Results 1 to 17 of 17

Thread: Financial Aid

  1. #1
    Veteran Member Stipperella's Avatar
    Joined
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    628
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post

    Financial Aid

    Why wondering if anyone can guide me in financial aid info for school. Is it true that financial aid only covers so many semesters and then you can't get any more financial aid? So should i put off using my financial aid until i really need it? Also besides financial aid can someone explain or direct me to a site where i can learn more about grants, and scholarships. Anyone care to share "how they paid for college" stories? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
    Member Xmacknmadix's Avatar
    Joined
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Houston
    Posts
    51
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    fafsa

    heres that web site. i dont think thats true. i have it and get it as long as im going to school. you get a certain amount dependin on whether you are full time or part time. you get classes, books and any supplies needed for school. At the end of the semester if you have money left you get cut a check for that amount. i got a grant but it ask if your interested in grants or loans or both. well goodluck

  3. #3
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    227
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    usagovernmentgrant.org

    grants.gov

  4. #4
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Just a tiny reminder that gov't sponsored student grant/financial aid applications ask questions about 'family' income and report grants/financial aid payments to the IRS. Colleges also report the amount of money spent on tuition to the IRS. These have the potential of opening a 'Pandora's Box' of IRS questions if your reported income, the income reported on your grant/aid applications, the amount of money you spend on tuition, and the average cost of living in your zip code area don't jive.

  5. #5
    Member
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Location
    SW Ohio
    Posts
    68
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    I know a lot about this subject, more so than many FA advisors. PM me -in detail- regarding your situation and what you want to accomplish and I can tell you the best way to go.

  6. #6
    Member
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Location
    SW Ohio
    Posts
    68
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    There is a cap on the total FA/student loans that you can recieve, but it is quite unlikely that you will reach it, unless you go to a very expensive school for a very long time. Even then, you can pay down your loans and take out more. As far as I know there is no cap on Pell, but after you earn your first BA degree you become ineligible for Pell. One thing that is nice to know is that the financial information you give to your school, does not go to the IRS or is compared against any official file. For example, you could fill out a blank 1040 or tell your school that you did not file as you did not make any money that year and they wouldn't have a way of knowing otherwise. Now, obviously you shouldn't lie about your income because that is fraud, but I thought it was interesting to note this.

  7. #7
    God/dess cinammonkisses's Avatar
    Joined
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Some Fat guys Lap!
    Posts
    9,647
    Thanks
    11
    Thanked 90 Times in 67 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Quote Originally Posted by Stipperella
    Is it true that financial aid only covers so many semesters and then you can't get any more financial aid?
    You'll be fine ok. Financial aid is covered for as long as you need it, and you keep those grades up. Now, depending on your state, you may have limited access to how long you can get grants given by your state. OH and PA share this i know for a fact. What state are you in? I'll find out for you.







    Some Douchebag: "[Pimp C] 12:43 am: its true we got to stick together the black people on SW CK you is teh condoleeza of SW"


  8. #8
    God/dess montythegeek's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    2,103
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 9 Times in 5 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Your school, no matter what the size, has a Financial Aid Office. No offense to Amelia's knowledge but the FA Office has an incentive to make sure you get the right info so they can get paid. Schedule an appointment with them. They may also know local sources of loans and grants (with knowledge of local bank options) and you can deal with them face to face.

  9. #9
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    One thing that is nice to know is that the financial information you give to your school, does not go to the IRS or is compared against any official file
    The school itself doesn't forward personal income info to the IRS, but TAP and PELL do report the amounts of any grants. And the school does report the amount of total tuition paid to the IRS (legal requirement for about the past 3 years). The school itself does not do any comparisons, but rest assured that the IRS does. The IRS can also easily request that TAP and PELL forward to them personal info from grant applications if the IRS computers find reason to start waving red flags.

  10. #10
    Veteran Member Stipperella's Avatar
    Joined
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    628
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    o.k. i started filling out my financial aid form on fafsa, why does it ask you for all your parents info? you can't skip that part either. Why do they need this info? what if you don't live with your parents?

  11. #11
    God/dess cinammonkisses's Avatar
    Joined
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Some Fat guys Lap!
    Posts
    9,647
    Thanks
    11
    Thanked 90 Times in 67 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Quote Originally Posted by Stipperella
    o.k. i started filling out my financial aid form on fafsa, why does it ask you for all your parents info? you can't skip that part either. Why do they need this info? what if you don't live with your parents?
    Then you will need to file independent. First off to qualify for independent you must be either 1) married 2) have a child 3) be 24+ yrs old. If none of these apply to you, and you are really on your own, then you will have to write an appeals letter. You will have to talk to your schools financial aid office to see what steps they require for that.







    Some Douchebag: "[Pimp C] 12:43 am: its true we got to stick together the black people on SW CK you is teh condoleeza of SW"


  12. #12
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    230
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Generally they want your parents info because they don't want to end up giving financial aid to the kid of a millionaire who has no income simply because he/she doesn't work.

    I guess they figure that if some how you have pissed off your millionaire parents to the point so that they won't pay for your colllege that is your problem, one of your own creation and they are not there to fix that.

    Now if you meet those above exceptions, that may be a differnt story.

  13. #13
    Member
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Location
    SW Ohio
    Posts
    68
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    They won't approve an appeals letter unless you really have some extreme circumstances. "My parents don't want to help me" or "I live on my own" won't cut it. "I haven't seen either of my parents in five years, and don't know if they are alive or dead" may get through. You'll need a relative to back this up. Or if you were abused by your parents and raised by a relative they might accept that too.

