At what HHI level do you not receive financial aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could get divorced. The FAFSA only takes into account the financial information of the custodial parent if he if she has more than 50% custody. It annoys me that my sister's kids gets financial aid even though her much wealthier ex pays the college bill, but those are the rules.

Ot you can see it from the other side where many moms never get the child support the court orders. My ex sends "what he can" even though he has chosen to have 3 more kids and a wife who doesn't work. He owes a ton but rarely more than they can do much about. He won't pay a dime after our child turns 18 because he never went to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could get divorced. The FAFSA only takes into account the financial information of the custodial parent if he if she has more than 50% custody. It annoys me that my sister's kids gets financial aid even though her much wealthier ex pays the college bill, but those are the rules.

Ot you can see it from the other side where many moms never get the child support the court orders. My ex sends "what he can" even though he has chosen to have 3 more kids and a wife who doesn't work. He owes a ton but rarely more than they can do much about. He won't pay a dime after our child turns 18 because he never went to college.

This is why FAFSA shouldn't have a blanket policy of not getting the financial information of both parents. You would probably get more if it was clear that you were owed lots of back child support. But, two working parents who happen to be divorced and who are both capable of paying for college should also be valued in the same way as married parents for financial aid purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is if your Harvard qualified child looked at your budget, they could find the money.

However, it is your money and you should spend it however you see fit and there are lots of reasons to not break the bank on undergraduate costs.

"The NPC makes Harvard unaffordable for us (HHI $225K). Too bad, because our DC is qualified."

Actually, no, they couldn't.

The "donut hole" is a thing for a lot of affluent families like ours. That's why it is harder and harder to get into e.g. UMD-CP and other state universities. Each year, more highly-qualified applicants choose state schools because they neither qualify for FA nor can pay full price.

Half of the Blair magnet graduating class goes to UMD-CP every year. It is not because they are not qualified to attend highly-ranked private colleges.

+1000

This is a HUGE issue for a lot of parents around here. The cost of living is significantly higher than other parts of the country. Our DD knew that she would only be allowed to attend schools that gave merit because we knew we would not get a dime of FA. Fortunately, she got merit to several schools she liked, but had to cross several others off her list as soon as she found out she was accepted but got no merit.