College financial aid for solid income earning households

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI his wife’s income and assets will factor in with CSS schools. For FAFSA hers will also factor in if he supports the kids more financially.

Divorced kids whose parents remarry get screwed

Wrong.

For FAFSA, the primary parent is the one who spends more time with the kids. Even with 50/50 custody, it's easy to ensure that the kids spend 183 days of the year with mom and 182 with dad.

The CSS might collect the info, but the schools themselves decide how to interpret it. Of the top schools, the two notable outliers are UChicago and Princeton - they handle the divorced parents differently from the rest of the pack.

[Anonymous]

Hi all: thanks for the replies.

XH and I share our 2 kids 50/50. His wife works for MoCo public schools in an administrative function. She doesn’t have assets of note that I know of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all: thanks for the replies.

XH and I share our 2 kids 50/50. His wife works for MoCo public schools in an administrative function. She doesn’t have assets of note that I know of.

Girlfriend, you aren't getting FA, nor should you.

[Anonymous]

No FA for 400k income, large household expense doesn’t matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all: thanks for the replies.

XH and I share our 2 kids 50/50. His wife works for MoCo public schools in an administrative function. She doesn’t have assets of note that I know of.

Girlfriend, you aren't getting FA, nor should you.

They might get a ton of aid from a FAFSA school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No FA for 400k income, large household expense doesn’t matter

You mean 200k

"Obligation to Help Pay for College

Is the non-custodial parent required to help pay for college?

The Federal government does not consider the income and assets of the non-custodial parent in determining a student’s financial need. However, it does consider child support received by the custodial parent."

https://finaid.org/questions/divorce/

[Anonymous]

Even at 200k for a household of 2 is too high for FA vs same income for household of 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the Uber-elite ones. One step down, possibly.

I'd qualify what this PP said by noting that it's not just the overall level of the school - it's also where your child stands within that school's applicant pool. Using the PP's example - if your child has stats for uber-elite then a "step down from uber-elite" school might offer merit to entice them to come. But if your child has stats for a "one step below uber-elite" school, they are not likely to get merit aid at that level but maybe at the "two steps down from uber elite" level.

[Anonymous]

2nd and third tier private schools give a lot of merit aid. Don’t dismiss them out of hand.

Schools take the number of kids you have in college at once into account. But 400K is a lot. Your husband should try perhaps to cut back on expenses. Plus remember, you continue to save for college while your child is enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:XH and I share 2 kids and he remarried and had 2 more. We are both putting money away for our 2 kids’ college but it’s not very high. It’s enough for our 2 kids to go instate comfortably and not take any loans.

We each are solid income earners (right around the $200k mark each) but household expense (especially for him) is pretty maxed out.

My oldest is a solid student and I’m sure she will have aspirations to explore out of state schools (she’s a sophomore).

I shudder to think she’ll want to go to a private university because on the face of it, it’s not affordable.

However, I admit I’m a bit in the dark as to overall financial aid process so am not sure what options we would have. Outside of loans, would private colleges offer any other sort of financial aid?

I'm afraid not, OP.
Your kids are going to have to go to much lower-ranked private schools or OOS Southern schools like Ole Miss and UTenn to get a cheaper price than in-state tuition in DelMarVa.
If you have a super-star kid, they might get a full ride by winning an extremely competitive full-ride scholarship to Duke or Vandy or Hamilton or Hopkins or Swarthmore one of the many private colleges that offer such full ride scholarships, but your kid really has to be an overachieving star to win one. I know someone who won one to the University of Chicago, but this kid studied a very uncommon language and had some interesting volunteer service abroad as well as all As, valedictorian and near perfect test scores.
If you have normal, bright kids, they'll have to suffer by going in-state, or you're going to have to borrow a lot of money to send them to private colleges. My poor children went in-state. They're all doing fine. Life does not depend on a HYPS degree. DCUM is a prestige-crazed bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2nd and third tier private schools give a lot of merit aid. Don’t dismiss them out of hand.

Schools take the number of kids you have in college at once into account. But 400K is a lot. Your husband should try perhaps to cut back on expenses. Plus remember, you continue to save for college while your child is enrolled.

This is not true. My kids got $25k, max, in merit aid from private colleges. My kids were excellent students with test scores to match, but they didn't get big $$ from mid-tier private colleges. That money is reserved for kids who are at the very top academically and for top athletes. Today, that means you'll be spending $60k per year to send your kid to private, mid-tier college, VS under $30K or less to send them in-state. In a few years, that price tag will balloon even higher. $100K to go to Connecticut College? Or Juniata? No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Money to be had at UMN. Apply early. They actually want students from the DMV!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI his wife’s income and assets will factor in with CSS schools. For FAFSA hers will also factor in if he supports the kids more financially.

Divorced kids whose parents remarry get screwed

Wrong.

For FAFSA, the primary parent is the one who spends more time with the kids. Even with 50/50 custody, it's easy to ensure that the kids spend 183 days of the year with mom and 182 with dad.

The CSS might collect the info, but the schools themselves decide how to interpret it. Of the top schools, the two notable outliers are UChicago and Princeton - they handle the divorced parents differently from the rest of the pack.

Yeah, good luck getting into these. The valedictorian at my kid's HS got into UChicago. Not one kid got into Princeton. The #2 kid got into Harvard. Out of a class of 450 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all: thanks for the replies.

XH and I share our 2 kids 50/50. His wife works for MoCo public schools in an administrative function. She doesn’t have assets of note that I know of.

Girlfriend, you aren't getting FA, nor should you.

They might get a ton of aid from a FAFSA school.

dp.. what's a fafsa school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI his wife’s income and assets will factor in with CSS schools. For FAFSA hers will also factor in if he supports the kids more financially.

Divorced kids whose parents remarry get screwed

This is incorrect.

OP, please go to the library and read one of the many books on this topic. You'll only get misinformation here.

This is not incorrect. The fafsa the rules will be changed by the time the kid is a senior.

If you think this is incorrect, exactly what about the statement is incorrect? Do you think a divorced couple with $400,000 in total income, 200k each, can get substantial financial need based aid?

Absolutely not. YOu will get - as we did - with a much lower HHI - and EFC of 100% meaning you are full-pay with the exception of the unsubsidized $5500 loan (goes up each year) that anyone who files the FAFSA gets.