<p>My D is going to be a freshman.. I filled in FAFSA and EFC comes to 54k.<br>
Our combined family income is 160k</p>
<p>I parked my funds in liquid assets like checking, savings, CDs, Stocks around 350k.<br>
80% of it to be used to buy a Home once we know where she goes. We are currently just renting. Is there anyway the college Financial Aid office will take this into notice or should we send a email to all our plan of buying the home. </p>
<p>There is nothing in my D's personal account.. (she doesnt have a bank account as of now)</p>
<p>Or we will be penalised for keeeping the liquid assets which meant for our Home Buying. We dont have any home or any heriditary property. Please Advise.</p>
<p>She is Accepted in </p>
<p>1.University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
2.UCONN - Connecticut - (Accepeted in Honors program with 5k per year scholarship)
3.Suny - Stonybrook.
4. GA Tech - Deferred.</p>
<p>awaiting results from
Boston University, UCAL-Berkeley, UCSD, UCLA, Cornell, CaseWestern Reserve, UNC-chappel Hill</p>
<p>Parents, I would appreciate your views and suggestions if any. </p>
<p>Your assets add a marginal 5.6% to your EFC. Subtract your asset protection allowance, which is based on the age of the older parent, from the $350K to see how much a difference it makes. Assuming an asset protection allowance of $50K, your savings are adding $16,800 to your EFC. The remaining component of your EFC comes from family income, which calculates to around $37,200. So even if you had no assets at all, your EFC would still be higher than the in-state cost of most public universities. In other words, it won’t matter what you do with your savings, your EFC will still be higher than the COA of most public schools.</p>
<p>Whether the out of state schools will give need-based aid to your daughter is another question. You need to research their policies individually.</p>
<p>Thank you Vballmom for your quick response. I read you are from silicon valley, CA. Lucky to seek your views… As in our list of waiting for results, we have UCAL - Berkeley, UCSD and UCLA… How about these three…? I will appreciate your help / suggestions.
thanks</p>
<p>The only school on your list that meets full need for all students is UNC-CH. The others do not guarantee to meet full need. It is highly likely that these schools will “gap” your student. In other words, you will be expected to pay for not only your EFC but also any additional costs not covered by aid.</p>
<p>I am not from CA…but here is what
I understand. The vast majority of need based aid is awarded via the Calgrant program which is for instate residents only…and for families with incomes under $80,000 or so. Even if you are instate, it sounds like your income is too high to qualify. I doubt that you will see significant need based aid from the CA universities.</p>
<p>Are any of these schools instate publics for your student? </p>
<p>With regard to your house money…the school really won’t care. Fact is, the money is in your account. There really isn’t any guarantee that you WILL use it to buy a house. Yes, I understand that is your plan, but the colleges will not see it as a done deal until it IS a done deal. For FAFSA purposes, 5.6% of your assets after the protected amount would be added to your family contribution per FAFSA for this upcoming year. Perhaps you could plan on contributing that amount this year, and spend that much less on your future home.</p>
<p>I would STRONGLY suggest that you run the Net Price Calculators for EACH of these colleges. This will give you an estimate of what each school will be expecting you to pay.</p>
I hope you’re not planning on moving to the state of your D’s school solely to get in-state tuition. That rarely works due to state laws preventing people who move for education reasons from being considered for residency.</p>
<p>You have a lot of FAFSA only OOS publics on those lists. They may not care either way about having or not having those assets. Most of those schools won’t give much/any “free money” once you’re beyond Pell qualifications.</p>
<p>What would your EFC be without those “future down payment” assets?</p>
<p>Edited to add. I see the above estimate that your EFC will be about $37k without that cash. Those OOS publics won’t likely give you a dime of free money. Likely they’re going to give your D a student loan. Maybe some merit money if her stats are high for the school.</p>
<p>I’m assuming you’re not living in California? What Thumper and Erin’s Dad say above is true - you won’t get much if anything from California (they love full-pay out of state students) and your daughter is highly unlikely to be eligible for in-state tuition. Plan on spending around $900,000 for a decent 3-bedroom, 2 bath house in Berkeley. Maybe less in San Diego or LA.</p>
<p>And you didn’t ask this, but to tie up 80% of your liquid assets in a house sounds very risky. You lose all leverage of those assets and have little left to pay for college, much less for any emergency that might arise.</p>
<p>Thank you folks…, Vballmom… you are right… I should not lock 80% which would be a bit risky given the fact, i need to foot the bill for the college tuition and fees. </p>
<p>BTW, I am resident of Connecticut. and My D is a in state student for UCONN. And for all others she is a OOS. </p>
<p>I would request more of your inputs…
Thank you for your time.</p>
<p>As for merit scholarships…the best UCs often tie “need” to their decent-sized scholarships.</p>
<p>I don’t think Cornell gives any merit. </p>
<p>What are your D’s stats? </p>
<p>How much do you want to pay each year? It seems like your list is very top heavy if you’re expecting merit.</p>
<p>Edited to add…</p>
<p>*Also she is defered for GA Tech - Bio Medical Engineering.
Her weighted GPA - 3.75
Her SAT -2170 (M-780, CR-700, W-690. Subject SAT - MathII - 770 SAT subject Bio-730 US-History 740. *</p>
<p>With her stats and her med school intentions, she could have gotten generous merit at various schools and still had med school as her goal. </p>
<p>(forget about UCs as a premed student…ugh!!!)</p>
<p>Your EFC even without the money in liquid savings exceeds the cost of attendance at UConn. It does sound like that could end up being the most affordable option, especially when you put that $5000 a year scholarship towards the costs.</p>
<p>Those other OOS publics, and the privates you list have costs of attendance that are double UConn instate…or more. </p>
<p>At ALL schools, you will be expected to pay your EFC minus any merit aid your daughter might garner.</p>
<p>Have you done the Net Price Calculators on each of your college websites? I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but doing that will give you a decent estimate of what each school will expect you to pay.</p>
<p>As others have said, it won’t matter that you say the funds are earmarked for a house. They have to be in a house already to be sheltered under FAFSA. </p>
<p>As for moving to whereever your DD gets into college, it will depend on the school as to when or whether you will get in state tuition doing that. From what I have seen, if parents make the move, schools will give the student in state status, usually after a full year after the move. But rules vary, and change, so it’s something you have to check as the acceptances arrive.</p>
<p>As for getting money from OOS publics,well, not so good. Don’t know about UNC-CH but the the UCs and GT if she clears the waitlist, among the others, do not tend to meet full need anyways, and if you are OOS, you are at the bottom of the barrel. Again, you can see what pans out. My son was accepted to GT but not a cent did they offer in merit and as your DD is deferred she is not going to be at the top of the fin aid list. </p>
<p>Not that any of this matters taht much as your EFC is high enough that getting much aid is not going to be likely, especially with the assets that are available. Your best deal, IMO is UConn. Congrats to your DD in getting a scholarship there. Depending on what the applicant pool is at Case, she may get some merit money there. I don’t remember what they offer any more and it could have changed anyways.</p>
<p>I know that this isn’t the subject of your inquiry, but I need to add…</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re planning on moving to the area of your D’s undergrad? Four years of undergrad go by VERY quickly, and your D may likely be attending a SOM and/or residency in a state that is far away from a new home. Who knows where she’ll land.</p>