So confused by net price calculator

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Catholic universities are notoriously stingy with aid, so widen your net.

But if you have a big chunk of change sitting in an account, colleges will expect you to use it. And your expected contribution will be higher now with just one kid to support rather than 2, as was the case when your DC1 was in college.

If you need to preserve your assets, you will need to look at in-state options. Or seek merit aid from schools that give it to kids who have stats similar to those of your kid. That generally means lowering your sights somewhat. Your kid will need to be a stand-out among applicants to be a candidate for substantial merit aid.

In putting together your DC's list, you need safeties that are not just very likely to admit DC but also are affordable for you even with no aid. Those will be in-state publics and lesser-known OOS publics with affordable OOS tuition (e.g., UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Asheville, Mary Washington, some of the SUNYs). Then add private schools that offer substantial merit aid to kids like your DC--these will also be "safeties" in terms of likelihood of admission, but they're not really safeties for your kid because it's not admission you need, it's merit aid. (E.g, instead of BC, HC, or Trinity, think Clark or Wooster). Then the target/reach will be your in-state flagship.

Not they aren’t. My son applied to 10 schools and 8/10 were Catholic. I was amazed how generous they were for a B student. The OP needs merit money so she should look a tier or two below BC to get lots of scholarships. Mine is at Loyola MD but he also got lots of merit money from St. Joe’s, Seton Hall, Manhattan, La Salle, Duquesne, Manhattan, Scranton.

[Anonymous]

So...on net price calculator on UMD (Maryland) financial aid page, if you select you are going to apply for financial aid and you also try by selecting you are not going to apply for financial aid, the results for in state resident-someone with household income of above 99k-5 people in household-college bound student not married- nor- does college bound student have dependents of their own is...$0 estimated aid! How do they calculate??!

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry for your loss. We found out quickly from the NPC that we will get nothing in financial aid because we own a small business. We have a savings account, for the business, to pay employees. Because of that equity we have to rely completely on merit aid. So we are looking at smaller schools, OOS and hoping for merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Why isn't she going to community college? We are out of state for NOVA for now, but it's still cheap.
DC is paying $4500 for coming semester, but when he files his taxes on his own, he will get ca $3500 back in credits and deductions. Can't touch the 529 for that reason and I won't.
Also, 50% of his classes are complete somehow, because of his high school credits. He hasn't even started.
Why didn't the life insurance collect 5-8% a year in dividends or interest and help pay from that? Why is it being drawn down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholic universities are notoriously stingy with aid, so widen your net.

But if you have a big chunk of change sitting in an account, colleges will expect you to use it. And your expected contribution will be higher now with just one kid to support rather than 2, as was the case when your DC1 was in college.

If you need to preserve your assets, you will need to look at in-state options. Or seek merit aid from schools that give it to kids who have stats similar to those of your kid. That generally means lowering your sights somewhat. Your kid will need to be a stand-out among applicants to be a candidate for substantial merit aid.

In putting together your DC's list, you need safeties that are not just very likely to admit DC but also are affordable for you even with no aid. Those will be in-state publics and lesser-known OOS publics with affordable OOS tuition (e.g., UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Asheville, Mary Washington, some of the SUNYs). Then add private schools that offer substantial merit aid to kids like your DC--these will also be "safeties" in terms of likelihood of admission, but they're not really safeties for your kid because it's not admission you need, it's merit aid. (E.g, instead of BC, HC, or Trinity, think Clark or Wooster). Then the target/reach will be your in-state flagship.

Next tier Jesuit schools (below BC and Holy Cross) -- all the Loyolas! Marquette! -- are known to be generous with merit aid. Check the common data set for the percent of students who get merit before ruling them out.

Yes. And if your DC tests well, Fordham -- a great school, which is (again) on the rise -- offers full tuition scholarships to every NMSF, I believe.