<p>Bears… going part time is probably not going to do anything to net you FA assuming your assets are really that substantial. All it’s going to do is reduce your income which does NOT necessarily mean increasing your aid especially when your EFC is 99999+ right now.</p>
<p>Bears…</p>
<p>exactly what is your situation? How much do you WANT to pay each year? </p>
<p>When you say “going part time,” do you mean going part time and commuting while working? </p>
<p>Do your kids qualify for merit aid anywhere? Are their stats high enough?</p>
<p>Even w/o the assets, your EFC would be more than most schools cost…and it sounds like that w/o your assets, your EFC is a lot more than you want to pay ANYWAY.</p>
<p>even if you had half of your assets, your EFC would be about $80k+. Your income is already too high…all by itself.</p>
<p>Edited to add…</p>
<p>I see that your son was accepted this month to Yale. How much do you expect to have to pay? How much are you WILLING to pay?</p>
<p>I am willing to payfor the entire 61,300, and have the ability to pay that for 4 years. My point in joining the discussion is that we made this decision when we had the kids and really worked hard everyday for this goal. But the extreme saving and careful investment in the past 18 years now put us in the 99k EFC. Do I think it’s fair, no. But not everything in life is, and I am glad I can give both of my kids the opportunity to attend the college|school they love.</p>
<p>Being the first generation in the US, DH and I had the brain to attend a better college, but our parents were only able to pay for the airfare and first semester tuition so we went to the most affordable schools. We left our country not knowing if we could ever go back or see our parents again. When our kids were born, we said that we would do we could so they wouldn’t have the same problem in their education.</p>
<p>Mom2ck, going part time I meant working 20 hours a week, or cut gross by half. But I didn’t think it’s a good idea to teach the kids the good value. Plus anything less than 30 hours would cause a loss of insurance. kind of risky.</p>
<p>You’re talking about a CSS Profile school that gives SUPER AID…Yale.</p>
<p>Your FAFSA EFC is irrelevant. Your CSS Profile “EFC” (or family contribution) is 61,300.</p>
<p>I agree…working part time is not a good message.</p>
<p>I am sorry I asked.</p>
<p>One thing to remember is that many parents may make HIGH incomes when their kids go off to college did not when their students were little and therefore may not have had money to put away to save. When my kids were small we didn’t have two coins to rub together and could barely feed and clothe them. We certainly weren’t thinking about saving for college, we were lucky if we could save for anything at that point. I still feel like it is not our place to judge what other parents “should have done.” An awful lot can change from year to year and we simply don’t have all the facts or circumstances.</p>
<p>Thanks Dana 
:)</p>
<p>DisneyDad,
You should not feel sorry and you are not alone. The only really generous Ivies for people at your income level are H & P. There will be a number of kids this year who will walk away from an Ivy acceptance for financial reasons. I personally know a few recruited athletes who declined a guaranteed acceptance to an Ivy because of the price tag.</p>
<p>Yes, many higher income families were modest income for many years…mom may have stayed at home then returned to work, dad got a later promotiion, etc.</p>
<p>personally know a few recruited athletes who declined a guaranteed acceptance to an Ivy because of the price tag.</p>
<p>Yes, I know that Bama always snags a few extra NMFs late in the game (NMF scholarship deadline is May 1st) because some Ivy-like kids end up with unaffordable FA pkgs.</p>
<p>An update: since someone mentioned that HYP gave more than other Ivies I did some more research. I used the NPC for Harvard and Yale and came up with some very reasonable numbers. It may be worth a look. Not sure if those schools are even a good fit for him but maybe acceptances there (if he can get them) will be good negotiation tools at other schools.</p>
<p>HYP are very generous. BUT don’t think that another less generous college will be willing to match their very generous need based aid…because they won’t. But really, if HYP are the most generous with the best net price…wouldn’t your kiddo go there if accepted?</p>
<p>If the net price for your kid to attend HYPS is only $15,000 (just a random example), that would mean you got $45,000 or so in need based aid. Do you really think a less wealthy and less well endowed school is going to match that number just because HYPS gave your kid that amount? Sorry…not going to happen.</p>
<p>Im imagining that DisneyDad was hoping that another school would give merit award, that surpassed the need based award of a HYP.
