HHI & Full Pay Threshold

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assets matter too.

Use Net Price Calculators.

+1
Our HHI is about $160k and our EFC for 2022-2022 was just over $100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assets matter too.

Use Net Price Calculators.

+1
Our HHI is about $160k and our EFC for 2022-2022 was just over $100k.

What?!?! Do you own a bunch of properties?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assets matter too.

Use Net Price Calculators.

+1
Our HHI is about $160k and our EFC for 2022-2022 was just over $100k.

What?!?! Do you own a bunch of properties?

Three, including our primary residence. All with 100% equity. We weren’t expecting a dime in aid; filing the FAFSA was strictly to have access to a Federal loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

You have zero HHI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

Good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

You have zero HHI?

Hypothetical, dude. Are you just slow or a PIA in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

Or if your kids have $200K in UTMAs instead of 529s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you kid is in elementary and has 10 years to go OP, your salary will rise between now and then. Even with a meager 3% increase, you will be at 300K. That is barring either of you making a jump for a 20-40% increase to advance your careers. You will DEFINITELY not quality for any need based aid.

This is the OP. I’d agreed if we had our daughter earlier. But I’m 47 and work a corporate job which has a limited time horizon at this stage of life. I’ll continue to work as long as possible but recognize that I’m not on the upswing if my career as daughter enters college so can’t rely on cash flow to pay. Realistically I could be involuntarily retired at 56, just as daughter graduates from High School. My husband is older, owns a small business and is the lower earner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

You have zero HHI?

Hypothetical, dude. Are you just slow or a PIA in general.

Well if you have above zero HHI and $2M in wealth before even including home equity, why on earth should you get financial aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?

It's not just HHI. It's also wealth. Zero HHI and $2M wealth (outside of primary residence), you get zero aid.

You have zero HHI?

Hypothetical, dude. Are you just slow or a PIA in general.

Well if you have above zero HHI and $2M in wealth before even including home equity, why on earth should you get financial aid?

Where did I say that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you kid is in elementary and has 10 years to go OP, your salary will rise between now and then. Even with a meager 3% increase, you will be at 300K. That is barring either of you making a jump for a 20-40% increase to advance your careers. You will DEFINITELY not quality for any need based aid.

This is the OP. I’d agreed if we had our daughter earlier. But I’m 47 and work a corporate job which has a limited time horizon at this stage of life. I’ll continue to work as long as possible but recognize that I’m not on the upswing if my career as daughter enters college so can’t rely on cash flow to pay. Realistically I could be involuntarily retired at 56, just as daughter graduates from High School. My husband is older, owns a small business and is the lower earner.

That’s why you start saving at birth or now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can't determine what you will pay by income alone. At some elite schools that don't consider home equity, an income of $200-250K may give some aid. Our income is $219K. For our family, Duke was a no-go, our EFC was $65K. He wanted to apply even though we checked the NPC, which ended up being accurate. But Stanford is $44K plus our son is expected to contribute $3K per year (no loans offered) for a total of $47K (EFC). We told him our cap was $45 per year for any school. Anything above that he would have to take out a subsidized Stafford loan ($5500), merit, and/or work PT. He got no financial aid from OOS public schools, only merit. He didn't apply to any public that wasn't known to give merit or was above $50K OOS/in-state.

We have 401ks, modest savings, stocks/investments under $20K, 529 to contribute $20K per year, and 500K+ home equity. We plan to cash flow for the remaining balance. We didn't start making more than $150K until he started 8th grade.

Where did all your money go? The house> I don't get where all your savings/investments went.

Both of us had student loans until 5 years ago. Prioritized 401ks and putting some money in 529. Purchased a house late (we rented until our kid was in middle school) and needed to use most of our savings for a 20% downpayment/465K mortgage. House appreciated quickly in the last 7 years. No family help and didn't make over 150 HHI until fairly recently.

All my numbers are very similar to yours, except I’ll have a lot less equity. I think you’re doing great and have obviously made some smart choices. It’s a different situation if you’ve been making 200k for 20 years or 5 years. People don’t always get that.

'

I don't get not living in your means and saving. We made much less and seemed to save.

Everyone’s circumstances are different.

Also, some people (not myself) are philosophically opposed to paying for the entire degree in cash because if the kid drops out or fails classes, it costs the kid nothing, then.

You have a really poor view of your kids. With loans it does not give them an incentive to be more responsible and if they are not something went wrong long before college years.

You have to save from the start and make it a priority.

WOW. I hope your life goes perfectly and you never have a car accident, a cancer diagnosis, a flood, a job loss or any other issues.

You truly do not have a clue.

I do have long term health issues which is why it was more, not less of a priority to save. We will pay for a state school and grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can't determine what you will pay by income alone. At some elite schools that don't consider home equity, an income of $200-250K may give some aid. Our income is $219K. For our family, Duke was a no-go, our EFC was $65K. He wanted to apply even though we checked the NPC, which ended up being accurate. But Stanford is $44K plus our son is expected to contribute $3K per year (no loans offered) for a total of $47K (EFC). We told him our cap was $45 per year for any school. Anything above that he would have to take out a subsidized Stafford loan ($5500), merit, and/or work PT. He got no financial aid from OOS public schools, only merit. He didn't apply to any public that wasn't known to give merit or was above $50K OOS/in-state.

We have 401ks, modest savings, stocks/investments under $20K, 529 to contribute $20K per year, and 500K+ home equity. We plan to cash flow for the remaining balance. We didn't start making more than $150K until he started 8th grade.

Where did all your money go? The house> I don't get where all your savings/investments went.

Both of us had student loans until 5 years ago. Prioritized 401ks and putting some money in 529. Purchased a house late (we rented until our kid was in middle school) and needed to use most of our savings for a 20% downpayment/465K mortgage. House appreciated quickly in the last 7 years. No family help and didn't make over 150 HHI until fairly recently.

All my numbers are very similar to yours, except I’ll have a lot less equity. I think you’re doing great and have obviously made some smart choices. It’s a different situation if you’ve been making 200k for 20 years or 5 years. People don’t always get that.

'

I don't get not living in your means and saving. We made much less and seemed to save.

Everyone’s circumstances are different.

Also, some people (not myself) are philosophically opposed to paying for the entire degree in cash because if the kid drops out or fails classes, it costs the kid nothing, then.

You have a really poor view of your kids. With loans it does not give them an incentive to be more responsible and if they are not something went wrong long before college years.

You have to save from the start and make it a priority.

You missed the part where I said “not myself.” I saved for my kids. But you would be foolish to think that a kid doesn’t have to want their degree really bad to finish school if they have to work and/or take out loans.

And I don’t think you have any clue how expensive life is today.

No, you are clueless and have a spending issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You make at least $100k too much to get any kind of need-based aid.

We make $180,000, but don’t have a home. Princeton showed us with an expected family contribution of $20,000, and other selective schools showed EFCe of $40,000 to $50,000.

So, save as much as you can, but, when your kid’s a senior, it makes sense to fill out the EFC calculators and apply to some dream schools just to see what happens. You don’t really know till you know.