FAFSA tips with a lot of dependents

twoinanddone
Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:37:08 +0000

He should look into the Jack Kemp Cooke scholarship for transfer from CC. You need to look at the requirements for the scholarship and then work toward earning it. Get the right letters of recommendation, complete the right volunteer hours, submit the forms on time.

I met a kid at the orientation for my oldest. He was one of 7 kids and his parents paid for year one, but after that each kid was on his own --and they all did it. This was at Wyoming and the instate cost is very low, but they each made a plan. He was in ROTC (and trying to talk my daughter into it, waiving a scholarship $$ at her), a couple of his siblings had been RAs in the dorms, they had jobs, they had some scholarships from the school/state, took the loans.

I think your income is too high to qualify for Pell grants, even with multiple kids in school. Have your kids look for local scholarships --Elks, American Legion, Pepsi, art contests, essay contests, Boy Scouts (if they are), credit unions, your employer. Most are only $500-1000 but every little bit helps. If any of the younger kids are interested in the military,have them look at ROTC or a service academy. If any have good test taking skills, go all out on the PSAT to try to get national merit, or look at schools that give high awards to high scores/gpa. Look at the schools in states that don’t cost much - South Dakota has very low tuition even for OOS. There is a list on this board of public schools that don’t charge more for OOS (I was surprised how many were on there).

You are doing the right thing by asking questions on here. I learned a ton (maybe too late?) about scholarships, tax breaks, ways to work FA. Spend some time on the older threads on the FA and Scholarship section and see how others did it. There may be a school someone mentions that you’ve never considered and that would work for one of your kids.

You might also be able to have several kids living together off campus and save money over individual leases.

Good luck.