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<p>I am not sure if you were kidding but a Cherokee Six 300 is an airplane.</p>
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<p>lol Slithey, nice :)</p>
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I think you took that the wrong way. I believe kmrcollege was saying not checking the box(meaning you would not be applying for FA) would boost chances of acceptance.</p>
<p>On the supplements I’ve seen on this year’s common app, the question is stated with a yes or no answer. “Do you intend to pursue need-based financial aid?”</p>
<p>ON the common app supplements, indeed, you often have two questions:
1° will you be applying for Financial Aid? Op (/Laurie)'s child should check NO
2° will you be interested in merit aid/scholarships? There, check YES.
This will provide this nice piece of information to the admission officers: you’ll be full pay, but IF there is merit money your child intends on competing for it, solely on merit.</p>
<p>You CAN check the “no” box (no financial aid) and still fill out FAFSA. :)</p>
<p>In any case, I agree that for many schools it’ll help: top out of state publics - if you child has the basic stats looking at the 25-75 range, UCB, UCLA, UMichigan… really like OOS students 
+ LACS ranked 35 or 40 - 75 (ie., = pretty good and seeking to attract really bright students, ready to offer money to make sure they come especially if the scholarship is $8,000 and guarantees an otherwise full-pay student)?. it will neither hurt nor help at HYP or top LACs.</p>
<p>And in my financial aid director opinion, answering “no” to that question but then submitting an aid application is NOT lying. Students who will only qualify for unsub and parent PLUS loans have to fulfill all financial aid application requirements in order to receive this NON-need based aid. Therefore, filing for aid does not necessarily mean you are pursuing “need based financial aid.” If you are filing just in case you might want your kid to take out an unsub loan, or just in case filing might be necessary in order to be considered for merit, then you are not filing to pursue need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>I NEVER said the OP should apply for financial aid…NEVER said that. I did say that for need aware schools, it will be apparent that the family will not need financial aid.</p>
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<p>In that case, complaining about the cost of a private airplane falls into the same category as complaining about the cost of a second home – it is not likely to convince many people about how disadvantageous being wealthy is.</p>
<p>So walk me through this, as a parent sending thier first born to college in a couple of years. If we are full pay and I do not choose to use existing funds/capital, how much can I take out in federal loans per year that have no income limit (as mentioned by cptofthehouse) ? Not saying I will do this, but would like to know the options.</p>
<p>You, as a parent, can borrow up to the official Cost of Attendance of the school your student is attending. That COA will be reduced by any scholarships, loans that your student might get–you are not permitted to borrow more than what you have to pay of the official COA. You do have to apply for the Direct Loan (only one parent has to apply) and you cannot have any 90 day past due accounts, but income does not come into the equation, nor your credit ratings or other outstanding loans. Bankruptcies and foreclosures would for a time. But it’s a much easier process than most any other loan you would take out, and after you fill out the FAFSA, it takes you literally just minutes to find out if you qualify, all in the privacy of your home at your computer. You can spread payments out to as far as 25 years, I believe, and you can delay repayment until your student is no longer a full time undergrad, and if either you or the student die, the loan is forgiven. The interest rate is NOT competitive, close to 8%, however. Better your student take the student Direct loan as much as s/he can (max $5500 freshman year to $7500 senior year) as student rates are far lower. </p>
<p>No income limit either direction, low or high on these loans. That’s why they are so danged dangerous and families are having trouble with these.</p>
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<p>My daughter was required to submit FAFSA to her college when she applied for merit aid. In this case, there are certain state grants (non need-based also) available to students, and the state requires FAFSA in order to award them. So her college is simply trying to get these state grant awards to add to the packages of the merit aid recipients. (In my daughter’s case, the merit aid was a full ride and the state grant was added on top of that.)</p>
<p>Of course, this raises the question of why the state needs FAFSA to award a non need-based grant. I’m not sure of the answer to that, but perhaps it’s simply a convenient way for the state to confirm that the student or a parent is a state resident and taxpayer.</p>
<p>Colleges and scholarship boards do not have the time, resources or inclination to vet students and parents beyond establishing that a given student is at a given high school and relying on those records. So, using the FAFSA, provides that sort of vetting service. It is a federal form so lying on it can have severe consequences, giving it some bite that a university cannot possibly deliver. Some schools do not give aid to international students, even restrict merit money for some, or have funding sources with stipulations, so they need to have some sort of clearing house and FAFSA is right there and free.</p>
<p>Thanks, cptofthehouse!</p>
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<p>I agree, it is not. </p>
<p>FWIW I didn’t see anyone attacking wealthy people, merely pointing out the advantages they have when it comes to college as far as admissions and paying for it.</p>
<p>It seems to have started with this comment: </p>
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<p>…which I understood to refer to wealthy people shifting assets or setting up separate homes and so on to get need-based aid. I’m not sure that’s something that happens a lot but there are, I suppose, ways to “game the system” and some people probably do take advantage of those ways.</p>
<p>Filing FAFSA in order to get merit aid or whatever need-based aid a well endowed college might give is not, IMO, “gaming the system”.</p>
<p>There are a lot of people wealthy and not trying to game any system. I have no idea if more wealthy people try to game any given system than non wealthy. But I don’t think any big deal should be made over the statement.</p>
<p>There also seems to be a lot of opinions as to what “gaming the system” includes. I don’t think learning how things work and using the info to get the best for oneself is “gaming the system”, as it seems to have a bad connotation. Learning the system and how to work within it is what all of us should be doing.</p>
<p>Gaming the system might include influencing politicians to change the rules of the game in your favor. However, this is usually the domain of the super-super-wealthy (for whom the kids’ college cost is pocket change), as opposed to the merely wealthy.</p>
<p>There was a recent poster here on the Fin Aid forum who asked for help with “gaming the system”. He cheerfully admitted that he had ample resources and income to pay for his child’s education, but was planning on early retirement and wanted suggestions on how he could use his lower income stream post-retirement to best position his child to get need-based aid.</p>
<p>Not the usual type of question that gets raised around here, for sure. :D</p>
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<p>lauriejgs, I got a chuckle reading this. My husband says exactly the same thing. I am trying to convince him, sometimes I succeed and sometimes I get convinced by him. We are still flip-flopping about the worth of the high-tution and this thread has been useful.</p>
<p>I was talking to an admissions director recently, she said colleges might throw in a bit more money if the EFC is close to COA. I am not sure if other colleges do that or it is just one data pointer. </p>
<p>cptofthehouse, great point about learning the system and how to work within it is a skill everyone needs to be successful in life.</p>
<p>You can always lie, cheat and steal, and it’s done in any activity, so I’ve no doubt it happens here too. But some folks go through a lot of contortions, complications, risks and troubles to save just a few dollars for college. It all depends on which college and its policies as to what you may end up paying Hide all of your money by giving it to your trusted granny, and your kid ends up with choices that do not meet need anyways so you gotta pay to send him there. Then granny dies and you end up with the money she was holding for you being divvied up among her heirs. Serves you right.</p>
<p>@SlitheyTove: I think one or more posters at Bogleheads.org asked about how to game this also. Big difference between being smart about your assets and misrepresenting them.</p>