<p>My father is in the high tech industry and has been part of a few successful start-ups. His yearly income is about 120,000 to 140,000 yearly. My mother doesn't work (THANK GOD) so family income is 99% determined by my father's income. </p>
<p>I know that in that range, I can still get FA cover like maybe 50% of tuition? But here is the bad part. My father has TONS of stocks, totaling to about 500k which he claims is for retirement. We live very modestly as my father is very frugal, but may this habit bite me back later on in college?</p>
<p>Does this asset part of my father's balance sheet kill my chances for financial aid? Should I even try to get aid, cause 50k from an Ivy league style school is not going to be good...</p>
<p>First of all, with that income and those assets, you will not get 50% of tuition. With that income and assets, your parents’ EFC will be high - probably around $45k - 50k per year or more. </p>
<p>Unless your PARENTS’ investments (they’re not your “dad’s”) are in some kind of protected retirement account (like a 401k or similar), then those assets will get counted for FAFSA and Profile, too.</p>
<p>But, you seem to think F/A is free money. Financial Aid from most universities is student loans. Typically “free money” (grants) is reserved for low income students. Even if you went to an Ivy (and getting accepted is very hard), your parents’ income and assets would likely result in little aid.</p>
<p>Also, are you aware that tuition is only part of college costs? Tuition at a private may be $36k per year, but the cost to attend can easily be $50k per year. </p>
<p>How much are your parents telling you that they will spend each year on your college education? If not much, then you’re gonna wish that your mom did have a job. What are your stats?</p>
<p>There is no way that you would get anywhere near 50% coverage with your father earning that much income. Do you have any extenuating circumstances, such as medical bills or hardships that affect your family income? If you do, then you could file a special circumstances form for your university. If not, then either you will have to choose a less expensive school or you’ll have to ask your parents to pay a little more. Or do you have siblings, some of which may be in college at the same time? That could also drastically affect your EFC (for the better!).</p>
<p>Saying you live a modest lifestyle on 120-140k a year and your mother not having to work should mean your family has a nice nest egg on top of that insane $500k. Good for your dad for having to foresight to save that much, but you might consider asking him to dip in to a little bit of that to help pay for your education.</p>
<p>Finally, as far as assets go, I know that FAFSA is not going to consider any savings that a family has so as not to discourage people from saving for college. I believe that is coming in to effect for the next year, but it may take effect in 2011. I have no idea if that includes stocks, though.</p>
<p>I am looking very much into Ivies and other ‘expensive schools’. </p>
<p>I don’t want to come off as a rich kid, cause I am definitely not living that kind of life style. I may have exaggerated my father’s stock portfolio, but I do believe it is anywhere from 300k to 500k.</p>
<p>Actually, at Harvard you might get pretty good aid. I believe their policy is that a family pays 10% of their income up to 180K. Not sure how the assets would factor in. Check Yale and Princeton, too, for financial aid for families in your income range. There might be a glimmer of hope for at least some aid at Harvard… and maybe one or two other tippy top schools? I can’t remember exactly if any match Harvard’s aid to that income group, but I have some vague recollection that there might be another one, or two.</p>
<p>If you have stats to aim for the Ivies then you should be able to get merit aid of $10,000-$15,000 at many excellent private universities and liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>You do need to get clear on whether your parents’ savings are in accounts such as IRAs and 401ks or in stocks and money market funds. The latter will be included in your financial aid calculation at the rate of 5.6%; the former will not be included at all.</p>
<p>Radio…Where did this idea come that savings wouldn’t be counted as an asset??? Of course they will be.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, some have argued that since FAFSA and Profile do look at savings, it may discourage savings (or encourage people to hide savings).</p>
<p>Back to the OP…if you’re one of the super lucky that gets accepted to Harvard (or similar), then you might get some help (again, depending on your dad’s porfolio…the stock market is rising daily now.)</p>
<p>But, since only a tiny percentage of students get accepted to ivies, your other choices won’t be as generous. So, you may need to include some merit schools as safeties.</p>
<p>Here are the my stats
EA MIT and EA Caltech
Asian male (chinese)–Californian Resident Class of 2010
GPA (unweighted): 4.0/4.0
GPA (weighted): 4.92/5.0
RANKING: 4 out of 555, Top (0.7%)</p>
<p>SATII’s:
Bio/m:780
Physics:790
Math II:800
SATI (best single): CR: 750 Writing:720 Math: 790 total: 2260
SATI (superscore): CR: 750 Writing:750 Math: 790 total: 2290
(Took SAT again in Oct, feeling a 2300+)
APs :
AP Biology: 5
AP World History: 5
AP Calcu BC: 5 (subscore 5)
AP Physics B: 5
AP Environmental sci: 5
AP Macro econ: 5
AP Micro Econ: 5
AP English Language: 5</p>
<p>I have awards and EC’s, dont worry about that.</p>
<p>That part was deleted because it was a discussion about forum moderating. I don’t think the forum really cares if you answer a simple question that is somewhat relevant to the thread. You seem to need money for school, but won’t likely qualify for F/A, therefore it’s been a logical thing for people to then see if you might get money for stats (merit money.)</p>
<p>Have you asked your parents how much will they spend each year on your college education? </p>
<p>Of course, it’s important that you make sure that they understand how much it costs to go to college these days (not just tuition, but the whole deal - tuition, housing, meals, books, fees, health fee, activity fees, etc.) The Cost of Attendance page on most websites should give you this info. </p>
<p>A private can cost up to $55k per year. An instate public can cost from $18k - $30 depending on the state. An out-of-state public can cost from about $30k - 50k. Of course, an education can cost less than above, if the student goes to the local public university and lives at home. That generally saves about $10k per year. </p>
<p>Also, if your stats are high enough, some schools will give you merit money. Those aren’t the top/top schools. They tend to be ranked between #60 - 100 (or lower) in USNews rankings.</p>
<p>If your parents are unaware of these costs, be sure to make them aware before you ask. Print out the “Cost of Attendance” page from various college websites. Note it the COA page is missing some costs. Then show those to your parents, so they know what the prices are. Otherwise, they may innocently tell you an amount that wouldn’t pay for you to go anywhere.</p>
<p>Also, let them know that their income and assets will not qualify you for F/A. Let them know that F/A for most people (who aren’t low income) is usually student loans, therefore you’re really not missing out on anything. Free money is only given to those with lowish incomes (except at a few ivies and those are super hard to get into for even stellar students).</p>
<p>Even HYPS would probably not be using the 10% formula on this student as the family assets do not seem to fit their definition of typical for their income range. I’d would say there should be many merit aid schools on this list.</p>
<p>And some schools will ask for FAFSA, CSS Profile, AND their own financial information application. Once they know all of this, even if they don’t give you anything and you still decide to go, they know who to ask for money. :)</p>
<p>jerzgrlmom - How do they determine the equity in your home I wonder? I’m pretty sure here in California my equity is gone, but would really have no idea how to evaluate it.</p>