Yesterday, I asked a question on getting into Brown University and the main concern people had for me was financing and how I was going to afford going to Brown or some other Ivy league school. I have been researching a while and still have a few questions to ask and a few things to clear up but before I do heres some context:
[Context]: My Mom and Dad are divorced and live in separate houses but live in the same city of Gainesville. Though my time in each house is split equally, I do spend just a little more time in my mom’s house than my dad’s. Also, my mom is my custodial parent. My mom isn’t remarried but my dad is. My mom makes $65k while my dad makes $210k.
After doing some research on Brown and other Ivy league schools, I found that the lower the income of a student after applying for financial aid, the more aid we recieve. If I submit just my mom’s income and disregard my dad in the application process since my mom is my custodial parent, then I could get a pretty big scholarship and would actually be able to afford it. However if my dad’s income of $210k also needs to be submitted, then I probably would not be able to afford it. This might not be a problem because some websites say that I only need to submit my custodial parent’s income and disregard my dad’s when applying for a scholarship. Despite this, no matter how much research I do on this, I still get no clear answer on what I have to submit so that I can know how much financial aid I am eligible for.
You will need to include your father’s income. Brown, and I believe most Ivies, require the CSS profile. You also need your parents’ cooperation in filling out the forms.
Note that no matter how strong an applicant, Brown is a reach school for everyone.
CSS Profile (which Brown requires) will also require the financials (incomes, certain assets) of your dad’s new spouse, in addition to that of your two parents.
Run Brown’s net price calculator with the income and assets of all three adults, as well as yourself, to get an estimated cost of attendance. It would not surprise me if you are determined to not have any financial need. Do the collegeboard npc here: https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/brown
Have your parents given you an annual college budget? If not, that is where you should start.
@vrmeenrajan have you discussed how college will be paid for with your parents? If not, you need to do so. You need to know how much each is willing to pay annually for your college education.
The info about needing to submit your dad’s financials is VERY clear on the Brown website. Very clear. They will be required.
Brown, as noted by others above, requires the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA.
Your FAFSA will include only the financials from your custodial parent. If child or spousal support is received, that is included as well. The FAFSA will determine your eligibility for federally funded money at a school like Brown. Really, with an income of $65000 a year, it’s unlikely you will qualify for any federally funded grant money unless you have other siblings in college at the same time as you.
For Brown, your custodial parent (from what you have written, this would be your mom because you reside with her more than 50% of the time) would complete the Profile...again including spousal or child support received.
Your non-custodial parent (your dad) would then complete the non-custodial parent profile which will include his financials as well as his spouse’s. There is no choice about this…both must be included if they are married the day your Profile is filed. If your dad’s spouse wasn’t married to him in the tax year for your financial aid forms, they will have to use her tax forms to get that data from that tax year.
Each college website has a financial aid section with clear info about what must be considered.
The suggestion to try the net price calculator is sort of OK. But it’s only going to give you a very very gross estimate of your net costs for Brown. These calculators are set up for families with married parents…not divorced (and remarried) ones.
Since your family lives in Gainesville, I’m hoping you have Bright Futures and some FL publics in your application list.
Your total income including just mom and dad is $275,000 a year. That doesn’t include any assets Brown might count in the mix, or the income of your dad’s wife.
Also, do these income numbers include contributions made to tax deferred retirement accounts for the tax year for your forms? If not, add these numbers back in as income…because the colleges will.
Also, if either parent is self employed, that creates a different set of questions.
Adding…you are a HS sophomore now. At this point you don’t even know if you have the stats to make you a competitive applicant for Brown.
In addition, those Net Price Calculators are currently set up for students enrolling in fall 2021. You won’t be going until fall 2023. So any NPCs you use now aren’t necessarily going to even apply the year you apply to college.
For the 2023-2024 FAFSA and Profile (that will be your freshman year in college) the 2021 tax year info will be used. That year hasn’t even started yet. You don’t really even know what your parent(s)’ incomes will be, right?
