What money is fair game for financial aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can somebody explain the question and answers about stay at home parent incomes, or lack thereof? Do K-12 schools assume there is a minimum amount each adult member of the family could/should be contributing toward education costs? And colleges don't? Why wouldn't they? Colleges assume absent parents' incomes are available, so why wouldn't they assume that present parents' incomes are available?

Colleges do not assume the stay at home parent has an income that they do not have. They only use numbers that exist (actual income, not opportunity-cost income)

[Anonymous]

Move to Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

"We all choose how we spend $$. If you want to put it towards a house (car/trip/whatever) then college choices are limited to what the family can manage. There is nothing special about housing choices. If contributing to college is not a priority, it is totally fine, but don't expect the college to handle it for you."

I have saved for college on my one income, albeit not enough to pay full freight at a private school for all 4 years. I live in a neighborhood you would probably sneer at, so it's not as though I have lots of choices for cheaper housing here. I paid on my own student loans until was in my thirties. You make it sound as if we all have the ability to save $400K per child in 18 years, but that some of us choose to blow the money on trips to Hawaii instead of setting it aside for college.

No...that was not my message. My message was to people who live well above their means and think that college should be covered without any regard to their home choice or saving habits. Many families need and get aid which is as it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much are students vs parents expected to contribute? FWIW my parents paid $0. My wealthy father wasn’t factored into financial aid bc he contributed nothing to college or much else for that matter except my step mom and step kids. Mom took out a small loan which I paid back within 2 years of graduating. All the rest was me (loans, work study and summer jobs), scholarships and a little financial aid.

I know times are different but there must still be a line item on financial aid that separates parent versus student financial contributions.

It depends on the relative income and wealth for parents vs student. The colleges assess them independently.

The situation with your father would be close to impossible now, unless 1) the college doesn't consider the non-custodial parent (not all do) or 2) you can prove that he basically disappeared and it is impossible or very dangerous for you to locate him.

In my case dad refused joint custody of his kids in court and made it clear to his own relatives, who were the Friends of the court appointees trying to chase him down for child support. My mom moved in with her parents bc she could not afford housingg. My kids are not in that situation but others in DCUMlandia like OP might be. So curious how that works for her/them.

Then it was probably something along the lines of #2. You had a proof that he is trying to hide from you and you've had no way to contact him and no support for years.

These days, the colleges go to LinkedIn or social media and say "here is your father, go talk to him" (true story). The father in question moved abroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do people mean when they say to limit your child to in-state when we live in DC?

Here you go...

https://www.thecollegefundingcoach.org/the-myth-of-the-d-c-resident-paying-in-state-tuition/

[Anonymous]

DCUM parents are so funny. They legit feel entitled to send their kid to the best school they can get into at a price they find affordable.

I grew up in a part of the country where kids understood there were schools they might get into but wouldn’t be able to pay for, so they didn’t even apply and just went to state flagships. I don’t know why this comes as such a shock to people in this area but it sure does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM parents are so funny. They legit feel entitled to send their kid to the best school they can get into at a price they find affordable.

I grew up in a part of the country where kids understood there were schools they might get into but wouldn’t be able to pay for, so they didn’t even apply and just went to state flagships. I don’t know why this comes as such a shock to people in this area but it sure does.

It's musher harder to get into local state flagships now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM parents are so funny. They legit feel entitled to send their kid to the best school they can get into at a price they find affordable.

I grew up in a part of the country where kids understood there were schools they might get into but wouldn’t be able to pay for, so they didn’t even apply and just went to state flagships. I don’t know why this comes as such a shock to people in this area but it sure does.

Your old-timey yarns mean nothing today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much are students vs parents expected to contribute? FWIW my parents paid $0. My wealthy father wasn’t factored into financial aid bc he contributed nothing to college or much else for that matter except my step mom and step kids. Mom took out a small loan which I paid back within 2 years of graduating. All the rest was me (loans, work study and summer jobs), scholarships and a little financial aid.

I know times are different but there must still be a line item on financial aid that separates parent versus student financial contributions.

Times have changed. Parents are expected to contribute - there's no getting around that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The colleges assume that relatively more of the tuition money is coming from your income rather than assets. So, for example, if you have 100K in savings, they may say that about $10K of that should be used toward tuition. You can play with a net price calculator for a specific college and see how they assess income vs assets.

Re: the pellionaires. The AGI to avoid declaring assets for Pell grant is very low, like $25K. This works for some FIRE crowd who tend to move to areas with low cost of living, but for most other people, even minimal living expenses will trigger revealing their assets. Also, the majority of at least somewhat competitive schools, including the publics, require CSS. If you are considering the kind of school that looks at FAFSA only, you'll likely end up at the same place with merit aid they offer.

I don't think this is true. Our HHI is around 250k and none of the cost estimators have us getting any aid. We have two kids who will be in school at the same time, so paying out of income would mean that we would be paying most of our income every year once you account for taxes. We save heavily because there is no way that we could afford college for our kids otherwise.

It is true. With your income, you are expected to have been able to save and to be able to pay from current income. If you didn't save, then loans for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM parents are so funny. They legit feel entitled to send their kid to the best school they can get into at a price they find affordable.

I grew up in a part of the country where kids understood there were schools they might get into but wouldn’t be able to pay for, so they didn’t even apply and just went to state flagships. I don’t know why this comes as such a shock to people in this area but it sure does.

Your old-timey yarns mean nothing today.

