Financial aid question, please help!!

[jjw1983]

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I got my financial aid package today, and 60k out 71K is considered to be family contribution!! what is going on?? PS: I did not work last year and I thought we were considered to be independent...what should I do?

 

[Kashew77]

I got my financial aid package today, and 60k out 71K is considered to be family contribution!! what is going on?? PS: I did not work last year and I thought we were considered to be independent...what should I do?

If I were you I would call your schools Financial Aid office to check if it is correct. If it is correct then ask them what other options you have for funding your education, such as private loans etc.

 

[PERFECT3435]

I got my financial aid package today, and 60k out 71K is considered to be family contribution!! what is going on?? PS: I did not work last year and I thought we were considered to be independent...what should I do?

60k as family contribution? 😱
either you are Bill Gate's son or its a mistake.

 

[jjw1983]

60k as family contribution? 😱
either you are Bill Gate's son or its a mistake.

i wish i am his son, but I am female

 

[jjw1983]

If I were you I would call your schools Financial Aid office to check if it is correct. If it is correct then ask them what other options you have for funding your education, such as private loans etc.

thx, i think i am gonna call on Mon, sigh.

 

[USUaggie]

i wish i am his son, but I am female

😕 You might want to re-word that, it sounds like a gender identity crisis, which, I guess if that really is what you meant, well, good luck with all that.

 

[ISU_Steve]

I have a similar question: What if you don't live with your parents and have not had them involved financially for almost ten years (by the time I apply it will be something like 9 years since I'll be 27)? Are they still expected to contribute?

 

[ItsGavinC]

I have a similar question: What if you don't live with your parents and have not had them involved financially for almost ten years (by the time I apply it will be something like 9 years since I'll be 27)? Are they still expected to contribute?

Not at all. In that case the EFC (expected family contribution) refers to YOU.

 

[edkNARF]

I have a similar question: What if you don't live with your parents and have not had them involved financially for almost ten years (by the time I apply it will be something like 9 years since I'll be 27)? Are they still expected to contribute?

Some schools require parental information for instituional (non-stafford) loans. It is the schools perogative to ask for this information. Private schools with much high tuition tend to be those that require parental information. In your case, I would contact the school's financial aid department to notify them of your estrangment to see if they will accept only your information.

 

[ISU_Steve]

Thanks for the info. 🙂

 

[ItsGavinC]

Some schools require parental information for instituional (non-stafford) loans. It is the schools perogative to ask for this information. Private schools with much high tuition tend to be those that require parental information. In your case, I would contact the school's financial aid department to notify them of your estrangment to see if they will accept only your information.

Dude, it's not "estrangement," it's called being a grown-up.

Schools may ASK for parental info, but students have no responsibility to provide it. This is 100% true if students are independent.

 

[edkNARF]

Dude, it's not "estrangement," it's called being a grown-up.

Schools may ASK for parental info, but students have no responsibility to provide it. This is 100% true if students are independent.

I was told by the staff at many financial aid offices that the only reason they would not accept parental information was in case of "long term parental estrangement." Based on my experince with financial aid officers, they want your parental information and they don't consider your age or if you have a family of your own. I know somebody who has a child who is in med school, and his school still wanted his parental information. I am guessing this is something many of these forums would be familiary with, as there are many SDNers with children of their own.

 

[ISU_Steve]

To quote my mother: "I ain't giving you s--t when it comes to our tax information."

Hmmm.....I think that counts as "estrangement" in my book.

 

[drat]

I was told by the staff at many financial aid offices that the only reason they would not accept parental information was in case of "long term parental estrangement." Based on my experince with financial aid officers, they want your parental information and they don't consider your age or if you have a family of your own. I know somebody who has a child who is in med school, and his school still wanted his parental information. I am guessing this is something many of these forums would be familiary with, as there are many SDNers with children of their own.

I'm going to have to back edkNARF on this...both schools I submitted my FA info to required parental information if I wanted to be considered for all available types of aid -- "regardless of dependency status." (Their words, not mine.) I have been independent for several years, as has my sister who is in medical school, yet my parents have to submit their information year after year so she can be eligible for institutional loans and scholarships/grants. Now the same is true for me with dental school.

