How the heck can my older son get financial aid for college??

[albireo13]

My 26yo son has gone back to state university, to pursue a bachelors degree. He has been on his own for years now, holding jobs and renting.
He has virtually no savings ... maybe $1K.

Still, he has gotten very little true aid from the University. In-state he is paying ~$32K/yr. He has gotten $2500 grant and $17K in Fed loans.

I don't get it. His total income last year was < $40K. Being 26 and independent, our income and assets should not be factored in.
He didn't land any scholarships this year. Hopefully next year he will have better luck. He will be applying to as many scholarships as he possibly can.
He is also doing some work-study to help out but that is not big money.



What does he have to do to get some amount of need-based aid
This sucks.
Any good suggestions/advice??

[ocean view]

Did he complete a FAFSA application for himself (based on his earnings) and have it sent to his university?

[bclover]

Also after he does what @oceanview said (and that's a very important step). Have him meet with the financial aid officer.

My son went to Temple and every time we sat down face to face with an FO our outcome was much better.

Also be aware that many colleges consider loans as financial aide. Next see what classes he can take at community college. again I would sit down with university to double, triple check that any classes he takes will be transferable but my kiddo knock out 18 credits at cc. that alone was a significant savings

[youbet]

Do his university and major lend themselves to co-oping? Not talking summer jobs or internships here, rather true co-oping. It worked out well for our son. It took five years to complete a BS (mech eng), but 50% of the time he was working and earning a jr eng salary.

[albireo13]

Yes, he submitted his own FAFSA. I told him to not include any of our assets or income in his FAFSA, only his.


He did meet with the Uni financial aid office but, they were not that helpful. They just pointed him to the financial aid and scholarship list on their web site.


To his credit, he has been networking with professors and has a work-study position lined up starting in January but, it doesn't pay big bucks. Plus he is doing part time work on weekends.

[albireo13]

I understand that most schools consider loans as aid.
I don't. It's just a form of debt.
he could go to a bank and get a loan no problem.


So, if he were to do 4 years at $33K/ea, and given student loans for it all, he'd be rewarded at graduation with starting off $132K in debt ... before his first day at work!!


Yup, that's our nation's definition of student "aid".

[RunningBum]

You start off the thread implying you don't understand why he can't get aid. Then less than an hour, you say you understand, you just don't agree with loans being considered aid.

Sounds to me like a thread of whether we should have free or heavily subsidized colleges. Seems like a political topic.

$32K seems awfully expensive for an instate school. I don't think there are any state schools with tuition over $20K. Maybe he needs to look at reducing living expenses. Where is he going?

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by albireo13 I understand that most schools consider loans as aid. I don't. It's just a form of debt. he could go to a bank and get a loan no problem. So, if he were to do 4 years at $33K/ea, and given student loans for it all, he'd be rewarded at graduation with starting off $132K in debt ... before his first day at work!! Yup, that's our nation's definition of student "aid".

Wouldn't borrowing 100% of his college expenses for four years be imprudent? Not really a very good example.

I realize your son is 26 and has been living on his own, but you could still kick in a bit just as though he was 21 and still living at home. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but school financial aid offices are wary of students claiming to be living independently but still young enough that the bank of mom and dad is likely still there for them.

When your son talked to the financial aid folks, does he show a resume where he's been away from home and working full time to support himself for the last several years?

[always_learning]

I'm trying to wrap my brain around the 32K a year at an in-state school. Is this just tuition or is room/board figured in this figure? I still have one in college at an in-state uni and tuition for next year is going UP to $8,600. Books, etc, are extra. That's just tuition.

Is there any way your ds could transfer to a less expensive school? In all honestly, that is the best way to manage higher education costs.

The next best way is scholarships. Have your ds comb through the school's lists for obscure ones.... there may even be one for non-traditional students (a.k.a. older students). Most of these are open for applications for NEXT fall already, and others will open starting in Jan and run through April... each one has a different date.

Have him check with his current employer to see if they offer a tuition-reimbursement program.

He should also check for *departmental scholarships*. These usually open for applications beginning sometime in January and are separate from the offerings in the school's main list. We didn't know the kids had to apply for them separately, and have to apply each year, until one was heading into in senior year (grumble grumble).

The work-study is a start. In addition to being a TA, being an RA in the dorms is also an option if the cost reduction in dorm/apartment rent would be of help, but if the figure you gave is tuition only, then the RA position wouldn't help.

Going back to scholarships, he should also look outside of the school for offerings.... Chick Fil A, Best Buy, Coca Cola, etc. Many will stipulate they are for entering freshmen, but there are others without those limitations. Also, your local cable company, utility company, and local small businesses sometimes offer scholarships. Google is a great help in finding those, as are some of the big scholarship aggregator sites.

Oh, yeah, many professional organizations offer scholarships, too, so check those. If your son's major has any such organizations, have him apply for the student membership. This allows him to apply for the scholarships and he can put his membership on his resume if he so desires.

