Financial Aid Slaughtered for 3rd Year Student-Help...Tips

No write off for HELOC interest any more unless it is for specific house related things.

With your new proposed plan, per year:

You pay $10k
Ex-H pays $20k
Student loan: $7.5k
Total: $37.5k

Remainder: $8.5k
Senior year, your son will have the $5.5k from his summer internship. Junior year, you’d have to come up with it. Maybe your son has $3.5k in earnings from this summer? Then you can take out a Plus loan for only $5k. Son can easily pay that off within his first year of employment.

^^Thumper1, yup. We did the HELOC several years ago when one could deduct the interest regardless of how we used the funds. Even if one can’t deduct the interest for school expenses now, a HELOC still might be a better choice than a PLUS, though it’s not a option for the OP (maybe for her ex, though).

Re: Term Life Insurance questions above.

Check the various loans’ repayment terms carefully. Is the loan cancelled if the student dies or is disabled? Is the loan cancelled if the parent dies or is disabled? What, exactly, constitutes disability? Insurance may not be needed at all, or it may be a wise decision.

Some private student loans have a provision where if the co-signer dies, the loan immediately becomes payable in full (and possibly declared in automatic default even if the student has been making timely payments). That can be devastating for a student whose parent co-signed. In that case, the student should have a policy on the parent to protect him/herself against that situation. Conversely, if a student who has private loans passes away, most private loan providers will go after the cosigner.

READ the fine print!!!

@brantly Student plans to have $5000 from summer internship to contribute. He will also be working multiple campus jobs and will save fall to put towards second semester. It gets us very close with this “model”. Also, FA department said in January they can re-assess.

Note if his institutional FA adjusts with such student earnings. The pros here will know I expect.

It can be a difficult situation with divorce in the mix. But the dad’s income and assets are considered in the financial aid equation. He is not being asked to pay all of it, but to loan the son the money he needs to finish college at Amherst. Seems like the dad has some options to come up with the money, even if he does want the son to pay him back in the future. At a minimum, he should be willing to explain to the son, and perhaps to the school, why he can’t pay anymore, regardless of what the school thinks he should be able to pay. Without his input, an appeal will be difficult.

How much was the total bill for both kids in college? How was that paid?

It does but prior-prior year is used for FAFSA and Profile. The parent is asked what they think the student will earn on the profile form but I don’t know the impact there.

@mom2and When both were students, cost for younger student ($23,000) was shared between mom, dad and student. No loans first two years.

Cost for older student who graduated in May was paid by mom (last two years) and significant financial aid through school as non custodial parent income was not taken into consideration. Older student also was an RA, significantly reducing cost further.

Yes, son’s income this summer will count in the equation for what we pay final year. From what I understand though, his earnings between junior and senior year won’t as FAFSA is submitted prior to earnings. Is this correct?

He is a rising junior right? So you have to file FA one more time after this, using info/tax forms from 2017.

@UVGOT2BKIDDINGME Your son’s income this summer will NOT be figured into the FA determination for senior year. Senior Year will start fall of 2019. Your and his 2017 tax returns will be the basis for FA 2019-2020 school year. Whatever you earn from here on out will have no affect (unless you become unemployed and or otherwise lose income and apply for an appeal).

Any update? How’d his conversation with his father go? Anything further from Amherst? Hope it works out.

I hope this all came together for your son!

@UVGOT2BKIDDINGME how have things turned out?

I hate it when an OP leaves you hanging! Hope he/she comes back with an update.

Maybe there should be a function that after a month people get a reminder “come update us!”

Maybe they’re not getting thread notifications. I know I wasn’t. I finally asked to have my default email changed to my gmail address and now I’m back in business.

Here’s to hoping that “No news is good news.” <:-P