<p>Sorry for another very specific thread/question…just facing down the ‘big decisions’ w/rising senior son & trying to figure it all out.</p>
<p>Just wondered if anyone had a thought…I’ve been a SAHM for 6 years (w/intermittent part-time attorney work). Now that son is looking at college (& other, unrelated expenses, income-deficits are looming), I’m planning on starting back w/the attorney stuff full-time (maybe at a legal temp agency first for a few months–doing the dreaded doc review–to get 6 yo acclimated to my working).</p>
<p>Just trying to brain out the impact on the FASFA. </p>
<p>Thinking that maybe it would be better to go to work right after we fill out our FASFA in Jan? If I put down ‘attorney’ under occupation (from 08-09 tax form) am thinking FASFA/schools will conclude we have ‘big $’ but in reality we’ve got ‘not much’!</p>
<p>Don’t want to manipulate the system, per se, but don’t want to have income assumed where it’s not. If anyone had a thought, would appreciate…</p>
<p>In a perfect world you could start work the day after you file your first Fafsa form. Put SAHM since it will be true for that past year’s occupation. Let’s assume that is in Jan 2009. Then any income you make in '09 won’t affect your freshman aid.</p>
<p>Sueinphilly–so it sounds right that I should wait to start work until Jan 09? </p>
<p>Although, Stickershock…that would seem logical, that it’s income, not title (in which case, I’m fine, since income was negligible!!). But, just leery of running any risk of the FASFA creating an assumption of more income than exists (via lawyer title).</p>
<p>Anything you make in 08 will go on the fafsa in jan 09 (assuming your child is starting school in sept 09)</p>
<p>Run the numbers and see how much you make will impact your EFC (and don’t forget to increase your bank acct balance as well as your balance because Uncle Sam likes to double dip, earn it and it counts as income, save it and it counts again as assets :-)</p>
<p>I never thought twice about what was listed as your occupation would have any impact on FA.</p>
<p>FAFSA determinations are based mostly on W-2 and possibly other (?) documents that prove your income (I am not very familiar, my H does FAFSA). I do not believe it has to do with you being an “attorney”.<br>
Getting a little off subject, I strongly recommend filing it every year even when you would feel that it is no use because of income. We do so for our D’s full use of Merit Scholarships, since her college advised all parents to do so. We do not qualify for need based, only Merit.</p>
<p>The FAFSA doesn’t ask your occupation, just your income. </p>
<p>There is some value to deferring income until after the first of the year, for the sake of getting a lower EFC. However, that will be a benefit for the first year only, and it may give you unreasonable expectations and an unwelcome surprise about financial aid in future years. You can assume (very roughly) that your EFC will go up by roughly $45 for every $100 you net in future earnings, assuming that your family income is now at or above the amount of the income protection allowance.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that no colleges guarantee to meet 100% of need as determined by FAFSA. The “full need” schools all insist on the right to define “need” by their own formulas. While delaying the opportunity to earn more money can make sense if you don’t really need the money, in most cases it will not pay off. You’ll generally come out ahead in terms of net gain by increasing earnings. The one exception is in cases where your earnings cause you to hit some arbitrary cut off points, such as having an income low enough to qualify for the “simplified needs test”.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for those insights. Maybe not worth deferring lawyer work…the only real reason for full-time deferral would likely be my 6 yo’s adjustment. Which means I don’t need to wait until Jan, 09. Thanks again.</p>
<p>“Keep in mind that no colleges guarantee to meet 100% of need as determined by FAFSA. The “full need” schools all insist on the right to define “need” by their own formulas.”</p>
