At first I thought that an EFC of $35,000 was high … given 2 in college and an income of $110,000. Now that I see that your parents own 3 homes in addition to your primary residence… it makes more sense. Be prepared for a higher EFC at the profile schools.
Schools will expect your parents to sell these homes or use equity to help pay for school. They won’t give you extra money so your parents can continue to own 4 homes.
I agree that Bing is a reach, as is Stony Brook.
I don’t agree with your strategy, but you are not my child. I wish you luck.
At this point…you want them to assume MORE debt for your college choices. Honestly…that is self centered and selfish. You aren’t the only member of this family.
I think it’s because all my cousins went to super expensive private colleges: Northeastern, Harvard, NYU, Amherst, Georgetown, etc. with middle incomes. I don’t know if their EFC was like mine or not. They have a lot of faith in me receiving scholarships and grants, maybe a little too much. They’re just trying to be supportive and I appreciate it, I just don’t want them to be disappointed.
@anniehhh, actually you are alluding to this in post # 90
You will not be able to get this kind of loan unless your parents are co-signers. Then it also become part of their credit report and can affect their ability to borrow/cosign for your sibling already in college and your younger sibling
Let’s not mince words here. Your cousins were able to get need based financial aid. These schools (with the exception of NYU) call their need based financial aid, scholarships. Harvard Amherst and Georgetown only give (scholarships) in the form of need based financial aid. There is no merit money at these schools.
But you don’t have the stats for those top schools, don’t your parents understand that part? You don’t have the stats your cousins had. Are they completely unaware of that?
This should have been part of post #1, not post #129. These are big assets that go into the EFC. Your parents can have a fairly modest income of $60k and having 3 additional houses will kill the EFC every time.
So there you have your answer as to why the EFC is so high.
Now the issue shifts to how much your parents can afford to pay for you and your sisters next year. Start looking at local scholarships. It looks like you will most likely be attending college close to home in NY, so if you can find some local scholarships that might help you. Elks club, American legion, local businesses, churches often have them that can only be used in the city or state.
If you really have no hope of affording Syracuse or NYU, you are wasting $100 bucks. You might be better off buying $100 worth of lotto tickets.
We are trying to educate you-nobody expects a HS kid to understand everything there is to know about financial aid and assets and debt and investments. It takes some people decades to get a handle on their own finances, let alone someone else’s.
Having said that- you are making a couple of potentially expensive mistakes here, and folks (who don’t know you, and don’t know your family) are trying to help you avoid.
Applying to USC is a waste of time and money. Not my time and not my money- but there you have it. If NYU is the be-all and end all of colleges for you then go ahead and apply just so you never have to wonder “what if”. But you don’t need three “What if” schools on your list. So take off USC and Northeastern. Save your Aunt some dough, and you can bingewatch your favorite TV show instead of trying to perfect your application to two schools you aren’t going to be able to afford.
Why is your EFC so high? Because your parents have a comfortable income and lots of assets. Why can’t they afford their EFC? Because they live in a high cost of living area with high property taxes AND they own real estate in addition to your primary home, and there is more than one kid in the family (i.e. you) who they are raising and feeding and educating.
It’s really just simple arithmetic. You are not alone, there are thousands of HS kids in the NY Metro area in the same boat as you. Most of them would love to go to USC or Northeastern or BU or get Harvard’s generous need based aid… but that’s a fantasy, not reality. So they go to Queens College or Baruch and they commute from home and get a great job during the summer which helps them launch into adulthood. And once they graduate from college they get jobs in Seattle or SF or LA or Boston or Portland or Chicago or wherever the heck they want to live- and they start their life.
You had a simple question. Colleges look at your entire financial picture and see multiple homes and a comfortable living. Your parents look at your entire financial picture and see another kid to educate after you, household expenses which never seem to go down, only up, and they’ve given you a number they can comfortably afford.