<p>Mom2collegekids isn’t quite understanding that how a family spends their money whether it is on fancy vacations or fancy cars, is out of the hands of their children. And a parent with a high EFC can certainly turn around and say that a child needs to take out loans and pay entirely for their education.</p>
<p>And then that child is NOT left with many options. Even fewer than the good student who can possibly take advantage of a college that provides full need to the poorest of students.</p>
<p>I think we should all be a little less judgemental. Let’s face it, some kids with really high EFC have it because their parents have both worked 2 jobs for 20 years in order to provide for their families…and yes, there are some kids with low EFC’s who have lazy good for nothing parents!</p>
<p>But maybe both kids deserve the chance to get an afforable education in the best school possible…</p>
<p>shorttracklover - you could put your earnings in a Roth IRA. That doesn’t get counted towards EFC. You can take the $ out for school (or for 1st time home purchase) without penalty.</p>
<p>And how would you propose for this to happen? Keep in mind that there is no money tree in a school’s financial aid office. Funds are limited. I am interested in hearing how this line of thinking would actually work …</p>
<p>The OP said that college is “expensive no matter what” or something along those lines… and to that i say, “Not really, you are making it that way by your choice of schools.”</p>
<p>My local college is FREE (!) for two years to all graduating seniors regardless of their income and the TOP comprehensive school in my state’s tuition is STILL less than the max Stafford loan for a freshman. Now, i realize that i am not the norm, but the person has lots of options but are CHOOSING NOT TO UTILIZE THEM based on this assumption:::</p>
<p>The best school possible = the most expensive. NOT!</p>
<p>oh, and what the heck does OP stand for anyway? lol</p>
<p>*Mom2collegekids isn’t quite understanding that how a family spends their money whether it is on fancy vacations or fancy cars, is out of the hands of their children. And a parent with a high EFC can certainly turn around and say that a child needs to take out loans and pay entirely for their education.
*</p>
<p>LOL…</p>
<p>??? Why are you saying that? I totally understand that. No child has control over how his parents choose to spend their money.</p>
<p>You must have completely misunderstood something that I wrote. Nothing I wrote implies that I misunderstand the situation.</p>
<p>FAFSA…that is NOT the case for most students. In fact I would venture that MOST students in this country do NOT have a FREE (!) for two years option. Wonderful for you but certainly not accessible to everyone.</p>
<p>Bottom line…the student was surprised at the EFC but also said his parents were not. Many students are not aware of the family finances and how this impacts the EFC, and the EFC DOES come as a HUGE surprise for higher income families.</p>
<p>@polarscribe
I would just like to clarify that 200,000 definitely does not entail “disposable” money. My parents both work full time jobs and we live a modest life. Perhaps more lavish than others, yes, but certainly not filled with extra money.</p>
<p>Multiple houses are always a money drain, especially if they require renovation! My guess though, and it’s purely a guess, is that your family hasn’t really trimmed their budget hard in order to maximize savings. That often doesn’t start until it’s time for tuition payments to begin, so they’re definitely not alone. But it’s certainly far easier to pay colleges expenses, at almost any income level, when parents have commited to a regular savings plan and accumulated college funds over the first 18 years than it is to pay for it with current/future income. Hopefully your folks will be able to dump extra expenses and recoup their investment in the house (2 years seems like a long, expensive renovation is in progress!)…the problem with funding an expensive school for the oldest out of current income/loans is that it may mean there’s no money left for younger siblings, especially if they’re close in age. That’s something you and your parents may have to consider…if they were unable to save a decent amount for college up to this point, where is the money going to come from in the future? Even if all 4 of you were to attend SUNY schools and COA remained stable at around $21K/year…that’s $336K total education expenses that your family would incur by the time the youngest graduates!</p>
<p>Yes, your family does live a lavish lifestyle with lots of disposable money. Your family’s income is among the top 2 percent of all American households. That is, 98 percent of Americans live on less, and mostly much less, than your family does.</p>
<p>Multiple houses, etc. - those are choices your family made, choices that most American families never even think about making. Do you have a bunch of flat-panel TVs, luxury cars, smartphones, high-end clothes/furnishings, expensive overseas vacations? Those, again, are choices.</p>
<p>This is not meant to make you feel bad, it’s meant to acquaint you with reality. Your family has enough money to afford any college in America. If they don’t want to pay, that, too, is a choice. There are many, many families who don’t get to make those choices.</p>
<p>Mostly the OP is trying to understand- gotta give him/her some credit for that.</p>
<p>Probably, on 200k adjusted, you do have equivalent expenses- a more expensive family home, car payments, maybe better birthday gifts, whatever. We aren’t really speaking of what’s left at the end of the month- but, what you start with. If you had been on CC for a while, you’d see tales of nice, educated families who are in the same old house, delay repairing the roof, drive old cars, cut the dinners out, cut back on retirement contributions and on and on, just to make their share of college expenses. And, you would see folks in even more difficult positions.<br>
I think you do understand that. I don’t think most posters mean to scold you- in part, this is an open conversation for many to learn from.</p>
<p>Tuition fees in private colleges are artificially inflated. The reason is, some private colleges that I know pay about 50% of the total budget as FA and that means, but for the FA, the tuition fee should have been only half (20k) of the typical 40k. So in essence, some students basically subsidize the tuition for others. That is just the reality!</p>
<p>OP, many of the schools you mentioned will want your parents to complete the CSS/PROFILE. That will look at your parents’ other assets (the house that is being renovated, business expenses/deductions, etc.) and figure them back into income. The FAFSA EFC, if you completed it properly, is probably <em>low</em> compared to what PROFILE will say.</p>
<p>All that said, $200k with a $96k EFC = lots of assets besides income.</p>
<p>@polarscribe
No we don’t have summer houses, that house was bought entirely on a loan, we have two tvs, 2 american made cars, no blackberrys, iphones, or droids, we’ve never been overseas, and wouldn’t think to purchase high end clothing. If I ever had any of that I wouldn’t have thought twice about out financial aid, but we really don’t live as exquisitely as you may think. I know it would be irrational to expect the same amount of financial aid as other families who were worse off, but we’d still be making plenty sacrifices.</p>