Please respond If you have received a financial aid.
How does your net contribution amount compare to the EFC from FAFSA?
Is it close to college board estimation for Brown?
EFC = 23k
College Board estimate for Brown Institutional Scholarship: 34k
Actual from Brown: 23k
Does this look normal?
Not enough information.
Brown uses the CSS Profile. Your institutional aid will be based in that, not the FAFSA EFC.
Does your family own a business?
yes, it’s a side business. Partnership. Each partner reported a loss of 10k for the year.
Which no doubt artificially lowered your income in your NPC calculation. I believe the college added many of the deductions your parent made to generate that loss back in to the income side. You can call the college to see if they will give you more info on specifics.
Totally agree with Erin’s Dad. It is HIGHLY likely that Brown tied back in some of those business deductions that are allowed by the IRS.
What was the family gross income? And what was their AGI?
@“Erin’s Dad” Thanks for the info. Actually the deductions were not made from income to generate that loss.
Parents have other job. This is a side business where the loss was from the K-1 schedule. So when it was factored it lowered the AGI.
what is the value of the business?
What was their other income?
AGI 82k, after deductions only 57k towards taxable income.
They have calculated 38k for parent contribution.
Sounds like your parents have assets or they dissallowed deductions as others have said.
I would call and ask for clarification or have a parent call. I am curious how this turns out as Brown is a school K2 likes for next year. Please let us know and Good luck.
Assets? How much in assets do,they have? Need based financial aid is not just based on income. The school considered assets as well (any savings or investments that are not in an authorized retirement account like an IRA or TSA).
Contact the college. This college is the ONLY place where you can get your answers. But first, makes sure your entries on the Profile are accurate ones.
Have your parents actually filed their 2015 taxes? Some business owners wait. This could also be an issue for you if they haven’t filed AND linked to the IRS Data Retreival Tool.
Brown does not require the IDOC use from all applicants but can request this if they feel the need more information. They contact the student with this request. Were you asked to complete IDOC, and did you? Have you checked your student portal to see if this request was made…and your email spam folder?
You need to make sure your financial aid application is complete.
You wrote this :
It would take about $200,000 in assets to add $10,000 to your family contribution to Brown. And that’s if the asset is in the parent name. If the asset is in the student name, all you would need is $50,000 in assets…and $10,000 would be added to your contribution.
Do YOU the student have any assets in YOUR name?
@thumper1 Thanks for clarifying about assets.
IDOC is complete. Financial aid application is complete. I can see all the details in Brown’s website. Tax filing for 2015 is complete.
Total assets: 180k excluding retirement in parents account. Student doesn’t have anything.
College board NPC used the same numbers, not sure why there is such a big difference.
they are asking us to pay 42k (net amount). With loan and work study it will be around 39k.
Do you think it’s worth?
Worth what? What other options are on the table, what do you plan to study, “Why Brown” and have you been admitted to any colleges similar to Brown with a lower price tag?
If you can’t afford Brown you’re going somewhere else. So let us help you figure out what the somewhere else is.
Why Brown? Wanted to go to an Ivy. Heard Brown is really good.
Other options are
Emory 30k
GA Tech 12k
You will pay 30K per year for Emory- how? Can your parents afford that? You would pay 12K per year for GA Tech- again how? Are they taking out Parent Plus loans to pay or are they writing a check?
You aren’t being very forthcoming with details if you want help here. And again- what do you plan to study and “why Brown”? I graduated from Brown, interviewed for the school for many years. Wanting to go to an Ivy and hearing that Brown is really good isn’t much of a reason- particularly if your parents can’t afford tuition there.
Are you saying GA Tech would cost 12k/year after grants or that’s what they’d give you?
If those are your only options, and GA Tech would only cost 12k before loans, it’s a pretty easy call. If you were comfortable with the original expected EFC number of 23k then presumably you can handle the 12k without taking out any loans, and that’s a great position to be in.
What does this mean? Is this the aid these schools gave you…or your net costs?
i see you are instate for Georgia. Sounds like GA Tech is the affordable option here.
Did you apply to ANY colleges that were less than $50,000 a year to attend beside GA Tech?
Ok…$82,000 in AGI income would likely yield $20,000-$25,000 in family contribution.
$180,000 in non-retirement assets held in parent name…an additional $10,000 or so.
The business is a red herring here…
So, your contribution as calculated could very well be very accurate.
But ask the school…they can clarify this for you.
These are net costs for Emory and GA Tech.
I am wait listed to Duke, Vanderbilt and Cornell. Brown is my dream school. Total assets: 180k (excluding retirement accounts). Thinking of using some money from the above and possibly some loan. Loss making business bite us. Closing it in next 4 months.
I have been hearing from some parents that spending that kind of money for undergraduate may not be the right thing to do. I am glad to hear that you went to Brown. Please advise.
@thumper1 you are 100% correct!
I did call them and It’s due to the business even if we are losing money. So many parents and students are getting help from you. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
I will really appreciate if you can provide some insight to my post above.
I did not go to Brown. To whom are you referring?
Georgia Tech is affordable and is a great school.