I graduated in 2013. This is about culture not the date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the reasoning behind using home value. Is the idea that the parents should remortgage the house to pay for school? For many people living in high COL places, house equity is part of their retirement nest egg. I'd love to have enough money to both pay a ridiculously high mortgage payment AND max out my retirement savings, but I can't. I plan to retire to my hometown where I can easily buy a low cost house there with the equity I'll walk away with after I sell my DC house. If I have to remortgage it, then I won't be able to buy a house when I retire. From what I understand, if that money were tied up in a retirement account, it would be untouchable and schools wouldn't consider it as available for college expenses. Is that right?

And what about savings accounts? Aren't we supposed to have three months of living expenses sitting in a savings account? That's a lot of money for people with high mortgages like many of us in DC or for those of us with medical issues. Is the fact that we squirreled those funds away in case of job loss (single mom here) going to be used against us for need-based financial aid?

I think it depends on the situation. Many people in this area live in million dollar houses, take multiple vacations a year and then scream poverty when it comes to paying college. If you choose a ridiculously high mortgage and want to max out your retirement, your child needs to take loans, community college or state school that you can afford. Why should you get a free pass when many of us don't take regular vacations, live in a tiny, crappy house that cost much less than yours and we save. And, claiming single mom means nothing as you can easily be making $125-500k+ a year and get child support as well and child also has a Dad. Stop expecting a free pass. You can afford college and choose not to. You could move to a more affordable house but choose not to. You don't need need-based financial aid and need to lear to save.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The colleges assume that relatively more of the tuition money is coming from your income rather than assets. So, for example, if you have 100K in savings, they may say that about $10K of that should be used toward tuition. You can play with a net price calculator for a specific college and see how they assess income vs assets.

Re: the pellionaires. The AGI to avoid declaring assets for Pell grant is very low, like $25K. This works for some FIRE crowd who tend to move to areas with low cost of living, but for most other people, even minimal living expenses will trigger revealing their assets. Also, the majority of at least somewhat competitive schools, including the publics, require CSS. If you are considering the kind of school that looks at FAFSA only, you'll likely end up at the same place with merit aid they offer.

I don't think this is true. Our HHI is around 250k and none of the cost estimators have us getting any aid. We have two kids who will be in school at the same time, so paying out of income would mean that we would be paying most of our income every year once you account for taxes. We save heavily because there is no way that we could afford college for our kids otherwise.

If you earn $250K a year and didn't save for college (which you did) its absurd to expect financial aid. You could have easily saved $10-20K per child per year and still lived comfortably. We earn far less than you and still saved for a fully paid state school plus money for graduate school. Its about priorities. Your priorities are to save which is great but why should someone else who earns the same income who choose not to save get a free pass because they choose not to save?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The colleges assume that relatively more of the tuition money is coming from your income rather than assets. So, for example, if you have 100K in savings, they may say that about $10K of that should be used toward tuition. You can play with a net price calculator for a specific college and see how they assess income vs assets.

Re: the pellionaires. The AGI to avoid declaring assets for Pell grant is very low, like $25K. This works for some FIRE crowd who tend to move to areas with low cost of living, but for most other people, even minimal living expenses will trigger revealing their assets. Also, the majority of at least somewhat competitive schools, including the publics, require CSS. If you are considering the kind of school that looks at FAFSA only, you'll likely end up at the same place with merit aid they offer.

I don't think this is true. Our HHI is around 250k and none of the cost estimators have us getting any aid. We have two kids who will be in school at the same time, so paying out of income would mean that we would be paying most of our income every year once you account for taxes. We save heavily because there is no way that we could afford college for our kids otherwise.

It is true. With your income, you are expected to have been able to save and to be able to pay from current income. If you didn't save, then loans for you.

That's a great theory, except our kids were in middle school when we got there. Prior to that we were around 100k. Try saving for two kids to pay full freight on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

"We all choose how we spend $$. If you want to put it towards a house (car/trip/whatever) then college choices are limited to what the family can manage. There is nothing special about housing choices. If contributing to college is not a priority, it is totally fine, but don't expect the college to handle it for you."

I have saved for college on my one income, albeit not enough to pay full freight at a private school for all 4 years. I live in a neighborhood you would probably sneer at, so it's not as though I have lots of choices for cheaper housing here. I paid on my own student loans until was in my thirties. You make it sound as if we all have the ability to save $400K per child in 18 years, but that some of us choose to blow the money on trips to Hawaii instead of setting it aside for college.

I don't think anybody meant that you hadn't tried hard or done well. You should be proud of what you can pay for. But private college is not an entitlement.
We are in a similar situation, FYI. We have told our kids that we can pay for in state, if they want something else it will have to be someplace they can get merit aid.

While I agree with this statement (and FWIW my kid is at a second-tier LAC with a big merit scholarship), it is a difficult pill to swallow for those of us who grew up in an era when yes, attending private college was a privilege, but not a wholly unattainable one. With some summer savings, a modest student loan, and parents' contributions, a middle-class student could attend an elite school. For example, the NESCAC that I graduated from in 1983 and which at the time cost about $9K/year total now costs $75+K. (It doesn't award any merit aid.) Had tuition increases kept pace with inflation, it would cost about $30K/year. That would be expensive, yes, but doable for many more people today than $75K+ is.

The narrative of "it's all about choices" does not reflect the reality that private college has become much more than an entitlement - it is a luxury good for a tiny fraction of wealthy people, and for those who qualify for need-based aid. That's it.