Do you know the # you need to be around to be eligible for Pell Grants?
It’s not that simple…will depend on AGI, family size and such. Most Pell grant recipients will have AGI <$60K, maybe a little higher this year. Max Pell is $7,395, and families with relatively higher AGIs will only qualify for partial Pell grants.
See this to see the formulas, tables and to do the calculations.
The college money method SAI calculator that I posted above will do the same thing.
I know that it’s hard to understand, but federal aid is designed to benefit the neediest. Schools use the federal form to inform decisions regarding how to allocate their own funds, but it is really not the purpose of the FAFSA. It is possible that non Profile schools may want to consider whether they might want to use an alternative method of allocating their own resources if they determine that the new FAFSA doesn’t meet their needs.
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I know some folks in real life who have a stroke every time they hear about someone who lost eligibility for WIC or food stamps, but who complain non-stop about how “intrusive” FAFSA is.
Hey, it’s our money (as is any entitlement program). Wouldn’t you be MORE aggravated if there were no guardrails in place to make sure that anyone getting Pell is actually entitled to it?
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If “way more people get Pell,” that’s one thing. But if others get “substantially less aid,” it’s most likely less grant aid from schools. The FAFSA is not an instrument intended to provide institutional aid, and it’s the school’s responsibility to figure out how to structure their own aid packages. If the result of FAFSA Simplification is actually “a complete restructuring of favored classes,” it will not be the fault of a simplified FAFSA … especially one that actually provides increased Pell Grant eligibility.
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I agree! Having just completed FAFSA, with ten years under my belt, the BIG change is the automated processing of the required 1040s. I never understood the myth of the “dumbfounding and complex FAFSA application”.
I don’t care about something being quicker and easier. I care about it actually working.
I’m not sure families much understand or care about the complexities. But people have been predicting for over a year that the changes will result in a range of winners… and losers.
“ One clear lesson from the interactive is that students with siblings in college will in many cases be eligible for considerably less financial aid after FAFSA simplification than under the current formula.”
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Case studies have been up for awhile, here’s a good source: https://www.nasfaa.org/uploads/documents/SAI_Case_Studies.pdf
This isn’t necessarily true. Many CSS Profile schools haven’t changed the sibling impact on their formulas. The vast majority of FAFSA only schools don’t meet full need, and don’t care what one’s SAI is when calculating financial aid packages.
Fundamentally it makes sense that the poorest students receive the most aid. I do understand why some have an issue with families with kids close together enjoying a possible benefit that other families with kids farther apart do not qualify for.
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Totally agree. This roll out has been terrible. It’s even more terrible when you factor in that they had three years to make this happen.
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Most colleges are not CSS profile schools. None of the ones my kid applied to are CSS profile colleges. So that’s great if your kid is attending one of those colleges but sucks for the rest of us sorry lot.
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One thing that hasn’t changed because if the new FAFSA…for colleges using only the FAFSA for a financial aid application form, the SAI should be viewed as the minimum you will be expected to pay for college. The exception is University of Chicago which has only a short form of their own in addition to the FAFSA…but does guarantee to meet full need for all.
So…unless you are Pell eligible, there is no way to predict what the FAFSA only colleges will award you for need based aid…and their really never has been…well…except that the net price calculators are supposed to give you a decent estimate of your net cost.
I think the annoying thing is the rollout has been plagued with things that need to be fixed, and that never should have happened.
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I really am struggling to understand. And I’m willing to admit I’m wrong. But the logic appears to be this:
Prior to these changes, families with multiple kids in college received this enormous benefit that was so egregiously inequitable that it had to be rectified.
Now that it has been rectified, the claim being made is hey, what are you complaining about? There’s no impact at all and schools can give families the same exact aid that they did before.
These seem like different claims. Either there was a huge benefit and it was right to take it away. In which case these families are correct in saying they are taking a bath. Maybe they had it coming, but they are dramatically impacted.
Or the changes don’t really matter and their aid stays the same. In which case there was never an inequity to rectify, or there was an inequity and this change didn’t address it.
Just seems illogical to say hey guys, you are receiving an unjust amount of support and we’re taking it away. And then after you take it away, arguing that you have no idea what they are talking about, and you didn’t take anything away.
If schools just ignore the SAI why does FSA bother to send it to the schools? Why are there overaward rules exist?
The vast majority of schools use SAI to figure out how to prioritize the limited need based aid they give, but don’t necessarily meet need. For example, students with unmet need may be eligible to compete for funds (need based aid) that students with SAIs above cost of attendance are not.
