It’s the time of year where college students go online and enter tax information in hopes of receiving some sort of financial aid from the government.
FAFSA usually requires you to have your parents’ tax information on hand.
This process is never easy; there is always one step that is complicated and creates even more stress to the thought of finances.
If you’re like me, your parents make enough money on paper to be able to contribute at least $10,000 each year to your college tuition, or so FAFSA estimates.
However, for most people, that is not the case.
Realistically, my parents are not able to pay for \any of my college.
They help out where they can, but it is nowhere near that estimated amount.
The government just assumes that parents are scooping out around ten percent of their total income a year to pay for their child’s college.
FAFSA does not take other expenses into consideration, like home, car and other payments.
So, being a student whose parents are calculated to give me $10,000 a year is hard when that is not the case.
I am told that I should be getting this certain amount from my parents, and because of that I do not receive any assistance other than loans.
I understand that any amount helps, but it is not fair for the government to assume that my parents are contributing a certain amount; they don’t even have that much in their savings.
I think FAFSA needs to take into consideration the amount of money parents/guardians have in their bank accounts, their expenses and their past contributions to their child’s college finances.
If that were the case, I would likely receive a little more financial assistance and not be in debt.
My parents are in their 60s.
They need to start saving for retirement, because they will not be able to work full time or as often as they currently do.
If they give all their savings to me for my college tuition, they will have nothing left over for when they do retire.
I am not saying my parents don’t do anything for me; they do a lot to make up for the fact they cannot contribute directly toward college, and for that I am grateful.
However, I live on campus or near campus for most of the year, so why does FAFSA need their financial statements in order to give me financial aid?
Even if a student is not claimed as a dependent, there is a very high chance they still need to use their parents’ finances.
It just does not make sense.
They should only take in my tax information, and then I can also add in my parents’ contributions throughout the year for FAFSA to see what financial assistance I realistically need.
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