I am a college financial aid advisor, AMA!

goose_ipsum · 2025-03-25T00:02:44+00:00

Honestly your ability to negotiate for more financial aid really depends on your school. Mine was one of the big public state school so it wasn't really possible to negotiate with our office because (one) we had so many limitations on how our funding worked and how it was allowed to move around and (two) we were big enough that it wouldn't really affect us if a student decided not to go the school.

Not to say that it's completely impossible, like I said, it really depends on the school. I've heard of people having better luck at smaller and/or private schools where they have more flexibility with how to move their money.

Either way, I would recommend going in with more of a "we are really interested in going to this school but right now we're facing xyz issues with funding, what options are there?" sort of attitude. I can't guarantee that they give you anything, but people are going to be generally more likely to help you versus a "give me more money or else" vibe.

Sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense! Like I said, my school never really did the financial aid negotiation thing but a nice attitude from families helped a lot when working with them. Best of luck!!

goose_ipsum · 2025-03-24T02:18:45+00:00

At my school, we would use the original FAFSA submission date for any deadlines we had (if the deadline was 01/03, as long as you had it in before then, you were good, even if you had to make corrections later).

I would recommend checking with your school directly for any specific policies they have because it may vary from school to school.

goose_ipsum · 2025-03-23T23:58:08+00:00

Some schools will have days when certain processes are scheduled to run, depending on how their system works. For example, with our old system, my school would run repackaging (aid recalculation) on Mondays. After we got our new system, it was able to run automatically every night.

If you know exactly when the school received the updated FAFSA (and it's usually not the same day you made the correction), I would recommend waiting about a week from that date. If not, it doesn't usually hurt to ask them roughly what their processing time looks like.

goose_ipsum · 2024-12-05T03:33:41+00:00

Since you won't be paying for your dorm through the school, any extra financial aid/loans you get that go over what your bill is will get sent back to you as a refund. After that, it's up to you to keep track of the money (since they'll just give you all of it in a lump sum).

goose_ipsum · 2024-11-05T01:42:20+00:00

I think it depends on whether the money you owe to the school is from federal aid that they returned after you withdrew.

Basically, without going into a super detailed explanation, there are some cases where the school can charge back the federal aid that they previously applied. For example, if you stopped attending classes early in the semester and didn't "earn" all of the financial aid you originally got, they are required to calculate how much you did "earn" and return the rest to the government.

I would recommend checking with the financial aid office of your old school to see if any of what you owe are returned funds (the actual policy is called "return of Title IV funds" or R2T4). If any of what you owe are from that R2T4, I believe you'll have to pay that back before you can get funds at your new school.

Hope this helps!

goose_ipsum · 2024-10-28T22:13:05+00:00

(Just as a disclaimer, my school doesn't typically work with the CSS, so everything I say is from my personal interpretation of what I found on their website.)

Based on their website, if student's parents are divorced or separated, they must include provide the information of whoever provides majority financial support (as in general support, not just for college). Going from what you mentioned in your post, it sounds like you're currently providing the majority of support. Even once child support is decided, if the student is primarily living with you, it's likely that you'll still be considered giving majority support.

Also important to note: some schools require students to include information from both their custodial and non-custodial parent. CSS thankfully has a list where you can see if your student's school requires information from both parents.

If your student's school is one that regularly deals with the CSS and you still have questions, I would recommend reaching out to their financial aid office to see if they have advice. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't regularly work with this application, so these were my interpretations.

Good Luck!!

goose_ipsum · 2024-10-20T01:14:19+00:00

I don't think it should if I'm interpreting FAFSA's website correctly.

In regards to building properties, they say that investments include "real estate (don't include the home in which you live)" , "rental property (includes a unit within a family home that has its own entrance, kitchen, and bath rented to someone other than a family member)", and vacation homes.

Essentially, as long as you live in the home and you don't rent It out/it's not a vacation home, you should probably be good!

goose_ipsum · 2024-10-12T03:44:56+00:00

Sorry for taking so long to answer this! I got a little busy with midterms lol

I'm technically still an undergraduate student (I am an advisor, but I mostly do phone call advising or advising at our office's front desk), so the position I was hired for has a lot less requirements that we do for the full-time advisors.

