<p>I've read that online financial aid calculators usually aren't accurate when it comes to families with high assets. I don't want to disclose any of my family's personal information, but I will mention that excluding our home, we have another residential property and a land property.</p>
<p>If you have high assets, what type of schools gave you the best FA packages? Specific names would be helpful but I don't mind with just a general grouping like high ranked LACs or HYPSM. What kind of schools gave you the worst (was it OOS public or large privates or...)?</p>
<p>I know there are dozens of factors that contribute to FA packages other than assets, but I am just wondering for my own research. I'm more concerned about the schools that gave the worst packages so I know where to steer clear from. </p>
<p>Boston College has the reputation for counting assets heavily against a student. I actually know a family where the family had zero income and got zero aid from BC. They had a fully paid home and a mortgaged shore home with some equity and I would assume some money in the bank. That student ultimately went to Notre Dame and, according to the parents, ended up paying “about half”.</p>
<p>It depends on how high and what kind of assets you have. If it is in the equity value of your primary home, then try to avoid CSS profile schools.</p>
<p>you may only get aid at hyps…and maybe not even them. everyone is going to count the land and other property plus any rent you get…and your income. </p>
<p>high assets and wanting aid means merit is needed.</p>
<p><<<<
SAT: 2140 (650/700/790) retaking in November</p>
<p>SAT 2: 730 Math 2 and 590 US History (lol) retaking both + literature in October</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 UW/4.4 W</p>
<p>Rank: Val or sal. I have highest UW but 2nd highest W, so counselor is fighting for me as val because it’s a required course that brought down my weighted which the other girl was for some reason exempt from taking.</p>
<p>IB: Took 7 this year and will take 6 next year. I’m an IB diploma candidate.</p>
<p>ECs: These are the 10 that I will mention on the common app.
<<,</p>
<p>i would not wait til nov to retest…you need a higher M+Cr…the W rarely counts for admission or merit.
right now, your M+CR is only a 1350…which is about an ACT 30/31…not competitive for HYPS or best merit at other schools.</p>
<p>also take the ACT since you may do better on that.</p>
<p>We have high assets and a middle-class agi. Net price calculators were very accurate for us. My son received good aid (grants and scholarships) from Whitman, Grinnell and Redlands. He received nothing from in state publics (and he didn’t apply to out of state publics, as we anticipated receiving no aid). </p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC is heavily weighted towards income. Assets are assessed at 5.6% of their value towards the EFC after the asset protection allowance. You would have to,have a million dollars in assets to have an EFC of $56,000 based solely on assets.</p>
<p>Actually a combination of both, which filled the gap between EFC and cost of attendance. Redlands included a merit scholarship plus need based grants. Whitman had a merit scholarship and the Lomen-Douglas Scholarship (need based). Grinnell was all grants. And of course each had 5K loans. I felt they were very generous. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the help! I’m learning a lot of new information.</p>
<p>Income is not high enough where I would receive no aid, but assets change that aid by an average of $6k-$10k. So the less assets are considered, the less my family will have to pay. </p>
<p>What you have to do is play with the NPCs and find out which ones cap your primary home value if that is high. Sometimes if you call the financial aid office of a school, they might tell you what their caps are for that. If you have an annual income of say $75K and a home worth $500K net, a school that caps at income level is going to hit you up less on that asset alone than one that has no cap. Some school cap at 1.2X, some at 2.4 X, some not at all. </p>
<p>Some PROFILE schools will use different formulas for student assets , and some track those assets from day one, so it’s wise for the student to have little or no assets, for that 20% FAFSA hit and maybe more for PROFILE. As MLM notes that deductions and depreciations taken on income property are often added right back to AGI.</p>
<p>The only way those other real estate properties will NOT be included in the FAFSA and Profile formulas is if your family SELLS them. You say the less assets are considered…the better. But really, if you HAVE the assets, they WILL be considered. The OP says the family owns a second residential property AND land. Those will be considered assets on both the FAFSA and Profile forms.</p>
<p>Exception, if the student qualifies for the simplified needs test, the assets won’t count for FAFSA purposes…but they WILL count for schools using the Profile.</p>
<p>Agree 100% with cptofthehouse - you have to pick some schools and go through the NPCs for each.</p>
<p>For example, if my son went to Maryland, there is no guaranteed grant based on his GPA or SAT scores, and as an OOS student, he would pay our full EFC of $30,000 <em>and</em> full loans, no grants.</p>
<p>But at RPI, they have an automatic “you’ve got the scores, we’ve got the grants” program, so he would get about $25,000 worth of grants. He’d still need loans for the rest, but that’s $100,000 different over four years for loans.</p>
<p>Posted this thread a while ago but found this link that may help others in the same situation as me. It’s unbelievable. This man ran the NPC for several different schools with a family of income $17,000 and assets of $800,000. Some schools expected him to pay $0 and others expected him to pay $40,000. It’s astonishing! The methodology that these schools have are so different, and honestly, how can you expect a family below poverty line (in income) to pay $40,000?</p>