Employer Paid Tuition and Financial Aid?

Question

My husband's company gives a $5250 yearly tuition allowance. He will be attending school fulltime (BS Marketing) and has also applied for financial aid. His company reimburses tuition at the completion of the semester. FAFSA came back with a EFC of 0. How is this going to work?

I guess my question is can we keep the reimbursement from my husband's company to cover other school expense (computer since it's an online program, etc)?

Answer 1

You are required to disclose any outside financial resources that will play a part in attending college. Any financial aid that you do receive from the institution will be reduced in conjunction with the Employer Paid Tuituion if all the combined aid goes over what the COA (Cost of Attendance) is at the school.

For example: if the COA is $18000/year (tuition/fees, room/board (considered even for those students living off campus), books/supplies, and personal expenses), and your husband will be getting $5250 reimbursed from his employer as well as $4310 for a full Pell grant ($2155/semester), then you are well below what the COA would be for the school and would not have anything reduced (keep in mind with a 0EFC even though he would be Pell eligible, if he already has a bachelor's degree he won't be able to receive the Pell).

Depending on all the aid that is awarded, and then putting the tuition reimbursement in the mix, if he does get overawarded it is any loan money that would be reduced first, followed by any scholarships, and then by federal grant(s).

Talk to a financial aid officer for more information/guidance. Good luck!

Answer 2

The EFC score qualifies your husband for the maximum Pell Grant which is over $4000 for the school year. To cover the rest of the tuition, the college will provide need based scholarships from its endowment fund and student loans. However, regarding the employer tuition reimbursement program, the money dispersement is dependent upon the policy's in the human resource manual. If you have any questions after this, I recommend talking to his company's human resources manager. My brother tried this route with his MBA, but he had many headaches and in the end no tuition reimbursement due to the due date after each semester for the grades. I am including some free readings on this matter. Good luck!

Answer 3

100 % of the tuition money will be awarded via financial aid. There will be minimal cost to your husband, as aid (scholarships) will be available to cover the entire thing. There may be some loans that require repayment. If there are any textbooks required, you should use the money from his job to pay for them, then discuss it with the company that he works for - they may want some reimbursement.

Answer 4

I don't see where there was any discrimination. Calling the financial aid office rude and the worst office of all time is unprofessional and MAYBE could get her fired, but that's about it and I doubt even that would happen. It's not discrimination to try to steer you away from financial aid, get over yourself.