FAFSA - is middle-class waste time applying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some non-need-based awards and scholarships required FAFSA on file.

Don’t miss this point. Many merit based scholarships require FAFSA on file.

Not all do. My kids applied to ~20 schools combined and received merit from 15+. None of those required FAFSA.

That being said, at $300K income, I would take the time to fill out fafsa just to have it on record in case something changes---if one parent becomes unemployed, you might qualify for some aid. However at 300K income, you will not qualify---you are UMC not MC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

No necessarily true! 300k sounds a lot. But after tax, medical and retirement deduction, it is lucky if could take home half of it. With other kids to support, who can afford to use 50% of take home money paying for one kid’s college expenses?

Not to pay cash, but if you made that much for more than 1-2 years, you should have easily been able to save $10-15K/year towards college. At that income, we would certainly have enough saved for $40-50K/year schools and possibly more (or ability to pay that $15K in addition to what's in the 529)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

And submitting FAFSA is not required to keep the award?

Of course not. These are merit awards. FAFSA is specifically for determining need based financial aid.

DP. Educate yourself. Perhaps your child would have been offered yet more scholarships if you had. (It's certainly not all merit-based scholarships, but it is certainly some of them.)

Some merit-based aid
Some merit-based aid, like scholarships, may need you to fill out the FAFSA. For example, schools may hand out merit scholarships but require you to fill out the FAFSA to consider you.

And even a private organization might want to see that you did the FAFSA to consider you for an award.

https://www.mos.com/blog/is-fafsa-required/

The short answer is yes, you can get scholarships without the FAFSA. But, not filing the FAFSA may limit your scholarship opportunities.

Here are a few things you should know about the relationship between FAFSA and scholarships. And more importantly, why we strongly recommend filling out the FAFSA if you’re applying to college or are already in college.

Most schools don’t require students to fill out the FAFSA to qualify for merit scholarships. However, this is not standard practice. Scholarship policies vary from one college to another. Some colleges may not offer merit aid to students who have not filled out the FAFSA. Additionally, some private schools may also require students to file the FAFSA to avail of scholarships.

https://www.collegeraptor.com/paying-for-college/articles/scholarship-search-applications/can-you-earn-scholarships-without-the-fafsa/

The FAFSA is a form that determines your financial need, allowing you to be eligible for federal financial aid. However, you may come across some merit-based scholarships—awards based on talent, academics, hobbies, ethnicity, etc—still require you to file the FAFSA.

https://www.collegeraptor.com/paying-for-college/articles/questions-answers/merit-scholarships-require-fafsa-filed/

Which colleges require the FAFSA for merit-based scholarships?

Q: I'm starting to look into scholarships and someone mentioned that some colleges demand you fill out the FAFSA to be considered for merit-based scholarships. Is this a common practice? And how do I find out which schools have this requirement?

A: Yes, it’s not unusual for schools to require the FAFSA for merit-based scholarships.

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/9677/which-colleges-require-the-fafsa-for-merit-based-scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We also did not complete the FAFSA and my son received merit awards from a few schools. He’s currently a first year student with a very generous merit award- no FAFSA necessary.

Right. But see above post -- it is possible he would have received more of them with the FAFSA on file. It depends on the school and on the particular merit award, but advising other parents that the FAFSA is irrelevant to merit awards is speaking with ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

What is your income? Because you’d have even less difficulty paying for your kid to go to an expensive private college if your income was half that.

DP. I was thinking the same as the PP. Our income IS half of that. Some schools give us FA and some don't. My kid worked very hard to qualify for merit at the schools where we don't get FA and to be competitive as an applicant at the schools where we do. We saved enough on that earning level to pay 50k/year with a few fed loans and some pay-as-you-go for each of 2 kids. If we can do that, there is no reason someone earning twice what we do can't pay 80k. We started saving when kids were little, and live economically, even though we live in a high cost of living area. (Just because someone makes double what we make, doesn't mean they have double the COL -- their costs are probably similar to ours). Someone on 300k can afford this, but there should be more info out there when kids are born (or starting preschool or starting kindergarten) to start saving.

The information IS out there. Someone making that much most likely is college educated themselves. It's not a hidden fact that college costs are increasing rapidly and also that there are many options for saving, including the 529 programs. Just like you save for retirement, you also save for college once you have kids (or once they are out of childcare).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

In our experience, FAFSA is not required for merit aid.

See above. You might have missed out and not know it.

[Anonymous]

I didn't think you had a choice? Isn't it required if you want to apply for merit? I mean if you're just going to go in full pay and not try for any kind of award....sure? What would be the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

And submitting FAFSA is not required to keep the award?

