<p>hello, i decided to post this on the parent forum because you guys would probably know more :D</p>
<p>So here is the deal, my parents have been saving, and i have applied to Dartmouth College, my parents combine make about $100000/year.</p>
<p>Now, if i get in to dartmouth (small chance), but if i do, i will go and they said they are willing to support me with 5-10k. We are living in a small house with a $180k mortgage, but recently, we purchased a nicer house with a $360k mortgage.
Now... the fin aid form i submitted to Dmouth had the old mortgage on there, so i was wondering if i should send in a new one? will a bigger mortgage grant me more loans/needbased grants?
thanks :D</p>
<p>Whenevr your financial situation has changed sinificantly you should inform the financial aid office. That is.. if you wish for the financial aid package to change. I your case it looks like your parents have made a significant change in their choice of lifestyle. The college may or may not consider that. One thing is for sure.. if you don't let them know, they will NOT change.</p>
<p>The impact will be on their monthly payments (more) and presumably less to borrow from their home equity. Thus, do inform the aid office (it is getting late - are you in for this coming year or are you a jr.?) I fear that if you are talking about this Fall, you need some serious discussions with Dartmouth very soon to get enough aid. $10k will not go far at all in paying for an Ivy and you will need help cobbling together a package.</p>
<p>Mortgages do not affect financial aid calculations. Income and assets are the only things that count.</p>
<p>Frankly, I'm surprised a parent would take on a much bigger mortgage just as the expense of college is arriving. Unless there is more to the story than you've said, I suspect you and your family are in for a rude surprise regarding financial aid. Your parents may think they can only afford 10k/yr. I bet the college thinks otherwise.</p>
<p>thanks everyone for the reply, i am actually already a first year student and is applying for transfer.
and my parents don't pay a cent for my education. and they said if i get in to dartmouth, they'll consider contributing 5-10k. but the deal is, like i said, they make about 100k combined, so i don't get much.
So far, i have about 10k in loan from first year of education in Canada(the rest was paid through ontario government + scholarships). so.... i don't know what's going to happen
thanks again for the reply
keep them coming :D</p>
<p>It sounds like you are an international student?
but I am a little puzzled, your parents have been saving for college but can only pay $5K to $10 K a year- and that is only if you get into an IVY school?
forgive me if I laugh, but our EFC which is the amount that colleges expect us to pay out before loans etc, is $15,000
Our before tax income is $60,000 .
Most families making $100K will have EFCs of much higher than $5K to $10K. Even if the college meets 100% of EFC your expenses will be higher than your family expects- whether their debt is $100K or $500K</p>
<p>and what's even more puzzling! i don't mean to be racist or anything, i am CHINESE! usually chinese family save for their kids education, so when my friends heard i took out large loans for first year, they thought i was lying!
But the point was, my parents made it on their on, so they think i should be independent and be able to stand on my own two feet, and they also think that loans will motivate me to work harder and so they don't pay :(
the reason they said they are willing to contribute some for Dartmouth is because they want to make it an incentive so that i would try my best in getting in (not as if i wouldn't without that 5k, since Dmouth is my fav.)
Lastly, for the new house, my parents really liked the layout and they didn't really think about my education fees, since they didn't plan on giving any to me, so they went and signed the contracts.</p>
<p>when i said saving, i didn't mean they were saving for my education, they were saving for themselves. They still love me and stuff, they just want me to be independent and i understand and respect them!</p>
<p>The good news is (a) you have choices and (b) with your obvious motivation, you'll do well no matter where you go. </p>
<p>You may have seen other threads discussing how much it does/does not matter where you attend college. Take a look at those discussions and you may feel better about the decisions you face. </p>
<p>Yea, parents are a funny thing. My own parents did not (still don't) value education so much, and did not contribute much to my education, and give nothing to my D's. (better to have nice vacations etc...) Such is life. </p>
<p>Thanks for dispelling a common stereotype regarding asian kids!</p>