<p>A little background... Rice is my dream school, and I was ecstatic when I found our I was accepted. I was crushed when I found out a few days later that my family is ineligible for financial aid due to our unique financial situation.</p>
<p>I live on a ranch in Nebraska that's been in my family for generations. We raise cattle and currently run about 700 head. The market, though it's decent now, hasn't been so good in past years. In 2008 our AGI was -$400k, in 2009 -$90k, and in 2010 -$5k. We've had a substantial net loss carryover and a debt of $875k against the ranch, with a $1.5 million unsecured loan. The business is family operated with one part-time employee. My dad also got a job teaching this past year to help pay off the debt.</p>
<p>Here's the deal: the FAFSA, calculates our EFC as $1,800. The CSS PROFILE says it's $100k because we have $2.5 million worth of assets in the form of ranchland. There's just no way that my family can pay that. It's not a simple matter of "sell some land!" The land is all needed for rotational grazing and haying.</p>
<p>I knew there was a chance the "getting no aid" thing would happen, but I was really hopeful after Questbridge looked beyond the numbers and saw that we really can't afford to pay $50k/year, and named me a Finalist. We qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch and Pell Grants... how can we be expected to pay $48k/year without aid?</p>
<p>My mom did call the financial aid office, who said that the most they could give us is a $3200 Pell Grand and a $2500 work study.</p>
<p>I do have a two financial safeties (Creighton Honors Program and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Honors College), but Rice is my dream. It truly has everything I want in an undergraduate school. The fact that I've earned my spot there, but probably won't be able to attend is breaking my heart. I posted this on the Rice forum, too... Is there any way an appeal could be successful? Is there any information I could send or anything I could do that might get them to change their minds... or am I just basically out of luck?</p>
<p>You can certainly try an appeal, and I think if any situation deserves special consideration, it’s yours. But there’s no guarantee they’ll grant you more aid.</p>
<p>I would write a letter/e-mail precisely explaining your situation, and why your family’s asset valuation should receive special consideration.</p>
<p>You can appeal, but I doubt that Rice is going to go from having your family pay nearly full price to only paying $1800.</p>
<p>How much can your parents pay?</p>
<p>*because we have $2.5 million worth of assets in the form of ranchland. *</p>
<p>If your parents can only pay a few thousand a year and you’d get 3200 in Pell, I’d be surprised if Rice will give you the difference.</p>
<p>*the FAFSA, calculates our EFC as $1,800. The CSS PROFILE says it’s $100k *</p>
<p>Are you talking about a CSS calculator? Because I don’t think CSS gives a family contribution …especially one that is higher than the school’s COA.</p>
<p>I have the same question as mom2collegekids.
Where did you get the figure for the CSS Profile estimate?
As far as I know, CSS does not give an EFC estimate. Only FAFSA does.</p>
<p>Did you get any matches through Questbridge? If so, you may want to revisit them. I know that you adore Rice, but I doubt that this is going to work out. Heck, these people are in Texas and they can’t figure out how to evaluate the financial situation of a ranch family! Do you really want to associate yourself with people that clueless?</p>
<p>Granted, you are not the first (nor will you be the last) child from a farming family to run up against this problem. The huge value of land, and the concomitant expenses of managing a farm operation simply are not accounted for well by the CSS Profile. Way back in the middle of the last century, my brother-in-law’s sister faced this very same issue when applying to private universities. Like you, she said, “It’s not like my dad can sell off an acre or two just to raise the money for my tuition.”</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best as you make your decisions.</p>
<p>^^^I am guessing that figure came from the school maybe. It is unfortunate that the op cannot afford her dream school, but neither can a lot of kids. Her family has a vast amount of assets, whether those assets are soluble is irrelevant to colleges. There are many, many families out there with very little in assets that are expected to be full pay at expensive private schools. OP says that two years ago, their AGI was $400,000. If they had income that high prior to the economic downturn, why was there no plan in place for college expenses?</p>
<p>fishymom, the AGI for 2008 was -400k. It wasn’t +400k. That is a HUGE negative number of the kind that can only be carried by people in a business with the kind of credit that is possible if you own that much land.</p>
<p>Yup, my mom got that number from the school. And I know that it probably won’t happen, but still want to give it a shot. :)</p>