Anonymous wrote:If you have a lot of debt and high mortgage you may be poorer than someone making 50k/year

That's just not true.

We did so our kids could take out some federal loans. They all wanted to go out of state so we had them take on some of the burden. Not parent plus loans, direct unsubsidized loans. They are not based at all on your income. Each kid ended up with about 30k in student loans. They received about 5k the first two years and then 6 or 7k the last two years. Even though we had saved and were full pay, we had a bunch of kids close together and it did ease some burden for us. And like I said, they chose out of state and this gave them some responsibility for the higher tuition price.

Ridiculous question. $400K is the new poor?!

Anonymous wrote:What's DC Tag?

Does UMD require FAFSA if not applying for financial aid?

How does CSS fit in to this? (if not applying for financial aid)

No

What's DC Tag?

Does UMD require FAFSA if not applying for financial aid?

How does CSS fit in to this? (if not applying for financial aid)

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but similarly trying to figure this out for a combined income level in that neighborhood.

Is there a downside to completing it re: merit consideration? DC does want merit $

Depends on the school's desire for full pay, etc. See the long thread on trying to signal full pay. This might go in the other direction.

VERY few schools require FAFSA before giving non-need-based merit. Check your schools.

We don’t bother. Applied ED and got in.

DC Tag requires it if you’re in DC. Some schools require it. These things may not be relevant to you

Not OP but similarly trying to figure this out for a combined income level in that neighborhood.

Is there a downside to completing it re: merit consideration? DC does want merit $

Generally, no.

Very few colleges require FAFSA before awarding merit. Most that do will also alert you to the merit possibility at a later point and allow you to then submit FAFSA. Check the scholarship webpages for the schools on your kid's list.

If you have a lot of debt and high mortgage you may be poorer than someone making 50k/year

Only reason you might want to consider is if school’s merit scholarships require FAFSA to be completed. Some schools ask for that even for merit.

My assumption is that it would only hurt your kids chances by signaling that you aren’t full pay.

That is our income and no we did not fill it out.

Now with 2 kids in $85k/year schools we will because some schools take into account other kids in college.

Our assumption is that there is no need to fill out a FAFSA this year for our HS senior daughter applying to college. Do any merit scholarships require this or any other purpose that I am not thinking of? We do not expect to receive any need based aid. Thanks in advance.