<p>I have been admitted to the school that I want to go to and it is a school that guarantees to meet financial need without loans. The problem is that the school and my parents do not see eye to eye about need.<br>
My parent's income is about $84,000. In spite of this because of savings and assets my EFC based on the FAFSA comes to $55,000 per year. The school gave me financial aid and then adjusted the amount giving us a little more when my parents asked for it. At this point the EFC is down to about $35,000. The problem is that my parents only feel like they can only afford $25,000/year. Their situation is unusual because we live in a small home provided by my father's job. Living in this home has been a job requirement for my father. When he retires, which will be soon my parents will buy their first home. Aside for saving money to send my brother and me to college this is the reason why they have saved so much money. They also have land which they plan to build their home on which also counts toward my EFC. My parents are worried about building and setting up their home and all of the new living expenses they will have after my dad retires and gets another job. They are also putting off his retirement because in today's economy they are not sure if he can get another job. I know that if my parents had already bought and lived in their home I could afford to go to this school. Right now it looks like I won't be able to. We have already spoken to a financial aid rep. Is there a way that I can ask for my file to be reviewed again without making my FA rep. angry with me? Beyond this do you have any other suggestions for me? I do have other less expensive options but going to a school like this one has been my goal throughout HS and it is what I have worked so hard to achieve. Not getting to go makes me feel like I have failed.</p>
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<p>You can always ask again. But realize that college is 4 years and you don’t want to get into a situation that might not be doable for the entire time. College will cost more each year. that is a fact.</p>
<p>you may need to readjust your perspective. Maybe going to dream school to finish degree would be option while going to affordable school is best option for now.</p>
<p>Get used to not always getting what you want, regardless of what you feel you deserve and have worked for. Sorry, don’t want to be harsh, but that is just a fact of life.</p>
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<p>Doti - If the gap is just $10,000 per year you might consider filling it with loans, outside scholarships, summer work, or (my favorite) becoming a dorm RA.</p>
<p>This may fall into the category of “special situation”. You may want to set up an appointment with the head of the financial aid department and a parent should definitely go along on this meeting as they will have the details to provide the college. </p>
<p>Did your package include any loans or work study components? If not you should definitely offer to do this up to a reasonable amount. I suggest no more than $4-5k in loans per year, a bit more if you are in a higher paying field like compsci or engineering. And remember that cost are going to increase as you attend and hopefully your current package will keep up with these increases Ask about this.</p>
<p>You have nothing to lose by asking. However, please realize that the college’s reaction may be:
“OK, your parents may be retiring soon and need another place to live. However, they don’t have to build or buy a house. That’s a choice they’re making. And they could have saved more of what they otherwise would have paid in housing costs if the job didn’t come with a house. These are all financial choices that your parents have made, and they now have to live with them. Your situation is no different than people who bought a bigger house than they need, took vacations every year or bought other investment land, or even those who have savings earmarked for retirement but not in protected accounts like IRAs, 401Ks, etc. Why should we treat your family differently than theirs?”</p>
<p>I wish you luck.</p>
<p>The college also may point out that many people are delaying their retirement, and your father could choose to do that, too.</p>
<p>I wish you luck, but fall in love with a school on your list that is affordable.</p>
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<p>Well their situation is different.
