At what income are you unlikely to get any aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

dvandivier wrote:If significant amount in savings (outside of retirement), it almost doesn't seem to matter the income (either/or).

+1

It doesn’t take much
1 million => 56k EFC

That’s a lot of money to have outside of college funds and retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

dvandivier wrote:If significant amount in savings (outside of retirement), it almost doesn't seem to matter the income (either/or).

+1

It doesn’t take much
1 million => 56k EFC

That’s a lot of money to have outside of college funds and retirement.

Not if you are older parents and very close to retirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got some aid with 300. It depends on the school.

+1 230k $27,500 financial aid/ not merit. Parent contribution $47k. School doesn’t count home equity. Told child can only apply to schools that don’t count home equity, in state or OOS w/ merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

dvandivier wrote:If significant amount in savings (outside of retirement), it almost doesn't seem to matter the income (either/or).

+1

It doesn’t take much
1 million => 56k EFC

That’s a lot of money to have outside of college funds and retirement.

Not in DCUM

[Anonymous]

If enough money is in the kid’s name, you can be denied aid even if you’re low income.

[Anonymous]

Our HHI is $145K, but we have $350K in savings outside of retirement accounts. Three years ago, we were denied any aid at every private college including Yale. The FAFSA said we could pay $59K. Ha. Ha. Ha. We're very close to retirement too.
Our youngest child is going in-state with merit aid and a bunch of scholarships. We would not allow DC to apply to any private colleges because even with merit, in-state would always be cheaper.
I really don't get what "qualifies" you for FA, especially at very wealthy colleges (think Northwestern, HYPSM, Haverford, etc.). We're middle class, live in a small house, drive old cars, live frugally. Why should we spend most of our savings to send our DC to a fancy private college? Why do the colleges think this is reasonable? We'd be crazy to do so, especially so near to retirement. It would be irresponsible of us to spend down our rainy-day fund. What if one of us gets laid off? We'd have no savings to fall back on.
Thank God for in-state colleges!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $145K, but we have $350K in savings outside of retirement accounts. Three years ago, we were denied any aid at every private college including Yale. The FAFSA said we could pay $59K. Ha. Ha. Ha. We're very close to retirement too.
Our youngest child is going in-state with merit aid and a bunch of scholarships. We would not allow DC to apply to any private colleges because even with merit, in-state would always be cheaper.
I really don't get what "qualifies" you for FA, especially at very wealthy colleges (think Northwestern, HYPSM, Haverford, etc.). We're middle class, live in a small house, drive old cars, live frugally. Why should we spend most of our savings to send our DC to a fancy private college? Why do the colleges think this is reasonable? We'd be crazy to do so, especially so near to retirement. It would be irresponsible of us to spend down our rainy-day fund. What if one of us gets laid off? We'd have no savings to fall back on.
Thank God for in-state colleges!!!

How much equity do you have in your house? I found that equity was more of a problem than savings outside of retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got some aid with 300. It depends on the school.

+1 230k $27,500 financial aid/ not merit. Parent contribution $47k. School doesn’t count home equity. Told child can only apply to schools that don’t count home equity, in state or OOS w/ merit.

I'm relieved to hear this. Our dilemma is going to be how they calculate aid for divorced parents. It's hard to figure it out from the school net price calculators. Does anyone have any experience with this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $145K, but we have $350K in savings outside of retirement accounts. Three years ago, we were denied any aid at every private college including Yale. The FAFSA said we could pay $59K. Ha. Ha. Ha. We're very close to retirement too.
Our youngest child is going in-state with merit aid and a bunch of scholarships. We would not allow DC to apply to any private colleges because even with merit, in-state would always be cheaper.
I really don't get what "qualifies" you for FA, especially at very wealthy colleges (think Northwestern, HYPSM, Haverford, etc.). We're middle class, live in a small house, drive old cars, live frugally. Why should we spend most of our savings to send our DC to a fancy private college? Why do the colleges think this is reasonable? We'd be crazy to do so, especially so near to retirement. It would be irresponsible of us to spend down our rainy-day fund. What if one of us gets laid off? We'd have no savings to fall back on.
Thank God for in-state colleges!!!

+1, it's ridiculous. This is how middle class families basically get cut out of elite colleges, because we are expected to mortgage our retirement for our kid's education. It's not reasonable. I went to a in-state public school and my kid will too. It's fine. I took out loans to attend an elite graduate program and regretted it. Yes, it opens doors, but being debt free in your 20s is true freedom and I regret giving it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got some aid with 300. It depends on the school.

