Reply to What money is fair game for financial aid?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So, if I were to refi my house and spend the funds on something responsible, like necessary home improvements (HVAC update, bathroom & plumbing improvements) will that shield the equity money?

And who determines my equity anyhow? Does the school run a report on the likely current value of my house, which has increased a lot over the past few years? Or are they looking at the house value when I purchased it and the balance remaining on the mortgage? I bought my house about 5 years ago and my neighbor recently sold her house for $300K more than what I paid. [/quote]

Your equity is based on how much money your house is worth today minus the amount you owe on your mortgage. It's pretty simple.

You can surely protect that equity by refinancing and spending the funds on home improvement. But you'll have less cash available to you should you want a HELOC for some reason. And if your house gets reevaluated, it won't help at all.

Does it make a difference if someone has $500k equity in. $2 million house versus $100k equity in a $400k house? Either way do school expect you to liquidate or take out loans to cover that expected equity contribution?
[/quote][/quote]

Many schools look at the equity relative to your income (to take into account middle class people who bought in an area that gentrified quickly) and/or exclude equity up to certain amount.  So, it depends.[/quote]

Life is aboutt choices.  The $400K family is the responsible family.  If you can afford a $2 million dollar house, you don't need financial aid.  You could have bought a million dollar house and used the other million for college.  [/quote]

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