What Top 30 colleges give most aid to 250k families...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$250K families are getting merit aid at T30? Since when?

I am OP and I ran a few calculators and you can get a lot of aid at Harvard and Princeton. The cost gets pretty close to UMD (we are in MD).

I got almost zero aid at, for example Carnegie Mellon. Since there are a lot of schools and we are still some year out of applying, I am looking for leads on other top schools where aid is available.

I ran the NPC for CMU, and it came back at FEC $100K per year. Our HHI was about $300K at the time.

Guessing you have more than $400 of assets (not including retirement and primary residence)?

We had a total of $200K in two 529s, one for another child, and cash savings of $200K *at the time*.

But CMU is like $80K/yr, and we have another DC right behind to pay for college.

two kids at $80K/year * 4 yrs = $640K.

But the NPC doesn't care about that. I'm not saying it's unfair. I'm just saying those colleges don't give out much aid to people in our income bracket.

Assets matter just as much as income, if not more.

Ding ding ding! I know this, I feel like the colleges should be clearer about this, because it seems like there's a lot of misperceptions happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$250K families are getting merit aid at T30? Since when?

I am OP and I ran a few calculators and you can get a lot of aid at Harvard and Princeton. The cost gets pretty close to UMD (we are in MD).

I got almost zero aid at, for example Carnegie Mellon. Since there are a lot of schools and we are still some year out of applying, I am looking for leads on other top schools where aid is available.

I ran the NPC for CMU, and it came back at FEC $100K per year. Our HHI was about $300K at the time.

Guessing you have more than $400 of assets (not including retirement and primary residence)?

We had a total of $200K in two 529s, one for another child, and cash savings of $200K *at the time*.

But CMU is like $80K/yr, and we have another DC right behind to pay for college.

two kids at $80K/year * 4 yrs = $640K.

But the NPC doesn't care about that. I'm not saying it's unfair. I'm just saying those colleges don't give out much aid to people in our income bracket.

Assets matter just as much as income, if not more.

Ding ding ding! I know this, I feel like the colleges should be clearer about this, because it seems like there's a lot of misperceptions happening.

They should, especially with housing, and retirment savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$250K families are getting merit aid at T30? Since when?

I am OP and I ran a few calculators and you can get a lot of aid at Harvard and Princeton. The cost gets pretty close to UMD (we are in MD).

I got almost zero aid at, for example Carnegie Mellon. Since there are a lot of schools and we are still some year out of applying, I am looking for leads on other top schools where aid is available.

I ran the NPC for CMU, and it came back at FEC $100K per year. Our HHI was about $300K at the time.

Guessing you have more than $400 of assets (not including retirement and primary residence)?

We had a total of $200K in two 529s, one for another child, and cash savings of $200K *at the time*.

But CMU is like $80K/yr, and we have another DC right behind to pay for college.

two kids at $80K/year * 4 yrs = $640K.

But the NPC doesn't care about that. I'm not saying it's unfair. I'm just saying those colleges don't give out much aid to people in our income bracket.

Assets matter just as much as income, if not more.

Ding ding ding! I know this, I feel like the colleges should be clearer about this, because it seems like there's a lot of misperceptions happening.

No, they don't. Income is weighted far greater in the equation. Student 's income greater tgan parents' as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Income is weighted far greater in the equation.

Go to the Harvard NPC page. Enter $0 for income. Notice if the difference in NPC changes when assets are $0, $500K, $1M, $1.5M, and $2M.

[Anonymous]

And I love people where Dad is over 59.5 and they have five million in 401K and claim no assets. That 401K money can be pulled penalty free.

[Anonymous]

When I was Looking some schools such as Georgetown, Syracuse, Fordham, American University, GWU, Boston College, Boston University give no financial aid well off people and very very little merit aid as they have a ton of well off parents looking to pay full freight.

Aid is reserved for the poor under financial aid and athletes. Not 250K people in 2 million dollar homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I love people where Dad is over 59.5 and they have five million in 401K and claim no assets. That 401K money can be pulled penalty free.

401k is for retirement. I believe this is classified as a "hardship" withdrawal and must demonstrate no other way to pay for education. No penalty but you have to pay income taxes.

[Anonymous]

I love everyone who keeps saying Princeton. That is the number one school in the country. If you are not first gen, loaded, legacy or offer some freakishly rare talent you are not getting into Princeton let alone financial aid for a HHI of 250K. Much has changed in the last year and not for the better. Start with the top 50-100 schools OP if you want generous aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Income is weighted far greater in the equation.

Go to the Harvard NPC page. Enter $0 for income. Notice if the difference in NPC changes when assets are $0, $500K, $1M, $1.5M, and $2M.

Well, of course 1 mil in assets matters, but assets and income are not weighted comparably. Income factors far more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Income is weighted far greater in the equation.

Go to the Harvard NPC page. Enter $0 for income. Notice if the difference in NPC changes when assets are $0, $500K, $1M, $1.5M, and $2M.

Well, of course 1 mil in assets matters, but assets and income are not weighted comparably. Income factors far more.

Not sure how you came to that conclusion, when $250K income and no assets gets the same outcome as $0 income and $1.4M in assets (i.e., NPC of $63,500 or about $23K in aid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I love people where Dad is over 59.5 and they have five million in 401K and claim no assets. That 401K money can be pulled penalty free.

401k is for retirement. I believe this is classified as a "hardship" withdrawal and must demonstrate no other way to pay for education. No penalty but you have to pay income taxes.

401Ks are not easily accessible. They should be protected, and are. Smart people save for their retirement and figure out how to pay for college as needed (if they cannot afford to save for both)

However, nobody has $5M in a 401K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Income is weighted far greater in the equation.

Go to the Harvard NPC page. Enter $0 for income. Notice if the difference in NPC changes when assets are $0, $500K, $1M, $1.5M, and $2M.

Well, of course 1 mil in assets matters, but assets and income are not weighted comparably. Income factors far more.

NP. We have $0 income after substantial deductions for medical expenses. We have millions in assets. Per the NPCs, even the most generous schools give $0 aid. (Oddly enough, kid would be eligible for a Pell grant from the federal govt. But, we have not, and will not, apply for financial aid.)

[Anonymous]

OP, there are too many variables to try to find a useful rule of thumb. You'll need to use the NPCs yourself. It's good that you've started looking at the issue before your kids draw up a college list, though this thread isn't going to stop you from needing to do more NPCs.

[Anonymous]

Several of you need to throw down a nice cold drink. Might I suggest a Hugo spritz?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$250K families are getting merit aid at T30? Since when?

I am OP and I ran a few calculators and you can get a lot of aid at Harvard and Princeton. The cost gets pretty close to UMD (we are in MD).

I got almost zero aid at, for example Carnegie Mellon. Since there are a lot of schools and we are still some year out of applying, I am looking for leads on other top schools where aid is available.

Nice. You must not have a lot of assets outside of retirement/primary residence.. We are in the same income neighborhood and noticed that once you cross the $1.5-$2M threshold for assets, there's zero merit at top schools.

That's not quite right. Some top schools offer merit - maybe not the tippy top, but plenty of top 50 schools offer merit regardless of income/assets. Jeff Selling has a very helpful list of schools that are "buyers" and "sellers" and those that offer no merit aid at all. I found that list useful and accurate as I went through the process with two different kids.