<p>Our oldest child will be applying to college next year. We have a fairly good income (varies, but usually in the $450K AGI area), so I assumed that we wouldn't qualify for any (need-based) FA. That said, our son goes to a private boarding school (we pay full freight - about $42K/year) and his sibling will likely do the same, beginning the same year son starts college, which, if he goes to a private college would mean us paying almost $100K/year in tuition, which is about a quarter of our pre-tax income. This would be quite a stretch for us financially; although we are comfortable we are not wealthy and live in a high-rent area of the country.<br>
Sorry to ramble - just wanted to give background....
Now, my question: is there any point in filing a FAFSA form? Any chance of getting any assistance? I'm not looking for a free ride, just a little help (if he goes to a public school in-state, we would have no problem paying full.) And, unfortunately, almost none of the schools that he is interested in give merit aid.
Also, does filing a FAFSA hurt your chances for admission at highly competitive schools (need-blind or otherwise...)
Thanks for any guidance with this...I really am not sure what to do!</p>
<p>We are in a similar boat. You can run the FAFSA yourself before you submit it to see what your EFC is - then decide if it’s worth it.</p>
<p>ANY student can, at the very least take out an unsubsidized stafford loan for a max of 5500 freshman regardless of need. Some schools require you to submit a fafsa to be considered for ANY merit aid, even the kind that isn’t tied to need.</p>
<p>And you will be able to take out a PLUS loan for parents if you submit a fafsa. The only other thing fafsa qualifies you for is federal grants for low income students and there is no way with an AGI like yours you will get anything like that (think AGI of 1/10 of yours to get down to that type of range)</p>
<p>If you want institutional aid, money that is the colleges, you will have to fill out forms and then you can tell them all about the private school tuition. It’s up to them to decide how to spend their money.</p>
<p>you do realize you make in the tops 1-2% income range of all households.</p>
<p>You do realize that your boarding school costs are not much less than many people’s annual income…</p>
<p>Every student, regardless of income, can apply for and take advantage of the unsubsidized Stafford loan. The amount varies per year (I think its 5,500 for frosh and soph, then 6,500 and 7,500 for jr and sr years). It requires you to file the FAFSA only, and I think you can file it anytime up until September.</p>
<p>The downside to that loan is that you have to reveal a lot of personal information and you don’t know who has access to the data. We make a quarter of your income but have substantial liquid assets which means no need-based aid. I don’t consider loans to be aid but some people do.</p>
<p>You may consider filing the FAFSA, which will come back with an EFC of 99,999 (the high default number) with that income. The reason to file is that for some schools you have to file it Freshman year if you want to file in the future. Should your income change drastically, you may want to have a FAFSA on file.<br>
As far as I know the FAFSA considers private HS tuition as a choice and it does not help reduce your AGI as far as the FAFSA is concerned.</p>
<p>Unless you want a Stafford loan, I wouldn’t bother if I were you. People who make a quarter of your income are paying far more than 25 percent of what they make, depending on their savings. The FAFSA is pretty unforgiving. Private school high school tuition probably won’t count. The FAFSA is a monstrous pain in the neck. You will curse and swear and shake your fist, and all of it will be for nothing.</p>
<p>Are you saying that your annual income is $450,000 and you consider yourself middle-class? I thought middle class was about 50,000/year. What would you consider wealthy?</p>
<p>Okay. Very few colleges in this country cost more than $42,000. You are already paying $42,000 a year for your child to go to HIGH SCHOOL. The most expensive college in this country is $53,000 a year. Can’t you just continue paying $42,000 per year? What school costs considerably more than $42,000 that you are trying to afford? $100,000 a year is still less than 25% of your income (which most people are expected to put forth via FAFSA), and that’s for two college tuitions (essentially that boarding school tuition is a college tuition). You’re STILL getting off a lot better than many people in this country, whose income is considerably less but who are still expected to front between 25% and 33% of their gross income.</p>
<p>Let me set you straight. You ARE wealthy. You should be VERY comfortable – absent some sort of catastrophic situation not mentioned in your posting. If, on 450K AGI, you cannot afford to send your child to college, then I suggest you sit down with your financial planner and determine how best to use your income to pay tuition. Many here would advise filling out the FAFSA as a preventive strike in the event your circumstances change and you need to apply for financial aid under those new circumstances. But really, between savings, income, and possible loans, my guess is that you will not qualify for need-based aid.</p>
