Comments on: Is the FAFSA Fair?

By: spidermonkey

spidermonkey — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:29:54 +0000

I am a parent who makes a decent income, but also is raising a family in a very high-cost area of the country, with 7 dependents. The fact that this is a very high cost area of the country doesn’t seem to factor into the FAFSA calculation. Our family lives frugally, but we are not in poverty like you see in Haiti. We consider our family as solidly middle class, nothing more. $80k/year income might provide a lot in many rural parts of the country, but in many urban parts of the country, this is barely enough to put a roof over ones head, and food on the table. We have two children entering college next year and our calculated EFC made both me and my wife laugh—what a joke. We are not expecting hand-outs for our children to attend college, just an opportunity for some help, like work-study or low interest loans. No handouts expected here. Anyways, we have no expectation of any need-based help now. We both have come to the conclusion that the FAFSA is simply a tool by the progressives of this country to redistribute income, and not to provide true help to those who are living responsibly.

By: Wiseguy

Wiseguy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:49:26 +0000

Like several people here (i.e., Edwin et al.), my parents are middle class but actively chose not to contribute to my tuition. The FAFSA calculates your family’s wealth with the assumption that said financial resource will be tapped. Due to my family’s comfortable status, I didn’t qualify for any aid whatsoever. Thus, I was left to pay $32,000 annually out of my own pocket, even though I had only earned a few hundred dollars in my life at that point! Thankfully, I had about $14,000 in academic scholarships, but it still came up well short.

By: Jenille

Jenille — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:24:06 +0000

The FAFSA is extremely flawed. I remember in college, my friends who were “poorer” than me got a nice, hefty financial aid package…sure their parents made less than mines but why was it my friend was the one driving the Mercedes and carry around designer bags and here I was with a part-time job because I was doing work-study and wanted to start saving for my post-grad hefty student loan bill. It just goes to show it doesn’t pay to be middle-class because we always get SOL. Even more so, you can’t get financial aid even if your parent refuses to fill out the FAFSA…so too bad, so sad to the students with parents who make money but can’t put anything to their college education.

By: Wiseguy

Wiseguy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:18:47 +0000

Sure, but “rich kids” is not the same as “kids with rich parents.”

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:32:55 +0000

Probably best to stop complaining. Rich kids have so many more advantages to help them get into college and through college than poor students.

By: MD

MD — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:35:55 +0000

That’s good to hear Edwin. He’s really going to appreciate the money once it starts coming in.

By: Edwin

Edwin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:17:14 +0000

I’m extremely confident he will be fine after college. He’s getting a masters in accounting and then his CPA. I’m also confident in his abilities to actually pass the tests, hes been doing well since he went part time. We live in Utah and the unemployment situation here is far less severe than the rest of the country so the job outlook is pretty positive.

By: MD

MD — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:12:59 +0000

Your story really puts things into perspective. Whenever I want to complain about school or being busy, I need to read over this story.

Do you think your co-worker will be able to increase his income/find work after he’s finished college?

By: MD

MD — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:06:43 +0000

All I will say is THANKS Ryan & Edward! Due to my location I’m not too familiar with the topic and you guys really bailed me out/helped another Studenomics reader.

AB- Any time you have a question just ask away. If I can’t help I’m sure someone reading this can.

By: Edwin

Edwin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:40:25 +0000

The one example I have is a co-worker of mine. He worked at the same place I worked except he was full-time. He was also going to school full-time. Nearly every semester he would get low grades in class because of his crazy work schedule (he is also married with a family and has church obligations). He had to retake about half of his classes the first few semesters because of this. And this guy didn’t do poorly because hes a moron, he just didn’t have the time to dedicate to schoolwork.

He was forced to work full-time because of his family obligations. Granted if he were single and didn’t have a child he probably could have gotten away with part time work. The problem is that we shouldn’t force people into putting their lives on hold just because they want to go to college.

Well now he is nearly done with school finally and a lot of it was thanks to their family moving back to their parent’s house and cutting down expenses like crazy. This allowed him to only work part time and focus the rest on school.