I am engaged and will fill out my FAFSA forms the day they become available. I am wishing to attend USC.I have a question. When I full them out, I won’t be currently married. But a week after I graduate high school, I will be getting married and will attend college in the fall. When I fill out my FAFSA forms, will I check “married” and just put my fiance’s earnings, or will I put single and put my mother’s?
As of date you file
A week after you graduate high school you could also inherit a fortune from a long lost great-aunt.
Until it has already happened, it hasn’t happened.
Contact the financial aid office at USC. Ask what you will need to do to qualify as an independent student before you start. Perhaps it will mean filing some sort of amended form after you get married. I got married while in college over 20 years ago. We worked with our financial aid director of my college (she was fantastic) to figure it out. We got married a week or so before fall classes started partway though our programs and qualified as independent students, which vastly increased our aid. It was so long ago that I don’t remember much else (and probably some things have changed since then) but your financial aid officer should be able to help you out.
Is USC affordable for you either way?
You put what you are the day you file. You will be single, and use your mom on FAFSA. You don’t put a fiance; you may break up with him the next day and never marry.
If this is USC in Calif, then you’ll also be filling out CSS Profile. And I think USC also requires the financial info of your non-custodial parent. Is your dad alive? Edit: I now see that your dad is deceased. Very sorry about that.
You might want to plan a December wedding your senior year in high school.
As others have stated, you will file based on your status the day you file the fafsa/. For the school year 2017-18, the FAFSA opens on October 1, you will be approximately 1 month into senior year so you will file unmarried and the income/assets of your custodial parents will be used. If you are talking about USC in California, you will also need to file the CSS profile for institutional aid. This will also be available in October.
While in subsequent years, you may be independent for federal aid, you will never be independent for institutional aid ad USC (california) as they state the following:
From a financial aid standpoint, you may be better served a single person, especially since you have a low income parent (who will have more income protection than you and your intended spouse). In addition any monies paid on the behalf of you and your husband by your mom or in-laws would have to be included in your financial aid.
Unless there is is another reason for you to marry that does not involve financial aid, I would suggest waiting until you finish college.
You would be better served remaining single to a wide array of schools where you could get merit money and schools with really generous financial aid /no loan policies based on just you mom’s income.You should also look into Questbridge
Even if you get married the only aid you’ll qualify for is the full Pell grant (~$5k/year), but you should get that anyway based on your mom’s income. You can also take the federal student loan (~$5500/year). That means you need a full tuition award. Your other posts say you’re an OK resident with a 4.0 UW GPA and 36 ACT. Check the list of guaranteed merit schools (pinned to the top of the financial aid forum) and make sure you apply to some of them. It’s important that your list has financial safeties (schools where you have a good chance of getting admitted, that will give you merit aid for those stats, and that you’d be happy attending).
I thought this student was applying to USC. If she is a $0 EFC as a married student, her aid will be better than if he’s is dependent and her EFC is higher. USC meets full need.
They are not going to necessarily make her independent for institutional aid because she is married. If they have a 0 EFC, they are going to automatically prompt a low income verification, which they will have to show how they live and eat day to day because they are not self sufficient. How will self sufficient will they be as high school seniors?
Unless OP gets married this summer and files independent on the FAFSA at the beginning of the school year and gets admitted as an independent student it will be a non-factor. Op cannot also be assured that husband will be independent for institutional aid.
It could get unnecessarily messy and complicated as the school basically can ask for any and everything before giving their own money. It is a cleaner, simpler and more straight forward process for op and her family going on her own.
Wasn’t the FAFSA for 2016/17 available in January 2016? And the one for 2017/18 will be available in October of 2016?
Are you attending college in fall of 2016 or 2017?
If 2016 you should have already filed FAFSA.
this student is still in high school. Will be graduating in 2017.