<p>I completed my FAFSA a few days ago and my EFC is about $12,000. However, I used other calculators online that are school specific. For UPenn, my estimated cost was only $2,700. For Duke it was around $2,000 as well. For Harvard, it was $3,000ish. My parents make around $78,000 total. However, we have NO assets. We actually owe more on our house than it's worth.</p>
<p>I know that FAFSA doesn't really take assets into account whereas the CSS Profile does. I was wondering if anyone's had any experience or ideas about what they think my expected aid would be (mainly for private schools like the Ivies)? The varying numbers are confusing me since a lot of the individual school calculators are predicting a very low number compared to my EFC.</p>
<p>Remember that neither is “accurate” as FAFSA really is only for federal aid determination and the CSS is part of what some schools use for “institutional method”. They each analyze it differently.</p>
<p>Aid is determined in significant part by how much the school has to offer.</p>
<p>@Crazymomster: On Collegeboard, there’s a link where you can see your estimated federal methodology contribution and your estimated institutional methodology. </p>
<p>I think my CSS and School Calculator estimates are low because my parents have no assets or home equity. We have negative home equity since we owe more on the house than it’s worth, but you can’t enter a negative number (the lowest possible is “0”). CSS Profile takes that into account whereas the FAFSA does not.</p>
<p>All Profile does is gather info. The schools all use the info in their own way, so you cannot determine your Profile EFC. That said, if you don’t have business income, rental income, partnership income, etc and you don’t have any other unusual situations … your Profile EFC might even be lower than your FAFSA EFC, or at least the same. But each school could come up with a different number. This is one of those “wait and see” times.</p>
<p>I am in a different situation, my CSS EFC (which came out as a tentative offer via ED) is way higher than my FAFSA EFC (estimated using CollegeBoard) due to my parents owning a business. Which one would the institution use? I’m guessing probably the higher one, but does anyone else have a thought?</p>
<p>Also, if I want to write an appeal letter, should I write one based on the tentative offer now or wait until the final firm offer comes in April?</p>
<p>CSS schools use their CSS calculations…which is why they use CSS Profile. </p>
<p>It’s because of situtations like yours (parents owning a business) that CSS schools want that info. They know that FAFSA doesn’t accurately capture that source of money/wealth/assets…and CSS schools want that info so that they can award aid appropriately.</p>
<p>As for an appeal letter…what would be the basis? Simply stating that FAFSA EFC is lower won’t help. You need to have a reason for the appeal.</p>
<p>would any of these be a valid reason for appeals?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I suspect that the school added back in some deductions that we took for the medical practice. I can list out all the expenses, would that prove that they were really legitimate deductions? most of the profits go back to the business and not in our pockets.</p></li>
<li><p>My parents spent an extensive amount supporting my grandparents and paying medical expenses for my grandmother, who was in the hospital for a long time.</p></li>
<li><p>Our home equity, which is really our only major assets besides retirement accounts, was recently gained because we used most of our savings to pay down the mortgage, and not through our income.</p></li>
<li><p>Although my income might be above average for the nation, the cost of living is extremely high where I live.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I don’t believe any of the reasons you have noted would be the basis for an institutional aid adjustment. These are things this Profile school uses to calculate their awarding of need based aid. What you would be asking is for them to use a DIFFERENT formula for you. I don’t think they will do that…but you can ask, if you want to.</p>
<p>I agree with Thumper. If you took cash to pay down your mortgage, thats where your cash is. Colleges consider supporting anyone but the direct family a choice. A medical practice has value, it can be sold. So i addition to not allowing deductions the IRS does, many colleges will value your business. Cost of living is not taken into account.</p>
<p>The bottom line is almost no one is comfortable paying their EFC. You are describing a family with high income, a business, equity in their home…things most don’t have.</p>
<p>Colleges expect your parents to have saved money for college, to pay some out of their income and to borrow-maybe against that home equity. They will be wondering why you paid down the mortgage when you knew college was upon you.</p>
<p>Trust me, you will get no sympathy with your above reasons for an appeal. For most it requires major major sacrifice to pay for a private college.</p>
<p>Blubbermonkey…isn’t this a done deal anyway? You said earlier this was the offer that came with ED so I’m assuming you’ve accepted? Chances are the college would tell your parents that the cash they used to pay down their mortgage could have helped to fund your college so the changes of getting a revised finaid offer based on that exception is pretty slim. Look at it this way, some things happen to people by choice: the house you purchase, where you choose to live, the decisions that are made how someone spends their money and other things happen to people not by choice…those “not by choice” types of exceptions are what is needed to support a request for additional financial aid.</p>
<p>Was this a EDII school? If so, do you have to acccept/decline soon? </p>
<p>If your parents aren’t willing to pay the “family contribution,” then you’ll likely have to decline this school. </p>
<p>Your family chose to sink money into their home when they knew college costs were coming. Did they do that thinking that this would “hide” money from colleges?</p>
<p>As for putting “profits back into the business”…that will be seen as a choice. All business owners could “put profits back into the business” rather than pay for kids’ college. I imagine that schools understand that some amount must be reinvested, but they probably have some threshold for that. </p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I think they also add back in a portion of the SS contributions for self-employed people (someone said that in another post). </p>
<p>You say that the mortgage was paid down thru savings and not income. ??? Well, that savings came from income…they didn’t steal the money, did they? anyway…now their mortgage costs are lower…so more money can be put towards college!!!</p>
<p>Payments to relatives is also typically seen as a choice. Families are expected to provide for immediate family members first. Colleges would have a hard time rationalizing give you more money…which would essentially mean that the college would be paying for your grandparents’ care or medical expenses. And, even if the school considered grandma’s hospital bills (uncovered by insurance or medicare), it would only consider a small portion…and that would be a one time consideration for only one year.</p>
<p>I agree that the value of the business, the home equity, and “reinvesting into the business” are what likely what bumped the cost.</p>
<p>If this school is not affordable, then hopefully you have other options.</p>
<p>If you want to know about the specific formulas used by CSS Profile schools, it is perfectly OK to contact the financial aid offices at those schools and ask. The financial aid officers can tell you which factors are taken into consideration.</p>
<p>happymomof1, thanks for the correction. I didn’t even realize I posted the wrong year (Doh!). At least I used the correct one when I calculated mine.</p>
<p>P.S. For reference my calculated EFC using the worksheets was within $8 of the actual online application.</p>