And lastly, look on the Brown financial aid section of their website. I’m not sure where you got the info that you can disregard your dad’s income for Brown.
Brown website says it costs $80k a year. With all your “maybes” with financials, Im guessing it would still put you at about 40-50k a year for you to pay. Thats 160-200k in debt for your bachelors alone.
Sadly, your chance at a full ride at an Ivy League school is basically 0%. And while the prestige of their child attending an Ivy may sway the away from them wanting you to go to the free UF option, your chances of getting into an Ivy AND the cost being less than 20k a year is about 1%.
You can try having your parents run the financial aid calculator available on the financial aid website, but they’re ESTIMATES, not guarantees of aid. There is a limit of ~5-7K/yr. that students can take from the federal government, and most other loans will require your parents to co-sign i.e. they’re obligated to pay off the loan if you don’t.
If you’re set on attending Brown, you can always work hard in your undergrad at UF and apply for graduate school here.
Once more. The Net Price calculators are currently set for students enrolling in fall 2021. This student won’t be enrolling until fall 2023.
These calculators get reset in the late summer. And yes, financial aid policies DO change. Doing the net price calculator set for the 2021-2022 academic year will give this student a VERY VERY gross estimate of net costs for 2023-2024. Nevermind that the divorced parents will also contribute to inaccurate results from the NPCs.
Again I ask…why Brown? If my kid was begging me for an unaffordable college, I would need some compelling reasons why that school needed to even be considered. So…why Brown??
–Right now you are a sophomore in HS. You have one year of a GPA and no standardized tests. You have no idea yet if you will even be a competitive candidate for Brown when the time comes to apply. It is too early to even worry about it.
– It is a terrible idea for anyone to have one dream school – especially one like Brown with a single digit acceptance rate. The people I have seen most hurt by the college admissions process are students who fixate on one hyper-competitive school and then don’t get in or can’t attend.
–In your other thread you said your parent’s objection was that they don’t feel you are mature enough to go away to college. Again, you are young. Use the next two years to behave in a manner which shows that you should be trusted on your own.
–If finances are an issue (which I suspect is part of it) then like it or not UF may in fact be the best affordable option. UF is an excellent school and has an honors program which you might qualify for if you continue to do well in HS. If you do attend UF, when the time comes (not now) see if your parents would let you take a year abroad or at an approved program with another US school so you can broaden your horizons.
–Please take a moment to recognize that there are tons of people around the US and worldwide who would do almost anything for the chance at a 4 year college education – especially with no debt at graduation. You have expressed zero appreciation for the fact that your parents have been diligently saving for your college education.
–You are looking at things very short-term. If you graduate from UF debt free you should have the ability to become self supporting. At that point you can move where you want and do what you want/can afford for the rest of your life. That is a gift.
Is that difference REALLY worth $80,000+/year x 4 years worth of debt? Debt that will take more than a decade to pay off, that may keep you out of graduate school, that may keep you from taking vacations, even from marriage or children… debt that will make the difference between having a car payment or not, possibly between living off social security or having a retirement fund? Debt that sticks with you even if you are permanently disabled?
Oh yes… forgot to add that college debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy either.
All you can borrow on your own are the standard federal student loans (currently $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 sphomore year, $7,500 junior year, and $7,500 senior year). Any additional loans would have to be co-signed by one of your parents. From the sound of it, they aren’t going to be willing to do that.
With combined parental income of $275k, colleges that require both parents’ finances (including Ivy League colleges) are unlikely to give much or any financial aid.
A few prestige privates (Chicago and Vanderbilt) require only custodial parent finances, but since (as your other thread says) your parents have said that the only acceptable college is University of Florida, that does not matter. Remember, you need parental cooperation on FAFSA and (if required for the college) CSS Profile to get any financial aid, so they can veto any college they do not approve of (except possibly if you get a full ride merit scholarship).