My grandparents are starting to run out of money and to avoid them collapsing economically we are considering having them move into a new house pooling assets. This would involve our house going from about 325k to 550-600k (where I live is extremely expensive). As they make more than 5k annually in taxable income we cannot consider them to be our dependents. The one thing that would prevent this would be if it collapses my financial aid. How would our house assets doubling affect our financial aid (even though our utilities and overall costs would go up as we would be supporting them more than we already do)?
There is no way to answer your question without knowing your college.
Does the school meet full need for all?
Does the school consider primary home equity?
Are you saying you will be moving to a larger home so your grandparents can live with your family?
And it’s the equity that might matter. Will you have more equity in the new home?
Simply selling a 325k home and buying a 550k home isnt what matters.
What is the mortgage on the 325k home? How much will the mortgage be on a 550k home?
And at many schools, it doesn’t matter what the mortgage is or the equity. One house is fine and it doesn’t matter who lives there (except for the number in household).
I misunderstood. I thought this student was already in a college that considers primary residence (css profile school).
Now I see s/he is in high school.
What schools are you considering?
The schools I am considering are the NESCAC LACs (Amherst, Bowdoin) and Swarthmore for reach/target schools and DU and CU-Boulder for in-state safeties. We likely would have more equity in the new home that both us and our grandparents would live in and the mortgage would likely be similar if not slightly more in the new house as the down payment would be more.
Those NESCAC LACs and DU may all be CSS Profile schools, so they may take into acct equity in a primary residence.
If you would have more equity in the larger home, where would those dollars come from? Sale of the current home or from putting some savings towards the purchase of the new home?
Well…you have a 35 ACT score and a 4.0 GPA. In another thread, you were looking for schools where you could get merit aid. Merit aid is not income or asset dependent in most cases.
Is your family low income? If not, those schools you listed like Amherst might not be affordable.
I would strongly suggest that you run the net price calculators for these colleges to see what the family net costs would be.
You are instate for Colorado, and feel you would get merit aid there. You would also get merit aid at Alabama, and New Mexico. Apply to Pitt today…earlier applicants have better chances of merit aid.
@okapilion I’m a parent in a very similar situation – wondering if your family has moved forward, and what you’ve learned.