New University of Pennsylvania financial aid thresholds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

+1. It also seems like a convenient way for them to get a PR win by talking about how many families will be able to qualify for free tuition while quietly making them pay when the time comes (“sorry, we know what the income thresholds are but your assets are too high or, as we like to say, ‘atypical’”).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

+1. It also seems like a convenient way for them to get a PR win by talking about how many families will be able to qualify for free tuition while quietly making them pay when the time comes (“sorry, we know what the income thresholds are but your assets are too high or, as we like to say, ‘atypical’”).

It's a program for non rich people, smoothbrain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

Does it matter how a school gets to total COA? Penn isn’t any different than amy peers in terms of total COA.

Yes, lol, when you’re advertising “free tuition” of course it matters how much of the COA is made up of tuition!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

I make 145K and will have about 80K in the 529 at HS graduation. The NPC said I would pay 30K a year, which would mean just 10K out of pocket annually for me. That's more than reasonable for a T10 school that is 92K annually. I imagine it would be even more affordable if I hadn't saved at all.

I don't see any downside to this news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

I make 145K and will have about 80K in the 529 at HS graduation. The NPC said I would pay 30K a year, which would mean just 10K out of pocket annually for me. That's more than reasonable for a T10 school that is 92K annually. I imagine it would be even more affordable if I hadn't saved at all.

I don't see any downside to this news.

Did you run the NPC after the rule change? That sounds a little high after raising the threshold from $140k to $200k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

I make 145K and will have about 80K in the 529 at HS graduation. The NPC said I would pay 30K a year, which would mean just 10K out of pocket annually for me. That's more than reasonable for a T10 school that is 92K annually. I imagine it would be even more affordable if I hadn't saved at all.

I don't see any downside to this news.

Did you run the NPC after the rule change? That sounds a little high after raising the threshold from $140k to $200k.

$30,000 for a family making $145,000 sounds exactly right. Under the new rule families making $75,000-$200,000 don’t pay tuition. But tuition is only about $60,000 of the $90,000 cost of attendance. So the middle-income family is still paying $30,000/year. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and it makes Penn competitive with a state flagship for a middle-income family (unless you get merit at the flagship, which a kid who can get into Penn likely will), but it’s not like the situation with a family making under $75,000 where Penn is actually the less expensive option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

I make 145K and will have about 80K in the 529 at HS graduation. The NPC said I would pay 30K a year, which would mean just 10K out of pocket annually for me. That's more than reasonable for a T10 school that is 92K annually. I imagine it would be even more affordable if I hadn't saved at all.

I don't see any downside to this news.

Did you run the NPC after the rule change? That sounds a little high after raising the threshold from $140k to $200k.

$30,000 for a family making $145,000 sounds exactly right. Under the new rule families making $75,000-$200,000 don’t pay tuition. But tuition is only about $60,000 of the $90,000 cost of attendance. So the middle-income family is still paying $30,000/year. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and it makes Penn competitive with a state flagship for a middle-income family (unless you get merit at the flagship, which a kid who can get into Penn likely will), but it’s not like the situation with a family making under $75,000 where Penn is actually the less expensive option.

Tuition is $65k and usually these income thresholds are ratable. So if it’s 100% free at $75k and tuition free at $200k…then you usually get free tuition plus a percentage of the other costs as well between $75k-$200k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

I make 145K and will have about 80K in the 529 at HS graduation. The NPC said I would pay 30K a year, which would mean just 10K out of pocket annually for me. That's more than reasonable for a T10 school that is 92K annually. I imagine it would be even more affordable if I hadn't saved at all.

I don't see any downside to this news.

Did you run the NPC after the rule change? That sounds a little high after raising the threshold from $140k to $200k.

$30,000 for a family making $145,000 sounds exactly right. Under the new rule families making $75,000-$200,000 don’t pay tuition. But tuition is only about $60,000 of the $90,000 cost of attendance. So the middle-income family is still paying $30,000/year. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and it makes Penn competitive with a state flagship for a middle-income family (unless you get merit at the flagship, which a kid who can get into Penn likely will), but it’s not like the situation with a family making under $75,000 where Penn is actually the less expensive option.

