<p>Regarding home equity and financial aid. As others have pointed out, it is only taken into consideration by schools that use the Profile. When it is included, it is treated as any other parental asset, which means your EFC will increase by only about 5% of your net equity. Additionally, many schools cap the amount of home equity that will be counted at some multiplier of parental income. This protects families living in areas that have seen skyrocketing housing prices, but whose incomes have not increased proportionately. For example, if you only make 45K your home equity would be capped at 135,000, which means it increases your EFC by around 7k, even if your paper home equity is much higher. Both my children attend private schools that use the Profile and both schools wanted to know the purchase price and the date of purchase so they could do their best to determine which students really needed aid. It's not an easy job, but my experience has been that the schools go to bat to help.</p>