Help w/student loan...Was all set, lost grant now need $3500 student loan & have bad credit...

[GolfNut]

This is for my DW...I will cosign for her only as a last resort...

 

She has lower-mid 500s...Several recent baddies...We're working on her money management and credit...

 

The back story is that she applied for fafsa and got $3500 in grants and the rest covered in financial aid...They processed my 2004 tax forms and discovered our household made too much money and pulled her grants...The strange part is, we got married in March of THIS year, why would my taxes from 2004 matter since we weren't married then?...She spoke with both fafsa and her school and they said it's standard policy to look at 2 year old tax forms...She went to college today and F.A. forced to sign a loan app (I guess it was another F.A. vs a bank/installment loan...No idea what lender it was) and she got denied because of bad credit...They're now telling her she either needs $3500 or a cosigner by next monday or she can no longer attend college...

 

What I can't understand is how FAFSA works by pulling 2 year old spouse tax forms...I also can't understand how she got approved for like $16K, now unapproved for $3500...Anyone have any advice or know where I can find a place that would approve her for F.A?

[LynnInMN]

Something is rotten here....your income has nothing to do with a 2006-2007 FAFSA if you were married in March of 2006. This should be based on HER 2005 individual tax return. I will check with my contacts in the AM.

[GolfNut]

I feel this is rotten too...

 

I found out she appled for citizens bank through sallie mae and got rejected...She also got rejected for a state program...The college is also requesting my 2005 taxes now...

 

Thanks a million for looking into this...

[LynnInMN]

Ok...just talked to Jen. She says because your wife checked off the married box, she is automatially being lumped into the married category which goes back on the taxes. You need to talk to FA and do an appeal since the marriage was so recent. Basically the FAFSA application needs to be manually adjusted and she is pretty sure that the FA office can do it. She is checking into it more. One suggestion she made was to say that you guys only met at New Years and got married in March. Either way, they should not be checkiing your taxes. Go higher up in the FA office if you have to.

[GolfNut]

Ok...just talked to Jen. She says because your wife checked off the married box, she is automatially being lumped into the married category which goes back on the taxes. You need to talk to FA and do an appeal since the marriage was so recent. Basically the FAFSA application needs to be manually adjusted and she is pretty sure that the FA office can do it. She is checking into it more. One suggestion she made was to say that you guys only met at New Years and got married in March. Either way, they should not be checkiing your taxes. Go higher up in the FA office if you have to.

 

Thanks for the info...

 

I called FAFSA to ensure MY '04 taxes were required prior to reading this post...They said it was standard policy...What you and your contacts makes sense, we're getting lumped into the the marriage category when we shouldn't be...

 

The F.A. side of the school is very disorganized...So far we've only gone through the original rep and their supervisor...We were told the super is as high as it goes, but I'll still try to find someone higher...

 

Is there at all, any kind of a source to what you're saying? I just want some firepower if they say "nope, married is married, that's the category" Or "that's not true, where did you hear that"

 

Thanks again!

[GolfNut]

Just called the supervisor's supervisor...

 

She said she's never heard of an appeal or a manual adjustment before...She's going to research it...I got their supervisor's name which I'm told is on vacation all week...

[LynnInMN]

Jen is trying to find some more information. What she was told so far is that the FA officer should use "professional judgement" (this is a somewhat official FA term) and do a manual overide.

[GolfNut]

I spoke to lowest of the supervisors and asked about the professional judgement (she knew what it was)...She said she'll look into it and gave me a call back...She said she did a some research and couldn't find anything...She said MAYBE if we would of got married after she did fafsa a professional judgement would apply...She said she called fafsa and they said the same thing they told me, marriage equals the past two years of household income...She said inorder to persue this angle, I'd have to have someone in writing stating otherwise (that one doens't need to go back 2 years for household income)...I haven't given up on this angle, but if there's anyway you or Jen can post any sort of website, it would really help...

 

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, on the DW's end...I was laid off on 1/5/06, I collected unemployment for 6 monthes and just started a new job 7/6/06...I made about $12000 GROSS so far this year with some residual income from my last job and unemployment...My DW made the same so far, $12000 GROSS...The F.A. person says a major income change can be submitted as a professional judgement request...She says that the people who approve the professional judgements are in Atlanta...She says we have nothing to lose if we want to get some paperwork together and submit it to the Atlanta dept...

 

I guess I should probably speak with the Atlanta crew from now on about the marriage angle, although I don't have the atlanta number...

 

The other question I have is where can I find out the income disqualifer? If it's $50K per year per household, we're hovering right around this mark since we're extremely close to $25K at the 6 month mark...With my new job, I'll be over $50K next week...

 

Thanks a million Lynn, you've helping us find some alternatives...

Edited July 18, 2006 by Bacardi