<p>My EFC is calculated to be at around 86k. Which is a ridiculous figure. That's at least 10k larger than my parents' take-home pay. My parents own a couple rental properties, but that in no way makes them capable to throwing away 86k for college. At this rate, I won't even qualify for an aid package if I attend the most expensive private college out there. I'm also going to be paying for half of my college expenses, so wouldn't I qualify for some aid from school?</p>
<p>no, unfortunately they don’t really consider how much you will be working if they see a huge assets column. Each school sets their allowable maximums.</p>
<p>EFC mainly is to determine whether or not you will be eligible for a Pell grant. It doesnt look like you will be. You should be eligible to take a Stafford loan, but that will probably be unsubsidized.
College expenses are generally assumed to be borne by the families savings, current earnings & loans. Some schools may offer some merit aid for some students.</p>
<p>Some schools offer some need based aid. Some schools even meet 100% of need for students. However this is the schools assessment of need, not the families.
Need will be met by grants, but also self- help, loans & work-study. Some schools restrict themselves to Stafford loans, and perhaps Perkins- other schools may even include private loans or Parent Plus loans in meeting need.</p>
<p>But most schools don’t attempt to meet need, and only offer significant merit aid to a few standouts.</p>
<p>To move forward, your plan should include sitting down with your parents and getting a clear idea of what they can afford to pay for your expenses from savings, current income & future income.
It shouldnt be a problem that they can’t pay $86,000 a year for tuition, I doubt there are any undergrad schools in the US ( yet) that are that expensive. But paying out for example $86,000 over four years for a college degree is a reasonable expectation.
Add to it a maximum Stafford loan, income from working summers & during the school year & that could be enough to help you pay for a good selection of schools even without merit aid.</p>
<p>But before you start looking at colleges, find out what you can afford to look at.</p>
<p>If your EFC is larger than your parent’s pay, then those rental properties must be worth quite a bit, or your parents have assets that are being added to the portion of EFC that is attributable to income. Assets over a certain protected amount are assessed at 5.6% and rental properties are so treated. </p>
<p>At those schools that use PROFILE, what you and your family will be expected to pay is likely going to be even higher than that since PROFILE does not give any exemption for primary home equity. I have a friend who retired early and bought rental property with rents being the family’s primary (virtually only) source of income and the properties themselves considered to what they were depending upon for retirement income. Too bad, is what Harvard said, and their formula tends to be more generous than most.</p>
<p>Does that income of your family include the rental income? A “couple of rental properties” could add a large amount of income. Then you have the value of those rental properties. </p>
<p>Check your FAFSA. Did your parents put the equity they have in those rentals or the full value? I believe the equity is what is supposed to be listed.</p>
<p>The value of properties should be what you can net out of them if you have to sell one very quickly, to say, pay your college costs. Not what they could be worth. Getting a quick sale value and then subtracting out all of the costs that would go into a sale will give you a lower number in terms of what those rentals are truly worth. And if there are any liens or loans against them, that has to be subtracted out too.</p>
<p>But your family take home pay from jobs can be very low and you still have a nice sized income if you have investments of any kind, including rentals. Those rentals are assets and the income generated AND their value are an integral part of your financial picture.</p>
<p>Your parents aren’t going to be expected to pay 86k. As of now, that’s more than any school in the country costs. You will almost certainly pay full sticker price unless you qualify for merit scholarships. You also qualify for 5500 in loans your freshman year.</p>
<p>Do you have schools within commuting distance? Do you have the stats to get merit aid anywhere?</p>
<p>I’m also going to be paying for half of my college expenses, so wouldn’t I qualify for some aid from school?</p>
<p>No. Why would schools care that families with lots of assets have private agreements that their kids will be paying half? If that were true, then Bill Gates’ kids could claim that they’re paying half of their tuition so schools should give them money. </p>
