Reply to FAFSA says we can pay $90K; should we have applied for FA?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just curious, at what HHI did they determine that you could pay $99K?[/quote]

We make just north of $200k and have a $56k EFC as one data point. [/quote]

Ugh, sounds just like us.  So discouraging.  What are they thinking?  $56K per year?  [/quote]

Actually, I don't have a problem with it.  It isn't supposed to come out of cash flow.  It is a known expense and we have had almost 20 years to save for it.   We can definitely afford it.  [/quote]

Actually, since [b]the EFC is calculated primarily on income[/b], as opposed to savings, one could be forgiven for thinking it *is* supposed to come out of cash flow. You can have a million dollars socked away in a retirement account, and that doesn't get counted at all in calculating EFC. But if you make $200k in Northern VA (on two incomes), you are supposed to pony up one-quarter of annual gross income on college tuition. #notgonnahappen

No worries, VA has great in-state options. But if you've ever wondered why so many TJ grads are going to UVA instead of the Ivy League....this is why.[/quote]

This cannot be true. Our HHI is $118K, yet our EFC is $69K. We are savers, so we've paid off our mortgage and put aside retirement money. We cannot possibly pay 58% of our income for college costs. We are a family of six people! We can barely make ends meet on $118K, and we live very frugally. The FAFSA asked for the value of our home and other assets, so clearly its calculating our EFC based mostly on our assets, not our income.

[/quote]

This doesn't make sense.  We have a gross income ~$200k, $600k in house value and $1.4m in retirement accounts and ours was ~$54k.  Are your retirement funds in retirement vehicles or in other investments?[/quote]

Our house is valued at 550K, paid off, and our investments are in both 401(k)'s and investment accounts. And our HHI is about half of yours. But our FAFSA EFC came out to $69K. [b]It must be because we didn't shelter enough of our retirement $$ in 401(k)'s and IRAs.[/b] Don't know if there's anything we can do about that.

[/quote]  Bingo, if you had intended those accounts to be retirement, you should have put them in 401k and IRAs.  Anything outside of house and official retirement is fair game.  How much have you saved in your children's 529s?[/quote]

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