<p>Dad II, ARGGGGH I guess I will call tomorrow and make an appointment,if they are there and leave a message if they are not. Thanks again</p>
<p>Quick message, totally off topic, but DANG a lot of people come through here, 1/2 mill there checking out a thread, couple thou over here, couple hundred there, it is amazing what the internet can accomplish. Too cool…</p>
<p>Labelness - it is a great site. And if you can filter out those who just want to criticize and those who don’t know as much as they think they do - there are a lot of really caring people willing to share what they have learned along the way.</p>
<p>Wishing you a very Happy New Year. I can only imagine how tough these past weeks have been for you and your family. I wish you a happy resolution to this situation for 2011!</p>
<p>OP, love to get an update from you. How was the visit to Rice?</p>
<p>OP: I can sympathize. While my kid didn’t apply early decision, all of his eggs are in LAC baskets. I was letting him direct his own search and stupidly wasn’t really living in reality. I didn’t realize the out-of-state state school deadlines for out-of-state merit programs (like WUE) were so early, and now we can’t apply to or apply for merit aid at many of them. Our state flagship might not be the best option for him. And while he’s a great student, he’s not a top student. His merit aid offers have been fantastic, but we still likely can’t afford the difference based on the calculator estimations without going into significant debt. This is our oldest child; the learning curve on this college stuff is stiff – and so much different from when I applied to colleges. How I wish I could turn back the clock.</p>
<p>Hello fellow CC followers. Here is the update of what is going on with the Rice fiasco. We talked to an FA counselor and we were granted an extension until we file our FASA. Since we do not have our W2’s it will have to be an estimate. The bad news is that my H found out that although BP said they would be covering the cost of flights, hotels, and food they actually tacked those costs onto our taxable income which increased our gross income by $8,000.00 which you know is just going to increase our EFC to the point that I am afraid we are going to be asked to pay the full tuition costs of $48 thou. That dear readers will be way out of our ability to pay considering that is only year one out of four. So we will go through the motions but I think it is not going to be feasible. To everyone out there, thank you for all your help and for any new readers, DO NOT GO THE ED ROUTE! </p>
<p>Did anyone watch the show “The costs of admission” on CBSN? It is a cautionary tale well worth taking into consideration. The fact that there is no limit to how far you are allowed to put yourself into debt, which will NEVER be forgiven (not even upon death) seems insane and even immoral. Maybe if there was some limit imposed on loans, colleges would have to find ways to reduce their tuitions to match those loan limitations. </p>
<p>Lastly, can someone explain the purpose of an endowment? Rice has one that is more than $900,000 per student? What does that mean? </p>
<p>Love to hear some feed back.</p>
<p>I would assume that $8,000 would be a “wash”, it shows up your husband’s Form 1099 as income & then those expenses of travel of $8,000 will be deductible expenses. </p>
<p>If the Rice FA Office adds those expenses back in as income then it would increase your AGI & your EFC in their eyes.</p>
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<p>Endowment funds are used for a variety of things. Some schools do use money from endowments to fund institutional grants to students who have financial need as the school calulates it. Some schools also use endowment money to fund other costs for the colleges. </p>
<p>While the “amount per student” is a certain amount, most schools do NOT dip into the principal of their endowment funds very often. They use the investment income from these funds to help students WITH NEED…and to do other things that will aid the college. </p>
<p>Label, I know you don’t want to hear this…but you don’t QUALIFY for need based aid this year…that is why Rice isn’t giving it to you.</p>
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<p>That is exactly how I read all the information provided. OP could not demonstrate the need even with face to face review at Rice. They have the ability, per Rice FA, but just don’t want to pay.</p>
<p>Labelness - glad you came back to provide an update. I know this has been a really stressful time for you and your family. FA is confusing under the best of circumstances - and I think in your case even more so as you have the unusually high income in 2010 to contend with.</p>
<p>My feeling is that the one piece of the puzzle that is missing is what FA would you get from Rice in future years when your income is back down to your “normal” level? If you able to discuss that with Rice - it would be interesting. Then you would have the possibility - and I stress only a possibility - of having your D attend Rice - with significant loans for freshman year - to be followed by years with a better FA pkg.</p>
