FAFSA Question

[Anonymous]

Dh has 2 older children from a previous marriage. The oldest is a jr in college now and will hopefully be going back for the spring semester. For the past 10 years, DH has always gotten a bonus check in Dec. This year, the check was significantly less. For the past 2 years, we have used that check to pay for college. The kid is at an in state school, so the tuition is not overwhelming, but it is more than we can write a check for in the next month.

DH has always told the kid and the ex-wife that he would pay for college as long as he could. For the spring semester, he just doesn't have it. So we came up with the idea that the child could get a student loan for the spring. DH and I will tighten the budget and hopefully be able to come up with a good portion of the fall tuition. To get a student loan though, the FAFSA needs to be filled out. Ex wife is pissed and won't do it. DH has always allowed her to claim their children on her taxes. So they are not shown as dependents on our taxes. If she won't fill out the FAFSA, can we do it, even though on our taxes the older kids are not shown as a dependents?

[Anonymous]

I don't know about the FAFSA -- but I do know that his child's tuition isn't the first luxury that should be cut when your income unexpectedly drops.

If you have honestly tightened everywhere else, then be frank with the kid and get him to ask his mom to fill out the forms. But if dad's second family is still going to Disneyland etc., I wouldn't blame the first family for being pissed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about the FAFSA -- but I do know that his child's tuition isn't the first luxury that should be cut when your income unexpectedly drops.

If you have honestly tightened everywhere else, then be frank with the kid and get him to ask his mom to fill out the forms. But if dad's second family is still going to Disneyland etc., I wouldn't blame the first family for being pissed.

Nope, the second family will not be going on vacation this year--not to Disneyland, not to Ocean City, not to Great Wolf lodge for the weekend.

DH sat down with the child and ex wife over the weekend and explained the situation. Bonus numbers came out mid last week--he hasn't been sitting on this information. She just said it was his problem and she wasn't filling out the forms.

[Anonymous]

The FAFSA is completed by the student, not the parent. However, it is completed sometime between January and March for the next year. If you are thinking the FAFSA will help for the spring semester, that is incorrect. Call the college's financial aid office on January, but I think the only possibility for the spring will be private loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FAFSA is completed by the student, not the parent. However, it is completed sometime between January and March for the next year. If you are thinking the FAFSA will help for the spring semester, that is incorrect. Call the college's financial aid office on January, but I think the only possibility for the spring will be private loans.

That is what I was thinking. I read on the FAFSA website that the deadline for the 2014-2015 school year was June 30 2015.

[Anonymous]

Have DH call the financial aid office at the school. This can't be the first time they have dealt with this type of situation. Also, are you planning to have the kid pay back the student loan or is dh going to pay it back? If dh is going to pay it back, can you get a home equity loan? Also, maybe you can see if the school will let you spread out the payments (my kids aren't in college yet so I don't know how accommodating the schools are).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FAFSA is completed by the student, not the parent. However, it is completed sometime between January and March for the next year. If you are thinking the FAFSA will help for the spring semester, that is incorrect. Call the college's financial aid office on January, but I think the only possibility for the spring will be private loans.

When I looked at the FAFSA form, it asked for parental tax information--how would the student fill that out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have DH call the financial aid office at the school. This can't be the first time they have dealt with this type of situation. Also, are you planning to have the kid pay back the student loan or is dh going to pay it back? If dh is going to pay it back, can you get a home equity loan? Also, maybe you can see if the school will let you spread out the payments (my kids aren't in college yet so I don't know how accommodating the schools are).

The plan right now is for DH to pay it back not the child. We rent so there is no home equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FAFSA is completed by the student, not the parent. However, it is completed sometime between January and March for the next year. If you are thinking the FAFSA will help for the spring semester, that is incorrect. Call the college's financial aid office on January, but I think the only possibility for the spring will be private loans.

When I looked at the FAFSA form, it asked for parental tax information--how would the student fill that out?

Colleges would say that it's the student's responsibility to get that information from the parent. The student and parent need to sit down together and complete it, basically. I suppose the mom in this case could,just refuse,to give that info to her son, thereby preventing h from cometing,the form. That would be pretty mean!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FAFSA is completed by the student, not the parent. However, it is completed sometime between January and March for the next year. If you are thinking the FAFSA will help for the spring semester, that is incorrect. Call the college's financial aid office on January, but I think the only possibility for the spring will be private loans.

When I looked at the FAFSA form, it asked for parental tax information--how would the student fill that out?

Colleges would say that it's the student's responsibility to get that information from the parent. The student and parent need to sit down together and complete it, basically. I suppose the mom in this case could,just refuse,to give that info to her son, thereby preventing h from cometing,the form. That would be pretty mean!

Sadly, that's where we are. Yes, the only person that mom is hurting by this is her own son. So DH and I are trying to figure out how we can get around her.

[Anonymous]

Call the college. They want to keep the student enrolled, so they will help you figure it out.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how significant a gap you're facing between last year's bonus and the current one, but wouldn't it make sense to put the entire bonus towards the spring semester and then make monthly payments until the full balance is paid? Kind of like a down payment and installments?

If the mom is going to be a bitch and not fill out the forms (for which it sounds like it would be irrelevant anyway because FAFSA for this year is already complete) and dad wants to keep paying, then he just has to find a way to get it done.

[Anonymous]

Most schools have installment plans run by third parties. I would advise that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most schools have installment plans run by third parties. I would advise that.

We done the 3rd party installment plan before. But the plan we were offered just divided the full tuition by 4 months. I need to be able to push the payment to the following year or allow us to make smaller payments over the course of 12 months, not 4.

[Anonymous]

Is putting it on a credit card an option? Regarding the fasfa - when DS decided he was going to "have fun" his freshman year, we refused to pay for more fun the sophomore year. He had to take loans ( basically taught him a lesson ) anyway, we filled out the fasfa not him.