<p>calmom–this is pretty frightening…does these mean that a student could be a couple grand short & could not even make it up in loans, assuming they/parents were willing to go into debt? (I may have asked this before and just blocked on the answer because didn’t want to process that possibility…)</p>
<p>FAFSA does not care what you put as occupation - it is purely a numbers driven formula. Do they even ask your occupation? I don’t recall answering that. (and we just filled out our son’s a couple of weeks ago)</p>
<p>If parents are willing to go into debt & have good credit, no problem – whether or not you qualify for or receive financial aid, you are guaranteed a parent PLUS loan up to the total cost of attendance, after subtracting out grants & scholarships. Of course, that’s assuming that you can afford the payments generated by the debt.</p>
<p>But as to the bottom line… no, no guarantees. You very well could have a FAFSA EFC of $7500 – have your son receive a small grant - and still face a $30K annual tuition bill. And as far as I can tell, with the current state of the economy, things seem to be tightening up at all but the very top schools – keep in mind that when the stock market is down, it takes a big bite out of college endowments, and it also impacts the college’s donor base.</p>
<p>Thanks, swimcatsmom–that’s a relief. I’ll start looking around for lawyer jobs and not be so concerned re: the timing as to FASFA filing.</p>
<p>calmom–that’s good to know. Of course, as you said, you have to think about the aftermath (payments, etc.). All this financial talk is making me think about community college for the first year for my son (that was the absolute worst-case scenario I used to threaten him w/when he wouldn’t work in HS!). Son wants to attend a 4-year U (private) that has a great co-op program. But, it’s over $40k a year (but is known to give grants, etc.). The comm. college near us has a (newly formed) joint program w/the 4 year school. Son could go one year to CC, get some general ed out of the way, and (it looks to me) save himeself/ourselves $30k in future debt.</p>
<p>That’s looking good, money-wise. Son doesn’t like the idea, though…</p>
<p>It’s true that most “full-need” schools go by an Institutional EFC, not the FAFSA one. but unless you have quite extensive assets, the difference is unlikely to leave someone with a FAFSA EFC of 7500, a 30,000 tuition bill. Of course this is full-needs schools only.</p>
<p>You can use online calculators to get a good idea of both your federal and institutional EFCs. Bottom line is, don’t assume either you will or won’t get the aid. Look for the financial safeties, of course, but don’t rule out the private till you see how they do your FA.</p>
<p>FWIW -
This is what I would do - if you are financially stable and don’t “need” to work and you would qualify for financial aid right now- then defer your employment until Jan of your child’s junior year in college. To pay for college what financial aid doesn’t cover - take out PLUS loans. When you start work full time as an attorney pay off the PLUS loans.
You could come out ahead.</p>
<p>JS, I don’t know whether your son is in line for any merit scholarship money. But you should be aware that if he is, maybe you should rethink the community college route. Most schools are very strict in that merit money is for entering freshmen only (continuing for four years, usually). But transfers are likely not to get anything, or as much. So if financial aid is needed, it’s not good blanket advice to tell someone, hey, you can always transfer! </p>
<p>The good thing is that this isn’t a decision your son has to make now. He can apply to any school he wants and also to cc. Then you as a family can make a decision after all the results are in hand. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Finaid.org provides really great information on maximizing your eligibility for financial aid.
This website is invaluable. A Brown FA administrator told us about it at an information session. It also talk about working and ways to limit your income the prior year of when FAFSA is filed.
[FinAid</a> | Financial Aid Applications | Maximizing Your Aid Eligibility](<a href=“http://wwww.finaid.org/fafsa/maximize.phtml]FinAid”>http://wwww.finaid.org/fafsa/maximize.phtml)</p>
<p>^^ I agree - I would NOT consider Community College.