Those other families spend money on luxuries, yet, when the FA package is calculated, they get more because their money is already spent. They get to enjoy the luxuries and the financial aid too. For the frugal family that does without, their savings are up for grabs. </p>
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<p>They did save that difference, if I understand the OP’s situation. They saved it to buy a house later instead of sooner (in addition to saving for college). They would have been better off blowing it on luxury cars.</p>
<p>This system penalizes thrift. It is one of several uniquely bizarre features of American college admissions and financing. A more fair system would base calculations on family income only, not actual accumulated assets. But the calculations should factor in some assumptions about how much a family in that income bracket should be expected to save, year after year. Then add up some portion of the family income plus an expected amount from college savings to arrive at the EFC, without even considering actual savings. If you come up short, you take loans or go to a cheaper school. If you have a surplus, it’s yours.</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s a rant. Probably not very helpful to the OP but I can’t think of anything more to add to the suggestions. Seems you’re pretty much at the mercy of the FA rep.</p>
<p>^^^You are wrong. FA calculations are mostly based on income.</p>
<p>anneroku, what percentage of a UGMA/UTMA account is targeted for inclusion in the EFC? 20%, if I’m not mistaken. So they expect most of those savings to be depleted over 4 years. Yes, I do understand there are better college savings vehicles. And you are right, the parents’ savings are supposed to be targeted at a much lower rate, with adjustments for age and exclusion of retirement savings.</p>
<p>So it may be that the OP’s parents either made a bad choice in how they set up their savings, or they counted on using the money before the kids were finished with school, instead of waiting while they applied earnings from it to tuition. Or, this may be a school that just does not cover anywhere near 100% of need.</p>
<p>Did your parent’s fully explain their situation in the first appeal? I would only go back if they left vital info out.</p>
<p>I agree with the poster that said the $10K gap is doable with summer and school year work and unsubsidized Staffords. If it’s a no loan school it’s a good one. $45K or so in loans isn’t unreasonable IMO if it’s a great school and you’re not planning a low salary career.</p>
<p>tk21769: Your comments don’t fix the problem but thank you for understanding. They would not have saved this amount of money on their income if they had not lived frugally. We live out the country and we don’t even have cable TV. Trust me there is no extravagance here. </p>
<p>My parents expected that I would go to a state school and they intended to pay for it. I was however encouraged to not let my inablility to afford a private school dissuade me from applying to them as I was told there is a lot of financial aid out there. It turned out to be a shock to all of us when we learned how wealthy we are on paper based on our EFC. My parents now realize that they did not set up their accounts favorably for me to be eligible for financial aid. At the tme all I understood was that if I got accepted to a school that guaranteed to meet financial need without loans I would be okay. That estimation was based on their income. I’m not sure what the calculations are but it is their savings and the “value” of the land already purchased as their homesite that are making all of the difference. Most people don’t pay cash for a home they buy over time when they are much younger than my parents are.</p>
<p>Northstarmom: This is a kind of catch 22. My dad has decided to put off retirement because of the economy and his concern about getting another job. If he had not my parent’s home would probably be underconstruction now and we would be in much better shape financial aid wise. The problem is that we cannot move until he retires, they cannot build and rent the home because then it would count as inventment property and the return on the investment would be far less than its value so this would be of no help to me in terms of financial aid. If they spend more money than they budgeted then it won’t be there for their home or for my brother’s college education. </p>
<p>hmom: I think they did explain it fully. This is how our EFC was reduced to 35K. On the one hand I know the school has been generous under the circumstances on the other I am still in a bind.
I do plan to work but I did not get workstudy because I didn’t fall into the need catagory based on federal calculations. I do plan to get a loan if I go to this school and I hope to earn a good income when I am out of school. I do however plan to go to grad school and borrowing $40K sounds like an aweful lot right now.</p>
<p>My question is, is it out of line to ask to have my file reviewed by another person? If I do this will I run the risk of loosing what has already been awarded? My parents are also trying to figure out how they can change the way their accounts are set up to make the outcome more favorable next year. It doesn’t seem like there is anything they can do about the value of their homesite if they don’t build on it right away.</p>
<p>As for the cost of school going up, the FA rep told me that the cost to us would remain about the same as long as our situation did, since they are meeting our “need.”</p>
<p>For those of you that suggested it I know that going to a less expensive school is an option. I just want to be sure that I have exhausted all of the possibilities before I give up the dream. Thank you all for your thoughts.</p>
<p>It sounds like the school already made a very generous adjustment, so I doubt you’ll see more aid.</p>
<p>What kind of grad school are you planning? Most PhD programs are free and if you got into a top college you have a great chance at a top professional school and a high salary job. Sure, there are no guarantees, but depending on your other choices a $40K loan doesn’t sound so unreasonable to me. Even at most schools that meet 100% of need you would have ended up with at least half of that in loans. </p>
<p>This is a personal decision and I don’t mean to suggest you take loans lightly, but I would take a very hard look at the full picture and consider all your options in full context.</p>
<p>Hopefully law school</p>