I worked in the FA office of a med school during my undergrad years and often got calls from in-coming first years asking why they had to send their parents' info when they have been independent for 3000 years and have children and all that stuff. The simple answer is, the med school doesn't have enough $$ to loan/give all the students that need financial help -- that is why they use/factor in the parents' information when distributing money.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I'm going to have to back edkNARF on this...both schools I submitted my FA info to required parental information if I wanted to be considered for all available types of aid

Unfortuanately, this holds no legal water. That is, you have the right not to submit parental information. This is made plain and clear in the FAFSA form that is required for loans. EFC for grad school is based on YOUR money alone, not your parents. Submission of parental information is optional and under no circumstances is it mandatory.

Schools may request this information but you are under NO obligation to submit it. In fact, your refusal to submit parental information may not be used against you in determining loan qualifications.

School-based financial aid may request parental information, but these are not national applications and the process varies from school to school and from within program to program. For example, in-house grants or loans (ie, you are attending Columbia then Columbia would need parental information to award you a loan from Columbia). So in terms of "all available types of aid," you would be correct.

Private loans may require further information from you if you credit is low or you don't have established credit. But even then, the information doesn't have to be your parent's information.

I worked in the FA office of a med school during my undergrad years and often got calls from in-coming first years asking why they had to send their parents' info when they have been independent for 3000 years and have children and all that stuff.

It's important to recognize the different situations we are all talking about.

Undergrad is different from grad school. Your experiences with undergrad may be true, depending on the institution. Undergrad FAFSA utilizes the parent information. Grad school FA offices delete the parental information even if you fill it out.

That is, by default grad students are considered independant whereas undergrad students, by default, are considered dependants.

See also: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=359433&postcount=2

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=588588&postcount=3

 

[ItsGavinC]

Based on my experince with financial aid officers, they want your parental information and they don't consider your age or if you have a family of your own.

They absolutely consider your age. From a legal standpoint, you are not required to submit parental information if you are over the age of 18, even if you still reside with your parents.

Institutional grants are a different story, which is why drat was correct in her response that parental information is required for all types of aid to be applied for. This info isn't required on FAFSA though.

 

[drat]

Schools may request this information but you are under NO obligation to submit it. In fact, your refusal to submit parental information may not be used against you in determining loan qualifications.

I'm not so sure about that, Gavin. I spoke with my attorney, who happens to be my father 😛 , and he agreed that submitting parental information is, indeed, voluntary. However, if a school "mandates" that a student must submit parental information in order to qualify for institutional aid, the school has every right to do so, state or private. It is not discriminatory.

I specifically asked him why I should submit my parents info because if I just provided my information, I would probably be eligible for more money/aid. Plus, I do not want my parents to help me financially during dental school. He said if I wanted to be considered for these loans or grants, parental information is required. If it was "unlawful" or illegal to require such information, believe me, he'd be the first on the phone to the school.

 

[drat]

It's important to recognize the different situations we are all talking about.

Undergrad is different from grad school. Your experiences with undergrad may be true, depending on the institution. Undergrad FAFSA utilizes the parent information. Grad school FA offices delete the parental information even if you fill it out.

No, I was an undergraduate student working in the medical school's financial aid office. In that example where I fielded calls from first years asking why they had to submit parental information, the callers were graduate (or soon to be) grad students, not undergrad.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I specifically asked him why I should submit my parents info because if I just provided my information, I would probably be eligible for more money/aid.

Which is exactly what I've said. You'd be eligible for any institutional grants your school provides.

 

[ItsGavinC]

No, I was an undergraduate student working in the medical school's financial aid office.

Sorry about the confusion. Then, once again, this was so students could receive institutional grants. The number of medical schools actually awarding instutitional grants (dental school's as well) is rather low, but that's beside the point.

Students still are not compelled to submit this information, should they choose not to. Of course, if you want to be elegibile for these grants then it's a smart thing to do. 🙂

Back to the OPs question, FAFSA EFC is not based in any way on parental info.

 

[drat]

Which is exactly what I've said. You'd be eligible for any institutional grants your school provides.

You said, "Unfortunately this holds no legal water." While I'm not familiar with that slang, I interpreted it to mean that you thought the school had not legal ground for requesting parental information??