  14. #14
    Member
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Location
    SW Ohio
    Posts
    68
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    If you were in the military or a ward of the state then you are also considered independant.

  15. #15
    Member
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Location
    SW Ohio
    Posts
    68
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Quote Originally Posted by montythegeek
    Your school, no matter what the size, has a Financial Aid Office. No offense to Amelia's knowledge but the FA Office has an incentive to make sure you get the right info so they can get paid. Schedule an appointment with them. They may also know local sources of loans and grants (with knowledge of local bank options) and you can deal with them face to face.

    Of course they have an incentive. But unless she wants to go to that specific school she won't get much help. If she knows what school she wants to go to she can work with them. But she still look into things herself. Even FA advisors miss things. I know FA advisors who have forgotten to award students Pell that they were due, and most of the time they will not go out of the way to help students find additional funding apart from what is standard at the school. Most of the time the student doesn't know the difference. Nobody is perfect. FA advisors are not paid that well and they aren't judged based on the number of students that go to school. And that is just for proprietary schools, I don't know how it is on the university level. It is probably worse.

  16. #16
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Stripperella, 'legally' speaking, unmarried college students under the age of 24 are usually not considered to be 'emancipated' from their parents. Thus financial aid eligibility is contingent on family income ... your parent's income plus your own income. From an IRS standpoint, unmarried college students under the age of 24 are usually considered to be 'dependents' of their parents, which reduces the parents' tax liability but increases the student's tax rate (if the student files and pays income taxes that is).

    When a student files for financial aid, and includes the necessary financial information for both the student and for the parents on the application form, a link is formed between the student's finances and the parents' finances. If for some reason, the student happened to be a dancer, and that student chose not to report her dancing earnings as taxable income to the IRS in order to maintain eligibility for financial aid, and if for some other reason the IRS should discover the existance of that unreported dancing income, then not only the dancer but the dancer's parents will find themselves in a world of trouble for filing a fraudulent student aid application to an agency of the US gov't.

    Furthermore, if for some other reason the IRS should discover the existance of unreported dancing income, both the dancer and the parents' taxes are likely to be audited - with a high probability that the parents will be found ineligible to have claimed the student/dancer as their dependent if the dancing earnings comprised a significant percentage of the parents earnings.

  17. #17
    Member Poppy Corn's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Cali
    Posts
    35
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Financial Aid

    Here are the things I really wished I knew before attending college:

    1) Your student contribution is 1/3 of what you made the previous year. Let's say you're in hs 2004-2005 and make $3000 at your 2004 summer job full-time, you are expected to have $1000 for the 2005-2006 school yr for tuition. This is regardless if you plan to actually work at all 2005.

    2)You are considered a dependent until you are 24 by the school unless you become emancipated by a court. This seems counter-intuitive because you are over 18, but it needs to be done if your parents have a high income. There is a case of a NYU student whose parents were millinionares, and he blogged living homeless in their library. The school gave him housing with a "why didn't you tell us" attitude after it was brought to their attention. You need to tell them and constantly, they may not actually hear a hard case the first time, i.e. you need to write several appeals letters if you can't go to court.

    3) You have to ask for a Pell Grant a lot of the time you qualify. How much money the office has for these grants depends on the number of low-income students it has that yr. This results in a surplus a sometimes in the spring (or nothing some yrs), and if you are in a worse (low-income family) situation when you entered in the fall than you were the previous fall, they will dispurse it to you if you ask for it. This is the bordeline case situation.

    4)I came from a middle class divorced family, which became a low income household. If your parents are divorced only report the income of the one claiming you on the tax return. This will decrease your "parent contribution" and is especially important in the case of a dead beat parent. Your parent can only claim you if their support is more than your financial aid and you do not make a significant income for yourself.

    5)If your grades are above avg, they will give you aid for a 5th yr for study abroad, second major, or mental need to underload. If your grades started high and you burn out, they will wave withdrawal "rules" and allow you to take a year off and return with aid. You have to ask for this, a lot of times see the director, otherwise they claim they will not offer it to you if you are not actually in the situation. They would rather see you graduate in 5 yrs than not at all, especially since grad rate directly affects their rankings.

    6)File your fafsa every year, and understand that your previous year's earnings affect your amount of aid. If you decide to start stripping as a sophomore and need the money for anything on paper, your finaid will decrease for your junior yr. Your best bet is to start dancing or making money at the end of your junior, which is after the fafsa for your senior aid is filed. Work study decrease grants given in many situations, too - make sure you check.

    I hope this helps. The financial aid office has more money than it will admit to for endowment purposes. You have to plead a hard situation before the director, not a counselor, but they will always help when the need is made crystal clear.

Similar Threads

  1. Stripping, taxes, and financial aid. HELP!
    By yekaterina113 in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 12-03-2010, 06:39 PM
  2. filing for financial aid as a stripper??? help!
    By audrey_k in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: 06-08-2009, 09:32 PM
  3. Financial Aid
    By Stevie3k in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 05-01-2009, 09:23 AM
  4. Student in need in financial aid advise..help!
    By Hypnotic2269 in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 11-11-2008, 08:45 AM
  5. dancing vs. Financial Aid
    By in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 03-17-2003, 04:56 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •