Reply to where do highly academic $ donut hole students go?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Williams for us - pay $23k with $210k income. Pretty low assets (one govt employee and one assoc prof who rented forever). [/quote]

Then you aren’t doughnut hole. It’s similar salary but with assets, including primary residence you can’t really sell, that make you ineligible for grants but unable to afford $85K a year.[/quote]

in DC area--$300k-450k is a donut hole family.  2 or more kids.  SFHs run you $750k-2 million. COL is very high here.

A lot of pricey private schools offer merit or aid for $200k-once you get to $300k forget it.[/quote]

And agree the assets get you.  Home equity, some include investment/retirement, etc.  Which is why 2 families making the same $210k--one will get aid and one won't.  The big spenders will get the aid and the smart and frugal that saved will get jack-sh*t.[/quote]

Income is weighted more heavily than assets in determining aid.  And colleges only expect you to contribute a certain % of your assets (way less than half).  So despite a difference in aid level, it's much better to have those assets than not to have them. [/quote]

The problem is home equity is counted at most schools through the CSS profile.  While there are some that don't count it all (eg, USC), in general the average family has to pay full price once you factor in salary, home equity and non-retirement assets.  Not many families with a house will not get ANY need based aid.  If you have a house, it pays to play with the NPC and figure out if home equity is counted.  [/quote]

Even at the CSS profile schools, home equity - although a factor - is NOT treated/counted the same as income.  Income is more important.  [/quote]

Well a lot of us are sitting on $1m or more equity. Pretty much anyone who purchased 10 years ago or before will be full pay regardless of income.[/quote]

It depends on the school, as each CSS school may treat home equity differently.  You may be full pay at one school, but get a decent amount of aid at another.  The article linked to below is informative.  Also, if you have $1 million in home equity and the school expects you to contribute 5% (which is fairly typical) of that, why can't you?  That still leaves you with $950,000 in equity.  Most anyone (not all) who has that much equity in their home almost assuredly has a decent amount of sheltered retirement assets on top of that.

https://money.com/college-financial-aid-home-equity/
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