grant money but you should be able to qualify for a student loan in amonts up to the cost of attendance of your higher education institution.
*the only time you wouldn’t is if you were convicted in certain drug related type of things, or if you have defaulted on a federally guaranteed student loan in the past and haven’t gotten in good standing with The Department of Education.
As far as overriding dependency status, you can check out this website for what my college requires for a dependency override (they should be all about the same, it is based on federal regulations) at this website:

[http://www.ccccd.edu/studentservices/pdf/aiddependoverride0607.pdf](Dependency Override)

Most people aren’t going to qualify for this. It is pretty hard thing to go through because the federal government doesn’t want it abused. I get at least four or five a week end up on my desk that are fraudulent. I have the option of reporting fraudulent forms to the government, who can go after the student (and do) but I usually convince the students that “this isn’t going to work,” and they go away.
I would shy away from a bank loan or other types of private loans because they require a certain credit score and the interest rate is higher. Right now a Stafford loan is at 6.8%, and all you need to do to qualify is be enrolled in at least six hours and not have a defaulted student loan.

There is a limit to how much you can borrow in Stafford Loans for undergraduate work. It is currently $46,000. The loan limits go up the further up you go past undergrad degrees though. If your school costs a lot there will be other financing options through the office should you need to exceed you limit.
In your case, Captain C, if you already have an undergrad degree then most of your core curriculum will already be taken so you aren’t likely to need to take another four years of college, so the odds of you maxing out Stafford loan limits are remote.

Sorry it took me so long to reply, I had to give Uncle Cecil his pay pal fix :stuck_out_tongue:

46

Ok, mine’s pretty basic.

I’m considering grad school but have zero knowledge of how loans, financial aid, etc work. My dad took care of everything for my undergrad and he is the type of personality that would rather take care of things for you than teach you about them. So I have no knowledge of how this stuff works.

What loans/aid are best to seek for a potential grad student? My father is paying off the one loan he had to take out for me, so I’ve got no debt. But I’m also starting from scratch, and I need all the aid I can get for this venture. What are some good resources?

(P.S. I’m not spoiled, but rather lucky to have a Dad who worked his ass off being the only income provider in the family. I’m proud of him to have planned so well for sending two kids to college with little aid required.)

47

I’m a 22 year old grad student, and I’m paying for it myself through loans. So far, I haven’t had to take out any private loans - my tuition is in-state, and I have a decent scholarship.

Anyway, when accepting financial aid, I took out the maximum Perkins loan ($4k), the maximum subsidized direct loan ($8.5k), and half of the unsubsidized direct loan I was eligible for ($5k). Now, I’ve decided that I’d like to study abroad this summer, and the loans I took out just won’t be able to cover that. Is is still possible for me to accept that $5k of unsubsized direct loans that I declined back in August, or has my eligibility gone away? If I need to look at private loans, where should I start?

Thanks for the help.

48

I’m 25 with an Associate’s degree and wish to go back for a Bachelor’s. Right now, I’m working to pay off some stuff so my bills will be as low as possible while going to college full-time so hopefully I won’t have to work much if at all. I was wondering if the government will loan any money for living expenses if you live off-campus. I’ll need a little more than tuition and book money if I am to carry out my plans. Of course I plan on saving some money before I quit my job (I’ll probably have an EPC the first year anyway) but I need to know how much to expect to have to pay throughout college. (Few of my credits transferred. I only have 22 credits unfortunately so I’ll be there a while. I do plan to take a few classes while working though.)

49

Just fill out a FAFSA at fafsa.ed.gov and get it sent to the school you are going to go to. You won’t be eligible for certain federal grants like Pell because you are going to be a grad student, but there will be other things that you could qualify for.

Student loans aren’t credit contigent, they just require you to be at least a half-time student (and not have defaulted on prior student loans.) If the loans your father is paying on were student loans through the federal government, you can be eligible to put the payments of those loans on hold while you are enrolled in college, which can be kind of cool :slight_smile:

Just get the FAFSA sent to the school. Contact the financial aid department about a week after you fill out the FAFSA and fill out the forms they need. They will walk you through the process. It really isn’t as complicated as it would seem.

Congratulations on going to grad school! I can’t wait to start myself.

50

Absolutely! Just contact your financial aid office and let them know what you are wanting to do. Depending on how they have things set up, you should be able to either increase the amount of your existing loan or get a separate loan for the remaining amount. It really isn’t that uncommon of a request and isn’t a big deal.

Studying abroad must be exciting!

51

:slight_smile:

The cost of attendence at your school isn’t just set up to be tuition and books. They incorporate estimated travel, room, board, misc expences, and even daycare and other things. To give you an example, at my junior college, we have a cost of attendace estimate at about 12,000 an academic year. Truth be honest, it is only about 400 a semester in tuition. My students can take out up to 7,500 in stafford loans in addition to other grants and such. Since your are going to a university, these amounts will be even higher!

What will happen is if you take out a loan, generally it is put into your student account and after tuition and fees are taken out, you get the remainder in check form. Some schools give you a visa card or something with the remaining amount, but it isn’t very common around here. Some of my students pay their fees and tuition up front, so they get their entire amount of loan money and grant money sent to them in the form of a check…

Hope this helps you out!

