What kind of income receives financial aid?

[Anonymous]

We earn 145k and were denied financial aid at all schools. I think it was the equity in our house that did it. When my husband attended the financial aid workshop last Fall, he specifically asked that question - does your equity count against you when applying for financial aid? He was told, absolutely not, you are not expected to sell your home to send your child to school. Well, we were denied and now have our house on the market to downsize and pull some equity out as it's the only way we can afford to send our child to a school that costs a little over 28k with after-care. I have absolutely no idea how financial aid works and why some people are granted aid and others not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did that bother you that minority faculty members made more money?

I'm not 4:57 but I've also taught at universities where African-American faculty received higher salaries in order to recruit them.

On a general level, I think it's a good thing because it's important to have diverse faculty. That has an important impact on students' (all races and ethnicities) expectations of themselves and others. As well, our young people are also going to be competing in a much more diverse world and this helps prepare them.

On a personal level, I can say I have a slight bit of jealousy towards black colleagues who get paid more or whose children will receive financial aid when mine won't. BUT every time I think about this, I remember my gentle proper female colleague who was stopped for Driving While Black and treated rudely (something that would never happen to me) and I think about the hard-working and educated young men in my neighborhood who must constantly negotiate (whether consciously or unconsciously) white people's fear of them when they go into white neighborhoods, schools, and businesses. That all sounds pretty exhausting to me so I don't know if I would trade places even if I could. So I don't begrudge one dime of extra salary and financial aid those folks get.

Plus getting hired is one thing -- getting tenure is another. As I recall, it wasn't so easy for faculty of color to get tenure -- although I don't know the statistics now. Anyone want to comment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We earn 145k and were denied financial aid at all schools. I think it was the equity in our house that did it. When my husband attended the financial aid workshop last Fall, he specifically asked that question - does your equity count against you when applying for financial aid? He was told, absolutely not, you are not expected to sell your home to send your child to school. Well, we were denied and now have our house on the market to downsize and pull some equity out as it's the only way we can afford to send our child to a school that costs a little over 28k with after-care. I have absolutely no idea how financial aid works and why some people are granted aid and others not.

How do they know how much equity you have in your house? Do they ask you when you bought it and how much it's worth now?

[Anonymous]

I believe to get aid through the Black Student Fund you still have to qualify financially. There are lots of well-off black families in DC who pay full freight.

[Anonymous]

I've researched this topic extensively, not because I wanted financial aid but because there are so many teacher/staff kids attending my children's schools that should/would not have been admitted if their parent didn't work at the school or should be "not invited back". In the eighteen years I've sent my children to private schools I've found the kids who cause the most problems and require the most energy from the teachers are the teacher/staff kids. The teachers kids are favored and there is a different set of rules that apply to them. I know why they are admitted so, my question was "how can these families afford the tuition". To my dismay, I've found the majority of financial aid goes to teacher and staff kids leaving very little for the deserving families. I've talked to financial aid administrators and they have said "there is always a way to favor the staff". Although schools always have some sort of tuition remision for teachers and staff, it doesn't cover everything. The rest is from financial aid. The schools tax returns are on-line as proof. I forget the pointer but I know it now costs $1000 a year to access them so I quit looking at them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We earn 145k and were denied financial aid at all schools. I think it was the equity in our house that did it. When my husband attended the financial aid workshop last Fall, he specifically asked that question - does your equity count against you when applying for financial aid? He was told, absolutely not, you are not expected to sell your home to send your child to school. Well, we were denied and now have our house on the market to downsize and pull some equity out as it's the only way we can afford to send our child to a school that costs a little over 28k with after-care. I have absolutely no idea how financial aid works and why some people are granted aid and others not.

How do they know how much equity you have in your house? Do they ask you when you bought it and how much it's worth now?

Hi. When we filled out the application, it asked for our tax returns, mortgage details, how much money we put down and assessed value of the house. As I said, although my husband was assured during the information session that we were not expected to sell our home or pull out equity to pay for our childs education, apparently, we were. We are both working parents, combined salary of 145k, we have one child, are not "staff" or a minority family, applied to more than 5 schools and were denied financial aid from all. We are seriously scrimping and saving to afford the 28k a year (plus whatever it will cost to put our child in summer camp) and we do have our house on the market to do so. So, we'll downsize, pull some money out, be the "poor" family in the school and re-assess next year as to if we will be forced to go the public route.

With all of that said, we are lucky to have that equity in our house, but we worked hard to get it and have deliberately kept it there to keep our mortgage payments down so we can aford to live in NW DC - and even at a combined salary of 145k (before taxes), with a child and paying for daycare for the past two years, it's not easy.

[Anonymous]

With teacher salaries as low as they are, I believe teachers deserve every little perk they get, including preferential admission and financial aid for their children. Having worked as both an attorney in a big DC law firm and an elementary school teacher, there is a HUGE difference in terms of accommodations, respect, and salary (of course). Most teachers spend their own meager salaries on class school supplies and books. They often bring in their own tables, bins, books, manipulatives and whiteboards to furnish the classroom, not to mention spending their own money on stickers, pencils, paper, etc. Why not allow them to have their kids at the school where they work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My jaw just dropped - !!! That's amazing!

The black student fund is a separate organization that awards financial aid to black students. The money does not come from the schools themselves. I am not sure where the BSF get their funding, but its mission is make independent schools more affordable for black students.

[Anonymous]

I’m the 12:57 post responding to the 14:52 post. Whether or not teachers deserve tuition remission is a separate thread. My point was - schools falsely advertise that they offer financial aid and even list the dollar amount that is given. I think it is false advertising when 95% of the financial aid pool goes to teachers and staff kids.

[Anonymous]

To the PP @ 145K, with a valuable NW DC house ... a question for you and others: if you make a low-for-the-region salary, but have a gigantic mortgage payment, do the financial aid gods smile on you? And award 'you' money?

I'm trying to figure out why the formula would punish prudent purchasers (ie, relatively low mortgage payment with possibly high equity).

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why teachers' kids aren't considered "deserving" kids by the earlier poster. What kids (and families) are more deserving?

[Anonymous]

Also, I strongly disagree that "teachers' kids" are the problem kids. What a horrible, unfair generalization. It is not supported by my experiences.

[Anonymous]

I would love to see some more posts from people who receive financial aid and who were rejected for it - including income levels. Those posts are very helpful. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

The financial aid formula is not based solely on income it is also based on "assets" and yes, the equity in your home is an asset and I think that it is reasonabl to take this into account when determing a family's ability to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The financial aid formula is not based solely on income it is also based on "assets" and yes, the equity in your home is an asset and I think that it is reasonabl to take this into account when determing a family's ability to pay.

145K here with the NW DC home. I dont quite agree with this. The equity in our home is what we used as a down payment, this is not "accessible" cash sitting in a bank account somewhere that I'm choosing to hord rather than pay my fair share of tuition. Again, my husband specifically asked that question during the financial aid open house and was told in no uncertain terms that people are not expected to sell their home to pay tuition. Yet, when we applied for financial aid, we were denied everywhere. So, I guess we were penalized for having equity. Perhaps if we mortgaged ourselves up to our eyeballs we would have received financial aid, or perhaps the previous poster is correct and aid mostly goes to staff/faculty.

I think trying to figure out how the financial aid system works is impossible.