My high school junior is looking at some very selective schools (Tufts, Vassar, Wellesley, Barnard, etc.) that do not give merit money. The NPC on each school’s website estimates that she would receive $12,000-17,000 in grant aid which would be a fairly tight squeeze for us, but we could do it based on what we have saved in her 529 and our salaries. Here’s my question–once we fill out the CSS profile, will the aid package drastically differ from what the NPC is saying? My husband has a 501K, but he’s only putting 5% of his income into it right now, we have about 200K in equity in our house, and we really don’t have any other non-retirement savings other than the 529 plan for our kids. We own 3 cars (2007 Odyssey, 2012 Prius and 2015 Honda CRV. The first two are paid off, but we still have lots of payments on the CRV. Sorry to give so many details, but I’m planning our college visit trip for this summer and if we think the aid packages will be drastically different based on the CSS Profile then we may have to eliminate some of these schools form our list and stick to schools where she stands a good chance at getting merit aid.
Thanks!
You’re asking if your CSS Profile “EFC” will be higher than what the NPC indicates…
Well, it could be. Do you take any business deductions? it doesn’t sound like you own any properties other than your home.
Did you include ALL of your children’s 529 plans, or just your DD’s on the NPC???
Did you add in the 5% your H is putting into retirement?
What about you? Are you contributing to a retirement plan?
Thanks for your quick response, @mom2collegekids ! I’m a teacher in Illinois, so we do have a pension system, but it’s not a voluntary contribution. Instead of taking out a social security deduction, they take out that same amount and put it in the teacher pension system, so I’m not sure if that counts against me or not. As a result, I won’t be able to ever collect social security, because this “replaces” social security.
We have no business deductions and don’t own any property other than the house we live in (that we’ve owned since 2002). Our son doesn’t have a 529–he has autism, so we do have a special needs trust set up for him, but no 529. Not sure if that counts against us or not. We did add my husband’s 5% into the NPC.
Also, how do schools estimate your home value? Do they look at Zillow? Or do we provide an appraisal?
@smcirish
Did those NPCs orice calculators ask for home equity?
There are some net price calculators ask a lot of questions…and they are pretty accurate. Some are very poly designed and only ask basis questions.
Check with the experts here…but I don’t think your involuntary pension contribution gets added back in as income. It is on a different line that any contribution you make to a 403b or the like on your taxes…I believe.
When you fill out the Profile, there is a section on it to explain anything you choose. In your case, I would suggest explaining the special needs trust you have established for your other son.
As an aside, won’t you be able to collect spousal SS?
Rather than speculating, what you do is contact each of the colleges directly, and ask for a telephone appointment with a financial aid counselor so that you can address these questions.
Even if you get feedback on this thread that Tufts handled a similar situation in such-and-such a way, there’s absolutely no guarantee that the other colleges on your list would handle it the same way - each school has its own methodology for calculating need.
So wait a couple of weeks for the dust to settle from the current round of admissions, and then give each college a call.
A Trust established for the student’s sibling would not ordinarily be reported on the student’s financial aid forms, as it’s not money that is available to use for the student’s education.
You report what you believe to be the current market value. You don’t need to provide or have a written appraisal done.
And if the college likes the Zillow valuation better, they’ll use that!
But again, that’s my personal experience with one college. There were others that never questioned my valuation.
Interesting. So a college actually used Zillow to get a different value than was reported on financial aid forms? I assume the Zillow value was higher. I haven’t heard of that happening, but it’s obviously not outside the realm of possibility. Kind of like admissions staff searching social media for things that would reflect negatively on an applicant, which has been an acknowledged practice (although thankfully very limited in scope).
Yes, they did. They decided I’d undervalued my home, and adjusted accordingly.
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Our son doesn’t have a 529–he has autism, so we do have a special needs trust set up for him, but no 529. Not sure if that counts against us or not.
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A Trust established for the student’s sibling would not ordinarily be reported on the student’s financial aid forms, as it’s not money that is available to use for the student’s education.
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is this true for CSS schools?? Although this is a legit reason, why wouldn’t all parents put each child’s money in a trust so it’s “not available” for a sibling’s college?
Money that really belongs to a sibling already is “not available” for a brother’s or sister’s college expenses; it doesn’t have to be in a Trust to be not reportable on FAFSA or Profile.
Money in a sibling’s pocket, piggy bank or bank account is not reported. Money in a sibling owned 529 is not reported. Sibling investment accounts under UGMA/UTMA are not reported. And why would they be? The underlying premise of college financing in America is that the student and the student’s parents are first in line to pay for college. The student’s siblings are not expected to be contributors.