<p>This may be a question which has been asked elsewhere, but is there an income level above which financial aid is unlikely if I'm considering a school that offers need-based aid only?</p>
<p>My particulars:
I'm an only child.
I'm considering an "Ivy-league" priced institution where tuition, room and board averages around $45,000-50,000 per year.
Many of the schools I'm looking at (and prob. my first-choice school) offer need-based aid only.</p>
<p>Is there an income level above which my family can expect to receive no financial aid based on need?</p>
<p>Depends also on the number of children in college at the same time, assets, and a few other things. But with only one in college, if the parent's AGI is 170K (and no reportable assets)- the EFC will be around 45K, which makes need-based aid unlikely.</p>
<p>But if you have home equity, the situation changes significantly, for the worse. If there are two children in college, the EFC for each will be roughly half of what it would have been for one (keeping the total family contribution about the same).</p>