FAFSA and CSS

After doing some research, I foundI that with a income if 150k and 400,000 cash in bank account as asset, My daughter basically can’t get any financial aid from FAFSA for UC Colleges. We have to pay full in state tuition fee. But we still can get some aid from CSS for private college depends on EFP, right? So basically FAFSA is not workable for an income over 100k.

FAFSA is an application to calculate federal financial aid. Some schools also use it to calculate state aid (California is one), but yes, most schools do not give need based aid to families in the $150k+ range. You are also right that those that do give need based aid to those making $150k+ usually use the CSS. That doesn’t mean you are going to get aid at the CSS schools. Some will (Stanford, Ivies), but others won’t.

Run the NPC for the schools you are interested in.

Thanks for your reply.

@Awakefish you need to crunch the numbers at various colleges. You are right…with your income, and assets, you will not receive NEED based aid from any of the CA public universities.

BUT you also might not get enough need based aid at a private university to fill the amount between the cost of attendance and your family contribution as the school computes that to be.

At your income level of $150,000, the EFC would be in the $35,000 to $50,000 a year range. Your $400,000 in assets would add $20,000 or so to that EFC…which would be about $55,000 to $70,000 total. Colleges do NOT give need based aid to fund the family contribution. The family is expected to do so.

Yes…there are some very generous private universities out there with very deep pockets that DO give need based aid at your income level. Most use the CSS Profile, and most also have very low admissions %ages. The first hurdle would be for your kiddo to get accepted.

In addition, keep in mind that many private schools also use some amount of your home equity in the financial aid calculation. This ranges from a %age of your income to full equity depending on the college. This hits some folks particularly hard…and CA residents can really get hit…having purchased their homes decades ago and huge apprctiation over the years.

Anyway…what I’m trying to say…the full pay at those CA public universities might end up being less expensive than many private colleges.

In addition, if your kiddo is a tippy top student who would be a competitive applicant at a school like Stanford, your kiddo would also be a good candidate for merit aid…and some CA publics do give merit aid to TOP applicants.

You should have some merit aid schools on your list anyway…because those merit aid awards don’t consider your income and assets.

You are VERY lucky to live in CA where there are a LOT of wonderful public universities.

Lots of out of staters WISH they could attend many of your state public universities at the instate cost.

Ok…the real big question is…he much CAN you contribute each year for your kid’s college costs? Give us that number, plus her SAT or ACT score, and her GPA. Folks here will offer up some suggestions within your price point.

My daughter applied to a bouch of private schools, Cornell, rice, Carnegie Mellon, brown, Johns Hopkins,USC.
She also applied to UCB, UCLA as well as some match and safety UC schools.

Her scores are Ok but not great.
SAT1 1510
SAT 2 math 800, Chem 750, US history 750, Korean 750.
UW 3.85
Weighted 4.39

Some small award and some club leadership.
A lot of community service.
Play cello for 7 years.
Good essay.

I have never dreamed to get merit based aid from those reach schools. If she is lucky to get in, I will pay full tuitions without any complain. If she is even luckier to get into USB, I will be more than happy to pay the instate tuition

@Awakefish

Her scores are not just OK…they are terrific. Those vey competitive schools are not a slam dunk for anyone.

At this point…just wait and see.

But lucky you to have those CA publics at instate cost!

Do let us all know where she matriculates!

Thank you so much. Yes I’m very grateful for being a CA resident and have the choice to pay for instate cost.
Will keep my finger crossed for the best result:)

If you were to get any aid from those privates, the net costs would likely still be similar to full pay at a uc.

Btw…fafsa is a fed app form. Do you really think taxpayers should be giving you money for college with your income and assets especially when you’ve admitted that you’d happily pay for ucb?

When there is only one child in college, EFC is usually too high for any free fed money when income is over about 65k

I would be very happy to pay full instate tuition for UCB or UCLA ( if admitted). The only struggle is I might have to pay almost the sticker price for private school. My EFC is 60,000 to 65,000. I didn’t even bother to submit CSS after figuring out the number. I submitted FAFSA earlier without even knowing what it’s about. Only found out it was wasting my time.
I NEVER thought with my 17k’s income I can get taxpayer to pay for my daughter’s tuition. As a matter of fact,I’m a tax payer and pays more tax than at least 60%’s residents. I don’t know why someone should question me for doing FAFSA. What is wrong with that?

Not questioning doing fafsa… however, the wording of your OP sounds like after doing research you found out that you wouldn’t get any aid from FAFSA.

Yes, after research I found i was not qualified for Federal financial aid. I didn’t know the bar was very low.