<p>The upside to this is that if you are not applying for financial aid, then your child will probably be accepted to more schools, particularly those who are looking for full-tuition paying students.</p>
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<p>Actually, your boarding school costs are almost twice my entire family’s income. Hmm…</p>
<p>No, I wouldn’t bother. Most EFC’s are more than a quarter of pre tax income and you won’t even be close to qualifying for aid at your income with more than 2 in college.</p>
<p>Unless you want the unsubsidized Stafford, it makes no sense. And we haven’t even gotten into your investments, home equity and all the other things the college your kids will be interested in count.</p>
<p>No offense, but I’m going to be blunt and come off as rude. Not only will you not receive any financial aid, but you do not deserve financial aid. There are people in this country who genuinely need aid in order to be able to afford school at all, and you are not one of them. Save the aid for people that actually NEED it. Doing quick math, your family makes more in a year than mine would in about 23 years. </p>
<p>Your choice to send your children to private boarding schools is just that, a choice. Therefore since FAFSA is so income based, you will not receive any aid. Correct me, somebody, if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe that they take non-college tuition into account.</p>
<p>So no, I would not recommend you do FAFSA. It will do nothing for you but be a waste of time.</p>
<p>My parents are in a similar (well kind of) situation. Our AGI is around $230K and it’s going to be a stretch finanically to send me to the college of my choice. </p>
<p>Anyways I honestly wouldn’t file the FAFSA. Like I said our AGI was around $230K and our EFC went to the max, $99,999. The only thing that it could do for you is that $5500 loan, if you want your child to take it out. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I do have to second Romin’s thoughts, without meaning to be rude also. Don’t you think in some sense that considering your great wealth, you SHOULD pay the full price? College actually is a product that someone has value. I believe that colleges don’t make a profit on even full price students. There are very, very few people who can afford to pay $100,000 a year and have $300,000 left over. A year. For many people, that would be more than their entire life savings. Morally, I don’t think you have much of a case for taking financial aid under these circumstances.</p>
<p><<although we=“” are=“” comfortable=“” not=“” wealthy=“”>></although></p>
<p>You are VERY wealthy. If I added up my income for the past 15 years, it would be less than that.</p>
<p>Does it help to say you don’t need FA to get accepted at some schools? probably. But not at the Harvard, Ivy level. And those schools don’t give merit aid. They are probably the most generous when it comes to how much they will make you pay and they might consider that 42K you are paying for boarding school. </p>
<p>Have your kid apply to schools where they give MERIT aid that is not linked to financial need if you want ‘help’ paying for school.</p>
<p>I assume that they pay somewhere north of 40% of that income in taxes.</p>
<p>There are people that come from modest backgrounds to do very well that have the mentality that everything can be negotiated and that one can get a discount for many things and this is true in a lot of cases.</p>
<p>When you go to the supermarket for an item that costs $2.00, would you be more inclined to buy it if it was five or ten percent off or if there was a coupon for half off?</p>
<p>The problem is that there is a limited pool of financial aid available. Stores may have good financial reasons for coupons (once you get in there, you’re more likely to buy other stuff, you try new products, etc.) that are good for their bottom line. If you take financial aid when you really don’t need it, you are depriving someone else who does need it from having it. Just as a note, I believe , the top rate for federal income taxes is 35%.</p>
<p>Should you decide to do a FAFSA & the schools also require the CSS Profile (from the College Board) you may put down the amount of money you pay for private elementary, middle school or secondary school. You may include the applicant’s siblings, not his private school tuition. Usually the private school tuition is capped by the schools at $7900.00 per child, though. Refer to “Paying for College Without Going Broke” by Kalman Chany, Princeton Review, the 2009 edition. You could buy book & do the worksheets in the back with your 2008 Tax Return. There is a lot of good advice in there for families of all income levels. At least you could calculate your EFC’s for the Federal Formula & the Instititutional Formulas & see if indeed, your EFC would be so high it isn’t worth filing.</p>
<p>You can also plug in the numbers in the FAFSA forecaster for free, too. It’s on the web.</p>