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I've heard conflicting things about this and am hoping someone here with experience will know the answer.

Our Expected Family Contribution is very high, due to the fact that we own some rental properties and their value is counted as part of our assets. However, my husband and I are older than most parents of high-schoolers and are within 5-10 years of retirement. This real estate is meant to be part of our retirement assets and we don't want to sell it now for college tuition.

Since our EFC is so high we do not expect our son to qualify for any need-based aid, which is understandable. However, we have heard that unless we fill out a FAFSA, our son will have no chance of ever receiving any type of loan. And since financial circumstances can change at any time due to unexpected things like death or job loss, if we DON'T file a FAFSA by the deadline, we won't have any grounds to request that it be reconsidered if that happens.

Is there any disadvantage to filing a FAFSA and a PROFILE and checking "yes" on college applications that ask whether we intend to apply for financial aid even though we know we won't qualify? Would this affect our son's admission chances? We're totally confused...

By Evil_Robot (Evil_Robot) on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 05:52 pm: Edit

I'm in the same situation...

My parents own some property, and are fairly close to retiring. My suggestion is that you fill in the FAFSA anyway.

By Vadad (Vadad) on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 08:16 pm: Edit

To be able to qualify for the PLUS loan program (which allows you to borrow up to the entire amount of your child's projected college costs on VERY favorable terms, and which is not need-based) you have to file the FAFSA. All colleges know this, of course; can't imagine that checking the "I'm applying for aid" box would affect the admissions decision. Most of the applications say expressly that they are just asking that so they can tell the Financial Aid office to send the forms.

By Bbgordy (Bbgordy) on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 11:56 am: Edit

We apparently have high EFC too -- based solely on our income, not our assets. (I don't feel, or live rich, but I guess we are.) My question is -- should we defer some commission income until next year so that it isn't on this year's taxes? But it will be on next year's taxes, so does it really matter? And is that okay, or is that cheating? Thanks

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 01:33 pm: Edit

IT is Ok to defer income, its legal to do it for tax purposes, it seems legal to do it for finaid.
HOwever many schools offer best package freshman year as incentive, may not offer as much subsequent years, so ask about if deferring income is a good idea with the schools on the list.

By Tsdad (Tsdad) on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 04:09 pm: Edit

I knew that we had no chance to qualify for sfa because of our income, but I did fill out the forms. I want my son to take out an unsubsidized Stafford loan, which is in the name of the student. My son is going to a very expensive school and I wanted him to "own" part of the process by being responsible for some of the cost. There are no income requirements, but parents have to fill out all the forms.

By Freak4korn72 (Freak4korn72) on Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 06:51 pm: Edit

Im kinda stuck in a rut here. My dad is close to retiring too, within 5 years as well. The college of choice is $41,000 a year. He put down EFC as about 7,000. I'm sure they will find a way to make it more than 20,000. (Available income after taxes is 60,000ish but my dad puts money into retirement, car payment, and others so its probably even lower) Im just really worried I wont get any in aid when I'll really need it

We own a farm but the only thing we grow on it is tobacco that we dont make any money off of or have people work on it or anything (all recreation basically) and its shared between 3 siblings. I think the "profit" was $6 last year


any ideas, im really worried about it.

By Freak4korn72 (Freak4korn72) on Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 07:04 pm: Edit

Im applying at Cornell so if anyone got Financial Aid from Cornell and would like to tell me how much I could expect, email me. I'd appreciate it

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 08:55 pm: Edit

Cornell is an IVy with need based aid only- don't understand comment about EFC is $7000, you will get from FAFSA what they figure your EFC to be. It is true that income is counted more than assets, debt not taken into consideration as much as you would think, however allowances are made for years from retirement, and other dependents.

I am not an accountant, but if after taxes you have $60,000 available, it sounds like you have more than $6.00 available in profit. I understand that farms are expensive to run, but see if you can guesstimate how much is available after business expenses. Finaid.org has a calculator to estimate EFC, and will give you an idea of how much need the colleges will see.