Over award rules are for students that have full cost of attendance covered through grants and scholarships (aka full rides). The out of pocket for the student is still zero whether the school is giving all of the financial aid or if they reduce the package by what the student’s pell eligible amount is to recoup that. Even if no pell is involved, an outside award (like a local community scholarship) would reduce the aid the school could give by that amount. Still, the student pays nothing, whether their SAI was 0 or 100,000. But, full rides are rare.
Berea College is another school with excellent aid and their own form in addition to FAFSA.
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I’ve had one, two and three in college at the same time, the only FA benefit we have had was with three, a part of the federal loan was subsidized. My kids attended public schools. We are middle class in a high COL area. Next year will be two in undergrad, one in grad.
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The schools need to see what federal financial aid the student qualifies for, so they can create an accurate FA package.
Obviously it can matter for some families…some who have lost the sibling benefit no longer qualify for a pell grant, for example. But for many families at FAFSA only schools that don’t meet full need (the vast majority), the lost sibling benefit may not impact their aid package at all. For some it might, see the various case studies that have been done.
I have no horse in this race, so am not advocating for either ‘side’. Nothing we can do to change the law as written, at least for this year.
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The biggest issue I see in your logic is you are conflating the actions of the Federal Gov’t with the actions of public and private colleges.
The Federal gov’t decided to make the FAFSA process ‘more equitable’ by removing an advantage only gained by certain families (all families now equally non-advantaged). They also expanded Pell grant eligibility.
Some well-endowed public state and private colleges may not change their proprietary CSS formulas to mimic the Federal gov’t changes in regards to multiple children in college at same time, so many people won’t see massive changes in their aid.
Those two actions aren’t at all in conflict with one another. Two different groups making different decisions.
Biggest issue is that the vast majority of schools were never meeting full need in the first place, and I am sure many of those schools may point to Federal changes in federal aid to explain (in part) why families aren’t getting their full need met. Easier to say that rather than being super honest and saying, “We don’t have enough money to meet every accepted student’s full need - you are going to have to figure out how to fill that gap yourself. That’s always been the case, Good luck”.
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I’m not talking about perceptions or how things are communicated. I’m talking about actual dollars and cents. Places like Brookings Institute are saying yeah, some families are going to take a huge bath.
People who authored the change are saying yeah, that’s not an accident. Certain families were getting a huge benefit, and we specifically tailored these changes to take this benefit away. It’s not an unfortunate downstream consequence. It was an intentional act.
It’s absolutely possible to believe that’s right and just. But to believe that, you have to recognize that it takes an unjust benefit away from some people. “Sorry, but you had it coming,” is a perfectly legitimate reaction.
But it seems difficult to argue, “Yep. You had this huge unjust level of aid. We are using these changes to rectify that injustice. But don’t worry it’s not really impacting you at all.”
Either the changes rectify an unjust level of aid, in which case it’s legitimate to accurately point out that impact.
Or the changes don’t impact people, in which case there was no injustice, or it was left unrectified.
My original post said yes. Some families will benefit from more or larger Pell grants. But other families will take a beating.
Brookings says yes. That’s right. Some families will take a beating.
So I guess we will see. I talked to a middle class family whose total EFC was 32k. Now it’s 64k.
Either they are going to get crushed. Or it won’t make a difference and their out of pocket will look really similar to last year.
We’ll know soon enough. Maybe. For now their daughter is struggling to know whether she should line up roommates and look for an apartment. Because she has absolutely no idea if she can afford to go. Aid for returning students always comes later, so there was always anxiety. But with their SAI doubling, there’s understandable anxiety. If it really isn’t going to impact anybody, she should just sign a lease.
If caution is in fact in order, it seems like an admission that yes, some people are going to get hammered. Which was what I said at the beginning.
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Unless that middle class family has children going to schools that meet full need - those EFC numbers were/are basically meaningless beyond determining whether the students qualify for federal aid: Pell grants, Stafford direct loans and Parent Plus loans. If the students are going to meets full need schools - the CSS was/is going to determine what those families pay (not their EFC/SAI number).
Most families are sending their children to schools that never promised to meet full need. So, it didn’t matter if their EFC for 2 children was $32k or $64k - the schools themselves would tell the families what they were expected to pay…and it often was higher than the EFC/SAI number created by filling out the FAFSA.
There are many, many students with EFCs of $0. That is rarely what they are expected to pay. Usually they/their families are offered Parent Plus loans to make up the thousands of $$ difference.
Exactly what your middle class family will also be offered if their aid packages change. Your middle class family is in no worse condition than any other family in the same circumstances. As opposed to getting an advantage as they were before. Now all families are treated the same.
If that middle class family has to pay more - that is on the schools’ [their children attend] decisions on how to allocate aid - it literally has nothing to do with the Federal changes.
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