financial aid---quiting my full time job

BSNtobe2009 · Dec 9, 2006

Quitting your job has absolutely no bearing on your financial aid, and if someone at the financial aid office is telling you that, they are incorrect. The financial aid awards are made from the previous tax year's income.

$40,000 a year is more than enough to bar you from receiving any financial aid, especially if you are single with no children.

However, your financial aid officer is supposed to be made aware that you are not going to be working during the school year, so the proper adjustments can be made, which is what they are authorizd to do. Be sure you speak to the financial aid OFFICER and not just another worker in the office.

Before you quit your job, I would check to see how much CNA's and LVN's make in your area. Especially in California, there are many on this message board that are having trouble finding jobs as a new grad and some hospitals are even phasing LVN's out. Depending on the job market, you may not make more than you are in your current job. It just depends if you were planning on working as an LVN to get your RN or not.

Read through the California nurses forum. It has a wealth of information on how nursing school admissions process workds there.

romie · Dec 10, 2006

I agree with BSNtobe2009. Leaving your job shouldn't affect your eligibility for financial aid and in fact you should provide the financial aid office with some kind of resignation letter and perhaps a letter from your personnel manager confirming that you are no longer employed at the company to ensure that your expected family contribution is adjusted acurately on your student aid report.

gordonarkell · Dec 10, 2006

Thank you for the info. I have been getting conflicting info. The college I go to currently said to fill out a form of special circumstance once I quit my job. Now I hear the opposite from my future school. How else would anyone go to school full time unless they quit their job? I wish the FAFSA booklet had a chapter for folks like me and not make this so mysterious.

I have been researching fin. aid for a year and it shocks me how I cannot find a single expert on the subject. People know little or nothing.

I am going to Santa Barbara CC for school. According to the college website all grads from all nursing programs get hired before they even graduate. I may skip LVN and work towards ADN or BSN if I can eek out a living as a CNA until then.

Reason I am taking CNA is that it's a prereq for LVN. If LVN's are getting phased out then why would colleges still train them? Seems a waste, but if that is the case then I will skip LVN for sure.

gordon

BSNtobe2009 · Dec 10, 2006

When you say "they", who is it? That is what you need to get to the bottom of.

The FAFSA is a Federal, standardized form and the form you are speaking of, to my knowledge, doesn't exist. That is why your booklet is missing it.

The only other forms they may ask for is your tax returns.

Schedule an appointment with the FA Officer, and when someone else is trying to answer your question be very firm in saying, "I want to schedule an appointment with the financial aid officer" You need to schedule this with the school you are planning on ATTENDING. One school cannot answer financial aid questions for another school....that is unfair to them.

Anyone else is just guessing. There are too many workers in those offices that feel like they have "seen it all". That is the only way you are going to get to the bottom of it.

Galore · Dec 10, 2006

Not to sound discouraging..I would pursue the issue with your school's financial aid office but don't expect much. I was able to finally file as independent last year and my whopping $30k gross income didn't get me any financial aid...in fact my EFC was $7000. I'm in the same boat and will be quitting my fulltime job and not working at all while I'm pursuing an accelerated BSN degree. I'm guessing that since the FAFSA goes by prior year's tax returns they're not really going to care if you have zero income the current year.

I went round and round in circles with my university's fin. aid dept the first time I was in college. I grew up really poor, but because my mom remarried a year before I graduated HS and he made a decent salary, I couldn't get any financial aid and my mom couldn't afford to help me out either. Every time I'd bring in paperwork they required to support my special circumstances claim, then they'd think up more stuff I had to bring in.

Has anyone in the same situation actually had that work...having them go by your anticipated lower income rather than tax returns?

stpauligirl · Dec 10, 2006

I am quitting my full time job to attend a full time CNA program and
eventually attend full time LVN school, then RN. I am getting the
impression from the financial aid office I do not qualify for aid
because: I quit my job rather than get fired or laid-off and I maybe
made too much (a huge $40k last yr, whoopee).
None of the FAFSA literature says anything warning employed adults
about sabotaging their finacial aid prospects if they quit their jobs
and decide to go back to school.
I wonder does anyone know if looking into financial aid is a waste of
time for a person who quits there job and made over a certain amount?
How much was too much income and are you tied to what you made last
year even though you have zero income now in order to go back to school?
Thank you,

As far as I know they will determine your eligibility based on last years income.

BSNtobe2009 · Dec 10, 2006

Not to sound discouraging..I would pursue the issue with your school's financial aid office but don't expect much. I was able to finally file as independent last year and my whopping $30k gross income didn't get me any financial aid...in fact my EFC was $7000. I'm in the same boat and will be quitting my fulltime job and not working at all while I'm pursuing an accelerated BSN degree. I'm guessing that since the FAFSA goes by prior year's tax returns they're not really going to care if you have zero income the current year.
I went round and round in circles with my university's fin. aid dept the first time I was in college. I grew up really poor, but because my mom remarried a year before I graduated HS and he made a decent salary, I couldn't get any financial aid and my mom couldn't afford to help me out either. Every time I'd bring in paperwork they required to support my special circumstances claim, then they'd think up more stuff I had to bring in.
Has anyone in the same situation actually had that work...having them go by your anticipated lower income rather than tax returns?

Yup, they are supposed to make an adjustment.

I made $56,000 in 2005 and qualified for maxed out subsidized Stafford loans for 2006/2007 for $10,500. Had I not had a degree already, I would have also qualified for Pell Grants. It was at a public college and the tuition for a full year was HALF that figure. I wasn't interested in private money.

My only change: I wasn't going to be working during school so they made the adjustment of my income to $0.00

I cannot emphasize enough that you have to speak with the lending officer...there is usually only one or two per college that is authorized to make adjustments. Anyone else and you are just talking to a secretary/employee that isn't authorized to do ANYTHING nor has the training to do so.

Don't try to determine your own aid after you complete the FAFSA...that is never the end of the story.

Also, you can file for independent status after the first full year that your parents DO NOT claim you as a dependent on their tax returns. I have run into some students who didn't have a good relationship with their parents, and their parents claimed them as a dependent and they weren't giving them any money on top of it. In those cases...that requires a special form. You have to prove that you have been living on your own, paying all your bills, working, etc in order to be treated as an independent. It used to be that you couldn't until you were 23 years old, but that changed b/c there were two many parents that were scamming their own kids.

dionneok · Dec 10, 2006

I Was Married In June 2006 I Filled Out My Fafsa After And Was Still Able To Recieve Financial Aid. I Dont Understand Why I Had To Use My Spouse Income We Were Not Married In 2005. But Do Anyone Think That Since This Tax Season I Am Filling Seperate From My Husband That Maybe They Can Adjust My Financial Aid?

Come To Find Out That He Owes The Irs And He Has Old Student Loans That He Is Getting Garnished On So Our Income Together Is Not Really What It Is Half Of His Agi For The Year Is Being Taken. I Am A First Year Student We Have Three Children And This Spring Is My First Time Filling The Fafsa. I Am Concerned About The Fall Hoping That Our Income Together Is Not Too Much To Recieve Aid.