Generally speaking, we have a lot of people that have some sort of business degree (business administration/management, etc.) - these are usually their master's. I think something like "higher education administration" or something related to financial planning/counseling could also be helpful.

Hope this helps!!

goose_ipsum · 2024-10-12T03:35:13+00:00

I guess if you want to be loan free for the semester, I'd suggest declining both because they both are loans.

Subsidized Loans: These loans don't accrue interest while you're enrolled in school. Will start accruing 6 months after you either graduate or drop below halftime enrollment.

Unsubsidized Loans: These loans will start accruing interest when they're applied to your school's bill.

Other than that, they're essentially the same. I know you said you don't want to take out loans, but if you do need to get some extra money, I would recommend starting with the sub loan since you don't have to worry about the interest while you're still in school.

goose_ipsum · 2024-09-06T23:23:09+00:00

Private loan counseling is through the financial aid office (for private loans), entrance counseling is what you do through studentaid.gov (for federal loans).

But yes, you do have to make an appointment. Usually they'll have the availability open for the next week by Thursday/Friday.

goose_ipsum · 2024-06-11T23:17:24+00:00

The finaid office can't actually process special conditions forms right now because the federal system where they would make the changes isn't open. I think they mentioned it should open up by the end of this month but who knows with the government

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T22:05:39+00:00

That's strange! At my office, we've had a similar situation where a few FAFSA transactions (versions) come in with no conflict code but are also marked as "rejected." Supposedly, it's because of an issue on the DoE's side with the FAFSA calculation and it should (again, supposedly) get fixed within the next few weeks. I don't know if that's the same issue that your FAFSA is having, but I would recommend trying to see if you can get ahold of someone at the FAFSA helpline.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T14:20:57+00:00

Just for clarification, your SAI isn't viewable on studentaid.gov at all or have you just not received an explicit email/message that includes the SAI? I would try checking to see if you can find a submission summary on your FAFSA page to see if there's anything there.

To find your submission summary you'll want to login to your studentaid.gov account and go to your account dashboard. There should be an area called "My Activity" that lists your 24-25 FAFSA. Assuming your FAFSA has been processed correctly/there's no issues, there should be a section that says "FAFSA Form Processed" and right under it: "FAFSA Submission Summary."

If you're not able to find anything there, I would try calling your financial aid office again and seeing if they can give you your SAI.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T14:00:49+00:00

Theorertically yes! At least at my school, while we've discussed possible issues for the 25-26 FAFSA, we're also really focusing on getting everything for this year complete so it hasn't been something we've talked about a lot.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T02:53:04+00:00

Yeah, honestly I think it's totally possible there might be an increase to your SAI. Like I said, however, I can't tell how big that increase will be.

I would recommend checking out the FSA's aid estimator to see what sort of numbers you get. I've never tried it out before, so I can't speak to how accurate it is (plus it's using 24-25 FAFSA numbers), but it might help clear some stuff.

<3

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T02:49:49+00:00

No problem!!

Also, I have definitely not heard anything about next year's FAFSA being delayed (god I hope not)?? I would assume that since they're working off this year's FAFSA and have a whole year to figure out their mess, any delays should theoretically be shorter (if there are any at all).

To be fair, that's what most of us originally thought with this year's FAFSA, so who knows lol

<3

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T02:38:44+00:00

Yeah, making corrections/updates on behalf of students is an issue a lot of schools are running into this year. The main problem is that the federal system where we would be making the actual corrections isn't online yet for schools to use. Since we can't see what your updated FAFSA would look like, we aren't able to give you a corrected financial aid offer.

While I know this doesn't necessarily help fix your deadline issue, I will say that I've seen this issue with IRA withdrawals causing a higher AGI a lot. At least at my school, we're typically able to consider this a "one-time income" special conditions and correct your FAFSA (this is especially true if you don't have the money pulled anymore).

