5 Big Financial Aid Lies

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I am 40yrs old. I stay with a friend in a completely different state then my only living parent. I am unemployed and have been for two years. Im applying for financial aid, and FAFSA gave me an EFC 0f 00035. I have yet talked to financial aid, What should I be aware of ? And can they loop hole my mother into this somehow ?

James of FL 10:32AM September 20, 2012

Let's see...I'm average middle class, my daughter is not a scholar, we are not veterans, or hispanic, or German, or handicapped, or any of the thousand categories where you can apply for scholarships..based just on any one of that criteria and more of which we do not qualify. My husband and I work hard...did not get financial aid and have to get out huge loans for my daughter's education. Meanwhile...those sitting on their butts get lots of aid that I am paying for!!!! Go America...

Mary of PA 3:50PM July 17, 2012

If you are middle class and have a stable family situation and work hard to save for college, you are punished by receiving a low EFC and do not receive any aid from a public school. If you don't save, you must take out expensive loans. From the students I have known to be receiving free tuition, the answer is to get divorced or live with a partner who doesn't show up on the FAFSA. Must we break up families now to afford college?

Mom of IL 5:54PM July 09, 2011

The poor get the aid, the rich write a check... the middle class parents receive loan after loan after loan. FAFSA is inaccurate, and does not take into account living expenses or pending education loan debt.The system stinks for middle class people. Remember folks, the coast of college is waaaay beyond tuition, and room and board.

nancy of PA 10:20AM February 03, 2011

My child takes courses online because she is a working woman and takes courses that will allow her to get a headstart when she "retires" from the police at age 45.
The University (a state college) gets $1000 per 5 hour course on line. This is a crock since it is programed teaching that one programer writes and HUNDREDS are charged. College is making out like a bandit.
My grandkids have 529 plans, and I am not keeping up with the rate of increased cost by contributing $5000 per year each!

dennis of AL 9:00AM December 08, 2010

This article hits all the ups and downs of funding your education through financial aid.
First we are told to earn our education, yet we have to jump through hopes and be put through the grinder to earn it. Next, there is no guarantee that when you earn your degree, you will be working in the job we spent $$$, time, energy, years of sacrifice, sweat, and tears to earn.
Cost of living expenses including tuition, fees, books all have gone up at least %50 if I'm not mistaken, and yet the laws the qualify for pell grants are stagnant using an unrealistic formula. Making it more accessible to take out student loans to complete one's education. So the system seems to set one up to fail.
Julia of NY and Kimberly of VA, I share your frustration and disappointment. I wasn't able to return to school until I was 24. I'm now 40 and facing the real ageism in the work field.

frustrated and disappointed of TX 10:11AM August 21, 2010

Edfed.org helped me stay informed and directed me to information for scholarships, grants, and private loans. Making school affordable. Making more time to concentrate on what matters. School.

Ed Federali of FL 2:30PM August 15, 2010

I attend school online to a traditional school outside my home state. I think it's ridiculous that school tuition, fees and books are as expensive as they are today. I lost my
job 2 years ago which resulted in my decision to go back to school. For one the gov't needs to look at the way money is wasted by the bad online instruction and flunkees. Charging students for on campus fees when they never attend cause they live out of state (like me). I have to take a loan out just to cover the extra the school charges. This summer my school told the two campuses that they are not processing financial aid for books because FA will be disbursed on Friday and school starts Monday. This poses too much stress for them. What a joke! Books have to be paid by cash/check or credit card and most of us don't have it because we can't get hired anywhere. Nor do we have the credit cards to utilize. A lot of students who are independent & jobless rely on financial aid 100%. Instructors able to get away with inappropriate academic conduct and can fail us in a blink, it's a shame.

Kimberly of VA 11:29AM June 03, 2010

So what about people whose parents refuse to play the College Aid game at all? I was removed from my home by child protective services at an early age. When it came time for college I was surviving barely above minimum wage. My parents refused to provide their tax forms or to even consider paying for my education, so I provided only my own. Although I was 18 and very poor I was turned down for aid, even loans (it was the 80's and parental co-signers with assets were required at the time). The reason? It was assumed that I was middle class by the zip code my parents lived in. I was told that my parents income and assets could be considered until I was 25 years old. Guess how old I was when I was finally able to apply to college? Good guess -26.
As the result of this system I spent long years in terrible temp and kitchen jobs with no benefits and poor pay. I finally finished the degree 10 years later to the tune of $60,000 in debt. And no, I did not "pass up" the opportunity to go to a community college or state school. State schools would not provide aid and I had no "extra" money to pay tuition out of pocket. I had to go to the only one that would make it possible to pay the fees with loans. I finished with a 3.8 GPA when I was in my 30's, just old enough to be told that I was aged out of all entry level business jobs. This country should be ashamed of what it does to its children. It's rapidly creating an underclass that it should fear.

Julia of NY 1:33PM May 11, 2010