973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 31, 2016 15:01:21 GMT -5
If you can pay the full amount, you can pay the full amount. If you want them to consider your son for financial aid, you can always indicate what percentage of your income the tuition represents, and that you are a single mom. Yeah, I know that's the right answer....just sucks. They keep pushing how much grant money they have to give out and how so few pay full fare even though I know a lot are wealthy, but the financial aid application asks questions like how much credit card debt do you have and how high is your car payment. Seems like I'm getting penalized for scrimping and saving and not taking on debt. While engineers and doctors are getting grants me with an AGI of 25K pays full fare. I would read it as they want to know how much is the most you could pay. If you say zero and they know they would have to use their grant money to pay the whole thing they might move on to someone who can at least pay something. If you have a $25K agi I would think most of it would be used for regular living expenses. But do they ask about child support for him? I know on the FASFA it asks about all child support. That has to stink to be the kid whom CS gets paid for and have FASFA say it has to be used to pay for the one going to college first.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 15:17:24 GMT -5
Yeah, I know that's the right answer....just sucks. They keep pushing how much grant money they have to give out and how so few pay full fare even though I know a lot are wealthy, but the financial aid application asks questions like how much credit card debt do you have and how high is your car payment. Seems like I'm getting penalized for scrimping and saving and not taking on debt. While engineers and doctors are getting grants me with an AGI of 25K pays full fare. I would read it as they want to know how much is the most you could pay. If you say zero and they know they would have to use their grant money to pay the whole thing they might move on to someone who can at least pay something. If you have a $25K agi I would think most of it would be used for regular living expenses. But do they ask about child support for him? I know on the FASFA it asks about all child support. That has to stink to be the kid whom CS gets paid for and have FASFA say it has to be used to pay for the one going to college first. But, I could pay it all. I've been saving for him to go to this school for 6 years instead of buying a new car. My dilemma is just say screw the application or pay the $30 to get turned down because I said I could pay it all. They do ask about child support too, from any kids in the house.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 31, 2016 15:21:48 GMT -5
I would read it as they want to know how much is the most you could pay. If you say zero and they know they would have to use their grant money to pay the whole thing they might move on to someone who can at least pay something. If you have a $25K agi I would think most of it would be used for regular living expenses. But do they ask about child support for him? I know on the FASFA it asks about all child support. That has to stink to be the kid whom CS gets paid for and have FASFA say it has to be used to pay for the one going to college first. But, I could pay it all. I've been saving for him to go to this school for 6 years instead of buying a new car. My dilemma is just say screw the application or pay the $30 to get turned down because I said I could pay it all. They do ask about child support too, from any kids in the house. You could pay all 4 years out of your income? If you can and it is like here where it costs $12K a year would you like to adopt my DD who is in college? She won't have to live with you and based on your income you won't have to pay anything for her college. I would pick a percent that is doable on your income and leave out your savings. You could have a problem and need that to keep a roof over your head. They probably won't expect anyone to drain their savings to pay for HS. But IMo paying for it should at least be partly the families responsibility even if they don't make much. I think that is what they are getting at.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 15:35:34 GMT -5
But, I could pay it all. I've been saving for him to go to this school for 6 years instead of buying a new car. My dilemma is just say screw the application or pay the $30 to get turned down because I said I could pay it all. They do ask about child support too, from any kids in the house. You could pay all 4 years out of your income? If you can and it is like here where it costs $12K a year would you like to adopt my DD who is in college? She won't have to live with you and based on your income you won't have to pay anything for her college. I would pick a percent that is doable on your income and leave out your savings. You could have a problem and need that to keep a roof over your head. They probably won't expect anyone to drain their savings to pay for HS. But IMo paying for it should at least be partly the families responsibility even if they don't make much. I think that is what they are getting at. Well, they're asking for just the one year. It's only 3K/year right now. Two years ago an anonymous benefactor pledged to pay half of all tuition for every student in the Catholic system here until 2020, so high school dropped from 6K to 3. I think the boarding school still pays 30K. I do have enough in savings to pay for all 4 years. However, the first thing they sent me in the application email was the link to the financial aid site saying how they gave out over 345K in grants last year. I guess there are a lot with several kids in the Catholic school system though. If you have 4 or 5 that you're paying on it can add up.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Mar 31, 2016 15:51:46 GMT -5
Is it possible that they are using a third party to either evaluate the financial aid applications or using a third party form. This is what happened when DD was in private grade school. When I was struggling with some of the questions and contacted the school I found out that they did not even use that particular question. They had a third party evaluate the forms based on their criteria but every private school that used this third party had the same form.
After the private school financial aid form the FAFSA was a walk in the park.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 16:01:13 GMT -5
Is it possible that they are using a third party to either evaluate the financial aid applications or using a third party form. This is what happened when DD was in private grade school. When I was struggling with some of the questions and contacted the school I found out that they did not even use that particular question. They had a third party evaluate the forms based on their criteria but every private school that used this third party had the same form. After the private school financial aid form the FAFSA was a walk in the park. It's definitely a third party form. You pay one $30 fee and they send the info to whatever schools you put on there.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Mar 31, 2016 19:12:19 GMT -5
MPL I know you may not like this answer but at this point, given your son's strengths and weaknesses, I think HE needs to make the decision of where he goes to HS. But, there are consequences for every decision, and he is old enough to assume them, I think.