But few if any schools are going to award enough merit, usually merit just reduces need.</p>
<p>Thumper:</p>
<p>He may not go to HYP if accepted. That’s a discussion for another thread. The Ivies have a lot to offer, but not everyone is going to be happy there. </p>
<p>Secondly, I’m not ot looking for need based aid from other schools. I am talking about schools that offer merit aid in order to attract top students. Schools like to be able to say we have “x” number of valedictorians. I think they are willing to pay to say that. I’m thinking that a school that offers merit aid may come through with more aid at the last minute. It worked with DS1 and he wasn’t even #1 or 2 in his class. </p>
<p>I made a phone call to his number one choice and said “Your offer is very generous but you are still more expensive than his second choice and we are facing a tough decision.” Two days later, Choice #1 came through with $10,000 more per year. </p>
<p>So need to be sorry. I’m going to try anyway. I will report back in 2015.</p>
<p>The Ivies do not give merit aid. Schools that offer merit aid are NOT going to match the NEED based offer from the Ivies with merit aid from their school.</p>
<p>Why do they have match merit aid to need? I am saying that I call school A and say “my son can go to school B (which is an Ivy) for $15,000 a year. Can you do better?” If they want him, they will do better.</p>
<p>You don’t seem to understand. The schools that do “negotiate” aid will want to SEE the offers you got. They won’t care ONE BIT that your kid can attend a better endowed, more generous school for LESS money. Just because your kid can attend Harvard, with their very generous aid, for $15,000 net to you does NOT mean that any other school will match that NET cost to you unless its another Ivy or similarly generous school.If you take your Ivy net cost to another school thinking they will increase MERIT awards to attract your child…because they got a generous need based award from HYPSM or the like…you are wrong.</p>
<p>Schools have criteria for awarding merit scholarships, and they also have amounts for those awards. Anything that would be in the $40,000 p,us merit range would require a separate application for that merit award, and sometimes an interview. If your child is selected, that is fine. But that college is NOT going to up an give your kid. $40,000 merit award because she got a $40,000 need based award from HYPSM.</p>
<p>Sorry, but that just isn’t going to happen.</p>
<p>If you really think your child is competitive for those LARGER merit awards (see those threads), then I would suggest very strongly looking at the application criteria for those generous scholarship awards. Then have your kid apply and complete the scholarship application forms. Her chance of getting a scholarship that way are FAR better than hoping that some school will give her a merit award or even a need based award based on the need based award from HYPSM.</p>
<p>Well then, I may be getting off topic a bit ( but then, I am the OP) but under what circumstances do schools negotiate and offer more money to students they desire?</p>
<p>Sometimes a “peer school” will match or increase an offer because another peer school gave more. I think Cornell is the only ivy that asks to see other ivy offers and then adjusts offers. </p>
<p>However, if you get a great offer from Harvard, why not just go there? If it’s not a great fit, then I don’t see it helping much aid-wise because the other schools don’t give super aid (except Cornell which seems to want to match).</p>
<p>I don’t think that schools compare merit and need-based aid. The comparison seems to happen between peer schools…and merit to merit…or need to need.</p>
<p>Some peer schools will reconsider your need based aid offers from other similar schools. But then some just won’t. Harvard might look at your need based award from Yale. Amherst might look at your need based award from Williams. </p>
<p>But a need based award from Harvard is NOT going to make a school increase their merit award to match the net cost of those very generous ivy schools.</p>
<p>So, if your kid is OOS for Pitt, and your net cost there is $25,000 after merit from Pitt, don’t expect them to increase because of an award from Harvard. </p>
<p>If your kid gets accepted to Vandy and gets a merit award from them, don’t expect them to increase your merit award so that your net cost is the same as to attend Harvard.</p>
<p>Harvard is MUCH better endowed, has much deeper pockets, and CAN offer much more need based aid. A school with less resources (and MOST have less resources) wont care about Harvard’s bottom line net cost for you AT ALL. They simply do not have the same generous policies.</p>