Will taking cosmetology classes affect my daughter's FAFSA eligibility next year?

Your cosmetology classes shouldn't negatively impact your daughter's FAFSA! The FAFSA looks at income, assets, household size, and number in college. You taking classes could actually HELP her aid situation if you're enrolled at least half-time in a degree/certificate program. FAFSA gives a favorable calculation when multiple family members are in college simultaneously. Just make sure you're enrolled in an accredited program that's eligible for federal aid yourself.

That's such a relief! So I need to be enrolled at least half-time for it to potentially help her? I was only planning to take 1-2 evening classes per semester. Would that be enough to count? And how do I verify if my cosmetology program is accredited/eligible?

my mom did beauty school when i was in college and it actually helped my financial aid! more ppl in school = more aid usually. but u both have to be in eligible programs, not just any classes

This is NOT always true! My sister and I were both in college and our EFC barely changed. The

To give you a precise answer: Your taking cosmetology classes will positively affect your daughter's aid IF:\n\n1. You're enrolled at least half-time (usually 6+ credit hours)\n2. You're in a Title IV-eligible program (one that qualifies for federal financial aid)\n3. You're pursuing a certificate or degree, not just taking random classes\n\nWhen the FAFSA asks about \

Thank you for the detailed explanation! I need to check if my program is Title IV eligible then. Do you know if most community college cosmetology programs qualify? And would I need to file my own FAFSA even though I don't need financial aid for myself?

Most community college programs are Title IV eligible, but you should verify with the specific program. And yes, you would need to file your own FAFSA to be officially counted as a student. \n\nBut here's what many people don't realize: Even if you don't need aid for yourself, filing your own FAFSA is crucial because it creates your official student record in the federal system, which is how they verify the \

Wow I never knew this!! My mom didn't file FAFSA when she went back to school and that's probably why it didn't help my aid amount. This system makes NO sense.

Has anyone successfully gotten through to the Federal Student Aid helpline to ask these kinds of household questions? I tried calling about a similar situation (my spouse's part-time classes) and was on hold for over an hour before being disconnected. So frustrating!

I had the same issue but found a service called Claimyr that got me through to a FAFSA agent in about 10 minutes! It basically holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Definitely worth it for complicated questions that the website doesn't clearly answer.

I contacted the cosmetology program today and found out it IS Title IV eligible! They also confirmed I'd need to be taking at least 12 hours per week to count as half-time. That's more than I planned, but might be worth it if it helps my daughter's aid. I'm going to run the numbers to see if the extra time commitment makes financial sense for our family. Thanks everyone for the helpful info!

That's great news! One more thing to consider - make sure you've checked whether your state has any additional grant programs that look at household members in college. Some states are even more generous than federal aid when multiple family members are enrolled. Might be worth looking into!

my cousin tried to do this exact thing and it backfired because they counted her tuition costs as part of the familys available money or something?? idk how but somehow their expected family contribution went UP not down

That's very unusual and doesn't align with how FAFSA calculations work. Most likely what happened was something else changed in their financial situation the same year (higher income, reduced household size, etc.) that offset the benefit of having multiple people in college. The SAI formula specifically divides the parent contribution by the number of family members in college, which mathematically can't make things worse.

UPDATE: I've decided to go for it! I'm enrolling in the cosmetology program half-time, and I'll be filing my own FAFSA as well. I calculated that the potential increase in my daughter's aid would offset the extra time commitment for me. Plus, I'm excited about the career opportunities this could open up. I'll report back next year to let you all know how it affected her financial aid package!

Good luck!! So nice to see a parent thinking about both their kid's future AND their own dreams!

This is such an inspiring thread! @Yara Sayegh, I love that you're pursuing your own education goals while being so thoughtful about your daughter's financial aid. As someone new to understanding FAFSA, I had no idea that having multiple family members in college could actually help with aid calculations. The detailed explanations from @Amina Diallo about Title IV eligibility and the half-time enrollment requirements were really eye-opening. I'm bookmarking this conversation because I have a feeling this information might be useful for my own family situation down the road. Best of luck with your cosmetology program - can't wait to hear how it all works out!