There are have been some good points raised: - if he goes to the private school, he will have much more financial help with college - if he decides he doesn't like that private HS, he still has the option of going to the public HS
The other way around, not so much.
As you know I have 4 kids, and I found that 3 of them were VERY realistic about their goals and abilities. DD, not so much. She would have stayed in bed for the rest of her life if we had let her. We didn't, we did "railroad" her into getting a Bachelors degree she never dreamed of getting.
But your son is academically smart (when he wants to be), so that's not the issue for you.
If you still feel that the private school is best, and your son is willing to go there, I would tell him, just try it for a year. If you're unhappy there, you can switch. Maybe you can even bribe him with something affordable if he's still on the fence.
But if you say that, you'd have to be willing to keep that promise. One year at the private school that you visibly prefer. But then, if he wants to go to the public HS, you'll need to let him (or convince him to stay where he is, but you can't override his decision, IMO.)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 20:20:56 GMT -5
MPL I know you may not like this answer but at this point, given your son's strengths and weaknesses, I think HE needs to make the decision of where he goes to HS. But, there are consequences for every decision, and he is old enough to assume them, I think. Oh, this was 100% his decision. He was all gung ho about the public high school and after being thrown for a loop for a bit I decided the whole bigger is better thing might work for him and as long as he was happy and yadda yadda, about the time I'm planning what to do with the tuition money, the private school comes along and woos him over. They let him get seconds at lunch, play in the band, mess with the 3D printer and sent him home with a school shirt and the next thing he's all about the private...which is where we were originally intending on sending him.
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geenamercile
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Post by geenamercile on Apr 1, 2016 8:33:25 GMT -5
Which place is better for him? Putting all of your and his dad's dreams/issues/etc aside, try to figure that out. I'm operating on very little sleep so I apologize if I'm not making sense. This is the hard part and why I was kind of hoping he'd just hate one or the other. I envy those parents that seem to know their kids so well that they can confidently make these kinds of decisions. Me, not so much. I just want to say that I may seem like one of those parents who confidently make decisions for my kids. I hold two Masters degrees in Education Fields, and I have friends come to me a lot to talk about decisions for their children. I still question, worry, and get scared shitless that I am making the wrong decisions with my children all the time. I think it is just a sign of being a great parent who cares deeply. Give yourself some slack.
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geenamercile
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Post by geenamercile on Apr 1, 2016 8:49:11 GMT -5
I would read it as they want to know how much is the most you could pay. If you say zero and they know they would have to use their grant money to pay the whole thing they might move on to someone who can at least pay something. If you have a $25K agi I would think most of it would be used for regular living expenses. But do they ask about child support for him? I know on the FASFA it asks about all child support. That has to stink to be the kid whom CS gets paid for and have FASFA say it has to be used to pay for the one going to college first. But, I could pay it all. I've been saving for him to go to this school for 6 years instead of buying a new car. My dilemma is just say screw the application or pay the $30 to get turned down because I said I could pay it all. They do ask about child support too, from any kids in the house. I would base how much you can pay on the amount you are saving each month instead of going straight to the savings. If you feel like that is to low maybe put in a little bit from the savings. But over all I wouldn't use the savings in my calculations.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Apr 1, 2016 8:59:00 GMT -5
I agree.
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beergut
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Post by beergut on Apr 3, 2016 1:45:50 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure he'll turn out okay whichever way you decide.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2016 9:36:15 GMT -5
Well, DS has been meeting with the social worker weekly the past month or so and last night I met up with her to go over his care plan. As with everyone that has met him, she started out by saying he wasn't what she expected he was going to be at all. In fact she was really impressed with him. She said she's never met an 8th grader as aware of his own self as he is and able to articulate it to someone else so clearly. He's had evaluations for depression and anxiety and scored very low on both. The only thing that had even a slight elevation was social anxiety but even that was below a level that would be considered for needing any kind of therapy. They're going to continue working together through the end of the school year and maybe through the summer with the goal of reducing the score on his social anxiety result.
I told her, "Now you know why I have a hard time believing he's going to self harm?" and she said yes, she doesn't believe he is a suicide risk at all and his blurting out things like he wishes he was dead and so on are just his go to responses when he is frustrated and his brain shuts down. They're going to work on techniques for him to cope before he gets to that point, not sure how far they'll get in a few months. Once he starts at the private school he's off the state grant mental health dole unless they can bend some rules down at the clinic.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on May 21, 2016 10:29:42 GMT -5
Buy your car. You'll qualify for more tuition help
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 8:45:48 GMT -5
Buy your car. You'll qualify for more tuition help But I don't want to buy a car! I'm dealing with van issues now and am in denial. I'm afraid to take it in and find out it's going to be a crazy expensive fix. A few weeks ago all the warning lights came on and turns out it was low on oil. Like crazy low. Filled it up and it was fine for a few weeks, then it happened again a few days ago. oil was a little low, but not bad. It is not due for a change and has been to the dealership for every one prior and they've never said it was low at any change. There are no puddles on the floor and it doesn't stink like it's burning it. I don't know where the heck it's going! Plus, don't know why the lights keep coming on. I had the codes read and it's low oil and oil pressure gauges. I know it needs to go in, it's just a pain for me to take it and not have a vehicle. I really need a spare. One that can pull my camper would be nice.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on May 23, 2016 10:11:41 GMT -5
Yes, but if you do, buy one that'll pull your camper and keep the other one as a spare.
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