The 74 Million – Mareesa Nicosia
“Jon Babcock and his 17-year-old son, Mark, spent about 10 hours online on a recent weekend navigating the tricky terrain that is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a.k.a. FAFSA, along with college admissions applications. Ten hours is likely just the first leg of the Babcocks’ months-long financial aid odyssey, as Mark prepares to graduate from North Rockland High School, located just north of New York City, and head to college to study mechanical engineering. The middle-class suburban family knows it can only afford to partially fund their eldest child’s college tuition and which school he attends will depend largely on the amount of state and federal aid he is offered. The dilemma? The Babcocks may not know exactly how much aid that is until late in the game — after Mark has already applied and been accepted at some schools, and when financial aid deadlines are looming between January and March. Like millions of other FAFSA applicants this year, Mark’s aid award will be largely determined based on his parents’ best estimate of their 2015 income — but they won’t have their actual 2015 tax return in hand when the application is due around January. So they may have to go back and edit the form.”(more)