How high can income be and still qualify for financial aid?

[Anonymous]

I'm curious how high a household income can be and still qualify for financial aid at a DC private school (for the sake of discussion, let's say one of the expensive independent schools with a strong endowment).

My partner and I have decent salaries but both work at non-profits, so we know that there are plenty of other families making more than we do. We currently have one child.

Thanks for any insights.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a house, do you have retirement savings, college savings? How many cars, luxury or not.

Those are factors that show how comfortable you are financially, and how secure. The more secure and comfortable you are, the l as chance of financial aid.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Good to know. We have retirement savings and a home.

It seems like it'd be tough to know whether we'd qualify until we apply, and that it could vary significantly from school to school.

This is all down the road, but as a thought experiment I was trying to run the numbers in my head between buying and moving to a house west of the park, or paying for private school.

Would love to hear about anyone's experiences.

[Anonymous]

If you search the board, you can find people claiming to get some level of financial aid from particularly fancy schools with incomes well over $350,000.

[Anonymous]

NP but I would love to know what people's actual income level and debt are that receive financial aid. It's an anonymous forum, nobody will know who you are or what school your child goes to.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind, the FA and Admissions staff at the school make the final determination of who gets FA and how much they get.

There’s a predetermined budget for Financial Aid (which really is a tuition discount). They distribute that among FA applicants based on their priorities and not your demonstrated need. Their priorities are a full class and the planned tuition revenue from full pay and partial pay families.

This isn’t a government program where they consult a table to see how much FA they must grant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP but I would love to know what people's actual income level and debt are that receive financial aid. It's an anonymous forum, nobody will know who you are or what school your child goes to.

This is a good request. Like, would a family with $400k HHI, some student loan debt, and 1 kid get any FA? Would a $500k HHI with two kids?

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that "getting financial aid" at the higher income levels likely means something like 5 or 10 percent off sticker price. Not nothing, but hardly substantial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Good to know. We have retirement savings and a home.

It seems like it'd be tough to know whether we'd qualify until we apply, and that it could vary significantly from school to school.

This is all down the road, but as a thought experiment I was trying to run the numbers in my head between buying and moving to a house west of the park, or paying for private school.

Would love to hear about anyone's experiences.

The bolded is pretty much it.

If you both work at non-profits and don't have a huge amount of assets, would you qualify for some degree of aid? Seems likely, but the devil is in the details of course. Would you get enough aid to make it worth it to you? Impossible to know until you apply and get the offer(s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious how high a household income can be and still qualify for financial aid at a DC private school (for the sake of discussion, let's say one of the expensive independent schools with a strong endowment).

My partner and I have decent salaries but both work at non-profits, so we know that there are plenty of other families making more than we do. We currently have one child.

Thanks for any insights.

Decent salaries and work at non-profit could mean HHI of $250 or an HHI of $500. You'd have to provide more info.

[Anonymous]

Ask the school.

Also there is no guarantee they will give you the FA in later years. Schools offered us $0 - $5000. I suspect the $5k was to get us in the door and then they’d take it away the following year.

We chose a school that gave a four-year scholarship guaranteed all four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask the school.

Also there is no guarantee they will give you the FA in later years. Schools offered us $0 - $5000. I suspect the $5k was to get us in the door and then they’d take it away the following year.

We chose a school that gave a four-year scholarship guaranteed all four years.

Schools don't bait and switch like this. It's simply not in their interest to do so. Obviously, if your circumstances change significantly your financial aid will be impacted. But they don't dangle money in front of you to "get you in the door".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP but I would love to know what people's actual income level and debt are that receive financial aid. It's an anonymous forum, nobody will know who you are or what school your child goes to.

This is a good request. Like, would a family with $400k HHI, some student loan debt, and 1 kid get any FA? Would a $500k HHI with two kids?

Yes, if there was something about that child/family that the school really wanted in their community. Athletics are usually a big draw, but so can race, geographics and/or other characteristics. For example example, if a school was trying to attract families from a specific geographic area and a very smart student with demonstrated FA need applied from there, they might lure them with aid to attract other full pay families. Or more commonly, if your child is very good at a sport that the school is trying to be more competitive in, they will likely give that family significant aid despite their HHI.

I know of families in both categories with over $300k HHI that have received anywhere from $10k to full rides with only one child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask the school.

Also there is no guarantee they will give you the FA in later years. Schools offered us $0 - $5000. I suspect the $5k was to get us in the door and then they’d take it away the following year.

We chose a school that gave a four-year scholarship guaranteed all four years.

Schools don't bait and switch like this. It's simply not in their interest to do so. Obviously, if your circumstances change significantly your financial aid will be impacted. But they don't dangle money in front of you to "get you in the door".

Agreed. That would be terrible practice and actually a greater financial risk for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP but I would love to know what people's actual income level and debt are that receive financial aid. It's an anonymous forum, nobody will know who you are or what school your child goes to.

This is a good request. Like, would a family with $400k HHI, some student loan debt, and 1 kid get any FA? Would a $500k HHI with two kids?

Yes, if there was something about that child/family that the school really wanted in their community. Athletics are usually a big draw, but so can race, geographics and/or other characteristics. For example example, if a school was trying to attract families from a specific geographic area and a very smart student with demonstrated FA need applied from there, they might lure them with aid to attract other full pay families. Or more commonly, if your child is very good at a sport that the school is trying to be more competitive in, they will likely give that family significant aid despite their HHI.

I know of families in both categories with over $300k HHI that have received anywhere from $10k to full rides with only one child.

IOW, is the kid hooked?