<p>Well, it is a myth, in that, yes, there are folks that get financial aid who have a nice home make six fugure and have two cars. You make a $100k a year, have a nice home mortgaged to the whatzoo, and have two cars, have two kids going to college, you’ll get financial aid. You might even get a lot . But how much financial aid, at what schools is a whole other issue. </p>
<p>It’s fine that anyone throws in some lottery tickets to the mix, just in case, but realistically, there should be a number of schools you know you will be able to afford, that you know are highly likely to take the kid. We always threw in some schools, just to see, and some did pan out, surprisingly so. You can’t win the lottery, if you don’t play. But understand, that you can come up empty too, when there are no entitlements there. </p>
<p>Did your DD get into PSU main campus engineering starting in Fall? THat is usually full by now, so that is quite an achievement. COngrats to her and you.</p>
<p>those people did not mislead you. They said that you’d get aid, and you would have…about $15k - 20k per year. It may not be as much as YOU would have liked, but their words were true. People in your situation WOULD get aid. YOU wouldn’t be shut-out.</p>
<p>I think when people hear those words, they just believe what they WANT to hear…they they’ll get the amount of aid that they will WANT. :(</p>
<p>anyway…so glad to hear that you have an affordable school!!!</p>
<p>*What are we going to do for the second child’s education down the road. I *</p>
<p>I suggest that you do THIS NOW.</p>
<p>Go to the PSU NPC and put your info in AND put that you have two kids attending college. See what the results are. then double that for TWO in school…because that is the result for ONE child’s costs.</p>
<p>PSU is lousy with aid. I would not be surprised if when you have two in college (maybe 2 at PSU), then you will be expected to pay all costs for BOTH kids.</p>
<p>Congrats to you and your D. Did she only apply to schools in Penn? My D applied to her school rather late, it was March, and a last minute decision after seeing the campus and being in love with it during a Sunday ride a couple hours from home. We knew of the school because my husband had considered it 20 years earlier. So, came home, did some research, and she applied. They had rolling admission. Not a school with a name brand, but a solid school that ended up offering her a sizable merit scholarship, and very generous grant. It ended up being the school to offer us the best financial deal, so that is where she went. It was not her first choice, but that school would have been just at the edge of affordable realistically. She is a junior now, happier than happy with her school and so glad that she made the decision to follow the funding! She will have Direct (Stafford?) loans to pay back, but that isn’t such a bad thing. I had loans I paid back too, and am not worse off for it. It’s nice you want to keep your D debt free, but not the end of her world if she has to learn how to manage a bit of debt either…Usually it seems if you are willing to go a bit farther geographically, schools are happy to entice you with a bit more money…they want to be able to say they have students from every state and 30 countries, etc!</p>
<p>I don’t hear you talking about having saved for college at all. We started when our kids were born, and had enough to cover over half of a private college for both of them by the time they attended. Sure, we had a couple of lean years (around the time of our divorce) when nothing got put into the accounts. But with an early start and steady contributions, each kid had a pretty good amount by the time college time came. One attended a school with merit aid that covered about 1/3 of her cost (hunted long and hard for that school, and it turned out great for her).</p>
<p>I am divorced now and ex-H did not contribute a penny for D1’s college. And she got no need based aid at all. Ex-h is putting something in for D2’s, so that helps. But still – if you didn’t save, who did you think was going to pay the bill? I know this is harsh, but we did not always have six figure incomes (just saying that is not an excuse for not having saved for college).</p>
<p>Also… those families getting more aid do NOT have six figure incomes to pay for housing, cars, vacation, private school tuition, health care, summer camps and lessons, eating out, etc. And their kids are taking out loans are part of their financial aid packages (which your kid should be able to do as well). I personally would not trade places to be a low income family in exchange for college expense help. And I suspect if you were honest, you wouldn’t either.</p>
<p>*What if my D doesn’t get into the colleges with reasonable costs of let say $30-32000? Looks like we got ourselves stuck in a sticky situation. *</p>
<p>Many schools have costs of below $30,000 as already mentioned.
Our EFC is below $25,000, and we found a school with COA of about $23,000!
:D</p>
<p>*We were told that we should apply to schools that were more expensive because they could be more affordable by money given by the university. *</p>
<p>And that’s true. Giving you $15k-20k per year ($60k-80k total) would have made them “more affordable”. Right? Maybe not “more affordable” to you, but yes more affordable. </p>
<p>When these folks are up there talking, they have no idea what YOU consider to be “affordable.” There may have been people in that audience with your income who thought paying $10k per year was not affordable. lol They can’t read your minds. ;)</p>
<p>For school counselors to presume a family cannot afford this school or other is eliminating choices. Many parents will not even give a dollar figure to their kids, or formulate one for themselves until it comes time to pay or other reality steps right in. THE FAFSA EFC on paper is often one of those realities. Also, there is an issue that kids from families without means appear to be steered away from considering pricey options when there are sometimes financial aid options available. So to stay safe, counselors keep it wide open. And, there are families that get money from merit, fin aid, whatever, even though they make money that would ordinarily preclude them from it. Advice at large, is generally one size fits all. You have to get your custom size by trying on a lot of things.</p>
<p>There are families making 6 figures who for a number of reasons get financial aid fo some form. I know a family who does, but then one parent has 3 of his kids in college as well–it’s a step family stiuation that is not well known until you get to know them better.</p>
<p>my surprise, which i felt was a real bite in the shorts, is how almost paying off a primary residence hurts in some schools calculations. We lived modestly (house, cars and vacations) and applied the savings to paying off the house and a 529 plan. This negatively affected calculations. This part of the game bothers me the most (we are not alone).
However, before people think this is an endorsement for racking up debt and not saving in 529’s- not at all. You never know how it will work out. It worked out great b/c child is in the honors college at a great state U and was awarded multiple university and private scholarships. We’ll payout ~2-3K for all 4 years. Big difference from the 160-200K for attending a #5-10 ranked schools. Now she will have the 529 including our continued contributions for medical school. If graduate school is in the future, that plan is waiting for her kids.
Also, while not ideal due to penalties, a 529 could serve as an emergency fund.</p>
<p>The VAST majority of your family contribution is based on your INCOME. Yes, some schools do consider equity in your primary residence (FAFSA only schools do NOT). But that equity is capped somehow. Many folks feel penalized because their homes are paid for when in reality, their family contribution would be high anyway due to current income.</p>