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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you’re middle of the road, you don’t get much. [/quote]

We are middle of the road income. Paid approximately $100,000 for an ivy degree. Of that amount, I subtract room and board.  Less than half went to tuition. [/quote]
What do you consider middle of the road income?[/quote]

$150,000[/quote]
Wow, what year did you pay $25K / year at an Ivy? My EFC was a lot higher, yet income wasn't much more.

Suspect I may be dinged for having modest house paid off and driving old cars that are paid off and worth nothing. Not sure they care that I am paying tuition for younger kids' private school, either, though they do ask if I will be paying college tuition for anyone else. [/quote]

You must have had assets - investment, house equity, etc. [/quote]

I think people are jarred by EFC not because they don't have the money, but because they didn't expect to be asked to spend it. I get it, it's a sticker shock, but if you don't want to spend down the assets you have, you can't expect to send your kids to a college that isn't otherwise a compromise. [/quote]

I get this on one level.  At the same time though, this has been a key part of our retirement strategy, that is assets in non-retirement accounts. [b]It does feel unfair that a family that has more income but less assets is expected pay less than a family that has less income but more assets[/b] because we will not be able to replace those assets in the same way that a higher income family will be able to build their assets.[/quote]

This is not correct.  Income is weighed more heavily than assets in determining financial aid availability.  In fact, only about 5-6% of the net value of the parents' assets count toward the EFC from the FAFSA, which does NOT require parents to report their qualified retirement assets or primary home equity.  (The CSS is different.)

From Money magzine:

[b]Income is the major deciding factor in whether you need financial aid. Savings and other assets are factored into what you can afford to pay, but only a little.

"Assets don't impact the bottom line all that much," said Kal Chany, the author of Paying For College Without Going Broke.

For every dollar you save, you might — at most — lose 5.6 cents in financial aid.

"You will be much happier if you have saved for college," Chany said.[/b]

From consulting firm Strategies for College, Inc.

[b]The reality is that a family’s income is assessed at 47%, after allowances, and the parent assets are only assessed at a maximum of 5.64% after allowances. BIG difference! 
[/quote]
Ok, so what is making up the remaining percentage?[/quote]

Everyone wants to complain about what someone else gets, so you need a way to compare.  If another family has $100K more saved than you, all things being equal, their EFC will be $6K higher than yours.  If another family has $100K more in income than you, their EFC will be $47K higher than yours.

Yes, savings are considered, but at a much lower rate than income, and the expectation is not that all your savings will pay tuition [/quote]

+1 I would also add that if you have a $700,000 house and no mortgage then your equity is $700k. If your financial contribution is 6% of that amount than that is a lot higher than someone that has $200,000 of equity in the same $700k house with a mortgage. The EFC will be $39k from assets vs $11k plus any savings, 529, etc. AND 47% of income/salary.[/quote]

Important to once again note that the FAFSA does not ask for home equity information - the resulting EFC doesn't reflect the value of one's primary home whatsoever.  Only schools that use the CSS, or for some reason decide to ask on their own about home values, may take that information into account.  [/quote]

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