<p>Say your family income is around $18,000-$20,000 a year.</p>
<p>But say, there is a bank account in your parents' name that is worth over $150,000. This account is for my parents' retirement and not for college at all. </p>
<p>I'm really scared that colleges won't give me a scholarship or financial aid, because of that bank account. If they do not give me any type of aid, I'll probably not go to colllege.</p>
<p>First…I hope one of the others will post…but with an income under $20,000 a year, your family will likely qualify for the simplified needs test IF they can file are not required to file a regular 1040 tax form. If they are able to do the 1040A or 1040EZ (I think both are applicable) the would not be required to report their assets. </p>
<p>Other experts…would this student with this family income also be eligible for the auto $0 EFC?</p>
<p>Your parents would not be eligible for the above IF they are required to file a regular 1040 tax form.</p>
<p>If you are not eligible for the above…keep reading. Is your parents’ $150,000 in a RETIREMENT account or a regular savings account? If it’s in a designated retirement account (401K, 403B, TSA, IRA, or the like) the amount IN that retirement account will not be used for college purposes. The contribution they make in the year used for the finaid forms will be added back in as income for that year. So…for example…if you are starting college in Sept 2010, you will complete a 2010-2011 FAFSA. The tax year for that document will be 2009. Any contributions made to a designated retirement account during 2009 will be added back in as income but the balance IN that designated retirement account will not be counted as an asset. There are some schools that use the Profile which DO ask for retirment account balances but no one is really sure how those are used. Speculation is that these balances are checked to see if families are making unusually high contributions to retirement accounts when they could be using some of those contributions to fund college.</p>
<p>Now…if you parents have this money in a regular savings account or certificate of deposit, that is a different story. Those accounts are considered ASSETs no matter what the family has them designated for. There is some asset protection for the parents…but in above that the colleges assume that assets can be assessed at 5.6% (I think that is the number) annually.</p>
<p>But for FAFSA there are 2 special situations where assets are ignored completely. To qualify you must meet certain criteria - primarily income but additionally a couple of other things such as your parents being eligible to file a certain type of tax return (1040a or 1040ez - having to file a 1040 makes you ineligible unless you meet certain other criteria). They are the Simplified needs test (income < $50k) and the automatic 0 EFC (income under $30k).</p>
<p>**Note **: this ^^ is for FAFSA. Profile has different rules.</p>
<p>Merit based scholarships from schools often do not take income/assets into account though there are exceptions. My daughter’s merit scholarship was awarded before we even filed financial aid information.</p>
<p>What year in school are you? And what is your parents’ money in? If you can answer those questions, we can give you a better idea of what can be done.</p>
<p>It’s a normal bank account. Not a 401K or whatever you said. My college class year is 2014. </p>
<p>Well, I have a 94 average, a 35 ACT and a few EC’s including 240+ hours of community service. The only schools I am sure that I will be applying to are RIT, SUNY Buffalo, and University of Rochester. Do you think I could get some merit aid or aid of some sort at these schools? I live in Syracuse, NY.</p>
<p>If I do not get any aid, I just wasted my time in high school and would not afford college.</p>
<p>I hate my life.
I hate my life.
I hate my life.