<p>Schools know that your parents have high-value assets. They don’t believe that they should be giving you/your family money just so your family can keep their assets. Why should a college give you their assets, when you already have assets? Schools believe that the family is “first in line” to pay for college, not them. </p>
<p>It will be very unfortunate if you didn’t apply to any financial safety schools (schools that you know that your family can afford.). </p>
<p>BTW…attending an expensive college is a luxury. If that’s what you want to do, why shouldn’t colleges expect you to pay for it? Attending isn’t a right.</p>
<p>How do your parents expect you to pay HALF of your college costs? From your earnings? how much do you earn? You can only borrow $5500 as a frosh.</p>
<p>I see that you’re a Calif resident. Hopefully you’re accepted to some UCs or CSUs that you and your family can afford. </p>
<p>Did you get accepted to any CSUs or UCs? Can you commute to any? </p>
<p>(BTW…your parents’ “take home pay” isn’t relevant. EFC isn’t based on that.)</p>
<p>We were in the same boat (an efc of 63K which was half of our take-home pay) since we had two rental properties that were paid off and therefore alot of equity. We couldn’t sell them because we would be putting grandparents on the street who did not have the means to pay market rent. So I read the book The College Solution and the website by the same name. I followed the advice to have my DS apply to colleges where he would be attractive-out of state pubic and private colleges and where his grades/scores put him in the top 24 to 33% of the applicants. I also made sure these colleges were generous with merit money (check the common data set under section H.2 for non-need gifts). I also had DS apply to any special scholarships he qualified for at those colleges. DS ended up with two full rides (he could stack his awarded scholarships to make up those full-rides) and about 750K in merit money from his colleges ranging from $46K to $80K in merit awards at those schools. So do not give up hope for college-you just have to do your homework. In fact we are now working on child #2 and I don’t even have to do the work-she does and her list for applying in the fall is smart. She has good schools that will give her some money and make her schools affordable to us. She also learned that if she beefed up her test cores just a little bit (10-40 points) she could qualify for better awards so she is also doing that since she has the time. </p>
<p>If you are in California then I suggest you go out of state-80% of California h.s. students stay in state so you are more attractive going oos. My DS did not receive a single penny from Cal schools. However there are some that will give money if you are the right student. Both Chapman and Redlands have been giving out some very good merit money. Go on collegedata.com and see the percentages of merit money offered by colleges. Such info will help you get started in your search. For example two of my students received a full-tuition scholarship at Alabama. Also look at WUE schools for you. At some WUE schools they will allow you to stack your merit money with your WUE discount which will make it much more affordable. I have one student who is only paying $5K to attend Nevada.</p>
<p>Do not dispair-if you do the work you can find a college affordable to you. Also be aware that many students in CAl this year are receiving rejections from the UC’s and CalPolys. It seems that OOS are getting in and my in-state students (with high gpas and test scores) are getting rejected at UC’s that normally accept them. Be sure to have a plan B if the in-state publics are your first goal.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Good suggestions, however, since this student is already a senior, it’s too late to be looking for big merit schools. If she took a gap year and took NO CLASSES during that time, she could reapply to schools that give large merit for her stats. I’m not sure if this student’s stats are worthy of high merit. for instance, the Alabama merit that you referred to requires an ACT 32+ (or 1400 M+CR SAT) and a 3.5 to get that full tuition offer. </p>
<p>But, your message is very good for juniors who are reading this thread. :)</p>
<p>Hopefully, she’ll be accepted to a CSU or UC that she and her family can afford. :)</p>
<p>Sorry for late reply. I have a 4.2 weighted GPA, 3.8 unweighted and a 2060 superscore with 2010 in one sitting >_<
I applied to a bunch of CSUs, and I’ll probably be going to CSULB. I just got accepted to USC though, so that may change a lot of things.
I haven’t recieved any merit scholarships from colleges though.</p>
<p>USC uses CSS Profile so likely you’re going to have a high "family contribution’ from them.</p>