As I can recall your D has great stats and I am very positive that she will get most of tuitiion paid with renewable Merit Scholarships. Just need to find the right school for that. In addition, make sure that she maintains very high GPA in college. A lot of schools have Merit scholarships for Returning students. My D got additional $4000 in Merit scholarships for next year. She mentioned that most kids do not apply for these scholarships thinking they do not have a chance. You got to apply to get them at Ds school in addition to having a high GPA. So, we will pay only part of Room & Board as a total fee next year.<br>
Your D. might get practically a full ride at 4 years college because of combination of great stats and income situation. 4 years college have more resources than Community College.</p>
<p>Thanks SO much for that added info. Interesting about the CC impact on scholarship…didn’t know about that. Will definitely research the website listed.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP–son’s stats are kind of a wild card, actually (not a given). Despite all As in JR year (& several APs) he had a really poor sophmore year (refused to study) so overall gpa (unweighted) is not great–3.1. However, weighted gpa (many honors classes through school) is over a 4.0. Even with pretty decent standardized test scores (34 ACT) it’s not a given that he’ll be admitted (or admitted w/merit) at any particular place, I think. So, we’re basically doing the strategy of apply ‘all over’ at a variety of schools (from less competitive to moreso). Son is kicking in the ECs this summer too (volunteerism, teaching self to program, taking college course, working) so hopefully that will expand the options.</p>
<p>Just trying to play out the worst case scenarios and have some fall-backs–financial and admission-wise. </p>
<p>Very much appreciate the encouragement. Although, don’t think I can defer working until his junior year (other factors coming into play in addition to college). </p>
<p>Jolynne, unless you are in the rare category where a dollar or so more in income will push into a huge loss in FA, it is always better to go work and earn more, since you will net something in the end which means more money overall despite some loss in FA. You need to look at your FAFSA/PROFILE info and fool around with it, increasing income amounts and see if you fall into that category where the marginal buck could cause a massive result. </p>
<p>Some folks get so caught up in trying to maximize college aid, that they forget that there are other aspects in life as well, and that you can lose out overall trying to get every dollar aid out there.</p>
<p>Jolynne, if you are an attorney, I am sure that you could afford to pay the full cost of an in-state public, 4-year college. (Maybe not the flagship university – but most states also have public colleges that are less expensive than their top schools). For example, here in California we have the CSU system where annual tuition & fees runs about $4000.</p>
<p>The real key is to follow these steps
(1) figure out how much you are willing to pay toward your child’s college, including borrowing.<br>
(2) sit down with your kid and lay your cards on the table: tell him #1 above and also WRITE IT DOWN for the kid – I don’t think many parents put it all in writing but that sure will avoid confusion later on.<br>
(3) Make sure that your kid’s college application strategy includes one or two “financial safety” - a financial safety is a college that your kid can definitely be admitted to and that you can definitely afford to pay for.
(4) Beyond that, learn what you can about financial aid and let your kid apply to any college he wants where there is a good possibility of getting sufficient aid - either need or merit based – to fund his schooling.</p>
<p>I certainly did not want my comments about the uncertainty of financial aid to be taken to mean that you can’t afford college, especially since the initial question was whether you should go back to work full time. </p>
<p>Look at it this way: if you can find a full time position, that will guarantee a certain income. It may be that more of your son’s college expenses will come from your earnings rather than college grants – but being able to pay out of your earnings also gives you more power and flexibility. Every single year I have to stress out worrying about what my daughter’s financial aid will be for the coming year – but I don’t have any stress worrying about the things I normally pay for out of my own earnings. My problem is not that I don’t get enough financial aid; my real problem is simply that I don’t earn enough to pay the full cost of my daughter’s college – and because of that income deficit I am reliant on a system that may or many not meet my needs. </p>
<p>I assume that any full time attorney job, especially in the private sector, would probably net you more than the full cost of your son’s tuition & expenses. Now it may be that after taxes, if you did pay full cost, you wouldn’t have much left - and given the impact of a job on your lifestyle, that is a choice you will have to make. But the point is that increasing your income will probably also increase your flexibility and range of choices for your son’s college.</p>
<p>Well, an upward trend in grades is always better than the reverse! If your son has a good guidance counselor, he should ask for advice on whether to address his sophomore year slump on the common app and on other apps. There is a place where the student can comment. I forget how it’s worded, but it’s something like, “Is there anything else we should know about you?” My daughter used that space to write about her struggles with math. Sometimes an explanation can help if it’s done without seeming to make excuses. He can own up to not working hard that year and point to how much he’s changed since then! </p>
<p>If he’s up for a scholarship and the committee is looking closely at his grades, having some kind of personal statement at hand might make a difference in your son’s favor. Just something else to consider!</p>