Financial Aid For College

[newlife2007]

We are in a waiting period of about 2 more months before we file for bk.

We have a daughter that is entering her second year in High School and in a few years will be looking at Colleges. Has anyone ever dealt with the financial Aid issues when applying for your child's college education, after filing bk ?? Would they penalize her in any way ??
I am thinking that it may help compared to still owing a huge amount of debt and being late on most accounts !!

[JRScott]

Not had this.

However most people can qualify for decent home loan 2 years after bankruptcy, so it might not be a huge impact at that time.

[SinkingFast]

Our kids, all 3, are in college.

We fill out the FAFSA every year but unfortunately you need to be dirt poor to qualify for any type of Aid other than Stafford Loans.

Fortunately for us, our kids are going to Community College right now. The Stafford Loans they get is enough money to pay for their Tuition bills. Now that all 3 are in College, the Stafford Loans are Subsidized. That means the Federal Gov't pays the interest that accrues while they are in school. They all work PT jobs and save up to pay for books and fees.

We've gotten mailers about Parent Plus Loans but I didn't even bother applying. We filed BK, and Parent Plus Loan approval is Credit driven. No way we'd qualify, we thought.

THEN, I read at a Parent Plus website,........... If you apply for Parent Plus and are denied, it may not be the end of the line. If you have extenuating circumstances, you can go in to your your Child's Financial Aid Office and file an appeal of sorts. Explain your situation. Financial Aid Offices have the discretion to make differing decisions on a case by case basis.

So if you don't qualify for Parent Plus based on Credit,........ And you make more money than is typically allowed for State or other types of Aid,......... You can potentially get the school's Financial Aid office to allow you to get other Aid because of filing BK.

I was glad to learn about being able to chat with Financial Aid and possibly get more assistance. Son will graduate from Community College with his Associates in the Spring. Then he'll transfer to a 4 year University, here in town, where the tuition is $8K/semester. Stafford Loans won't be enough money to pay for those bills.