<p>Wow, I came to the right place! mom2collegekids you sound like you have a LOT of knowledge & experience in these matters.</p>
<p>We expect income to rise because we have reason to hope that DH’s non-profit may be able to pay him a slightly better salary due to lower overhead costs. But our experience working with FAFSA has been that even a very slight increase in family income means a HUGE increase in the EFC. </p>
<p>And frankly, if our income rises, DH and I would rather put that money toward retirement, which is looming large in the window and for which we’re not prepared. We told both kids waaay back before they even started high school that we would not be able to pay toward college, and that anything they find for college would either be their own savings, or scholarships. The kids can borrow to pay for college; the adults in their 50s cannot borrow to pay for their retirement.</p>
<p>Our contributions to their college journey have been the gifts of time, encouragement, experience, scholastic support, driving them to EC’s, paying for educational testing when needed, making sure they have a social life, activities & opportunities, emotional support, advocacy, lots of research, tons of prayer, time management and other skills coaching, and occasionally finding affordable tutors to make up for the various shortcomings of their public schools.</p>
<p>Yes, DS2 would like to graduate without any debt, if he possibly can. [He’s always been a business guy and hates owing money!] We are reading stories all the time about intelligent, promising young adults graduating from really good schools, with tens of thousands of $$$$$ in debt on their backs…and then they can’t find a job! Or, they can’t find a job that pays enough to make ends meet with the huge student loan payments. Some financial analysts are predicting that another fiscal crisis is silently looming, when a large chunk of the 20-somethings decide to declare bankruptcy and default on their enormous, unrealistic student loans.</p>
<p>So, if he MUST take out some student loans, hopefully he won’t be maxxed out and staggering under a huge debt when he starts out on the road of life. </p>
<p>Another financial reality for DS2 is that right now he’s driving a 20+ year old car that’s literally held together with strings and baling wire (which he bought for himself), so he’s also realizing that in the not-too-distant future, either during college or just after, a car loan will figure into his financial future. Where we live, public transport is almost non-existent and not a realistic option at all. (DS1 drives a car which was given to him with 240,000 miles on it, and I drive a 10 yr old minivan.)</p>
<p>DS1 is maxxing out loans, to cover the shortfall between his very generous scholarship and the remaining costs of attendance. It will be interesting to see what happens to him (from a financial point of view) after he graduates.</p>
<p>When our two younger kids get just a bit older, I’m already planning ahead regarding what late-in-life career I might best pursue…and what education <em>I</em> will need. Nursing? Administrative? Teaching? Tutoring?</p>
<p>Re: the difference between an ACT score of 31 and a 32 – we used the merit calculator (see posts above), and plugged in DS2’s numbers, with a 31 and with a 32. Bumping his score up from a 31 to a 32 only brought two more colleges into play, and only of them would be a school he might be interested in. Are there a lot more schools out there that kick in a scholarship with 32 being the magic number / threshold? Do you know any specific ones, by any chance?</p>