<p>I think I might have some "extenuating" circumstances regarding EFC, Finanical aid, etc. My mom got a promotion last year, and will be moving with my family this summer. This is forcing my dad to quit his job, taking us out of his 90k income. I'm not sure how much my mom makes, but I think it is somewhere around 150k. But a large portion of her income is in bonus, and her company has just told her to expect little/no bonus this and next year.</p>
<p>So how do I document this while applying for financial aid? Our current EFC is 80k, but with these circumstances I think it would go down significantly. I filled out the FAFSA, but I don't think I actually applied for financial aid at my colleges (Yale, Princeton, Duke, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins). Is there a way I could send this into them and possibly try to get some financial aid? Or would I have to wait until next year?</p>
<p>Next year's FA is based on this year's earnings, so you'll have to wait. You may really want to work the future numbers to make sure you want to attend high end schools with no merit $$.</p>
<p>You can try to send them a letter, but finaid awards are based on the previous year's salary and assets. AND there is a assumption that your family would have saved some of that high salary (from two job) and bonuses to put towards your college education. AND if your EFC was in the 80K range, your income would have to drop like a stone to be eligible for need based aid. Even if your EFC was 45K, that would still exceed the cost of attendance at most of the schools on your list. Also, if you didn't do the Profile, you probably didn't complete all of the finaid applications required by your colleges....and the deadlines either have passed or are quickly approaching.</p>
<p>You won't get much sympathy from the financial aid folks, with your family income going from 250K (top 1%) to 150K (top 5%). Remember that the average family income is about 46K. It's unlikely that you'll be eligible for need-based aid since your parent's taxes are helping pay for the more needy students, not the other way around, ya know?</p>
<p>Yea...that's what I was thinking. And actually my dad just told me that he is transferring and that my mom is getting a bonus this year, though not as big as last year's. Oh well.</p>