“ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A MOOSE?”
BEING A FINANCIAL AID DETECTIVE AND
MAXIMIZING OUR AVAILABLE RESOURCES
Facilitated by Jeanne Mott, Baker University
October, 2011
RMASFAA Conference, Missoula, MT
Recommended Resources:
Federal Student Aid Handbook
Institutional Policies and Procedures
Counselors and Mentors Handbook
NASFAA Guide to Professional Judgment
Department of Health and Human Services Poverty
Guidelines
Department of Education Publication on Funding Education
Beyond High School
Current year FAFSA and FAFSA on the Web
Current year EFC Formula Guide
Current year ISIRS Guide
NASFAA Guide to Using Federal Tax Returns in Needs
Analysis
IRS Publication 17
COD Technical Reference
SARS Comment Codes and Text
Department of Education Resources available on IFAP
NASFAA CORE Materials
Department of Education Electronic Announcements
NASFAA Encyclopedia and Self-Evaluation Guide, NASFAA’s Compiled Regulations
Blue Book – Accounting/Recordkeeping/Reporting
Cohort Default Rate Guide
Program Review Guide
We all know that families do not fit into the little boxes on the FAFSA form.
However, sometimes the situations presented by the family appear very complicated. One course of action is to divide and conquer: try to break down the situation into parts, separating out circumstances that have no impact on the results from those that are representing conflicting data or special circumstances to be researched.
Common situations we face:
Both parents file federal taxes as head of household and claim the same
dependents
Divorced parents claim they both provided 50% of the support and the
student lived with both parents exactly 50% of the year
Clarifying who can be included in the household size
When are changes in income due to personal choice?
Requests for changes to the FAFSA results due to special circumstances
A student claims to be self-supporting but is not independent by federal
definition
Realistic Situations: What Would You Do?
David comes to your office inquiring about additional financial aid available. He explains that his parents’ home was destroyed by the recent tornado. Before the disaster, his parents were writing the check to cover the remaining balance due each semester. Now both of them are unemployed due to the city-wide disaster, and they can no longer help him with his college expenses.
Susie will be a junior this upcoming academic year. She is 21 years old, and was independent the previous two academic years because she was married. In January of this year, she divorced and moved back home with her parents. She and her husband filed a joint tax return for 2010, with a joint income from work of $25,000. $2500 of the income was from Susie’s federal work study job.
Andrew is18 years old and will be a freshman 2011-12. In 2010, his father received a $10,000 bonus for being the company’s top salesperson. In addition, Andrew’s mother appeared as a contestant for a quiz show and won $5000, which was reported on the tax return. His father does not anticipate receiving a bonus in 2011 because the company is down sizing. The mother’s $5000 was all used to pay off a car loan, so none of the money remains available for education. The parents estimate their 2011 income will be around $48,000, not the $60,000 they earned in 2010.
Cassandra meets with you concerning her parent’s divorce situation. She explains that her parents are sharing the same household to save expenses, but they truly are divorced.
Shanna will be a graduate student this year. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in English, she had a difficult time making her Stafford Loan payments. She had been employed off and on as a teacher prior to 2010, and fell behind on her loan payments.
In 2009 she was laid off from her teaching position, and stopped making payments on her student loans, leading to default. In 2010 she became employed full-time and now wants to pursue her master’s degree. She has fully repaid her previously defaulted loan and wants to borrow again for her graduate program.
A homosexual independent student was denied financial aid initially because of a failure to meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress standards at your school. The student has submitted an appeal in writing, explaining why his grades were so bad the past semester. The student explained he is homosexual, and his companion has AIDS. His grades suffered partially because he spent a great deal of time caring for his companion. Both sets of parents have disowned them, so there is no support provided by either family. The student has submitted documentation from a clergy and friends, plus medical documentation of his companion’s condition.
Hannah’s FAFSA was selected for verification. She schedules an appointment to discuss the forms sent to her for the verification process. When you explain that parental information plus student information is required, she explains that her grandmother has raised her since she was five, her mother had not made contact with her for over 10 years, and her father is currently in prison.
Richard’s mother has submitted a special circumstance request based on the parents maintaining two separate households. The parents are happily married and have two children. The mother lives in Kansas with the children, but during the week, the father resides in a house in Oklahoma; he comes home to Kansas only on the week-end. This situation came about as a result of a job change for the father, and the distance is too far for the father to commute daily. The parents do not want to uproot the children and move everyone to Oklahoma until Richard’s younger sister starts college in two years. The father earns more money. The special circumstance request is for special consideration to be made for maintaining two households, OR, for basing Richard’s aid eligibility only on the mother’s income since she is the parent he lived with the most during 2010.