<p>Please tell me what would happen in this case.</p>
<li>Child gets accepted into a college.</li>
<li>Family files a FAFSA and college receives the SAR and creates a pkg.</li>
<li>Child finds it necessary to take a gap year and college approves it.</li>
<li>The following fall after the gap year, child attends the college that approved the gap year, and completes degree in four consecutive years.</li>
</ol>
<p>Can the child still file 4 more years of FAFSAs starting with the year after the gap year to get 4 years of aid…or was one year lost when the family filed for aid for the year the child didn’t attend?</p>
<p>I have filed FAFSAS for the year 2000-2001 ( daughter took gap year) then again for 2001-2002 ( freshman year) 2002-2003 ( sophmore year)
2003-2004 ( junior year) 2004-2005 ( took a year off) 2005-2006 ( senior year)
so yes it doesn’t count you will just refile</p>
<p>Thank you. My child is dear, but I’m finding very unsettled…wants college…but I’m finding with a mindset ill-prepared to handle the rigors of functioning independently. Child has great potential, but just isn’t there yet. Seems like you may have encountered the same thing. How did you get through it?</p>
<p>Same thing happened with us in filing FAFSA …my D suddenly took a GAP semester after starting State college at home , and not liking it , then traveled some , waitressing , and then , did some nanny work in NYC which made her plead with us to go back to college !! A little reality of the low - wage work world ( and no car privileges ) made her appreciate college so much now . Zero motivation to grow up and accept responsibilty really changed once she got to the college ( which may have helped her too; it’s one of those Pope schools ) </p>
<p>But the college kept her aids/grants/loans intact for the following semester so you should have no problem with the FAFSA .</p>
<p>They also will make sure she graduates in 3 1/2 years too ( she had some AP courses ) .</p>
<p>Sage, my son attended college for 2 years. Then he quit college and went to work – he plans to resume his education as a transfer next year, after working for 3 years. I wasn’t happy about his quitting school, but within a few months I saw that it was the best decision he had ever made He simply became a new person: more confident, more focused, and I think a lot happier. </p>
<p>A kid who goes to college when he is not ready will generally enjoy the social aspects and not do particularly well with the academics. (Note: at college, “social” usually equates with heavy drinking). I think it is a real sign of maturity if a kid recognizes, on his own, that he is not yet ready for college. </p>
<p>There is a down side for financial aid – eligibility is the same, but if your child is employed while out of school, his earnings will raise the EFC. I have a very clear picture of what that does, because I will have 2 in college next year – the EFC for my daughter (who has no assets or earnings) will be $5K, whereas the EFC for my son (who has been employed full time and saved up some money from his work) - will be about $12K. So basically, my son’s earnings have driven up the EFC about $7K. He is going to have to bear that cost – it is, after all, based in part on his personal bank balance. </p>
<p>However, I honestly don’t think you should stress about the financial aid - the more important thing is your child’s well being. Keep in mind that the year that your son is out of school is an additional year that you don’t have to spend money for college, so you can take advantage of that to bolster your own financial situation. I mean, the year my son quit college seemed like absolute luxury for me – he moved out and started supporting himself, money that I had earmarked for college tuition was suddenly available for other uses.</p>