+1 230k $27,500 financial aid/ not merit. Parent contribution $47k. School doesn’t count home equity. Told child can only apply to schools that don’t count home equity, in state or OOS w/ merit.

I'm relieved to hear this. Our dilemma is going to be how they calculate aid for divorced parents. It's hard to figure it out from the school net price calculators. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I think you run a net price calculator for each parent and combine the EFC. This should give you a rough estimate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got some aid with 300. It depends on the school.

+1 230k $27,500 financial aid/ not merit. Parent contribution $47k. School doesn’t count home equity. Told child can only apply to schools that don’t count home equity, in state or OOS w/ merit.

Great example for others on how to set parameters at the beginning for kid, who can then structure accordingly. Don't try on a wedding dress if it is outside your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $145K, but we have $350K in savings outside of retirement accounts. Three years ago, we were denied any aid at every private college including Yale. The FAFSA said we could pay $59K. Ha. Ha. Ha. We're very close to retirement too.
Our youngest child is going in-state with merit aid and a bunch of scholarships. We would not allow DC to apply to any private colleges because even with merit, in-state would always be cheaper.
I really don't get what "qualifies" you for FA, especially at very wealthy colleges (think Northwestern, HYPSM, Haverford, etc.). We're middle class, live in a small house, drive old cars, live frugally. Why should we spend most of our savings to send our DC to a fancy private college? Why do the colleges think this is reasonable? We'd be crazy to do so, especially so near to retirement. It would be irresponsible of us to spend down our rainy-day fund. What if one of us gets laid off? We'd have no savings to fall back on.
Thank God for in-state colleges!!!

Are you self employed? Otherwise, I can't explain Yale. My kid is in another T10 school which doesn't count home equity, and our EFC from FAFSA was also $59K. This is about what we are paying, so about $20K FA, no loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got some aid with 300. It depends on the school.

+1 230k $27,500 financial aid/ not merit. Parent contribution $47k. School doesn’t count home equity. Told child can only apply to schools that don’t count home equity, in state or OOS w/ merit.

I'm relieved to hear this. Our dilemma is going to be how they calculate aid for divorced parents. It's hard to figure it out from the school net price calculators. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Yes. First of all, seriously consider the schools that only require to report the income of one parent (usually they only require you to fill out FAFSA), or might be more advantageous to divorced/remarried parents - e.g. Princeton, UChicago (do check what their latest rules are, it's on the websites). Otherwise, assume the worst - the income/assets of step parents will be counted in as well, and check with each specific school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

dvandivier wrote:If significant amount in savings (outside of retirement), it almost doesn't seem to matter the income (either/or).

+1

It doesn’t take much
1 million => 56k EFC

That’s a lot of money to have outside of college funds and retirement.

Not if you are older parents and very close to retirement

no matter your age, having a million dollars is well above average. If you add in the caveat that it is over and above house and retirement accounts, it is even rarer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $145K, but we have $350K in savings outside of retirement accounts. Three years ago, we were denied any aid at every private college including Yale. The FAFSA said we could pay $59K. Ha. Ha. Ha. We're very close to retirement too.
Our youngest child is going in-state with merit aid and a bunch of scholarships. We would not allow DC to apply to any private colleges because even with merit, in-state would always be cheaper.
I really don't get what "qualifies" you for FA, especially at very wealthy colleges (think Northwestern, HYPSM, Haverford, etc.). We're middle class, live in a small house, drive old cars, live frugally. Why should we spend most of our savings to send our DC to a fancy private college? Why do the colleges think this is reasonable? We'd be crazy to do so, especially so near to retirement. It would be irresponsible of us to spend down our rainy-day fund. What if one of us gets laid off? We'd have no savings to fall back on.
Thank God for in-state colleges!!!

+1, it's ridiculous. This is how middle class families basically get cut out of elite colleges, because we are expected to mortgage our retirement for our kid's education. It's not reasonable. I went to a in-state public school and my kid will too. It's fine. I took out loans to attend an elite graduate program and regretted it. Yes, it opens doors, but being debt free in your 20s is true freedom and I regret giving it up.

I largely agree, though as someone who received near full FA, which were a mix of grants and loans back in the day with zero consideration given to that burden going forward, I don't really remember many of my upper and middle class peers giving a hoot about us on FA. The steadily spiraling upward trend of college tuition/fees began in the 1980s - four decades ago - but only when the costs started to outstrip middle class incomes in this century did this phenomenon get much coverage in the press, etc.