By Freak4korn72 (Freak4korn72) on Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 10:44 pm: Edit

Thanks. My dad only wants to spend $7,000 a year so on the app for financial aid where it asks how much he thinks he could afford he put $7,000. I am certain that the EFC calculators will say more of $15-20,000. The farm being more recreational pretty much only takes money for gas and water and the basic stuff like that. Its not really a business is what im trying to say, but we still filed the form for it just because. I just hope I dont get screwed over on it.

By Freak4korn72 (Freak4korn72) on Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 11:21 pm: Edit

Ack, yeah I really dont think I explained my situation right. My dad is an electrician for GM, he made about $80,000 last year and I estimated after taxes it was about $60,000 (before retirement, car payments, bills, etc). We inherited my grandpas farm, it is split 3 ways between family so each owns 1/3. Someone grows tobacco on the farm, I dont know who though, but the profit is so minimal that the expenses we pay on it pretty much cancel it out and then splitting that up 3 ways we literally only made $6 last year. But that doesnt include any of the personal recreation like gas or water to the trailer we have on the property.

With that being said car payments are $9,300 a year (leased cars), and then you've got the usual retirement, bills, insurance, etc. I dunno I just reall really hope I can get a fair amount.. but like I said above I hope I dont get screwed over. (But again, I also think my parents would be considered to contribute a little more too)

By Massdad (Massdad) on Friday, November 07, 2003 - 09:05 pm: Edit

Freak, good news bad news:

The bad: your family is overcarred. $9k for car payments is rediculous. By next year when my D starts, we will have two paid off cars, one 4 years old, one 14. The latter will not be replaced for some time, sigh. But that's the price of education.

The good: If you explained that the farm is not an income producing asset, not sellable, and your share not lendable, they may cut you some slack. You may want to contact a fin aid office now to discuss the situation. Be direct.

Just remember, you cannot expect the school to subsidize your parents wheels. They need to downsize or economize.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Friday, November 07, 2003 - 10:35 pm: Edit

FAFSA will estimate your EFC as being higher if that income is mainly from one parent rather than 2, in our experience
Not that it is going to make you feel any better but this is what our experience has been.
My husband makes bulk of money about $55,000 before taxes. I have a flexible job, but I am not paid much right now. Our EFC has been between $12,000 & $13,000 for the last three years. We have no car payments, our cars are both 12 years old. Minimum insurance, retirement accounts etc. Assets don't seem to count for as much as income. We also have another daughter, and a great deal of expenses incurred with her, however, debt and bills do not matter either, unless you perhaps have extraordinary bills ( like paying for a transplant without insurance coverage for example)
Private schools seem to be a little more flexible than public, and while we do have to beg, borrow and steal ( jk- only borrow) to even meet the EFC, the bulk of aid has been grants. We decided it was worth it, someone else may decide that they don't want to be so heavily in debt this close to retirement. perfectly sane choice, but no one forced us to take out loans, and we will probably move to a much cheaper area to retire anyway.
Thats the other thing- when FAFSA figures cost of living, they seem to lump all areas in state together. An urban area where houses are appreciating 30% a year, is the same as a rural community where you could get a 3000 sq foot home for $100,000.
Perhaps some day their figures will be more up to date, but they barely have increased income for Pell Grant eligibility, so I am not holding my breath
good luck and remember money for grad school is more available

By Freak4korn72 (Freak4korn72) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 01:19 am: Edit

Massdad, yeah I thought that was a lot more excessive. But when I looked over the monthly payments and calculated it into years thats what I got. We're doing a 3 year lease on a 2003 GM truck and a 2003 Envoy.

Anyways, I think im going to stop analyzing how much money I could be eligable for or whatever the estimated EFC will be, because it could or could not be anywhere near my guess. Or even worse I could possibly not even be accepted and then I wouldve wasted some stress. So i'll just wait to see what they say. Except when I do visit in December i'll try and see if I can talk to someone in that department

By Ricanitalian69 (Ricanitalian69) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 05:57 pm: Edit

My parents had a high EFC as well when I applied for undergraduate school. However for some merit scholarships (those that are based on GPA and high merit VS. need) we found that we still needed to apply using the FAFSA as some of these scholarship programs based on merit were sometimes funded partly by a federal program. My advice is apply, but don't expect miracles. I received a deans scholarship and had to do the FAFSA every year. It is a pain in the butt but I am glad I got something out of it!!! Good luck!