Just attended a college workshop. One of the admissions professionals from a highly selective and expensive college said there is no limit and everyone should apply. This seems like baloney. There must be a ballpark number above which it is a waste of time — eg agi of over $250k, net worth over $1m, college savings over $100k… Anyone know?
It depends on the college. What colleges are you considering @middling
It’s baloney. There’s a formula for the FAFSA EFC.
When my eldest kid applied (6 years ago) I went through the FAFSA worksheets with a fine tooth comb to figure our the “formula” for our income bracket and it ended up being - take 40k from your AGI and multiply the remaining amount by .45. That’s what we could “afford” to pay for school.
At the time that translated into “anyone with an AGI over 225K a year gets no need-based aid” even at the most expensive schools in the country, regardless of their assets or liabilities. I am sure it’s a little different now, if you want to do the legwork here’s the document:
https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/1920EFCFormulaGuide.pdf
If FAFSA says you’re full pay, I don’t know of any college that will give you need-based aid. Some schools will require that you fill out the FA forms to qualify for merit based aid, though. Many schools will not - both kids recieved merit aid awards without our ever touching FA paperwork. Most schools have EFC calculators which will help you see how wealthy you look.
I think the article is about low income students…
If you are deemed full pay at just about any college, it’s unlikely you are low income.
A highly selective and expensive college like OP refers to in the thread’s first post almost certainly does not rely on FAFSA to determine how much institutional need-based aid to provide.
It’s true. Yes, it’s possible under a number of circumstances that students can get aid, regardless of income. First of all, most any student and credit worthy parents can get loans. You have to fill out FAFSA to get these loans.
Then some schools that do not give merit money, kinda do. They do with research grants, special outside group awards , etc. They sometimes use FAFSA as a screening tool as it does pretty much verify for the colleges that a student is an American citizen or permanent resident, verifiesSSN, verified identity, and whether convicted of certain drug felonies.
The other thing with FAFSA is that there are some odd ,rare exceptions. Thervare some professional judgement issues. And those with a lot of dependents can be eligible for aid at at a surprisingly large inice, especially with multiples in college. And at some schools, definition of need is stretched for merit within need cases.
Yes, Federal loans are considered financial aid and there is no income limit, and your EFC is divided by the number of kids in college. My boss currently has triplets and a singleton attending at the same time. He said when the trips started the aid poured in even though they weren’t qualified for anything with the oldest.
@middling
FA determination is not only based on income and assets. It is also based on circumstances, and you are failing to take that into consideration. When the FA professional at the workshop says there is no dollar limit, she is correct. A family can have an income of $500k—but has 7 children, three in college simultaneously, and loss of their home in Hurricane Sandy. Sound far-fetched? Not really. So many families, so many unique circumstances.
My friend did not think she’d qualify for aid, but with 3 in college, she did.
But all extraordinary circumstances aside, there is some validity to OP’s question.
If OP has only one child attending college, she should not expect very much aid forthcoming from all but the best-endowed schools. Just run the NPC to get a pretty accurate number.
@cjpski how do you know this. I didn’t see the OPs income and assets listed at all. Perhaps they have income that would make them eligible for need based aid at a lot of colleges.
To @middling
The above thread of yours indicates a 35 ACT and 4.1 GPA which is terrific. That you are looking for merit aid leads me to believe that you don’t qualify for need aid. So…you do need to consider what you CAN pay per year in the equation.
I would suggest that your son apply to University of Alabama as soon as the application goes live…which should be soon. He should be eligible for a great merit award there.
Not necessarily just the best endowed colleges that can cough up aid. Some schools and programs give merit within aid. You qualify for $1 in aid, and it makes you eligible for some scholarships. I sat on a committee of a program that operated that way.
This appears to be one of the quicker college cost estimators available: https://myintuition.org/.
@thumper1
Used the presumptive income and assets OP mentioned - 250K, net worth >1MM, 529s ~100K
@cjpski those were speculative numbers the OP wondered about in terms of IF financial aid could be offered. @middling never mentioned his own income or assets…at all.
He is, however, looking for schools where merit aid is a possibility for his student.
If @middling has $250,000 annual income and a net worth of $1,000,000, its highly unlikely his one student will receive need based aid…unless he has multiple siblings in college at the same time.
Of course there is a number where financial aid is not going to be forthcoming so filling out the FA forms is a waste of time. The Trumps, Tom Cruise, Mitt Romney aren’t filling out FAFSA and CSS forms. The question is where is that line, and it just isn’t possible to give an exact number in the $150k-350k range. It varies by school, but assets, by the number of kids in college, by personal losses.
If you don’t fill out the forms you won’t get anything. All you can do is use the NPC and fill out the forms if you think it is worth the time.
@thumper1
Yes, got that. OP gave those levels.
You sre getting off point. @middling started thread asking about financial aid related to income and assets, not about merit-based aid.
Maybe that particular school that the admissions person was from doesn’t have a limit? It could be that they give token amounts of aid to even the highest incomes.
I’ve never understood the angst over filling out FAFSA anyhow. It’s not like it takes a lot of time and there are schools that require it for merit based aid as well.