My parents have accidentally included the price of the home they’re living to their real estate asset.
Will it significantly affect the financial aid I’ll get?
*If you’re wondering, I’ve sent the profile to Cornell.
Well assets in general count 5.6% toward EFC in the federal formula. So it is going to count at least that much for institutional aid. I would submit a correction to Cornell. You may have to do it by hand on a copy of the form, and snail mail. Ask them how to submit a correction.
@Mminjjae are you saying your parents included the equity in their primary residence twice on the Profile?
The equity does not get lumped in with assets like bank account balances…but there is a place on the Profile that does ask for the value on your primary residence and then a place to indicate how much mortgage you have left. The difference is your primary residence home equity.
So…what exactly did your parents do?
@thumper1 On the Parent’s Assets section, they included the value of their house to their real estate.
So I think they included the price twice.
Quick question: Is it true that if your parents earn more than 150000, the school offers few financial aids?
My parents earn 148000 after tax, and we’ll have two college students next year.
Cornell meets full need…next year, with two in college, your family contribution would be 60% each of,what it would have been in total for one in college.
So…as an estimate…with a $150,000 incime, your family contribution for one in college would be around $50,000 a year. So…with two…each of you would have a family,y contribution of about $30,000 (60% of that $50,000). This is an estimate only…and a rough one just to give you an example.
How much equity are we talking here? Or did they list the purchase price of the house as an asset? The value of,the house is different than the equity. The equity is the value minus the mortgage. What amount did they put in the asset section? Is the house fully paid for?
Did you run a net price calculator for Cornell? I’m assuming this is an ED application. If so, you need to,clarify exactly what your parents did…and contact Cornell ASAP. If you get accepted ED, you will want an accurate financial aid package on which to base your enrollment decision.
If the equity is the value minus the mortgage, then the equity is $200,000. So they put $200,000 on the real-estate. Yes, I did run a NPC for Cornell, but they don’t take account of the fact that I have a sibling. Also, when I file the FAFSA, the income will go down to $100,000; my dad earned significantly more than he usually does in 2014.
What should I say when I call Cornell’s Financial Aid Office? Help…
Also, I have a question about CSS and FAFSA. @thumper1 @ @BrownParent
After you apply for both CSS Profile and FAFSA, do you need to choose a financial aid package from either CSS or FAFSA or do you just pick financial aid packages, one from CSS and other from FAFSA?
If latter is the case, I think FAFSA will be a better choice for me, since I get to file my parents’ 2015 income tax, which is significantly lower than that in 2014.
That is not how it works. Colleges that use CSS profile base their own aid on that. Fafsa qualifies you for govt aid only a Pell grant which you aren’t eligible for and a student loan. They just use the fafsa to verify your tax info. The school will use the CSS profile to figure what it will give you. Are you saying that you CSS profile is not asking for 2015 income? I don’t have access to the current form. Cornell should use 2015 income when it calculates your final aid package.
Yes, CSS Profile asks for 2014 income for Cornell. All ED applicants needed to send 2014 tax return by November 1st, 2015. And the results will be out on December 10th.
Just for the clarification, students can accept financial aid package from CSS and that from FAFSA because the sources of financial aid are different for those two.
The CSS doesn’t yield a dollar value for the parent contribution, the way Fafsa does. Nor does it (or Fafsa) offer a finaid package.
The CSS is simply a big document of details the colleges will consider, along with the Fafsa, when making their aid offer. The college offers the aid package, not CSS or Fafsa. Kids who qualify for govt aid usually see that reflected in the college package. The college’s full FA offer/package is based on their own policies, what bullets they consider and their proprietary formula.
If 2014 income was a jump, you may be able to use the comments section to explain. In any case, once all earnings documents are in for 2015 (W2’s, etc, which come by 1/31,) many kids need to revise or finalize their details. The college can then revise their offer- it depends.
@lookingforward
Yes, I did write some clarifications on the comment section.
Do you think I can still make a little change on my CSS profile though? I’ll definitely call the Financial Aid Office tomorrow, unless they finally respond to my email.
If I can’t, can I still appeal?
NO! The college will give you a financial aid package. It is based on the data you provided. For ED applicants, the financial aid package is an ESTIMATE based on those 2014 tax returns and the info you put on the Profile.
You don’t get two different packages…only one. You won’t get a second package based on the FAFSA. The FAFSA info will be used to verify that your Profile information is correct.
One financial aid package…not two! Only ONE.
Cornell primarily uses the Profile for awarding of need based aid. The FAFSA would only come into play if you were eligible for federally funded grants…you are not. Your income is too high…even with two in cllege.
However, if your 2015 income is significantly higher than your 2014 income, it is very possible that Cornell will adjust your need based aid to reflect this increase once your FAFSA is filed.
And Next year, that increased income will most definitely be counted when theynrecomoute your need based aid (you will apply again…but for that year, the 2015 tax info will be used by FAFSA, and possibl by Profile too).
You need to contact Cornell financial aid tomorrow morning and explain the error. An extra $200,000 in assets would add $11,000 to your family contribution.
Just make sure your parents really enters that correctly.
Also, you want to ask how,they treat situations in which the 2015 income is significantly higher than 2014 in terms of the financial aid award for the 2016-2017 school year. You don’t want any surprises.
@thumper1
So when you get the financial aid packages on December 10th, they aren’t actually the FINAL financial aid packages because the financial aid offices still need to view the FAFSA.
So my parents’ income in 2015 is much lower than their income in 2014 ($110,000 vs $150,000). I also noted that on the comments section of Profile. Then, when I file the FAFSA with 2015 income, Cornell will adjust the financial aid package, right?
I’ll also let my parents to call the Cornell FAO tomorrow morning for the adjustment.
I think OP’s 2015 is lower than 2014, which can be an advantage. It depends on the work the parents do, whether 2015 is a rare low or 2014 was a rare high.
You can ask FA if they want you to change or how. They may say to submit all corrections after the 2015 tax documents are in and you submit your final Fafsa and CSS. They may also ask for a fax copy or a letter.
Have you and your parents call and explain the 2 things. Thing is, you will have to decide to accept admissions based on what you gave unless they will adjust the estimate now. It seems to me you need an accurate estimate now so you can decide if you can accept the offer of admission, rather than rely on an appeal and an unknown number.