Fun with BC NPC - you gotta SELL your home to go there (if you are low income)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>I was running BC’s net price calc and could not figure out how the parental contribution (EPC) could be 2.9k on an income of 23k , family of 5, and savings of 20k… and a home.</p>

<p>*zeroed out the 20k savings, not significant - EPC stayed at 2.9k. I know the Fed methodology shelters up to 50k for a 50 YO. </p>

<p>*cut more than half of income to 9k…also not the key factor , reduced EPC to 2.7k (I thought living on 9k w/ family of 5 wd have zeroed out WPC</p>

<p>*made amt owed on home mortgage = my stated value of home … nothing doing - still 2.7k</p>

<p>*ahah! reduced the amt paid for home in half with the same year purchased and voila! EPC=0</p>

<p>SO…learned two lessons on BC’s price for college</p>

<p>1) it ignores whatever you put in for the home value and uses its own formula based on amt of time since purchase dt with an ASSUMED appreciation increase in value (ahem)</p>

<p>2) In a case where someone had 9k in family income with no savings, the value of the house is expected to be used for college. To take out 2.7k from the home would require either</p>

<ul>
<li>a loan against equity</li>
<li>a sale of the house</li>
</ul>

<p>Obviously no one w/ 9k in yrly income could support (or wd receive) even a 2.7k loan, so the only way to come up w/ this 2.7k to go to BC is to sell the family home. </p>

<p>Maybe BC would then host the other 4 people on its front lawn?</p>

<p>YOu cd say, poor people such as this case s/ not be considering a fine upstanding private school like BC. </p>

<p>yep.</p>

<p><a href=“Low-Income Students Pay High Net Prices at Many Colleges”>Low-Income Students Pay High Net Prices at Many Colleges</a></p>

2

<p>yes it is true that a home is considered an asset for the purposes of calculating financial need; indeed, most/all private colleges that use Profile consider home equity (however defined) for their own calculation of “need”.</p>

<p>Whether the NPC is accurate for the situation that you described, I don’t know. (Perhaps the financial aid officers apply Professional Judgement in such low income cases, that the calculator does not pick up. Perhaps not.) In any event, by applying one can obtain the actual finaid numbers, compare against other offers, and decide in the spring.</p>