<p>I see this everywhere, yet have no idea how to respond to it. For example, "Write in the amount that you, the students parents or custodial parent, think you will be able to pay for the students 201011 college expenses." (Taken from Cornell FA application.)</p>
<p>Obviously if we're applying for FA, money is tight. Most of us want to spend as little as possible. I want to hear how you guys responded to this. Personally, I'm tinkering with the thought of putting $0.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will matter much what you put. They will make the calculations based on their own formula anyway. When I fill it out for my son’s school I usually just use the FAFSA EFC. But I wouldn’t put “0” unless that’s actually true. It would just look bad, in my opinion… kind of like, “I don’t think I should have to pay anything, so you pick up the tab, Cornell.”</p>
<p>When I got to the question about how much can your parents / guardian will be able to pay, I was thinking the same thing, but I also thought, well, if its absolutely true that they cant, then they cant, but I did come up with a very small figure. I figured it was better than saying “0”</p>
<p>With this economy, I don’t know if putting $0 will be very attractive.</p>
<p>I say put up a modest number (relative to your parent’s income), so it looks like you’re willing to sacrifice a little to attend.</p>
<p>I go to a private school and pay full there, so I just put the same price as my current tuition. :/</p>
<p>I’m curious to see what others put down.</p>
<p>I put down(I did our finaid stuff), I think $500…it sounds better than the truth…0</p>
<p>I think the problem is this…</p>
<p>If you put down a number that is much lower than your EFC, then why would the FA office spend too much time on your FA package? They’re going to think…</p>
<p>“Hmmmm… this person’s EFC is $13,000, but he’s putting down $1,000. He can’t afford his EFC, so let’s not bother awarding precious grants to him - especially when we’ll still have to gap him or put big loans in his package. Let’s move onto the next applicant.”</p>
<p>I put down 0 last year and my EFC was much higher than that (around 10,000, I think).</p>
<p>I still recieved a very large grant from Smith college and average financial aid packages from Hofstra, Loyola and OSU. Then again my father had been laid off from his job two months before I filled out the FAFSA and CSS. That probably had some effect.</p>
<p>Personally, I would just list whatever you can pay even if it’s 0</p>
<p>I think 'rentof2 is right; unless you put $0, or a similarly ridiculous number, I don’t think it matters. The college will offer what it’s going to offer. They’re aware that in most cases, it will involve borrowing, and it’s up to each family to decide if they want to do that. If they don’t want to, they’ll turn down the college and move on.</p>
<p>On this question, we used a number that we could realistically come up with out of current income, about half of our EFC. D’s college came up with a package which left us with an EFC which was slightly lower than the federal method. We accepted, and took a loan to meet part of the EFC. Over her 4 years at school, we’ll be borrowing approximately the cost of a mid-price car, and for us, that’s a reasonable investment to make in her education. We never expected that she would get a debt-free education at an LAC; our goal was to borrow no more than we could comfortably repay, and that’s how it worked out.</p>
<p>So it turns out that we haven’t hit as rough a spot as I thought we did financially (though it kind of teetered on the edge for a little while)… my mom told me recently that she and my dad would be able to contribute up to $15,000 USD annually. Of course, I have no idea how much my actual family income is (my parents are pretty secretive about it), so I’m afraid she’s only telling me this so I won’t worry. :/</p>
<p>I put down 0, because that is what my parents told me they would contribute. My EFC was 10 so it’s not like there was a huge difference lol.</p>
<p>Put down what your parents can afford to contribute.</p>
<p>Yeah, just put down something honest. It’s an odd question. Everyone wonders why they ask it. I did an online FA calculator before my son applied to his current college. The online calculator asked about income and assets and family information (sibs, age of parents), etc. It did not ask “how much can you afford to pay?” The aid award it predicted from the college was virtually identical to the aid award he ultimately got after we did fill out all the forms and answered all the questions. It just makes me think it doesn’t matter that much what you put in the box. It’s asked on the CSS Profile in the “SR” section, but just because it’s asked doesn’t mean any given school uses that information for anything at all. The colleges’ own specific questions are in the last section of the Profile (the “SQ” section), all the questions before that are generic and are asked of everyone. It doesn’t mean all schools use all that info in their calculations.</p>
<p>If the OP’s was on a FA application form specifically issued by Cornell, that might be a bit different. I really don’t know. It’s best just to be honest… I mean, you can be honest but conservative in what you think is possible. No need to put down the amount you can contribute if you sell the car and live on dog kibble.</p>
<p>^ Lol sorry rent, but I have to point this out. I definitely thought you said “live on dog” and it made me very sad (my own puppy is laying on my feet right now). But then I read “live on dog kibble” and pictured a family eating out of a puppy bowl while the dogs sat at the dinner table. </p>
<p>Cold medicine ftw :).</p>
<p>It was very funny in my sick and medicated head, and I felt like sharing :).</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I live in an area where people occasionally get stuck in their cars in the snow in remote areas. I have often heard the advice to keep a bag of premium quality dog kibble in the trunk of your car. You won’t be tempted to raid it for the spontaneous snack, but if you need to you can live on that stuff for a long time.</p>
<p>Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I’ve made it a point to always try to travel with my dog so that in case I ever got stuck, I could use her to keep me warm. My dad got stuck in the snow one time in northern Michigan (with our 120 lb dog RIP) and she slept on him at night (while waiting for someone to notice his car). Probably saved his life. </p>
<p>Now back to the OP!</p>
<p>We all put 0 when we do the FAFSAs for my son, daughter, and myself. That’s how much I can afford.</p>
<p>The FAFSA does not ask that question.</p>
<p>'rentof2: Am I think of the CSS? They’re all sort of running together at this point. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>anyone who puts 0 is obviously lying. Are you saying if you only had to pay $1000 to attend USC, Cornell, UC Berkeley, or other prestigious university you would decline the offer b/c u couldn’t afford to pay anything at all? i think they should automatically reject everyone who puts 0 b/c that demonstrates how much they value their education. at least put $500 or something</p>
<p>*anyone who puts 0 is obviously lying. Are you saying if you only had to pay $1000 to attend USC, Cornell, UC Berkeley, or other prestigious university you would decline the offer b/c u couldn’t afford to pay anything at all? *</p>
<p>There’s a lot of truth to that. Virtually everybody contributes something towards their education, whether it’s paying for the gas to get to school, buying school supplies, or purchasing some books.</p>
<p>And, you’re right…unless someone’s EFC was around 0, if a person was accepted to an elite school and their FA package paid for EVERYTHING but $1,000, people would not decline. They’d come up with that $1,000.</p>