Anyone in college ? Got a question for you …UPDATE

Question

Trying to go back to college and I applied for financial aid (waiting to hear back) I can’t find the income guidelines anywhere. It’s like they do things differently now. Last time I applied I didn’t qualify but I’m hoping with inflation I might make it this time. Does anyone know what they look at ?
I’m married, have 2 children. In my early 30’s. My husband is the only one working right now. On the 2021 tax form he was working and I had a tiny bit of unemployment income. I’m trying to start the winter quarter so I applied for financial aid yesterday but maybe I should have waited til oct? Idk how any of this stuff works. Would my aid amount be higher if I waited til the winter aid opened ? I thought I might make it to the fall quarter but that starts on Tuesday and looks like it’s not happening for me.

Answer

So when you completed the Fafsa on the confirmation page it gave you a number called efc I think it’s economic financial contribution is what it stands for if you can pull up your sars report it should be on there if you log in. The closer you are to 00000 the better. The higher the number the less you quality for. Depends where you are going. Community college or 4 year school. State school or private. They factor in the cost of the school as to how much they give. Community college is your best bet finance wise. 5600 per year verses  20k-60k per year. Do your first 2 years at community college and the. Transfer. Avoid loans if you can. In community college there is your federal aid and 3 types of state aid. Eof educational opportunity grant, regular state and ccog community college opportunity grant. As well as scholarships every company has to reduce their tax liability. Check with Human Resources to see if they have a tuition program. For instance if you work for Amazon they cover your tuition with a voucher. Or 80/20 program or percentage paid by the grade you get. There’s a huge book that Barnes and nobles sells the big book of scholarships you don’t have to buy it just take pictures of the ones that apply to you. Costs you paper ink and time. Some are income based. Some are not. Might just be the only one that applies. What financial aids looking for is your age 24 and over you are independent or if you have kids or married. Otherwise it’s your income plus your parents or spouse divided by the number of people that are on the taxes. Classes now are using 2021 taxes. Unless you had income change then there’s special circumstance form. Death, medical expenses, change of income. Unemployment to recalculate income like you had 2 jobs and only have one now etc. another option is to collect unemployment and as then for a tuition waiver and they cover your classes as well as financial aid. Ccog is 60k or less per household they cover like 1300. What they are looking for 10k per person on the taxes to get the most money. Based on necessity. Financial aid is based on 12 credits full time they reduce your award 25% per every 3 credits that you don’t take. Payment plans make sure you start it early. To take advantage of the number of payments available. More payments available the smaller they are each month versus 50/50 closer to when the semester starts. Fall they start in April or Maura. For spring they start in mid November. Don’t get your books on campus much cheaper online slugbooks website is a comparison website just get the isbn number and see where it’s cheaper. And school is tax deductible if you pay out of pocket up to 2500 the first year and they reduce it 25% up to 4 years you can claim it or your parents if they are paying and you are still a dependent of theirs. Always do your financial aid early they do an opportunity grant per semester when you do it early. 400 per semester they open financial aid for 2022 tax year for next fall late October. Any more questions. Let me know.

Answer

It’s kind of a lot, are you single? Married? A dependent? Do you have dependents? This all factors into it. Most people qualify for loans though