FAFSA and yeshiva tuition

amother

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 7:35 pm

Hi, I'm wondering if any more knowledgable imas can help me out with this.
My son's yeshiva (bais medrash ie post high school) asked me to fill out the FAFSA because they might be able to get funding for my son if we qualify. I know we don't qualify for Pell Grants, are there any other sources of funding we could qualify for?

Thanks for any information.

amother

Scarlet

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 7:40 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Does the yeshiva offer college credits? Keep in mind that if your son decides to go to college he can't get any grants if they were used already for yeshiva.

finprof

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 8:03 pm

Pell grants can be renewed for 12 semesters, I doubt he is planning in staying in Yeshiva longer than that.
The FASA checks your eligibility for a variety of Federally sponsored loans and grants. Most middle class families receive Stafford loans and Parent Plus loans which offer a lower interest rate that those available through private sources such as SallieMae. The student is expected to repay the Stafford loan and the Parent repays the Parent plus loan.

amother

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 11:03 pm

Hi, thanks for the responses. One of my concerns is that if they do tap into any sort of grant, that will reduce what might be available for future college study.
We are not going to be taking out loans at this point, nor do they expect us to.
So, that leaves me with the question, if we do not qualify for pell grants and we are not taking out loans, are there other sources of grants we could be eligible for?
Or will this be a waste of time filling out forms that won't lead to anything?

amother

Chocolate

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 11:19 pm

It’s just a waste of time. Yeshivas want everyone to fill out Fafsa because maybe there are some families that don’t realize they are eligible and yeshivas want all the money they can get!

amother

Hotpink

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 11:23 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

It's a very valid concern. Yeshivas don't bring that up during a discussion. You can only get the Pell Grants for 6 years (12 semesters), and if you use most or all of it for the yeshiva years, you won't get any assistance for college.

cnc

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 11:40 pm

I would not fill it out.
I know people that did and when they applied for funding years later when they were in college , they did not get any because it was used up. They had not realized that this is how it works ....

amother

Crimson

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 1:34 am

cnc wrote:

How is that possible? I needed a discounted rate on tuition. So the school sent me a FAFSA form to fill out. They gave me a $3k break (down from $12k to $9k). They did not write anything about funding from other sources. I did not sign anything about grants. It was just a form with questions to fill out my financial information and they called it a FAFSA form.

cnc

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 2:19 am

amother [ Crimson ] wrote:

https://studentaid.gov/sa/fafsa

FAFSA provides grants from the federal government.
If you try applying for college and all your funding is used up , you will not get grants .

It sounds to me like the school applied (and received money ) on your behalf.

amother

Amethyst

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 3:47 am

Are you offering to pay full tuition for Yeshiva or are you just denying them funding that you could be eligible for?

Otherwise, I don't see how you can tell them they can't federal money because you may want to use it somewhere else.
Why should a college get it and not the yeshiva?
They have expenses also. They just don't charge as much because they rely on other funding.

amother

Mauve

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 8:19 am

My dh's family did this for his four years in yeshiva. Because Pell grants can only be renewed for six years, we had to pay for my dh's college tuition completely out of loans after the first 2 years. In our case, my dh did not even know that his parent was filing out FAFSA for him or the ramifications of it because his family is not into childrens financial education. We found out after marriage while we were filling out FAFSA forms that he had an account and owed 10k. The 10k was because they also took out loans in his name for him to take a few courses at an expensive college, the classes weren't in his major because no one thought to ask for help. You should speak to your dc so that he understands the ramifications of using FAFSA now and give him the choice while understanding your financial limitations. Thankfully, we are paying them off and we are both paid well. While we were in college and working, this felt like a betrayal because you should not be signing forms in your dc's name without him understanding what your committing him to. It's all in his name, not yours.

cnc

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 10:49 am

amother [ Mauve ] wrote:

This.

amother

Pewter

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 10:57 am

I just wanted to chime in that not only did it use up the pell grants we would’ve been eligible for, but somehow the yeshiva took government subsidized LOANS in my husband’s name. I don’t think his parents realized what they were signing. As long as he remained a ‘student’ we didn’t know about it. When he officially left yeshiva (kollel) we were informed THAT WE OWED MONEY FOR THE LOANS.
MIL had no idea what we were talking about when asked. If you are going to sign papers for your child to owe money, make sure he is okay with owing that kind of money.