52

You might also try for a graduate assistantship, which many (if not most) graduate schools have. In my case, the assistantship covers full-time tuition, but not fees, textbooks or living expenses. I do get a stipend, but it’s not enough to live on.

The schools you’re considering will have more information about assistantships.

Robin

53

I have two questions asking for a rough estimate, both of which might be relevant in Plan B clan in the next few years.

Let’s say Plan B Jr. is off to a top college with high tuition. At what income level should we pretty much forget about getting grants based on need? I hear what you said about loans and it’s reassuring to know that they will be there, but I’m still wondering about grants.

Second possible scenario: Plan B Jr. does well enough to get accepted at the top schools - Stanford, Ivies, etc. - but decides to go to an expensive good school like Ithaca College or Fordham University or Alfred University instead. Forgetting about need, how much financial aid would he get?

Thanks.

54

The CSS Profile is the financial aid application produced by the College Board; it’s been on the market since 1993. It’s the required form for students applying to Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Michigan, and a lot of liberal arts colleges. Some colleges in your neck of the woods also use it, like Rice and SMU.

Many institutions prefer it because of the way it treats things like the cost of living where the family resides, allows for exceptional medical expenses (without requiring family appeal), and has a good educational protection savings allowance for younger siblings. Student assets are also assessed at a lower rate than federal methodology. Perhaps more importantly, it requires a lot more asset details. It includes home equity and disallows business losses.

55

I’m from Spain. When I was applying for Graduate School in the US, several of the schools didn’t send me any information on “their” financial aid but told me to go speak with La Caixa. La Caixa fellowships don’t have strings attached, they have an iron chain fat enough to anchor aircraft carriers with: you can not work outside of Spain. Ever. Or they want their money back, plus interest.*

I finally ended up choosing a school on purely economic grounds: they did send information on their TA program.

Do you know whether there are any federal or state-level programs in the US that are open for incoming foreign students?

  • Their bylines say you have to go back to Spain but don’t say for how long, so they interpret it as meaning “ever”; they actually tried to collect on a neighbor of mine when he got a job offer from the UK after being back for 5 years; he was saved when he mentioned the name of another neighbor who happens to be Spain’s biggest law firm… of course he couldn’t have afforded their services, but hearing the name was enough to make La Caixa’s lawyers go belly up and pant. That same neighbor had been offered a full PhD scholarship after he’d used his Caixa year to get a Summa Cum Laude from Cambridge, and had to refuse because of the iron chain.
56

(Copied from other thread)

Have you checked whether the company you’re currently employed with as a tuition reimbursement program? My employer, for example, allows even part-time employees (at least 20 hrs/wk) up to $5250/yr in undergrad or post-grad tuition reimbursement. Undergrad you don’t even need any approval from HR or your supervisor - you just submit your grades (C or above) and bills for tuition, lab fees, books, etc. And it doesn’t have to be related to your job. Post-grad does have to be approved and job-related.

Anyway, a lot of employers have such programs, although there is usually a clause locking you into employment at that company for a certain length of time after the classes have been taken. So perhaps if your current employer doesn’t provide this, find someone you’d like to work for that does. It’ll pay off in the end, hopefully giving you an in for the kind of job you want once you’ve started taking classes.

StG

57

Ack - my post above was for Captain_C.

StG

58

Some grants are even across the board, for instance Pell grants. They depend on a certain EFC requirement. As stated above, EFC isn’t just income based, it has to do with number of students in college, how many dependents there are, business and personal assets, how much taxes paid… on and on.

Some grants are dependent on if the FAFSA and other required paperwork are completed on time and there is still need left for the student. For example:
Cost of attendance = 10,000
Family EFC = -5,000

Unmet need: 5,000
With an EFC of 5,000 they wouldn’t be eligible for some things but since they had need they could qualify for certain other things.

Different colleges have different amounts that a student can borrow related to how high their respective cost of attendance is. I haven’t really seen a situation where a student couldn’t borrow enough money to go to school at a particular place.

59

It depends on if you are going to be an eligible non citizen or not. Contact the school you are going to attend because they could explain the eligibility requirements so much better than I could typing it out. It is good to fill out a FAFSA regardless if you are eligible or not because some states and institutions use the FAFSA and your calculated EFC for private aid.

60

A gripe in the form of a question…

Why do common “life events” like marriage, divorce, changing a name, changing tax status, etc cause such crippling confusion with FAFSA, banks, and college administrators?

My wife and I were married, and she changed her last name, almost 3 years ago, and financial aid admin at all levels is still screwed up (payment checks in the wrong name, claims of non-receipt or non-payment, payment deferrals getting revoked/reinstated/revoked ad nauseum).

The MBNA forms and applications would not even consider the possibility (on any of their application forms) that someone could be married, not have a job, and still have a joint income due to their spouse. You have no idea how many times my wife had to explain that, no, she was not a child dependent, but was a married adult wanting to go to college :slight_smile:

We have a semi annual ritual of mass faxes/letters/emails/phone to FAFSA, MBNA and financial aid advisors for the same stupid questions we answered six months prior.

Argh, I feel like starting a pit thread…