DP: Nope. My kids got merit from over 15+ schools. Never filled out FAFSA and it was never required at any of those schools. It's actually the opposite---only a few schools require fafsa for merit (or the CSS). We are full pay. Both kids got 30-70% tuition merit awards. Had they needed fafsa, we would have filled it out. But otherwise, we would never get any need based FA (Never, nothing could change to make it happen---our contribution per year is in 7 figures).
So I never filled it out as our finances are not their business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't think you had a choice? Isn't it required if you want to apply for merit? I mean if you're just going to go in full pay and not try for any kind of award....sure? What would be the point?

It's not required to apply for merit, but it might limit what merit awards the student is offered. Some of those have a need component, and some don't.

It's free and easy to fill out. The government already has the information. Is it some weird hang-up that only the poors have to think about the FAFSA, or what? Regardless, it's recommended to fill it out in part because you won't know you weren't even in the running for some merit awards otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

And that's exactly where a lot of middle class kids are going to end up going to school.

My 1500/3.98UW/10AP kid got $42K/year at a T50 school. That's not "two notches down".

My 1250/3.5UW/No AP kid got $16K/year at a T100 school, and we never paid more than $40K total per year. For them it was not "go down two notches" school---they were not a candidate for a T50 school to begin with.

At most you go down one level, from T25 to anything else. Merit is out there, and my kids found it and neither was searching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

And submitting FAFSA is not required to keep the award?

DP: Nope. My kids got merit from over 15+ schools. Never filled out FAFSA and it was never required at any of those schools. It's actually the opposite---only a few schools require fafsa for merit (or the CSS). We are full pay. Both kids got 30-70% tuition merit awards. Had they needed fafsa, we would have filled it out. But otherwise, we would never get any need based FA (Never, nothing could change to make it happen---our contribution per year is in 7 figures).
So I never filled it out as our finances are not their business.

Okay, sure, you can make that choice, but don't confidently assert to other families that it doesn't matter. Sometimes it does, and people should be able to make that informed choice.

When you are wrong, you are wrong. Try instead: "Even though the FAFSA may be relevant to some merit-based awards, having the full scope available to your child might not be worth putting your financial information out there. It wasn't for us." That would at least be accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I are both gs14 fed employee with combined income around $300k pretax. This is quite common for middle class in dc area. We’re told not to bother filling up FAFSA or any financial aid since we won’t be qualified for anything so we won’t apply. Is it true for anyone in our situation?

Now, if kid gets into a private college with annual expenses 70k+, how middle class manages to pay for it without any aids or scholarships?

1. They don't. Their kids go to public universities or to lower-ranked schools with merit scholarships.

2. You are not middle class. You are upper middle class.

+1

And if you wanted your kid to go to an $80K/year school, you had the option to save $10-15K/year and could easily have most of it in a 529 to cash flow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I are both gs14 fed employee with combined income around $300k pretax. This is quite common for middle class in dc area. We’re told not to bother filling up FAFSA or any financial aid since we won’t be qualified for anything so we won’t apply. Is it true for anyone in our situation?

Now, if kid gets into a private college with annual expenses 70k+, how middle class manages to pay for it without any aids or scholarships?

Who told you that?

You won’t get any need-based aid, but some schools use it to look at what merit aid they will grant.

Not many---merit is based just on that, merit. Only a very few schools require FAFSA filing to get merit awards.

[Anonymous]

What is CSS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

What is your income? Because you’d have even less difficulty paying for your kid to go to an expensive private college if your income was half that.

DP. I was thinking the same as the PP. Our income IS half of that. Some schools give us FA and some don't. My kid worked very hard to qualify for merit at the schools where we don't get FA and to be competitive as an applicant at the schools where we do. We saved enough on that earning level to pay 50k/year with a few fed loans and some pay-as-you-go for each of 2 kids. If we can do that, there is no reason someone earning twice what we do can't pay 80k. We started saving when kids were little, and live economically, even though we live in a high cost of living area. (Just because someone makes double what we make, doesn't mean they have double the COL -- their costs are probably similar to ours). Someone on 300k can afford this, but there should be more info out there when kids are born (or starting preschool or starting kindergarten) to start saving.

It’s not about savings, it’s about actual cost. If your income is $150k, Harvard COA is capped at 10% of HHI, or $15k. If you make twice as much, Harvard costs five times as much.

That's not accurate, and who would base costs on getting into Harvard? As I said, we counted on spending up to 50/55k per kid and make 150K. If we can do that, someone on 300k should be able to save for 80K.