I hate my life.</p>
<p>Stop hating your life. You’re in good shape.</p>
<p>If something can be done with your parents’ savings, you’d be in better shape.</p>
<p>I’d recommend the following…</p>
<p>1st - your parents need to determine their asset protection allowance. It’s based on age. This will give them the amount which they can keep in the savings account with no penalty towards financial aid.</p>
<p>2nd - look at sheltering their retirement savings beyond the asset protection allowance. Put as much as they can into Roth IRAs (one for each), then look at annuities. If they are saving that money for retirement, the annuity will be taxed the same as a traditional IRA.</p>
<p>However, if your parent’s qualify for simplified needs, then the above is moot anyway.</p>
<p>Geneveive, you will definitely get merit aid from RIT and UB (or even SU). I’m not familiar enough with U of R to comment. Based on the information you’ve given, there is a very high probability that you will qualify for either an Automatic 0 EFC or Simplified Needs (check the eligibility requirements at the link posted below). Either of these will result in a 0 EFC for you, given a $20K income. </p>
<p>With a 0 EFC, it’s very likely your full need will be met at UB at least. For all of these schools, you would at least have $5350 Pell, $750 ACG (if you’re a NYS Regents w/Adv Designation grad, which sounds probable), $5,000 TAP award, and a $3500 subsidized Stafford and $2000 unsub Stafford. You’re also likely to be awarded a SUSTA and computer grant by UB, as well as Perkins loan and work study funds by all. I believe, based on other awards I’ve seen, that RIT will offer additional need based institutional aid as well. Being a co-op school, RIT may be very affordable for you in the long run.</p>
<p>If you’re a first gen or minority student, also look into the full tuition Daniel Acker scholarship at UB. It comes with other nice perks.</p>
<p>But first, check the qualifications for the Auto 0 and Simplified Needs here:
<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Your GPA and ACT scores should put you in line for merit aid at many schools (not the Ivies…they don’t give merit aid). You should do a search for Momfromtexas…who found full rides for her kids with stats lower than yours. AND search getouttabuffalo…he/she also got some great scholarship awards based on merit and I believe is at UNC Chapel Hill on a full ride Pogue Scholarship…but was also awarded a full ride McNair Scholarship at U of South Carolina. You have a LOT of options…a lot. </p>
<p>You are from NY state…there are a lot of wonderful instate universities in your state, some of which would welcome you with merit aid as well. Check it out!!</p>
<p>hey, I am going to get the NY Regents Diploma w/advanced designation w/honors, because I got a 90 and above on every single Regents exam I had. I am first generation, but my cousin went to RIT, so I don’t think that would make me first generation, if I count that legacy. </p>
<p>For SU, I do not meet the four years of science and three years of foreign language to even go there.</p>
<p>You are first generation if your PARENTS didn’t attend college. Your cousin doesn’t count in that…or as a legacy anywhere for you.</p>
<p>I’m going to recommend once again that you look into Questbridge. You’re perfect for it.</p>
<p>Wait, but I was on the Eligibility page of the Questbridge site, and you have to be in the top 5-10% of your class. I don’t know my class rank and I am pretty sure I only edge in the top 15% of my class. Are there actual requirements of the scholarship or what they post on the site is only what most recipients’ stats?</p>
<p>A lot of this stuff is really confusing, but how do my family get 0 EFC?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This may (or may not) change next year.</p>
<p>Your official EFC comes from filing a FAFSA, which you’ll do online on/after January 1st (the earlier the better). You can read pgs 4-6 of this doc and determine whether you will qualify for the Automatic 0 or Simplified Needs test, either of which will disregard parent assets:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf</a></p>
<p>If you haven’t already received a transcript, I would call the guidance office of your HS and request they mail you an unofficial copy now. It should take about a week or less. Most of the schools upstate use a similar format and your rank appears on your transcript. It can/will change up to the end of the first semester of your senior year, but you’ll use the one from your current transcript to apply to colleges/scholarships until then.</p>
<p>There is a stickied thread on the Admissions forum devoted to Questbridge - maybe you can find your answer there!</p>
<p>You have a good shot at merit aid from UR.</p>
<p>It looks like you want to go to school nearby. If you are eligible for need-based aid, Cornell is very generous.</p>
<p>Hey my dad has a disability is on Social Security. My family income is also overall lower than $49,000. So, I guess I am eligible for it. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just to add, my family income atm is in the 30k area at the moment but the bank account totals like 200k+ and I still got nice financial aid and even a scholarship from a stony brook.
But from what I remember for Buffalo, the total fin aid came out to ($9k) or so which is about half of what it costs to go there I suppose.
RIT on the otherhand sucked because it included a 20k loan which would be quite stupid for me to accept.</p>
<p>Genevieve, here’s a page from Questbridge with their eligibility criteria. Although 75% of winners are in the top 5% of their class, 25% are not.
[National</a> College Match - Selection Criteria](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/cmp/criteria.html#academic]National”>http://www.questbridge.org/cmp/criteria.html#academic)
The application process is demanding but the rewards are more than worth the challenge.</p>
<p>So if my father has a disability and is on Social security and my family income is in the $18,000 to $20,000 range, does that mean that I am eligible for 0 EFC?</p>