Anonymous wrote:We earn 145k and were denied financial aid at all schools. I think it was the equity in our house that did it. When my husband attended the financial aid workshop last Fall, he specifically asked that question - does your equity count against you when applying for financial aid? He was told, absolutely not, you are not expected to sell your home to send your child to school. Well, we were denied and now have our house on the market to downsize and pull some equity out as it's the only way we can afford to send our child to a school that costs a little over 28k with after-care. I have absolutely no idea how financial aid works and why some people are granted aid and others not.

You sound just like us! We just got our SSS back and it said we can afford $ 24,000 and we have a combined income of $ 150,000. We bought a home this year so it has no equity yet BUT I believe they held against us the fact that we had $ 40,000 in savings for closing costs, etc. That was TRULY are like savings though. I'm really bummed because it is very doubtful we will get any aid and we cannot afford the $ 30k in tuition (included after care) if we get in somewhere. I'm just curious how does one qualify for aid in DC. I mean a couple making $ 150,000 is NOT alot for this area. The SSS said we have negative net worth yet we can somehow afford to pay
$ 24,000?! Crazy!

Anonymous wrote:We get a little less than half, from three different schools ($10, $15, $17) and we pay about $50,000 (plus books, activities fees etc). There are other variables also. We have no equity in our house, no savings, do not contribute to 401, do not take vacations, go out to dinner etc.

Anonymous wrote:We get a little less than half, from three different schools ($10, $15, $17) and we pay about $50,000 (plus books, activities fees etc). There are other variables also. We have no equity in our house, no savings, do not contribute to 401, do not take vacations, go out to dinner etc.

Anonymous wrote:14:47, not to hijack this thread, but wouldn't offering higher salaries to employees based on their race be patently illegal under Title VII, and maybe the 14th amendment in the case of a public university? By the same token, I wonder if private schools making more generous financial aid awards because of race would be violating Title VI, if those schools receive any federal funding. It is amazing what types of racial discrimination all of these institutions continue to practice in the name of "diversity" because nobody knows or speaks up about it.

Anonymous wrote:Also, I strongly disagree that "teachers' kids" are the problem kids. What a horrible, unfair generalization. It is not supported by my experiences.

Anonymous wrote:We make about $200,000, but have three children in private school. We get financial aid. If we didn't, more than half of our income would go to tuition. I'm very grateful for the aid and we live incredibly frugally.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to 20:02 - we applied for aid when each one started private school. We made less money than we do now when the first one started. I think it's better to apply for aid when you apply to the school. If you don't and pay the full tuition they probably won't give you aid the next year unless your income goes down significantly. If you can pay the first year, the thinking goes, why can't you pay the following year?

And some schools state that if you don't apply for FA the first year and just pay the full tuition, unless your circumstances change for the worse, expect to pay the full tuition every year.

Anonymous wrote:
I've researched this topic extensively, not because I wanted financial aid but because there are so many teacher/staff kids attending my children's schools that should/would not have been admitted if their parent didn't work at the school or should be "not invited back". In the eighteen years I've sent my children to private schools I've found the kids who cause the most problems and require the most energy from the teachers are the teacher/staff kids. The teachers kids are favored and there is a different set of rules that apply to them. I know why they are admitted so, my question was "how can these families afford the tuition". To my dismay, I've found the majority of financial aid goes to teacher and staff kids leaving very little for the deserving families. I've talked to financial aid administrators and they have said "there is always a way to favor the staff". Although schools always have some sort of tuition remision for teachers and staff, it doesn't cover everything. The rest is from financial aid. The schools tax returns are on-line as proof. I forget the pointer but I know it now costs $1000 a year to access them so I quit looking at them.