Note that outside of maybe fifty schools, every other school gives merit aid. We’re full pay, DD was a B student at a private, and received merit aid at every school she was accepted- Loyola, Indiana, Oregon, and some LACs.

OP, you can't determine what you will pay by income alone. At some elite schools that don't consider home equity, an income of $200-250K may give some aid. Our income is $219K. For our family, Duke was a no-go, our EFC was $65K. He wanted to apply even though we checked the NPC, which ended up being accurate. But Stanford is $44K plus our son is expected to contribute $3K per year (no loans offered) for a total of $47K (EFC). We told him our cap was $45 per year for any school. Anything above that he would have to take out a subsidized Stafford loan ($5500), merit, and/or work PT. He got no financial aid from OOS public schools, only merit. He didn't apply to any public that wasn't known to give merit or was above $50K OOS/in-state.

We have 401ks, modest savings, stocks/investments under $20K, 529 to contribute $20K per year, and 500K+ home equity. We plan to cash flow for the remaining balance. We didn't start making more than $150K until he started 8th grade.

Yes. You will be full pay unless your child qualifies for merit-based aid.

Assets matter too.

Use Net Price Calculators.

Anonymous wrote:None of what PPs said is remotely true. We make about what you do and have two kids; at an 80k a year SLAC the net price calculators have us getting around 30k in aid.

were both your kids at colleges at the same time when you got 30K aid?

We made about that when our children applied. We got zero from Fafsa

If you’re already at $225k now and your kid won’t go to college for 10 years still then yeah, you will definitely be making too much to get any aid

We make under $150k, and our EFC was around $42k. Many schools will include loans in that bracket, so NPC will be better. For most schools, I would think you'd get no aid. Maybe a few who use CSS, but I was surprised to read that PP got 30K w/ that income. I will admit we did far better than our EFC or NPC indicated (got into several CSS schools and used best offer to negotiate), but everyone's story is different.

Anonymous wrote:NPC are more useful than EFC.

They’re basically the same

NPC are more useful than EFC.

Ask instead what your EFC would be. My guess is around $50k.

None of what PPs said is remotely true. We make about what you do and have two kids; at an 80k a year SLAC the net price calculators have us getting around 30k in aid.

You make at least $100k too much to get any kind of need-based aid.

Yes. Go out and fill out a few NPCs as if your child were going to college today, and you'll see that you'll likely get nothing (assuming you own a home and have some savings).

What is the house hold income for which universities expect full pay? We make around $225,000 and have one child in early elementary school. Should I prepare (save) for full pay?