<p>But - are you willing to take that gamble? I watched that CNBC special as well - and it is really an eye-opener. You may find other less expensive in-state options that are also a good fit for your D and allow you to sleep better at night.</p>
<p>Good luck and keep us posted.</p>
<p>Thumper I know that and actually leagally they can not give you need base aid that when added to your EFC is greater than the COA. So merit would be our only salvation and with the competition it is a long shot. When our salary goes down to 84,000 our EFC might drop into the 15-20 range. Hmmmm</p>
<p>And how do you feel about that? Would you consider paying the entire cost of Rice for freshman year and believing that you would get FA for the remaining 3 years? Kind of a gamble, I think, but worth at least contemplating. Could you do an EFC calculator (look on CollegeBoard of the FAFSA site) using your 2009 income and seeing what your EFC would be? At $84,000 - I would agree that a ballpark of $15, 000 or so seems reasonable. So - if you had to come up with $50,000 for freshman year plus 3 years at about $15,000+ - for a total of about $100,000 - does that work for you? Because that would pretty much be your best case scenario - and if you don’t want to come up with or borrow $100,000 - then I think you have to take Rice off the table.</p>
<p>Earlier in this thread, Label said she could not assume $100,000 in loans.</p>
<p>I am NO FA expert here. But if the COA at Rice is $48,000 and they offered a scholarship of $4,000 then the “balance” is $44,000. Your D can get a student loan for $5,500. So now the balance for the parents is $38,500 for freshman year. My D earned about $300 a week during the summer working as a nanny. So if the D works this spring/summer perhaps she can contribute $2,500. Now the freshman balance for the parents is $36,000. It is January. First semester tuition will be due in August right? So the parents have 8 months to set aside something to contribute. So if you have some savings already, plus what you save up over the next 8 months and spread the tuition payments out monthly, can you make freshman year work with the expectation, as pointed out by rockvillemom, that your EFC will go down considerably without the BP money in the future?</p>
<p>Sorry if I am missing something here. This is how I did our budget and so far, knock on wood, it is working for us. Good luck labelness!!</p>
<p>austinmt - I am kind of with you on this - I hate to see the OP take Rice off the table before exhausting all options. You did a much more specific scenario - I was trying for broad strokes - but with the same goal in mind - can they do this?</p>
<p>Thumper - I’m not convinced they would have to take on $100,000 in loans - if as austinmt pointed out - they could save some from present income - maybe do a monthly payment plan for some amount and then the rest in loans. </p>
<p>I’m not saying they SHOULD do it - I just think they should weigh all of their options.</p>
<p>Did Label ever say they have NO savings for college? Or they just don’t have enough to cover the cost without substantial loans?</p>
<p>We have about $20,000.00 holed away, not a lot I know.</p>
<p>The only grant money we got was $750.00/semester thye other $1,250.00 was a loan.</p>
<p>Labelness - what do you think of austinmtmom’s analysis? If you took her figure of $36,000 after subtracting the little FA you rcvd plus the $5500 student loan - could you save $1000 per month from now to August - and then borrow $28,000 for freshman year? If you wanted to contribute some of your savings - it would be even less that you would need to borrow. I guess it depends on how strongly you feel Rice is where she needs to be. </p>
<p>And I’m not saying this just as a random bystander - we have borrowed about $20,000 per year for S1’s education so far. This year - new approach - we are squeezing our monthly budget till it hurts and then squeezing some more - and I think we can actually do it without borrowing any money this year - although we live a pretty spartan lifestyle as a result. But I sleep better without incurring more debt. What do you think - can you trim your budget and save $1000 per month? $2000?</p>
<p>If you expect your H’s income this year to be substantially lower than last year, then you probably would get more FA for your D’s soph year. Whether you can send her there and live with that uncertainty… that’s up to you.</p>
<p>Also, I think you mentioned she is your oldest. When are the others going to college? Having more than one in college at a time greatly increases your FA. </p>
<p>For example, we didn’t get a penny in aid for my son’s first 3 years. This year his sister is in college, too, and he qualified for about $15k in aid (half in a grant, half in loans). His sister’s college is about $15k/year cheaper than his, and she only got loans & work study. </p>
<p>OTOH, you may need to hold onto some of your savings for the younger siblings.</p>