FAFSA EFC of $47K

Paying for College
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<p>Our son has been accepted to NU, which is his dream school. Always has been; heck, he was even born in Evanston! Wants to study economics. He received zero financial aid (just an unsubsidized Stafford loan). </p>

<p>This I guess is not a surprise, as our FAFSA EFC is $47K. I am wondering how people come up with $218K (four years' NU costs as quoted by NU). </p>

<p>We have about $180K in assets, not including retirement accounts, which I suppose could be considered college savings if we decided to spend **every **dime we have on college on not worry about ever being laid off or having a family emergency. (Divide that by eight years' tuition--two kids x 4 years-- and you get $22,500/year, not 50K+!). Does NU seriously believe we should just fork **all **of that over to them, and borrow an equal amount? Home equity is coincidentally also about $180K. Do they want all of that?</p>

<p>Our income is $150K/year, although it has only been that high for the past 5 or so years. We have one other child, a high school freshman. All of our monthly income goes to mortgage; utilities and food; very high taxes; and very reasonable living expenses (no HBO, no designer clothes, no fancy cars, no nice vacations, no boat, no golf/skiing/health clubs...we are coupon clippers all the way). Yes, we splurge on the kids' school band trips and Scout camp. And we did put a nice addition on the house several years ago. But we have no outstanding loans or credit card debt. Our kids have never been into the GAP, let alone Abercrombie. Spring break is a drive to Grandma's. Dinner out is splitting burritos at Chipotle. My wife is so low-maintenance I won't even risk embarrassing her by telling you how much she does NOT spend on herself.</p>

<p>So...</p>

<p>...am I missing something here, or does NU (or fill in the name of another top school to which son was accepted, but isn't offering any merit-based aid) think we are rich? With a near-perfect ACT score, amazing GPA, and wonderful leadership/extracurriculars, my son is no doubt attractive to them, but at this point, the $22,500 a year I saved up for him (and thought I was pretty good to be able to do) won't even get him into the state university.</p>

<p>Maybe this essay should be entitled "Squeezed in the middle," by an angry taxpayer, but I am watching families with "high need" get their kids into NU with all kinds of aid.</p>

<p>What did I do wrong? Have I overlooked something? Should I go to NU and ask what is going on?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>dp</p>

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<p>Did she fill out a CSS Profile?</p>

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<p>Yes. We gave NU all the info they require.</p>

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<p>The bottom line is that attending pricey privates is a luxury. The payment of such is expected to come from the family. </p>

<p>If you can’t afford your child’s “dream,” then your son will have to go to an affordable choice. That may sound harsh, but isn’t that life? No one “needs” a pricey college education. No one. It’s a luxury.</p>

<p>Where else did your child apply? Did he apply to ANY financial safety schools? </p>

<p>Did he get any merit scholarships from any of his schools?</p>

<p>Is he a NMF?</p>

<p>Keep reminding yourself and your child…The DREAM is the career…not the school.</p>

<p>What is your son’s intended major/career?</p>

<p>With a near-perfect ACT score</p>

<p>the upper 25% ACT at NU is an ACT 35-36…so while a near-perfect ACT is awesome, it’s not spectacular at NU. It’s very good, but not unusual.</p>

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<p>“a near-perfect ACT score, amazing GPA, and wonderful leadership/extracurriculars” can help your son get good merit aid somewhere else. If there are no affordable options on the table, perhaps he can take a Gap Year and apply to a modified list next fall.</p>

<p>Here is a calculator that will help you compare all of his financial aid offers, as well as some non-financial factors: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Advanced Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>

<p>A kid who has grown up in a family that doesn’t spend money frivolously, almost certainly has enough good sense to understand when a college or university is not affordable for his or her family. It is OK to go through a couple boxes of Puffs Plus (more expensive than the store brand I know, but much softer on the nose so they are worth the money) while you mourn the loss of four years at NU, but when those boxes are empty get on with finding a better future for your child.</p>

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<p>180k in non-retirement assets is better then the majority of parents with college bound kids… Perhaps you could squeeze 10k out of your yearly expenses,have ypur child take out a Stafford loan,and foot the rest from your savings…or find a more affordable option…</p>

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<p>So sorry this is hitting your son and your family at such an emotional time – the whole transition from high school to college is fraught with so much emotion on so many levels. Not an easy time!</p>

<p>Just want to add some perspective to the quote above, though. This isn’t about being a taxpayer. The federal aid available to the poorest students barely covers the cost of attending an in-state public and commuting from home (and that’s with big loans, to boot.) If that low-income student was attending NU, he/she would get the very same amount from the government. It doesn’t go up if a student attends a more expensive school.</p>

<p>Your beef is with how NU is allocating its own institutional funds. Take it to NU if you want, but tagging this particular issue with the angry taxpayer label isn’t really apt.</p>

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<p>If it makes you feel any better, we are in the <em>exact</em> same situation with our daughter. Like your son, she is an ultra-high achiever who has been admitted to her dream school. Like you, our AGI is about $150K and we have similar “assets” in the form of home equity. And like you, we are being told we can fork over $50K+ per year or hit the road. </p>

<p>It hurts like hell to realize her dream isn’t going to happen. I feel terrible. </p>

<p>Eventually I believe these schools are going to realize that they have to do something differently, because everyone attending will be from <$50K and >$250K families with nothing in between.</p>

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<p>'rent is right…taxpayer money is not being used to fund low-income students to NU or other pricey privates. Schools like NU are using endowment money (money from donors which has been invested).</p>

