<p>Interesting article on how your home equity affects your financial aid at Boston College.</p>
<p>[Can</a> your home equity jeopardize financial aid? - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57459677/can-your-home-equity-jeopardize-financial-aid/]Can”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57459677/can-your-home-equity-jeopardize-financial-aid/)</p>
<p>not sure why the author is singling out BC (“astonishing”), since Swarthmore also claims to meet full need but has a similar COA for the family in question. (And I believe Swat has a larger endowment/capita.)</p>
<p>Of course, these are only the ‘calculators’ which leave no room for ‘professional judgement’ of the financial aid officer. And, should the dad get a job, some/many of those other colleges, such as Georgetown, will immediately cost a LOT more. Indeed, every dollar in salary over ~$50k will be decremented by approximately 50 cents in finaid.</p>
<p>A much better article (not that I would expect a J-School grad to understand) would be about those colleges, such as the Ivies & Stanford, who cap home equity for all students, struggling or otherwise.</p>
<p>I will never understand the Financial Aid system for American colleges. I don’t qualify for any financial aid anywhere, but paying 58,000 a year for college is a very significant amount. It seems like you’ll be fine if you’re poor or you’re wealthy. Otherwise, you’re screwed.</p>
<p>Dear Invilliers : You are describing what many financial aid offices now refer to as the barbell effect. Private educational institutions are extremely concerned about their making their programs affordable to the middle class yet balancing the discount rate (scholarships/aid) offered to the average student. This is one reason that you are seeing more schools control their merit scholarship programs in favor of financial aid endowments.</p>
<p>Dear bluebayou : Swarthmore was one of the finalists for my younger child and you are correct that their program is similar to that which Boston College follows. As a general rule of thumb, the calculators tend to show that a middle class household with $150,000 in annual income, $100,000 in cash assets, and equity in their own home will not qualify for financial aid at most of the need-blind institutions. While the middle class and particularly those in the Northeast or West might find these numbers austere (and those in lower cost of living area do not), the fact is that your home state and your state-based cost of living are still not factored into the programs.</p>