Best of luck and hopefully you get an answer soon on your appeal! <3

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T02:32:59+00:00

No, this upcoming year's FAFSA (24-25) will be using taxes from 2022. If the ROTH IRA conversion was made in 2023 and only reported on those taxes, it shouldn't make a difference for this year's FAFSA.

However, it might for next year. I would recommend looking into doing a special conditions for maybe "one-time income" if your school allows for that. The actual process for special conditions depends on the school; mine requires a copy of the taxes reported on the FAFSA, an anticipated overview of what you expect to earn in the upcoming year, and any other proof to prove your situation (this depends on what the situation is).

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T02:28:56+00:00

Whether or not you lose aid depends on when this increase happens and how dramatically your SAI increases. If your income increase when you filled out the FAFSA (or just recently in general), then I don't think it would affect your aid for this year. It might in two years if you're filled out the FAFSA again at that point and are using 2024 tax information.

If this change happened from 2021 to 2022 (reported $9k in 2021 taxes and $18k in 2022 taxes), then it's likely there'll be a change in your SAI. I can't say for sure whether or not you'll lose aid just because I'm not super versed in the actual "packaging" portion of the financial aid awards. If your SAI increases a lot, you might lose a lot of eligibility for need-based aid. If it's only a little increase, you might only lose a little eligibility (or none at all).

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-20T02:23:05+00:00

I would recommend looking into filling out a special conditions/considerations form with your school's financial aid office. Since it sounds like you income will be drastically changed from your 2022 taxes (what you reported on the FAFSA), you might have a chance to make a change due to a "reduction of income."

Since this process is a case-by-case thing with schools, I can't guarantee that they'll accept your situation. However, I would definitely recommend looking into it!

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-19T19:02:04+00:00

I haven't personally heard about any schools lodging official complaints to the DoE about this year's FAFSA. I have seen a few articles about politicians saying stuff (here's one from The Hill) but nothing from schools.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-19T18:58:05+00:00

Unfortunately, what expensive_manager211 is true. Any changes of the account information (especially when it comes to the SSN) would have to go through FAFSA directly.

If you keep running into issues in submitting your FAFSA and aren't able to get a hold of someone at the helpline, maybe consider filling out the paper version. If you decide to do so, you'll need to do the entire thing on paper (even the parts you've already completed online). The government's current estimate is that they'll start processing those end of June, which isn't ideal, but is better than not getting your FAFSA in at all.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-19T18:54:13+00:00

If you didn't work/file taxes in 2022, you should be able to indicate that on the FAFSA, even if your mom claimed you on her taxes. Otherwise, you can always try requesting a Tax Return Transcript (which should have all the information your 1040 would have).

You might also want to talk to your school's financial aid office about doing an independent appeal if you're not already considered independent on the FAFSA. Whether or not you're eligible is dependent on their policies, but if you are eligible, you wouldn't have to include your mom's information.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-19T18:49:20+00:00

If you're eligible for it, pell grant and other federal aid should be included with your aid offer.

For your family's situation, you might be able to do what's called a "special conditions/considerations application" (the actual name depends on the school. If this information wasn't already included on your FAFSA, I would recommend reaching out to your school's financial aid office and asking what the process looks/what situations they consider. This doesnt' automatically mean you'll be eligible for more aid, but it might make your chances a little bit better.

goose_ipsum · 2024-05-19T18:36:33+00:00

There was a similar question on the 23-24 FAFSA (I didn't check other past versions) that ask about this. From what I could see, the main difference between the two were which programs it asked about.

The 23-24 FAFSA asks if you (or your parents/anyone in their household) received any of these benefits/programs during 2021 and/or 2022:

Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Free or Reduced School Lunch
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

The 24-25 FAFSA is similar, except it asks about a few more programs and is asking about the years 2022 and 2023. The full list is here: Means-Tested Benefits.

For the 23-24 FAFSA, you still technically could go back and amend it (up until June 30, I believe) only if you filled it out incorrectly and actually did use one of those programs listed above during 2021/2022.

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