Does the US punish independent childless college students?

If you're an independent childless person, like me, and you are considering going back to school, as I have, be prepared to get shafted.  Everyone knows that federal financial aid often does not adequately cover the cost of attendence for even the most inexpensive state schools.  What you may not know, however, is that it is designed in a way that punishes independent childless students.

Curious?  Read on.

Often dependent college students decry their dependency status.  Usually it is when their parents are unable or unwilling to help them.  They believe that gaining independent status would make more funds available to them.  If they are truely independent students, however, this is not necessarily the case.

There are several different ways that the DoE determines dependency status.  The most significant one is age.  Anyone over 24 is an independent student.  The 24 and over crowd makes up 40% of college students.

While it is true that larger federal loan amounts are available for independent students, there is prejudice built into the system that works against childless students.  As a result, being indpendent may result it getting less aid, rather than more.

It's helpful to know that of the 40% of college students over 24, only 27% of them have children.  This means that over five million "non-traditional" students fall into the "independent students without dependent(s) other than a spouse" category.

Before going on, it is important to understand what is meant by EFC.  EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution, this is how much the U.S. government expect you to contribute to your own education.  Your EFC determines how much total aid you qualify for, from all sources including both federal and private aid.

Your EFC works in coordination with your college's cost of attendence.  The cost of attendence is the estimated cost of books, tuition, fees, transportation costs, and living expenses. At most colleges "living expenses" works out to be less than $1000/mo and "transportation costs" is under $200/mo.

Tuition and book expenses are calculated at the minimum number of units a student can take to be considered fulltime, usually twelve.  Most fulltime students do not take the minimum credit load.  In fact, if you take the minimum credit load you would have to stay in school at least an extra year, depending on your major you could be in school two extra years or more by going just fulltime.  This results in students having less potential funds available for living expenses, books and transportation.

Here is where things get tricky.  As mentioned before, your EFC determines the total aid you can receive from all sources.  This is done by subtracting your EFC from the cost of attendence.  The remaining amount is how much financial aid you qualify form.  For example, if your college estimates that the total cost of attendence is $20,000 and your EFC is $5,000 you qualify for $15,000 in total aid.

You cannot receive financial aid above this amount.  In this case you would receive the maximum student loan, around $8000, and would be left with a $7,000 gap.  In order to make up this gap you could try to get outside resources, scholarships and private loans.  

I chose $5,000 to illustrate another point.  A student with a $5,000 EFC does not qualify for a pell grant.  As a result, this student also does not qualify for other federal grants, such as the SMART grant.  This is significant, because an independent student who has an EFC of $5,000 makes less than $20,000/yr.

Why is that important?  Because a dependent student whose parent makes less than $20,000 or an independent student, with a child, who makes less than $20,000 would receive automatic zero of EFC.  This means that these student would receive 100% of pell grant and would also qualify for other federal grants.  The single childless person, however, does not qualify for automatic zero under any circumstances.

Take for instance the student working full time at walmart for $8.50/hr.  Their annual income is $17,680 and their taxable income is $12230.  If this student had a child s/he would receive automatic zero on EFC.  As a single person, they would have an EFC 2219.  This person would be fortunate enough to receive some grant money, but it would be less than half of what would be given to the student with a child.

The independent childless walmart worker is expected to contribute almost 15% of their net income to their education.  Meanwhile a person with a child can make up to $25,000 and still get a zero EFC, whereas the student without child making under $20,000 may not receive a single dollar of federal grant money.  It is also important to recognize that this does not just apply to single people.  A married person without a child will face the same discrimination.

Some may argue that a person with a child needs more assistance.  This is true to some extent, but it is also true that a person with a child in the same financial situation will also receive other government support that the childless person will not qualify for or will not qualify for to the extent of the person with a child, this includes foodstamps, monitary support, and low-cost housing.

The fact is, a single or married student without a child faces tremendous obstacles when it comes to paying for college.  What one has to wonder is why are independent students without dependents completely excluded from the automatic zero EFC to begin with?