can someone please explain this process to me. What assets do they look at when applying for financial aide/student loans? How do they determine what the student gets?

By Texannie on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 03:36 pm:

it's pretty much determined by your FAFSA EFC number. www.fafsa.gov but that being said, contact the finanical aid department of the college you child has been accepted to and talk to them personally if you have any 'extenuating circumstances'

By Luvn29 on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 04:13 pm:

First thing you need to do is complete a FAFSA online. On your FAFSA, they ask for family income. You have to use the info from the taxes you filed most recently.

If someone has quit a job or household income has changed for some reason, or there are a large amount of medical bills, etc., you can speak to the financial aid advisor at the individual college and they can make what they call a professional judgement. They'll determine whether your income will me sufficiently lower than what it was the previous year, and base your financial aid award on that.

I have no info on student loans!

By Reds9298 on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 04:30 pm:

Student loans are often determined by a yearly max that can be withdrawn. The amount you can borrow each year of student status generally goes up (like freshman are eligible to borrow less than sophomores, and on up). I don't know about parent loans though, I only had student loans that were mine. Student loans can be used for anything - you can have the school paid with the loan check, or it can be made out to the student to use to pay other expenses (rent, car, books, etc.) Most student loans go into repayment 6 months after graduation or after a certain time period has gone by as a non-student. The payment is generally lower, but higher interest, and the repayment term is long. The interest is also tax deductible as long as it's a certain percentage of the student's income

Financial aid is determined by family income, as mentioned above.

By Karen~admin on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 02:27 pm:

There are also Stafford Loans - some you pay back, some you don't - that is dependant on family income, dependants, etc. You/your child can get private loans through banks or institutions such as Sallie Mae. Also, in most cases, when making a private student loan, say through Sallie Mae, a freshman student will need a co-signer; after freshman year, they can usually get a private student loan on their own, though the interest rate is higher than if they have a co-signer.

HOWEVER - Lesson learned the VERY HARD way here - don't co-sign for a loan unless you are prepared to pay for it. Jeff had TOPS AND a partial Loyola scholarship; even with that, the tuition was so high it meant student loans every year. The Federal Stafford loans didn't come close to covering it, so private loans had to be made. We made the freshman year loan in our name only, and agreed to pay it ($10,000+). Sophomore & junior year loans were made with either me or DH as a co-signer, simply because of the lower interest rate. BAD move on our part. DS messed up his life and credit and did not graduate, then defaulted on the loans in 2006, and *I* have been stuck paying them for 23 months, after having to catch up 3 months worth two years ago, in order to protect OUR credit. After 24 months of regular *on time* payments we can petition to have our names removed from the loans, BUT his credit rating will likely prevent that.

So, all this babbling is just to let you all know that just because a kid starts college, there is really no guarantee things are going to work out according to plan, so unless you are willing to pay for those loans, if necessary, don't co-sign for them!

:-)

By Colette on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 04:10 pm:

YIKES Karen! Thanks for that heads up!

By Rayelle on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 04:20 pm:

My brother got student loans in his name. They were deferred until he graduated. The deal with my parents was that if he got his degree they would pay for them and if he didn't he would have to pay for them. He did graduate so my parents are making the payments. I don't trust my parents in that way for good reason but good for him.

A friend of mine is facing serious financial trouble. She took out private student loans which are based on credit rather than tuition rates. It's acts more like a credit card. She has nearly $80,000 in student loans from a school that costs about $4,000 a semester. She figured she'd live like she had this great job before she got one, get one and pay them off. Her payments kick in soon and she doesn' have the great job.

Now here is the case with us. Dh and I both qualify for a full pell grant through the FAFSA based on income. There's another grant we get that's merit based. There isn't a basic income chart to look at because they factor in many things. I don't think the house you live in counts as a asset for example but if you own property and rent it out that does. I don't even understand the EFC number. I've had it be very low and I've had it be higher and still gotten the same amount of money for school. I wish I could be more help. I just fill out the application online and wait to see what they say. I've messed up the application once but the college knew how to fix it.

The pell grant covers everything if you continue to need it and continue to work for it. If you drop classes early for example and aren't full time they cut the grant amount. It you don't keep up the grades you can lose financial aid all together. It won't pay for the same class to be taken more than 3 times. I think this is good because it encourages you to do well and not just waste time. If I think of anything else I'll add later.

By Karen~admin on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 07:31 am:

Something else to spend some time looking into - *local* scholarships, *other* school or government scholarship programs. There are many, many, many things available if you fit the criteria, you just have to spend some time researching. Some are as small as $500, and all it takes is the student writing an essay about something, but every penny helps with education costs. There are small scholarships available for medical or physical handicaps too. There is also usually a work-study program available at most large colleges and universities - another thing well worth checking into.

By Reds9298 on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 08:50 am:

Ditto Karen! I did work study for 2 years I was in college. I also got some smaller scholarships through my mom's employer's union, and my church as well. I think it totaled $1500 in all and was very helpful.

By Karen~admin on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:42 am:

Jules used to have a book maybe 8 years ago, that listed all these little known scholarship availabilities. It was very thick, very detailed, covered a LOT of ground, and maybe only a few things would even apply to any specific individual. There was a new edition each year. I don't remember the name of it. There's a book on Amazon, The Schoarship Book, 13th Edition that might be the same thing, this particular one is new and will be released July 1, 2008. Another one: The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2009, or The Schoarship & Financial Aid Solution

This site might give some info:

The College Trap

By Karen~admin on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:53 am:

I'm going to repeat myself here - but I remember what a nightmare it was when we realized how much tuition costs were going to be for Jen and Jeff - so spend time researching, reading, making phone calls, looking for grants or aid anywhere you can find it.

Jules was an adult, USCG retired, self supporting, etc., when she started college, so she had a lot of grants and scholarships available to her that the other 2 didn't, plus when she had Madison, she was eligible for even more financial aid. However, she's been going to college for over 10 years, changed her major, and now just finished grad school by going part time for the last few years, so even she had to take out student loans. BUT - she read everything she could find, researched endlessly for any and every bit of help she could get and it paid off. There are more availabilities one some communities than others; they may not be as many in your area, I don't know. You have to look for them to find them.

GOOD LUCK! :-)

By Rayelle on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 12:41 pm:

The church we belonged to growing up gave a scholarship. There was more than one year a kid got it simply because they were the only graduating senior in the church. I know that for the local community college there are some scholarships from the local businesses that have a lot of teenage employees for kids that work there. Local banks have some as well for members of the bank.