<p>Hi guys! At our house we've been diligently trying to follow the great advice of all of ya'll - Sybbie, Marite, cangel, cur, etc. and have hit upon a panic-inducing snag. At the advice of so many, I promised my S I'd be sure the "meets 100% of need" schools would be doable before allowing him to get his hopes up and apply.
So I've been running the financial aid calculators to see what I can see.
Using the exact same numbers, our EFC using the IM method came up 13700 with the Dartmouth calculator, and 19,000+ using the IM on finaid.org
What do I believe?
The second figure is patently impossible for our family.
Williams has removed their financial aid calculator. I'm still looking up other school's individual web sites for more possibilities, but I'm pulling my hair out here. I've REALLY tried to understand all of the info everyone here gave me , but am I doing something wrong? Are there other calculator sites that seem to be more "true" to reality.
Any help appreciated! I am patterning after cur (in a VERY small way!) I want "an affordable chair for my kid when the music stops".</p>
<p>Try the one at collegeboard.com . It has both IM and Fafsa. Unfortunately, if you did everything right finaid.org is probably closer. BUT, and it's a big but- when we did Dartmouth that was our highest of all the calculators so be careful with your inputs. That doesn't sound right. Do the one at Princeton. It usually makes the parents feel the best. ;)</p>
<p>Sorry, I'm not one of the posters you requested but don't forget that sometimes the 'financial aid' can be in the form of loans that still leaves you with debt beyond the EFC although it can be repaid at a later date. Of course, the aid packages will vary depending on the college.</p>
<p><a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp%5B/url%5D">http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp</a> </p>
<p>Try this. You should be able to get pretty accurate.</p>
<p>Umm. I've heard from many parents that the financial aid varied even from very similar colleges.</p>
<p>^^^ I'm sure this is true but I believe some colleges are more prone to loans versus grants in their finaid packages.</p>
<p>It does vary, but your Fafsa is a federal number. It stays the same. The IM can change dramatically. Princeton omits home equity. Other schools cap it. Most schools engage in preferential packaging for the students they want the most. It still doesn't hurt to find out as much as you can upfront.</p>
<p>orjr:</p>
<p>Very flattered to be asked, but alas, I'm not familiar with finaid calculators. Over the years, the Princeton calculator has been said to be very accurate--which does not mean that colleges will actually give your child the amount that shows up: some are said to "gap."</p>
<p>If I were in your situation, I would play it conservatively and go with the finaid figure. This does not mean that your child should not apply to more expensive schools--they may come up trumps. But he should apply to some that give merit money as well as need-blind schools, and also look into some that are just as good but a bit cheaper. Some of the Midwestern LACs fall in that category. I believe Rice is also less expensive than the NE schools and is said to be excellent (I know a Rice graduate who received a terrific education there). Keep in mind the cost of travel when you do your calculations.</p>
<p>EDIT: Other posters have provided useful reminders about loans vs. outright grants and about what is included in assets. Some colleges count the primary residence, some do not.</p>
<p>The avg amount of loans per needy student is reported on the CDS (common data set) and is available at collegeboard and USNEWS.</p>
<p>For schools that give 100% of need, it is irrelevant how much of it comes from the government since that is the first source of the aid package. It is more important to find out what the school's definition of need is. the make up of the aid is also important.</p>
<p>As far as need only variance for us Colgate wanted $13K and Yale wanted almost $25K. Amherst was $25k, Scripps $15k, Hamilton $15k. Fafsa calculator $14+, IM between $17-23 depending on adjustments (we didn't win any.:()</p>
<p>and capt - the fafsa amount was critical at Scripps, at Hamilton, and although they never admitted it , I believe at Colgate. If you win a scholarship these schools will ignore the IM and use the Fafsa if it is more favorable. Not a guess. It happened.</p>
<p>Thanks all. I just did the college board calculator and I got 13K IM and 18K fafsa - which seems a little backwards to me. Don't worry, I've already mined the data sets and have made a spread sheet including cost, ave. debt at grad., %gift aid and %loan, for each of the schools on our radar screen. We're now trying to do two things: (1) see if the non-merit schools are even possible financially - given that they will meet need, and (2) find the schools my S is interested in where he is in the top %age to qualify for significant merit aid. It's grueling - but I would never have even known to try if it weren't for you guys!!
Any other thoughts??</p>
<p>My EFC using IM came up around $30K every time I used it (around $10K with FM) but no college expected me to pay that much. Barnard expects us to pay a little under $17K, but they are going to increase our grant and reduce our contribution further as soon as they get verification of my other child's college enrollment and the cost of attendance at his college. There is no way in the world I would have anticipated this relying on online calculators alone. Even Chicago, which gave us a very poor award, did much better than the online calculator would indicate.</p>
<p>I now know there were two factors at work -- one is that the online calculators counted my full home equity (California real estate!) -- but the colleges used different formulaes to cap the amount. The other is that I had a slightly unusual tax situation which resulted in very high state taxes being paid in 2005 in proportion to my income -- there was no way to account for this on line, but apparently when the college saw my tax return they gave me extra credit for the tax bill -- so this also reduced our contribution. I never would have anticipated that... I simply had no idea. </p>
<p>I think you are right to be planning in advance, but I would suggest an alternate approach. Tell your son the maximum you are able to pay, as specifically as possible. (Keep in mind that colleges do not expect you to pay entirely with cash - the financial aid system is built around the idea that both the student and parents will take out loans as needed). Tell him that the private colleges are long shots, but as long as he understands the financial issues -- encourage him to go ahead and apply.</p>
<p>Do NOT restrict the applications to 100% need schools, but also include colleges likely to give merit aid or to leverage their aid packages. </p>
<p>Do find a financial safety: an in-state public or a college where merit aid is guaranteed based on objective factors, such as your son's test scores or National Merit status. </p>
<p>I am rather grateful for the fact that in my case the online calculators had a pessimistic view, mainly because were were prepared for the worst. But you honestly cannot rely on any of the IM calculators. The FM figures are very accurate, because there is not much leeway in the numbers. As far as I know, IM has a lot of variables that are different among the colleges, and the online tools simply cannot anticipate all the variables. </p>
<p>If you can afford the almost $14K figure the Dartmouth calculator gave you, but not the $19K figure... then college is probably affordable, if your son is willing to take on a larger burden. $5000 is not that big of a gap to fill with outside scholarships and creative fundraising. So one advantage of having figures early is that your son can already be thinking about ways to close the gap. Any money he earns after the first of the year will not be counted for the 2007-2008 school year, so a part-time job his second semester could be a good start.</p>
<p>Don't forget preferential packaging. At Colgate D was an Alumni Memorial Scholar. No loans, no workstudy , all grants, plus a stipend for travel, and research money. Scripps and Hamilton were somewhat the same. Even most of the super selective collges have some kind of program for kids they really want. They are just really hard to find sometimes.</p>
<p>Calmom makes lots of good points. The only thing I would add is to look into Honors colleges at some state unis. Many of these have rolling admission as well.</p>
<p>So, basically it still sounds like, go ahead and give it a shot where you like best and just keep your fingers crossed - as long as you have some schools you'd be happy at where you are likely to be a relatively hot commodity. </p>
<p>I'll keep plugging!! Thanks so much for being a welcoming place for questions.</p>