My parent's won't pay a single cent for college, should I fill out CSS independently?

rastafarian · 11-04-2009, 04:01 PM

I'm just wondering

I just applied early decision and the CSS profile is due soon

I just found out though that my Parent's won't pay a single cent for me for college despite the fact they earn over 115k.

Should i just fill out the CSS profile independently?

Also, what should I do for FAFSA?

Or should I just call up my ED school and say that I don't need Financial Aid so I could just take out a 50k/year student loan?

hmom5 · 11-04-2009, 04:21 PM

Unless you have a trust fund or a good co signer, no one is going to loan you $50K/yr. Even if they would, this would probably not be a reasonable amount to borrow in terms of being able to live a normal life following your education.

If your parents are unwilling to pay their EFC, you should withdraw your ED application and ask to be considered RD. Then focus your efforts on merit aid schools and state schools you can afford with more reasonable loans.

mom2collegekids · 11-04-2009, 05:22 PM

Borrowing 50k per year (200k total) will result in payments of nearly $2500.00 a month for 10 years. That would be unbearable. Even borrowing $100k total will give you a monthly payment of $1200 for 10 very LONG years.

You need to withdraw your ED and go RD. Your parents should have told you this before you applied! Why do parents do this!!!!! They need to talk to their kids about the money issue much earlier!!! (and students need to ask their parents, too!)

Since your parents won't pay their EFC, you'll need to apply to some merit schools and/or cheaper state schools.

So ...

What is your home state

What are your stats?

GPA weighted and UW.

SAT M CR W

ACT

drusba · 11-04-2009, 06:57 PM

Basically you cannot just do FAFSA or CSS without your parents. Unless you are true independent (no longer supported by parents and not living with them and can establish you are paying your own living expenses), you are considered a dependent of your parents and for CSS and FAFSA you have to put in the parents income/assets info so it can be considered for determining any aid. That they refuse to provide any assistance does not change that or allow you to get aid based on your non-existent income. In other words, you have a serious problem and you cannot just get student loans on your own. You need to start having some heart to hearts with your parents and evaluating alternatives.

okigotoschoolnow · 11-04-2009, 07:44 PM

Summary:

You cant get and dont want those kinds of loans.

Your parents will need to provide information for you to be considered for aid. Even if theyre unwilling to cosign or pay anything, without that info, the financial aid office will insist or trash your application.

swimcatsmom · 11-04-2009, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Unless you are true independent (no longer supported by parents and not living with them and can establish you are paying your own living expenses), you are considered a dependent of your parents and for CSS and FAFSA you have to put in the parents income/assets info so it can be considered for determining any aid.

Even if you are no longer supported by parents or living with them you are not considered independent for FA purposes. You have to meet strict definitions to be independent for FA , mainly age (24) but also some others. Being self supporting is not enough.

thumper1 · 11-04-2009, 08:09 PM

It is highly unlikely that you would even be able to secure loans in your own name for a huge amount of money. If you AND your parents complete the FAFSA you would be eligible at least for the Stafford loans...but those are a drop in the bucket when looking at the cost of attendance at a four year residential college.

In most cases, ED applicants are also asked to submit their Profile by a priority filing date so that the school can compute a financial aid package. You will need to provide your parents' information on this form. The school will use it to compute your aid. To be frank...the school doesn't care what your family WANTS to give...they only care about what the computations say they CAN give.

If your family seriously will not pay for college, why did they sign an ED agreement? Why are you applying ED if you have no way to pay for your college bills?

I just checked the Duke website for information about ED financial aid deadlines. The deadline info is listed for November 1 and later....which makes me wonder if you have already missed the priority deadline for financial aid for ED students. Most schools have a priority deadline for the Profile so that they can give an estimated need based packet with the acceptance (if there is one).

Duke does meet 100% of calculated need. BUT your family contribution on an income of $115,000 per year will likely be between $28,000 and $37,000 a year. That means that your family would need to pay (estimated) somewhere around these amounts for next year (1/4-1/3 or your family's gross income...an estimate). Where will that come from if your parents are not willing to contribute?

I think you need to have a very serious talk with your parents ASAP regarding your post high school plans and just what they DO expect you to be doing.

I agree...you should change your application to RD.

What reason did your parents give for NOT contributing to your education? Is this a financial thing or is there some other reason they can't help you out?

Techy233 · 11-04-2009, 08:18 PM

stats please, and we might be able to help you out. (GPA, SAT, home-state, etc)

BuddyMcAwesome · 11-04-2009, 08:20 PM

look at ROTC

mom2collegekids · 11-04-2009, 09:15 PM

Even if you could get your parents to fill out the forms knowing that they won't be "forced" to pay anything, what good is that going to do in this circumstance?

You have no choice but to withdraw your ED and move to RD. At least this way you can quickly apply to some merit schools whose deadlines for scholarships are approaching.

Believe me, there's NO POINT in getting accepted to your ED school only to be told that there's very little aid for you (because of family income). At that point you will have missed too many merit schools' deadlines for scholarships. Many merit schools require apps in by Dec 1st.

Kids from families with high incomes that won't pay their EFCs only really have one choice - merit schools who give big awards for high stats.

So, what are your stats?

SAT from single sitting
M CR W

ACT

GPA weighted and unweighted.

BTW...unless your parents are in some kind of financial disaster, perhaps if they see that you've gotten most of your college costs covered by scholarships, they will come up with a few thousand for the rest.

Iron Maiden · 11-04-2009, 10:14 PM

Do NOT apply for an ROTC scholarship just to pay for school. Military service is a committment and you will be miserable if you are just doing it for $. Besides, it is very late to apply.

Midwest Dad · 11-05-2009, 02:30 PM

Is there a reason your parents refuse to help? Are the simply choosing to spend on other things or are there extenuating circumstances that might be meaningful to financial aid (things like massive medical bills, having their parents as dependents, etc). With $115,000 in income they can certainly contribute something to your education. To flat out refuse with no other reason than they are spending their money elsewhere is selfish.

mom2collegekids · 11-05-2009, 02:51 PM

^^^

Agree. Barring some unknown reason (such as med bills or such), there are some parents who operate under the assumption that college can be paid for by working part-time (like perhaps they did it). Things have changed; that can't be done like the past. College costs have far outstripped inflation. I used to be able to pay my quarterly fees by using about 2-3 weeks salary from a part-time job during the school year. Now, it costs over $2k per quarter. A student can earn that much in a few weeks.

Also, some parents never went to college, and don't see the purpose. Or, some have committed themselves to a lifestyle (nicer home, nicer cars, etc) that "eat up" their income. Lastly, some are worried that their kids will party so much and drop out which would be a waste of money.

What I'm hoping is this...

The OP will have the stats to get some great merit money. Then he can figure how much he can realistically earn working summers and very part-time during the school year. He may have to take out a small loan. Then his parents will see that they need to "kick in" some bucks to make it all happen.

However, to get that loan, his parents do need to do FAFSA, even if they aren't contributing one cent. FAFSA doesn't obligate anything.

Erin's Dad · 11-05-2009, 03:14 PM

This is from the OP on another thread. Lets play a game, predict how i'll do in ED at Duke There must be something more to the story.

thumper1 · 11-05-2009, 05:33 PM

Folks...this OP has applied to Duke as an ED student, according to other threads. Paying the full cost of attendance for a student at Duke would really be a stretch on a $115,000 income...as the cost of attending Duke is almost half that amount.

I do, however, agree that the parents should be able to contribute some amount to this kiddo's education...but they may not be able to contribute what Duke expects them to...unless they have been saving a bit for these college costs.