Does FAFSA or Parent Plus Loan cover off-campus apartment costs?

Congrats on your daughter's acceptance! To answer your question - FAFSA itself doesn't directly cover anything; it's just the application form for determining eligibility for various types of aid. But yes, federal student aid (grants, loans, work-study) awarded through FAFSA can typically be used for off-campus housing! And yes, Parent Plus loans can absolutely be used for off-campus housing costs. These loans can cover the full "cost of attendance" minus any other aid received. The school determines the cost of attendance which includes reasonable amounts for off-campus housing in their area. Just make sure your daughter's school knows she's planning to live off-campus so they can adjust her cost of attendance appropriately.

My son lives off campus and we use his Direct loans + our Parent PLUS to cover it. Your daughter will get the excess funds after tuition/fees as a refund that she can use for rent. Just make sure she actually USES it for rent lol. My son almost spent his whole first refund check on a gaming setup before I caught him 🙄

Just to be super clear about this - federal student aid (including Parent Plus loans) can be used for ANY legitimate educational expense that's part of the official "cost of attendance." This includes: 1. Tuition and fees 2. Room and board (on OR off campus) 3. Books and supplies 4. Transportation 5. Personal expenses 6. Computer equipment The school determines a reasonable allowance for off-campus housing in their area. As long as the apartment costs are within that range, you're good. You don't need to "prove" anything about the specific apartment.

fafsa is just a form lol. u fill it out and it gives u money based on ur situation. my parents make bank so i only got loans. when i moved off campus i jus used part of my loan refund to pay rent. parent plus is same deal. school takes tution first then spits back the leftover money.

BE CAREFUL!! My daughter's school has different COA (cost of attendance) amounts depending on if students live on-campus, off-campus, or at home with parents. Off-campus was actually LOWER than dorms in the official estimate, which meant she got LESS aid when she moved to an apartment even though our actual costs were the same!! Check with the financial aid office how they calculate COA for different housing situations!

I was in financial aid processing for 8 years, and I can tell you that Parent PLUS loans can definitely cover off-campus housing. However, here's the process you need to understand: 1. Your daughter needs to notify the school she's living off-campus 2. The financial aid office applies all aid to tuition/fees first 3. Any remaining funds get refunded - usually to the student 4. For Parent PLUS specifically, you can request the refund go to you instead of your daughter BTW - if you're having trouble getting through to the financial aid office, I recently discovered a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you skip the phone wait times for federal student aid. Saved me hours when dealing with my own kids' FAFSA issues. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works.

Is there anyone from the South Bend area who knows what Notre Dame considers a reasonable off-campus housing cost??? My daughter just got in and we're in the same situation - dorms are crazy expensive but I'm worried they'll lowball the off-campus allowance. Any insight appreciated!

Update: I finally spoke with my daughter's financial aid office, and they were actually super helpful! They confirmed that for her school, the off-campus housing allowance is about $1100/month (including utilities), which is more than enough for the apartment she found. They also said I could request to have the Parent PLUS loan refund sent directly to me instead of her by filling out a form. Thank you all for your help! This was so much easier than I expected.

That's awesome that everything worked out! Just wanted to add one more tip for other parents reading this - make sure to keep good records of all housing expenses (rent, utilities, groceries) even though you don't technically need to "prove" them to the school. If you ever get selected for verification or need to appeal aid decisions, having documentation of your actual costs vs. the school's estimates can be really helpful. Plus it makes tax time easier if any of the education credits apply to your situation!