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What families qualify for financial aid?
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Anonymous
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If our HHI is $200K, both parents work, and we have virtually no retirement or other savings and no home equity (we rent) - would we qualify for financial aid?
Would love some btdt feedback. Thanks! |
Anonymous
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Thanks for asking this question -- I have always wondered.
Our situation is that DH earns about $100K; I'm not working as I am home with my youngest, eventually would earn probably about $50K. house with mortgage, little equity, some retirement -- and I'm looking at a school with a tuition of about $15K a year -- would we possibly qualify for financial aid? How much? |
Anonymous
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Sidwell has the most comprehensive financial aid website I've seen. They lay out the rules and they provide a calculator -- of doubtful utility maybe since so many other factors are involved besides HHI and family size -- but still worth a look. My sense is that other schools have FA policies similar to Sidwell's, but of course each school's are likely to be different in some way (the most obvious way being in the size of their endowment and FA budget).
http://www.sidwell.edu/admissions/financialaid.asp |
Anonymous
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Thanks for posting the Sidwell site. One thing that I thought was interesting is that they don't attribute income to a non-working parent if they have a small child at home (I remember that there was a previous post about financial aid and the OP was a SAHM and people were upset about that).
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Anonymous
| OP here - another thanks for posting the Sidwell link. I was pleasantly surprised which makes me think it is at least worth applying for financial aid in our case. |
Anonymous
| I've researched private schools in my area (Baltimore) and most seem to indicate that once all of the famiy's children reach FT schoolage (kindergarten) and the non-working parent chooses not to return to FT employment, they will assess something like $20K to them as the salary they could be earning. If there is/are kids younger than K age at home, the non-working parent is not assessed that salary. They also take into account your lifestyle (vacations, camps, vacation homes, etc). |
Anonymous
| I do know of schools that have a policy that both parents must work in order to qualify for financial aid. In other words, they don't attribute income like Sidwell does nor do they have an exception for people with young kids. If one parent is SAH then the family just doesn't qualify for financial aid. So it may be worth some further investigation if only one parent in your family works outside the home. |
Anonymous
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If your HHI is $200K, don't you think asking for financial aid is embarrassing? Unless you're living high on the hog, how can a household income of $200K qualify anyone for financial aid?
Shouldn't aid be given only to those truly in need? BTW - This is a sincere question. |
Anonymous
No. Because if you have two children, tuition would be $60k in income, or close to $100k pre-tax dollars. No, aid should be given to anyone who can't afford tuition - not sure of how you define need, but I define it as anyone who can't afford a school's tuition. |
Anonymous
OP - I think it is a fair question. It was only very, very recently that we reached this level of income. For many, many years, both of us worked very hard at very low paying jobs (social work and non-profit advocacy organizations, for instance). We have, as a result, absolutely no retirement savings, will finish paying off our student loans within the next few months (after much effort toward this), and are just now starting even to be able to contemplate putting savings aside for a down-payment for our own home. And, we are in our 40's. So we are quite behind the eight ball on all this. We both are "save the world" types and simply didn't focus on our own long term needs. Although, even if we had there would not have been much we could have done previously given our low incomes. With the cost of living in DC, it would be almost impossible for us to swing full tuition, even living modestly as we do. We will happily contribute a significant portion of our income to meet our dd's educational needs and in know way would expect that our income would qualify us for a full-ride. |
Anonymous
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OP again.
Just wanted to add that we currently pay full cost for our dd's preschool because - even at about $1,300 a month, it is possible for us to do this. But there is a big difference - at our income level - between coming up with $1,300 (which is a stretch but doable) and coming up with $2,300 a month (which is just not within reach). So, is it embarrassing? Sure. Is it worth it to try to obtain the educational environment that is the best fit for our dd? Absolutely. |
Anonymous
| Don't be embarrassed. Private schools here are expensive. |
Anonymous
Similar situation to OP. HHI the same, combined student loan debt close to $80K, two layoffs between DH and myself, $1800/mo daycare (two kids), no equity in home, meager savings, credit card debt (due to trying to survive during a layoff), cars, insurance, sensible activites for DC, early 40s, very meager retirement savings, no public or charter school options... add it all up and what do you have... a family that NEEDS financial assistance for an independent school education. With two kids, we can comfortably contribute $25k (one, contribute $15k) but let's be real folks; incomes have hardly kept pace with the cost of living and rising costs. I think I am safe in assuming that there are a lot of people in the same HHI bracket feeling like a working class family. There was another poster in another thread that said that her HHI was $400k and she was worried about paying for private school for one kid. DH and I were like  !!!!! $400k and worried about $28k in tuition? THAT's living high on the hog. If DH and made $400 combined, we would absolutely pay and no seek one dime of aid.
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Anonymous
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Independent school tuition is indeed difficult on HHI of $200k ... but the question I have is whether such tuition is a "need" equivalent to food, heat, basic shelter or a "want" (albeit one I totally understand). My DC attends private with no financial aid at significantly lower HHI and I feel uncomfortable knowing that some of my tuition, not to mention annual giving, would go to help a family making almost twice as much. I assume the size of our house is somewhat different and our commute times are also different ... choices each family must make.
Trying not to be judgmental here ... one of my New Year's resolutions! ... but please consider carefully how appropriate it is to expect assistance in this case. Nonetheless, I wish you well and hope you find a school situation that truly meets both your needs and wants! |
Anonymous
PP -- are you saying that you have a HHI of less than $100k, but are nevertheless paying $20K private school tuition with no financial aid? WOW!!! |