College won't reassess finances despite parent unemployment
Hi, my son is a freshman at a small liberal arts college just south of the Twin Cities. School is a perfect fit and he's playing for one of the school sports (D3). My husband was laid off on January 3. My income is negligible right now (I'm an author and freelance editor) because I'm a caretaker for my elderly parents. While my husband did receive severance, it was taxed at 38% and we used a good chunk of it on spring tuition. Our COBRA premiums started at $1800/month and this month they jumped to $2550/month (like so many others). As of now we have received 0 unemployment benefits from the state due to the severance.
After filing our FAFSA and CSS, I wrote a letter of special circumstance to the fin aid office because their guidelines say they will only re-examine finances after 8 weeks of unemployment. We are 12+ weeks out now, so I explained that we have had zero income since early January and that our 2024 tax numbers don't represent our current financial circumstances.
We received a polite note back saying that they would still be using our 2024 numbers as their 8-week guideline is no longer in effect (?), though they would take the COBRA premium into consideration. We were instructed to update them by mid-August. Mid-August is when fall tuition is due.
I know this is hard to answer without knowing our full financial picture but I'm wondering where we go from here. We simply can't afford the tuition we paid this school year, as even if my husband gets a job tomorrow, our income is still nowhere near our 2024 numbers. Worse case scenario is he is still unable to find work by August.
If the school still refuses to adjust our financial aid package based on those 2024 numbers, knowing that on August 15th will be too late. We won't have had time to take out private loans, tap our 401K or pension, sell our home, or, worse come to worst, withdraw our son from school. My son has a 10K outside scholarship that is per year but the school reduced our fin aid amount by about 60% of that scholarship so it was almost a wash. I'd be grateful for any insight into this from fin-aid professionals or anyone who has been in the same boat. Thank you for reading.
ETA: we do have a 529 opened when our kid was born, but could only fund modestly (though as much as we could each month) as income didn't increase meaningfully until our kids were in their teens. we received no contributions from extended family. currently stands at about $27K.