<p>I’m trying to find out whether it would be worth filing a FAFSA if my parents have a high annual income (well over $100K) but have a high amount of debt, to the point that they would not be able to pay everything off for several more years, not including the cost of my college tuition. Especially if I am looking to avoid hefty loans, is there any way that I can let colleges know about my situation, or would they pretty much just look at our household income and base their “need-based” aid off of that figure?</p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>FAFSA does not take debt into account (unless it is against a reportable asset - for instance a second home is a reportable asset and the reportable amount is the house value less any mortgage against it). If the debt were for something like high medical expenses then the school might be able to make some sort of adjustment for it, but otherwise they would not.</p>
<p>The EFC is based on income and assets. It is still worth filing FAFSA if you want to be eligible for federal student loans. All students are eligible for Stafford loans but you must file FAFSA to get them.</p>
<p>You still need to file a FAFSA. Like swimcatsmom stated, a FAFSA is needed for student loans. Some schools offer a ‘professional judgement’, where they will take debt into consideration and may give you a grant. However, you will probably have to type a letter and get a lot of paper work together. I was in this situation and it became a little difficult to communicate with my advisor, get all my paperwork, and make time for studying. It is definitely worth a shot though!</p>
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For the FAFSA EFC and federal aid the type of debt that may be taken into account is limited by stringent rules. The federal rules specifically state that consumer debt (such as cars, credit card etc) can not be used to make a special circumstances adjustment. However some other type of debt may. Always best to ask the school. The worst they can say is no.</p>
<p>UofL does a prefessional judgement. The one that I did was for medical debt.</p>
<p>Nearly all schools do professional judgements (also known as special circumstances adjustments). But they are strictly limited by federal rules to what they can make adjustments for. As I mentioned in my first post they can make adjustments for medical debt (Medical expenses are one of the specifically allowed expenses for a special circumstances adjustment). We also had an adjustment for medical expenses my daughters first year of college - I think the supporting documentation we took in was about 2 inches thick. But they are not allowed to make adjustments for consumer debt. So it very much depends on what the debt is for. The OP needs to find out what the debt is for and see if it would qualify for an adjustment.</p>
<p>However with an income of $100k the OP is unlikely to qualify for any federal grants. The EFC for the Pell grant is 4619 or below.</p>
<p>I got a slight adjustment at my school because my mom had just needed to have a hysterectomy and we had hardly any health coverage, and my parents owed enough money to University of Michigan Hospital on a week-long stay of my sister’s to still be paying it off when they die. But even given those circumstances,the adjustment was just barely worth the effort to submit the letter of special circumstance. It’s definitely worth a shot, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high.</p>
<p>Remember that special circumstances considerations are up to the colleges. Some will do them, others won’t. Some will make larger adjustments…others very small ones.</p>
<p>As noted by others…unless your debt is from high medical expenses, it is highly unlikely that the school will make any adjustment. Consumer debt (mortgage, credit card debt, car payments, etc) are NOT considered in the financial aid equations per FAFSA.</p>