<p>Can any current Rice student (or someone who knows a Rice student) give me an idea of how well Rice covers financial need? I know their website says they will help fill in the gaps with grants, work studies, federal aid, but I don't know if that necessarily means they'll help cover all of it. My family income is about $38000 and I live in the state of MD in the DC area, if that helps. Special circumstances includes a disabled brother who requires special needs services and procures large hospital bills, both of which of my mom pays largely out of pocket for.</p>
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<p>[Financial</a> Aid at Rice University](<a href=“http://financialaid.rice.edu/main.aspx?id=38]Financial”>http://financialaid.rice.edu/main.aspx?id=38)</p>
<p>I can add my experience as a parent of a Rice sophomore. I hope you are in the process of putting together the FAFSA and CSS profile. Our Rice FA experience has been extremely positive. Rice combined federal aid, Rice grants and a little scholarship money to make up the need as determined by the university. Both years hasn’t been quite the EFC that FAFSA says, but our household has higher assets than most in our income range. While loans aren’t part of the financial aid package offered, you can still request loans if you qualify. Because of our income, my son qualified and requested the Perkins student loans. I feel that Rice’s aid is fair for us because we do have some property investments from better economic times.</p>
<p>Antarius: I read the website already. What I am trying to ask is if these statements are accurate for most people at Rice. Not all colleges are as giving as they claim to be. Financial matters may be the one thing that could make or break Rice for me, should I get in, so I want to know if I should start worrying about getting a slew of outside grants and scholarships now or if Rice will help as much as they say they will.</p>
<p>BrooklyninOh: Thank you. I’ve already filled out both. That’s good to hear. ;)</p>
<p>Getting outside grants can never hurt. But yes, Rice is very good about financial aid. I know many people who have been able to attend Rice because Rice covered the cost of education.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how Rice treats home equity for low income students? We have lived in our home a long time, in a region which had tremendous gains in real estate value and still hasn’t been hit quite as hard as the rest of the country, we have a substantial amount of home equity, but our income is now too low for us to borrow against our home.</p>
<p>I can just give you our data point but YMMV: our Rice payment was equal to the FAFSA EFC, which lets me know that in our case, our home equity was not included in determining our contribution. (Our home equity is just over 200k - if counted as an available asset at 5.6% it would have added $11,000 to our tuition bill each year. I would have noticed :eek:) At one point, I understood that Rice caps home equity at 2.4 times income… but that was years ago, and I don’t know if that still (or ever) holds true.</p>
<p>anxiousmom, </p>
<p>Do you know how cash is treated? We are debating whether we should file FAFSA. Thanks.</p>
<p>^Guess I’m just a little naive, maybe, but I don’t really understand why anybody would NOT file the FAFSA. You can’t lose anything by filing – except maybe some privacy. Is that why so many people ask whether they should file? Because they don’t want to reveal their financials to the federal government and certain colleges?</p>
<p>To me, there’s nothing to lose. Your student could qualify for federal loans; you don’t have to accept the loans; there could be need-based aid involved (though I realize that most people who ask the question are well aware that they wouldn’t qualify for any); etc.</p>
<p>Why NOT file the FAFSA? Curious.</p>
<p>bm2011 - if you don’t file the FAFSA, you will not be able to get any financial aid or need based scholarships. So, if you do not want/need the above, then don’t file one. I would, for the reasons mentioned above by SimpleLife</p>
<p>Thanks for the answer. It is a matter of whether we should wast the time on it if knowing we are not going to get anything. It is not much a privacy since we all have to file tax return anyway. We are new to this game and we have lived frugally despite of high income.</p>
<p>It may be worth filling it out to verify what your EFC is. You don’t have to apply for financial aid after that, if you won’t get anything. </p>
<p>Always better to have the option though. Cheers</p>
<p>I agree it is worth the time to fill out. It really isn’t that difficult if you have your tax return sitting right by you and the supporting documents. Plus it will give you an immediate EFC. If it turns out that you might qualify for some aid, then continue on to the CSS. If you are a senior, this might be a little lull in your paperwork and a good time to get it done. Your applications are all in and many scholarships will be starting up in the next several weeks.</p>
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<p>I know people who feel this way, even to the extent that they won’t take out mortgages. I think it’s just a very conservative way of doing things.</p>
<p>givings - they have to reveal it to the federal government when they file their taxes… (assuming totally legal proceedings, of course)</p>
<p>You’re right. I guess I meant it makes some people uncomfortable to share personal financial info with others. The particular person I’m thinking of would rather go to family, for example, if they needed to borrow money.</p>
<p>Unfortunately we don’t have a choice with the IRS.</p>