I entered my information into the Brown aid calculator, which told me I would need to pay around $38,000 after receiving financial aid. If this is true, it means that I probably couldn’t attend even if I got in. On the other hand, I keep seeing people with our income level saying that they only paid around $6,000 per year in student loans. How is this possible? Is the aid calculator accurate? Is there some way to get more financial aid?
The financial aid calculator may not be accurate if your family has certain situations – for example, if your parents own a business, if your parents are divorced, if you have higher-than-average assets.
Where do you “see” people listing your income level who say they paid $6,000/year in student loans? There are so many variables in financial aid that you can’t just compare income levels and assume that your situation is the same. Let’s say you have two families with the same income – but one has three kids in college, no savings and rents an apartment, while the other family has just one kid, owns a $2 million home and has a $200,000 529 account.
One thing you need to understand about financial aid is that colleges assume that families pay for college with 3 sources – past, present and future income. In other words, savings, cash flow, and loans. Colleges that promise to meet 100% of financial need (including Brown) have their own definition of your need and your ability to pay, a definition that might be and probably is very different from your definition of what you can afford to pay. You are probably thinking that $38,000 out of your parents annual income is crazy – but the colleges are assuming there are savings to use, and loans to take out.
Many families can’t afford private colleges. if you have the stats to get into Brown, but your parents can’t afford to pay $38,000/year for your college education, then you need to apply to colleges where your stats will get you significant merit aid. If you go to the Financial Aid & Scholarships forum, you can get more info about this (and read about the many students who are in the same boat as you).
Is there a way to get more financial aid? Your parents could quit their jobs and give away all their money. That’ll do it – but then you better get into one of the schools that promise to meet full need. If you the student has a lot of assets (like a large bank account), then spending that down can help.
Unfortunately, my parents will not be paying for any of my college education. However, they will be retiring within the next year or two - could this help me to get financial aid?
In answer to your first question, I saw the student loan amount on a couple of sites about financial aid in the Ivy League.
No that will not help you get more aid. Colleges expect the primary burden rests with the parents. Parents who won’t pat the family contribution means you have to find large merit scholarships and inexpensive schools in your search. Each year income depends on prior year income and assets, so retiring may bring down family contribution. Run a projected NPC. Do you have a fund to pay those costs yourself or something, how much is it a year? You can only borrow 5,500 freshman year.
Student loan is only one component of contribution, clearly you don’t know their finl picture compared to yours. No way for me to tell if you made a mistake, often the cost is roughly 20 to 30 pct of income. What is your federal EFC?
If your parents will not be contributing anything to pay for your college education, then your college search needs to be directed to colleges you can afford. That means schools with large merit awards, community colleges, colleges you can commute to, reasonably priced state colleges.
If you have older parents, that is usually a part of the calculation for how much aid you’ll get. But colleges still expect parents to pay, and if you have parents who won’t pay, don’t expect any sympathy or financial aid from colleges.
I suppose you could take one or two gap years so that you apply to colleges when your parents are already retired with reduced incomes. But I’d want to run some NPCs before making that decision.
I know this is not what you want to hear. I’m sure you’d love to go to Brown or a school like Brown, but it really looks like that’s a dream you need to let go of. However, it’s better to know this now instead of in March of your senior year when you realize you can’t pay for any of the colleges you got into.
@BrownParent, I’m not sure what the expectation from FAFSA was yet. I’ll have to find that out.
Thanks for the honest feedback!