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Reply to "College Seniors Returning for Extra Year"

@SoCal OG posted:

At my sons HA D3, 1 Sr has confirmed he is coming back.  He was injured last year and is two classes short of a double major.  Interestingly, several of the Jr's & Soph are talking about taking a semester off (this fall since its online) and going to school 4.5 yrs.  They get to play an extra semester and not go to school online (hopefully).  Kinda makes sense.

The semester off seemed like a possibility in discussions with our kid until he started factoring in the fact that he didn't have a good job, internship or other activity for the fall, and he wants to be done with undergrad and get on with his career (or grad school, depending on how things shake out) plus I think he felt he'd be kind of bailing on the team.  So he decided to make the the best of of a bad situation and stay in school for the whole  year. 

What I didn't know until after we had this conversation is how financial aid is treated. We were told that the family's expected family contribution (EFC) for the academic year would remain the same regardless of how many semesters a student attended.   Uh oh!  Assume 50% aid at a school where the cost of attendance (COA)  is $70K.  If your son takes the semester off, your EFC for this year is the full COA - $35K.  And it's likely to be another $35K next year.  So you're not only giving up a year of the kid's earning potential, you're forfeiting at least $35K in mom and dad's money.  Hope the kid enjoys himself!

Last edited by JCG
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