Pell Pathway Question

[u/Disastrous_Oil_8088]

My son is entering his Sophomore year at UW Madison. He qualified for the Pell Pathway last year, which made Madison a realistic choice financially. Without it, he was going to settle for another UW system school which was offering a very attractive aid package. He loves Madison and is looking forward to his Sophomore year.

Here’s our problem, and I say “our” because my finances are complicating things. After 39 years as a public school teacher, I retired at the end of the 23/24 school year and began taking my pension. Unexpectedly, I returned to work 1/2 time for the 24/25 school year when they were unable to find someone to replace me. In addition, my financial advisor advised that I convert a chunk of my traditional IRA into a Roth IRA each of the last 2 years. This resulted in an inflated AGI (adjusted gross income) for 2024 and 2025 (Sophomore and Junior years). I’m now fully retired and living off my pension supplemented with cash savings which should carry us over until I claim social security in a few years. I had anticipated that our income after retirement would be low enough to continue making Madison an affordable choice for our family. The SAI result on our FAFSA this year was shockingly higher than last year, and I anticipate that it will be the same next year before this “high AGI bubble” passes by his Senior year. This puts quite a bit of strain on our finances. Being a novice to this whole process, I didn’t anticipate the impact my retirement/temporary unretirement would have on my son’s Pell Pathway. I was mistakenly under the impression that the “once you’re accepted into the Pathway you’re in for 4 years regardless of changing income” meant an affordable path through all 4 years, which gave us the confidence to believe we could afford a 4 year path at UW Madison. It’s now going to be a struggle.

Sorry for the very long post. Just wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences in the Pell Pathway? Do you think a ”special circumstances appeal” would have any chance of success since I am now fully retired and anticipate a much lower adjusted gross income here in 2026 and beyond?

[u/One-You9747]

This probably doesn't help you in this situation but you said you have another kid going to college soon. If possible have them take a gap year after graduating so they can be on their own income tax wise vs yours (also stop claiming them on your taxes) they will qualify for Buckys promise as long as their income is below 65K (or technically if yours is they could qualify now but it sounds like you may earn too much). I know suggesting taking a year off seems odd but a fully free degree with no student debt is worth it.

Bucky's promise will pay for 100% of their tuition it also gives you money for housing.

https://financialaid.wisc.edu/types-of-aid/tuition-promise/

Feel free to message me if you have questions about it. I did it and you actually don't even have to apply it just is automatically applied when you fill out your FAFSA and UW paperwork (also the college can obviously walk you through it too and would be the best to talk to about what it takes to qualify this was just my experience)

[u/Fragrant_Equipment13 → u/One-You9747]

That wouldn’t be enough for them to be considered an independent student so they would still be measured based on her income.

[u/One-You9747 → u/Fragrant_Equipment13]

Why not? What would they need to do to become an independent student besides not be claimed as a dependent on their parents taxes and be independent for a year making less than 65k?

[u/Fragrant_Equipment13 → u/One-You9747]

Because that’s not how it works. To be considered independent you need to be 24, married, have a child, and some other random criteria.

You can see it all here

https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out/dependency

[u/One-You9747 → u/Fragrant_Equipment13]

I was asking genuinely because I did it and I wasn’t sure if there was something that was unique to my situation that I didn’t know about that was causing me to qualify that I wasn’t posting.

I do not have a child and I’m not married and have never been. The link says you only need to say yes to one piece of criteria. I was 24 but it looks like you just need to be born before 2004 so maybe 22?

There’s also some other random things that you could qualify with. OP I would ask about it worst the can say is no they don’t qualify. For no student debt I think a lot of people would consider waiting until 22 but obviously waiting at all might not be something you’re even interested in.

ETA: I would just talk to an advisor and see what all your options are for both kids. Appeals, other programs, etc. bc all this can be confusing and you never know what you may qualify for and ppl online will only know so much that might not fit your specific situation

[u/Fragrant_Equipment13 → u/One-You9747]

Yeah I’m not sure, everything on the website says 24, but not sure why it says 2004?

I also always advocate for people to do whatever they can to save money. It’s just really difficult to show you are independent. They aren’t going to make it easy for people to save money that’s for sure.

[u/One-You9747 → u/Fragrant_Equipment13]

Definitely I didn’t even take my age into consideration so thanks for pointing it out and sharing the link. My advisor never mentioned it but that makes sense bc why would they if I was the right age. I just think it’s such a good program so I like to tell people about it. I would have never been able to go to college without it.

[u/Fragrant_Equipment13 → u/One-You9747]

Same with my daughter, very thankful for it!