Tuition is $65k and usually these income thresholds are ratable. So if it’s 100% free at $75k and tuition free at $200k…then you usually get free tuition plus a percentage of the other costs as well between $75k-$200k.

Yes but the PP posting had a pretty healthy 529, so probably just getting the top line guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

+1. It also seems like a convenient way for them to get a PR win by talking about how many families will be able to qualify for free tuition while quietly making them pay when the time comes (“sorry, we know what the income thresholds are but your assets are too high or, as we like to say, ‘atypical’”).

It's a program for non rich people, smoothbrain.

Go back to r/wallstreetbets, kid. The adults are discussing finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

I agree. We have literally never taken a vacation because we’re focussed on saving money. We know we’re not getting any family support or inheritance so we’ve been building retirement funds (both official and non official regular stock account) to make sure we aren’t a burden on our children later. We could put that money into our house and then qualify I suppose but it’s more financially sound to keep our low mortgage and leave the money in the growth accounts. I hate these types of policies that hurt people who are financially responsible and help those who aren’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

I agree. We have literally never taken a vacation because we’re focussed on saving money. We know we’re not getting any family support or inheritance so we’ve been building retirement funds (both official and non official regular stock account) to make sure we aren’t a burden on our children later. We could put that money into our house and then qualify I suppose but it’s more financially sound to keep our low mortgage and leave the money in the growth accounts. I hate these types of policies that hurt people who are financially responsible and help those who aren’t.

I could have written this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

I agree. We have literally never taken a vacation because we’re focussed on saving money. We know we’re not getting any family support or inheritance so we’ve been building retirement funds (both official and non official regular stock account) to make sure we aren’t a burden on our children later. We could put that money into our house and then qualify I suppose but it’s more financially sound to keep our low mortgage and leave the money in the growth accounts. I hate these types of policies that hurt people who are financially responsible and help those who aren’t.

I could have written this.

Same same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This threshold of typical assets is bogus.

It penalizes those middle income individuals who have been extremely frugal and saved and invested successfully.

It also penalizes those who have inherited money before their kids go to college (eg. those having kids later in life and having older grandparents) while ignoring the fact that many younger parents and their kids will inherit substantial amounts after they have graduated from college (while they still got financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Effective in the 2025-26 academic year, Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining the amount of financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets.

Question is what are typical assets? How many people make 200k and have limited liquid assets? Or do they intentionally try to keep them out of liquid accounts?

I agree. We have literally never taken a vacation because we’re focussed on saving money. We know we’re not getting any family support or inheritance so we’ve been building retirement funds (both official and non official regular stock account) to make sure we aren’t a burden on our children later. We could put that money into our house and then qualify I suppose but it’s more financially sound to keep our low mortgage and leave the money in the growth accounts. I hate these types of policies that hurt people who are financially responsible and help those who aren’t.

The alternative is to provide little financial aid in general which still doesn’t help you. Just means Ivy schools will be full with just UMC / rich kids.

I guess I am struggling to understand what you are suggesting. If you run a NPC and assume decent amounts of stocks/cash in investment/savings (I ran at like $250k…with another $150 in a 529), it still spits back you will receive FA at $200k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have limited. Most of our net worth is in retirement and home equity. Nominal outside of that.

Same.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does 'free tuition' include room and board, or just tuition?

Looks like just tuition because the full ride is for families making under 100K.

And the non-tuition costs at Penn are huge. “Mandatory fees” are higher than in-state tuition at some flagships.

I make 145K and will have about 80K in the 529 at HS graduation. The NPC said I would pay 30K a year, which would mean just 10K out of pocket annually for me. That's more than reasonable for a T10 school that is 92K annually. I imagine it would be even more affordable if I hadn't saved at all.

I don't see any downside to this news.

Did you run the NPC after the rule change? That sounds a little high after raising the threshold from $140k to $200k.

Yep yesterday. I have higher than average assets and I'm youngish (40 with a HS kid) so I was happy with these numbers.