EFC, grants, and loans?

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Q. I recently got married (may 2000). My college told me to wait and file my FAFSA until after i was married, so i could be considered an independent student. I did. So today, i get my loan approval from my college, for a mere $5900 a year. This is almost the exact same amount i got while considered a dependent student of my parents. Their income on my FAFSA was almost 90K. However, my spouse and i gross a mere 35K. So how the heck does PHEAA, and the Federal government come up w/ my Expected contribution of $8400/yr!!!! I'm no better off being married in terms of my school loans/grants. I mean, what do they want from me, i've been working 50hr/week just to keep up w/ interest payments on 3 loans, car, rent, etc... and now they won't even give me enough money to pay for a year's tuition, even after i'm married..... Are there any other sources i can look at.. I've checked fastweb and finaid, and there doesn't seem to be much for me. I wrote the PA grant division a letter telling them that my current employer moved me off of full time work, to part time only, so maybe i can get more than $300 in grants now........ Basically, i'm 25K in debt to loans for college, and have 2 years to go , + grad school before i can even take my profesional boards. (Speech Language Pathology), and my wife is 30K down as well.. I just don't know if we can keep this up, me working 50hrs a week, and her about the same, just to make ends meet... After all, what grad school will want a 3.0 student w/out any outside activities but a full time job as a mental health care provider. My SAR says i'm married.. so i assume that means i'm an independent student now.......

A. It sounds like you are no worse off now than before getting married, so in that respect the school advice was not bad, but as for their implication that you would do better as an independent student - they could have done some computations for you to prepare you for the results. Usually as an independent student an undergraduate would be eligible for a lot more aid because the EFC would be very low if they have minimal income, but in your case it's not minimal (it just seems that way when the bills come in). The formula for an independent student provides allowances against taxes paid (federal, state and social security taxes), an income protection allowance, and an employment expense allowance if both spouses are working. They then assess 50% of the remaining available income as your EFC. For a student earning from only a part-time job this would usually cause a very low EFC. But with a joint income of $35,000 a married independent student with no children would have an EFC of about $15,000, and if the spouse is also a student then the EFC would become about $8,000 per student. This may not make you feel any better, but it's the way the formula works. Your best bet is to convince the college to consider re-computing your EFC using your anticipated reduced income due to the hours cut at your job. They don't have to do that, but they might - especially if you have good grades. But one big caution - don't approach the college in an antagonistic manner, claiming that you are entitled to anything or that they owe you. After all, it was your choice to get married, and even if marriage had dropped your EFC to near zero they are not required to fill the extra need.

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