Also, has your son considered taking some CLEP exams? These were a big $ saver for us. One child had enough CLEP credits to knock out more than one semester of classes. Not too shabby!

How about community college classes? Your son's school should have a list showing what they will accept and what each class will count for. This also saved us a lot of money.

[albireo13]

I should have said that I "recognize" that schools consider loans as aid.

Some people also believe the earth is flat. That doesn't make the earth flat.

I just don't understand what it takes to get need-based, non-loan aid. Just frustrated.

A fellow I worked with has a son who got full-boat college education at Harvard, from athletic scholarships by being on the rowing team.


This is UNH and in-state tuition alone is ~$19K. Add room and board, fees, etc and it goes up to $33K. Maybe he should move off-campus and rent. Moving back home would be hard since it would be a long drive to the school.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum You start off the thread implying you don't understand why he can't get aid. Then less than an hour, you say you understand, you just don't agree with loans being considered aid. Sounds to me like a thread of whether we should have free or heavily subsidized colleges. Seems like a political topic. $32K seems awfully expensive for an instate school. I don't think there are any state schools with tuition over $20K. Maybe he needs to look at reducing living expenses. Where is he going?

[Big_Hitter]

ROTC should cover it

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by albireo13 A fellow I worked with has a son who got full-boat college education at Harvard, from athletic scholarships by being on the rowing team.

Ivy's have athletic scholarships now? They didn't when I was accepted to Brown.

[Philliefan33]

I’ll play devils advocate here. Why should other people’s money pay for your son’s college education? That’s what scholarships and grants are— money from someone else.

There are ways to decrease the cost (community college, choosing a lower-cost university) and ways to help pay for it (working full time while going to school part time, GI benefits, ROTC, co-ops).

There’s been many threads about how people have paid for their own or their offspring’s college. One of ours chose a school which offered her a substantial merit-based scholarship, the other was a full-pay student at an in-state university. Both schools were selected with the financials being a key factor.

My youngest is currently in a DNP program that costs about $30K per year. She grosses about $58K per year and is fully supporting herself, so will soon need to take out loans to pay tuition (she had the first year covered by some savings). While it would be nice if “our nation” wanted to give her some free money, it’s not going to happen. Nor should it. Her education, her responsibility.

[target2019]

Establish residency in Europe, and get a free ride? Probably not.
Try these tips.
https://www.bankrate.com/loans/stude...lege-for-free/

[albireo13]

always_learning.
Thank you those are good ideas.




We certainly don't want him to borrow 100% of his costs. That was just a point of argument.


He has been living on hos own for 5 years now, trying to start his own business in landscaping and also working for other landscaping companies.


I'm going to start helping him sniff out scholarships. Taking some courses at community college is a good idea we will be pursuing as well.

[target2019]

Our son went to a desirable school, and took it upon himself to find work on/off campus, and moved off-campus to save us money.

Still, he had about 24K of loans, which is not bad.

Daughter went to in-state school, and used community college to fulfill some requirements. Still, had about 24K of loans, and she worked during school to help pay them off by graduation.

[ncbill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter ROTC should cover it

Or have him join the National Guard:

https://state.nationalguard.com/new-hampshire

https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2015/06...-top-6-million

https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2016/11...guard-students

[Amethyst]

Mr. A. lived off-campus with roommates, and loved it, and he had a full academic scholarship to Penn State. Never paid for tuition after the first semester. He was a bit older than the other students, although not as much as your son.

The off-campus rental worked because he was friends with one roommate, who brought along a third guy so the rent was cheap. Cheapness was important b/c Mr. A. 's mom was scraping by as it was.

Quote:

Originally Posted by albireo13 I Maybe he should move off-campus and rent. Moving back home would be hard since it would be a long drive to the school.

[ExFlyBoy5]

A former law school classmate sent me a screenshot of her payment notice from the loan service contractor. The first thing that caught my eye was the CAPITAL BOLD STATEMENT that said, "WELCOME TO REPAYMENT" (uh? What? How about welcome to HELL!?!?!) but that was soon forgotten when I saw her monthly payment is $1572.00. Oh. My. God. Thanks to the GI bill, I have no such monthly statement.

[Spock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by albireo13 I understand that most schools consider loans as aid. I don't. It's just a form of debt. he could go to a bank and get a loan no problem. So, if he were to do 4 years at $33K/ea, and given student loans for it all, he'd be rewarded at graduation with starting off $132K in debt ... before his first day at work!! Yup, that's our nation's definition of student "aid".

The median student loan debt in 2016 (latest stat available) for a BS degree is $25,000. Only 7% of current borrowers have at least $100,000 in outstanding debt. If you're forecasting 132K in debt, somebody needs to look at whats driving it that high.



One place to start is 33K/year is 63% higher than the 2018-2019 non-resident tuition, room and board, and books ($20,226) at my alma mater... shop around for a better deal.