 

[ItsGavinC]

You said, "Unfortunately this holds no legal water." While I'm not familiar with that slang, I interrupted it to mean that you thought the school had not legal ground for requesting parental information??

Which is correct. They don't have any legal ground for requesting parental information. The student may always choose to not be elegible for institutional grants. Like I mentiond above, relatively few schools have institutional grants available for their students (I got this info from the Financial Aid forum though I have no data on it). I do wish my school had institutional grants though. 🙁

 

[drat]

Which is correct. They don't have any legal ground for requesting parental information.

I'm going to have to disagree on that one. Legally speaking, they can request any information they want and put stipulations on their aid (i.e. need to provide parental information in order to qualify) as long as it is not discriminatory. Asking for you parents' tax info is not a form of discrimination.

Like I said before, if there was no legal ground for requesting parental information for institutional aid, my dad wouldn't provide the information because I would qualify for a hell of a lot more money on my salary than combining my salary with his. However, after sending 3 children to college and graduate school, on top of being an attorney, I'll have to say that "daddy knows best."

I'm hesitant to post this because when I speak about legal matters, words are really important. In short, my main point is, if a school says that parental information needs to be provided if you want to qualify for an institutional grant, for example, the school is not "breaking any laws." So I guess I don't understand why Gavin insists there is no legal ground for requesting parental information (and I've made it very clear I'm referring to institutional aid, not federal aid).

 

[edkNARF]

Which is correct. They don't have any legal ground for requesting parental information. The student may always choose to not be elegible for institutional grants. Like I mentiond above, relatively few schools have institutional grants available for their students (I got this info from the Financial Aid forum though I have no data on it). I do wish my school had institutional grants though. 🙁

I had to call Penn's financial aid office today, and I got the final word on the issue from them. Here is what I was told:
By default, anybody who is pursuing a graduate degree is independent according to the FAFSA. This dependent vs. independent status ONLY applies to federal loans disbursed through the Stafford loan program. This means that the school uses the EFC based on the information given to determine how much Stafford loan money you are eligibile for. Insitutional money (grants, perkins loans, school loans), is usually awarded with money that is awarded from a school's endowment, not through government funds. Therefore, the school can decide how it wants to award this money. Because most health professional students are supported by their parents, schools can ask for parental information. Since this information is being used to award money that is NOT coming from government funds, they can ask for ANYTHING they want.
Since state schools have lower tuition that private schoos, financial aid offices will not need to award more money than the federal government allows for Stafford lending. At private schools, they want parental information to make sure that institutional money is award in a fair manner. This is why they want parents tax information. If there is a reason why students are are unable or unwilling to give parental information, the school can not review the student for institutional loans, or ask for proof as to why they can not get parental information.
The financial aid officer at Penn STRESSED the importance of discussing how you plan to finance your dental education BEFORE you send in a deposit.

 

[drat]

I had to call Penn's financial aid office today, and I got the final word on the issue from them. Here is what I was told:
By default, anybody who is pursuing a graduate degree is independent according to the FAFSA. This dependent vs. independent status ONLY applies to federal loans disbursed through the Stafford loan program. This means that the school uses the EFC based on the information given to determine how much Stafford loan money you are eligibile for. Insitutional money (grants, perkins loans, school loans), is usually awarded with money that is awarded from a school's endowment, not through government funds. Therefore, the school can decide how it wants to award this money. Because most health professional students are supported by their parents, schools can ask for parental information. Since this information is being used to award money that is NOT coming from government funds, they can ask for ANYTHING they want.
Since state schools have lower tuition that private schoos, financial aid offices will not need to award more money than the federal government allows for Stafford lending. At private schools, they want parental information to make sure that institutional money is award in a fair manner. This is why they want parents tax information. If there is a reason why students are are unable or unwilling to give parental information, the school can not review the student for institutional loans, or ask for proof as to why they can not get parental information.
The financial aid officer at Penn STRESSED the importance of discussing how you plan to finance your dental education BEFORE you send in a deposit.

Amen, brother, amen. I rest my case. It is legally sound to ask for parental information for institutional aid. 😛