FAFSA - is middle-class waste time applying?

[Anonymous]

Why do you think parents in Northern Virginia are all obsessed with getting their kids into UVA? They can afford it easily on $300k a year.

[Anonymous]

The old version took 20 minutes to complete and this version is a lot shorter. I’d do it first year at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

What is your income? Because you’d have even less difficulty paying for your kid to go to an expensive private college if your income was half that.

DP. I was thinking the same as the PP. Our income IS half of that. Some schools give us FA and some don't. My kid worked very hard to qualify for merit at the schools where we don't get FA and to be competitive as an applicant at the schools where we do. We saved enough on that earning level to pay 50k/year with a few fed loans and some pay-as-you-go for each of 2 kids. If we can do that, there is no reason someone earning twice what we do can't pay 80k. We started saving when kids were little, and live economically, even though we live in a high cost of living area. (Just because someone makes double what we make, doesn't mean they have double the COL -- their costs are probably similar to ours). Someone on 300k can afford this, but there should be more info out there when kids are born (or starting preschool or starting kindergarten) to start saving.

[Anonymous]

It's a few minutes of your time, OP, and you should fill out the CSS too.

I filled both out, and DS got a merit scholarship to go to his school of choice. Not a bad deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

No necessarily true! 300k sounds a lot. But after tax, medical and retirement deduction, it is lucky if could take home half of it. With other kids to support, who can afford to use 50% of take home money paying for one kid’s college expenses?

Still not middle class - you live in the DC bubble, so you think anything under $1m per year is "middle class". GMAFB.

OP, many private sector people make less than you, stop trying to play martyr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

And submitting FAFSA is not required to keep the award?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

And submitting FAFSA is not required to keep the award?

Of course not. These are merit awards. FAFSA is specifically for determining need based financial aid.

[Anonymous]

We also did not complete the FAFSA and my son received merit awards from a few schools. He’s currently a first year student with a very generous merit award- no FAFSA necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

What is your income? Because you’d have even less difficulty paying for your kid to go to an expensive private college if your income was half that.

DP. I was thinking the same as the PP. Our income IS half of that. Some schools give us FA and some don't. My kid worked very hard to qualify for merit at the schools where we don't get FA and to be competitive as an applicant at the schools where we do. We saved enough on that earning level to pay 50k/year with a few fed loans and some pay-as-you-go for each of 2 kids. If we can do that, there is no reason someone earning twice what we do can't pay 80k. We started saving when kids were little, and live economically, even though we live in a high cost of living area. (Just because someone makes double what we make, doesn't mean they have double the COL -- their costs are probably similar to ours). Someone on 300k can afford this, but there should be more info out there when kids are born (or starting preschool or starting kindergarten) to start saving.

It’s not about savings, it’s about actual cost. If your income is $150k, Harvard COA is capped at 10% of HHI, or $15k. If you make twice as much, Harvard costs five times as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

No necessarily true! 300k sounds a lot. But after tax, medical and retirement deduction, it is lucky if could take home half of it. With other kids to support, who can afford to use 50% of take home money paying for one kid’s college expenses?

Still not middle class - you live in the DC bubble, so you think anything under $1m per year is "middle class". GMAFB.

OP, many private sector people make less than you, stop trying to play martyr.

Two incomes 150k each is not that wealthy to live in dc area with age 50+ plus multiple kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I are both gs14 fed employee with combined income around $300k pretax. This is quite common for middle class in dc area. We’re told not to bother filling up FAFSA or any financial aid since we won’t be qualified for anything so we won’t apply. Is it true for anyone in our situation?

Now, if kid gets into a private college with annual expenses 70k+, how middle class manages to pay for it without any aids or scholarships?

1. They don't. Their kids go to public universities or to lower-ranked schools with merit scholarships.

2. You are not middle class. You are upper middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

In our experience, FAFSA is not required for merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:merit based scholarships do require FAFSA however they are hard to come by, you almost have to go down two notches school ranking wise to score some.

This is totally wrong. Almost NO schools require FAFSA for merit awards. We did not fill out FAFSA and my kid got merit aid offers from a dozen different schools.

And submitting FAFSA is not required to keep the award?

NP, agreeing with the PPs. Very few schools require FAFSA for merit scholarships that have no need-based component.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I are both gs14 fed employee with combined income around $300k pretax. This is quite common for middle class in dc area. We’re told not to bother filling up FAFSA or any financial aid since we won’t be qualified for anything so we won’t apply. Is it true for anyone in our situation?

Now, if kid gets into a private college with annual expenses 70k+, how middle class manages to pay for it without any aids or scholarships?

Each college has a Net Price Calculator on its financial aid website. Use that to get a need-based aid estimate. If all the calculators you try tell you that you are paying full sticker price, and are nowhere close to getting aid, then you don't need to bother with FAFSA and CSS Profile.