<p>I should know these answers but I don't. My questions are three parts</p>
<p>1) If a family's FASFA worksheet says they are capable of paying $99,999 ( I think that is how it is worded) but the family would like to get financial aid b/c they do not want to pay the full freight 50 K are they basically out of luck?</p>
<p>With a high EFC, is there any benefit to checking yes on financial aid? Do you think a request for FinAid may assist you with getting Merit Aid $. Or is Merit aid typically exclusive to FA request?</p>
<p>2)Will checking yes to FinAid (and you have the highest EFC) possibly hurt your application if the college is FA need aware? </p>
<p>The reason I ask is I live in a high income area. As friends go thru the process of looking at $50K schools and there income is typically over $150K (home values of $700K+) with no extraordinary circumstances-- I am guessing they are out of luck w/ FA. But they still want it-- should they go ahead & check it or are they risking their chances of acceptance?</p>
<p>3) I know there is no technical threshold of income for FA but what is everyone on CC thinking on the unofficial? 90K?</p>
<p>your house value has NO IMPACT or EFFECT on your EFC.</p>
<p>to have an EFC of 99K, you have high income and liquid assets (cash/cd/bonds).</p>
<p>150K income by itself will not yield an EFC of 99K unless there are assets (and home equity doesn’t count on the fafsa, which is where the EFC is generated).</p>
<p>there is no set income limit for FA. You won’t get Pell grants with that income. but EVERY STUDENT is GUARANTEED only 1 thing, the ability to borrow via a stafford loan. the ONLY thing that can change is if the school deems you have ‘need’ then the loan is subsidized or if you have no financial need, but still are taking the loan, then it would be unsubsidized. Not sure about state grants at that income level, it probably varies wildly, but I wouldn’t count on them.</p>
<p>ALL other grants other than the low income FEDERAL PELL, Smart, SEOG, and a few others, are given by the SCHOOLS. They can use home equity any way they want in the way they determine your ‘need’</p>
<p>Look for schools that offer MERIT aid that is not based on NEED if you want the best FA package for a person with a very high EFC as determined by the FAFSA</p>
<p>I assume, given the neighborhood you describe and the cost of schools you note, you and your friends are focused on schools that use Profile. That changes things from what Sue says above. At most of these schools home value will be counted.</p>
<p>With an EFC of $99,999, you will not get a cent of aid unless you have siblings in college, in which case you might get a little money from very generous colleges.</p>
<p>No family looks forward to paying $50K. But checking the box is not going to help with that EFC. And yes, at many colleges it will hurt. No matter how need blind schools claim to be, they need lots of full paying students.</p>
<p>I’ll also note that HYPS are an exception to the general rules. A family can make up to $180K, and if they have what’s deemed typical assets for people with that income, they can qualify for significant aid.</p>
<p>For merit aid, look at schools that don’t consider need for it. If you have top stats and are willing to go to a considerably lower ranked school than you could otherwise get into, you could get significant money.</p>
<p>Would it be more accurate to say that home equity is what can increase EFC? E.g., if a family “owned” a home of average value, but due to the housing collapse was underwater with the mortgage, would it increase EFC? Thanks.</p>
<p>the EFC as calculated by fafsa and EFC estimators using FEDERAL methodology do NOT use the equity in the house, underwater or otherwise. </p>
<p>If you do a EFC calculator that uses INSTITUTIONAL methodology, then the equity in the house is factored in, BUT and ‘EFC’ given using this method is not a firm number. EACH school uses home equity and the extra stuff that the CSS profile requests in different ways.</p>