<p>Taxpayer provided grants are rather low - except for some states where tax-provided grants supplement federal grants so the total tax-provided grants can be higher (such as in Calif, NJ, etc). Still, the amounts do not come close to paying for pricey privates.</p>

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<p>We are about the same situation. We have zero equity. In fact, our house value is less than the equity and the loan right now with this housing market. Plus Loan for Parents have so high of the interest rate where private bank loan may be more attractive. We are worst since my D is only 16 and we can’t get private loan. So, we have to let the government rip us off. Husband can’t get his money from his company because it is part of the company’s agreement. We are being punished for doing well but not well enough to pay for the kids’ education. I think the college figured that we can pay until we have nothing in saving and they will be happy. </p>

<p>I feel for you. I am sorry and feel sorry for the people in the same boats at we are.</p>

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<p>Your family contribution of $47K is largely based on this income.</p>

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<p>Hi Mom2:</p>

<p>Where else did your child apply? Did he apply to ANY financial safety schools?
WUStl, GW, W&M, Miami/Ohio and Illinois (the last two being “financial safeties.”)</p>

<p>Did he get any merit scholarships from any of his schools?</p>

<p>$5k/year from WUStl, $12k/year from GWU, and $15k/year from GW.</p>

<p>Is he a NMF?</p>

<p>Not sure what that is. Not my fault? Yes, he is my fault. ;-)</p>

<p>What is your son’s intended major/career?
Economics. NU ranks #8 in the country. Possibly law school.</p>

<p>While a near-perfect ACT is awesome, it’s not spectacular at NU. It’s very good, but not unusual. </p>

<p>That’s what my son considers to be “the point of NU” – He wants to be among students that are as good as him, not a school where they will pay him money to be in the their top 10%. But I agree, that is indeed a dream, not necessarily something to be realized.</p>

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<p>Appreciative laughter from the peanut gallery. :slight_smile: Where is that “like” button when you want one?</p>

<p>It’s for National Merit Finalist.</p>

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<p>qdogpa:</p>

<p>180k in non-retirement assets is better then the majority of parents with college bound kids… Perhaps you could squeeze 10k out of your yearly expenses,have ypur child take out a Stafford loan,and foot the rest from your savings…or find a more affordable option… </p>

<p>The $180K is where the savings are (i.e., the $22K/year we can offer each kid for four years’ of school). If we squeeze 10k from monthly and the son borrows the Stafford 5.5K, that leaves a $17K gap to get to NU’s $54,666. </p>

<p>Borrow $68k for the four years? Maybe. Depends on Son #2’s aspirations, as well.</p>

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<p>Eventually I believe these schools are going to realize that they have to do something differently, because everyone attending will be from <$50K and >$250K families with nothing in between.</p>

<p>Perhaps! But with the top schools maniacally driving down their acceptance rates by driving up their application rate (the spending on direct mail and HS campus visits is amazing!), I don’t see them seeing a need any time soon.</p>

<p>Thanks for commiserating.</p>

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<p>*Your beef is with how NU is allocating its own institutional funds. Take it to NU if you want, but tagging this particular issue with the angry taxpayer label isn’t really apt. *</p>

<p>Point well taken. I’ll substitute “angry middle aged man!” Now that I reflect on it, though, I have nothing really to be angry about. Middle aged men have the fault of reacting with anger to anything that surprises them, and then sheepishly realizing they should have seen it coming.</p>

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<p>Many of us were caught by surprise as first-time fafsa/CSS filers. With your son’s stats, though, that would’ve really floored me! Once we’ve had time to adjust to the shock, we do realize how fortunate we’ve been to live the lives we have. We may have to pay more because of it, but would you really have wanted to be in the EFC=0 boat for the last 18 years of his life? I just wish we’d learned more about this process earlier than the past year. I hope your son makes the best of his future wherever that is.</p>

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<p>We started saving when children were 2 yrs old…that said,we barely had 1 1/2 years of a private school education set aside,@53k per year…with some belt tightening,we ‘think’ we can provide the full cost for all our children…advice for parents with newborns? Set aside some money each month for college,start with 50 bucks pwr month, increase as often as possible…</p>

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<p>co8000, I understand where you are coming from - I feel the same way. This affects a fairly narrow range of people and you have to wonder if the diversity factor at schools is really missing a whole group of people. </p>

<p>I ask with all due respect why a top school is a “luxury item” for people in that upper-but-not-rich-enough range but the same school is not considered overstepping for people whose income is much lower. I think its natural for everyone of all incomes to want their kids to reach their educational goals. Perhaps I’m reading too much into the word “luxury” - and I don’t mean on this thread, in particular, but seeing it used all over this forum. There’s a certain quality to that term that make me think it’s commonly accepted that people in that upper middle class range are considered elitist for even thinking of those top schools. Sort of like it’s something to be ashamed of…</p>

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<p>It’s reasonable to consider a 50K+ p.a. school a luxury item. Some people receive a reduced price on that item because the schools want to create a certain kind of student body or protect themselves from accusations of perpetuating an unjust class system. In reality, though, higher education is big business selling a product. </p>

<p>Upper middle class kids offer no “diversity” for a superselective college to feel good about itself and are not rich enough to give development gifts. So they are not the desired customer base at very prestigious schools. A little lower down the college hierarchy, though, they are still desired customers because they pay the bills. </p>

<p>Higher education is a market with different niches. You cut your coat to fit your cloth.</p>