<p>Just based on your income your EFC is going to be not much shy of the COA at most privates. In other words, I don’t think you will be eligible for much need based aid anyway.</p>
<p>IMO home equity will be the least of your concerns.</p>
<p>jrmills20, how much can your family afford to pay towards your daughter’s education? It sounds like you should definitely start looking at schools which offer merit aid. There are hundreds of possibilities between the likes of Yale and Vandy and the likes of UMinn.</p>
<p>My understanding is that some schools cap the home equity after a certain amount. I have mentioned on other threads that my family’s expected contribution ranged from 12K to 28K/year at 100% full need schools. Cast your net wide, have a financial safety, and tell your child you will not co-sign loans to save her from a life time of debt. </p>
<p>Here’s an article (a bit outdated) about capping home equity: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/realestate/05mort.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/realestate/05mort.html</a></p>
<p>susgeek - not sure I understand the comment that we won’t be eligible for need based aid at most privates. My understanding that a good private school like Vandy is in the neighborhood of $50-55K per year. So if my AGI is around $160K and my after-tax net is around $135,000, the expectation is that I’d have to pay over 40% of our after-tax income on our daughter’s college? Is that 40% figure really a good ballpark?</p>
<p>In response to other questions about how much we could afford – I was thinking we might be able to pay somewhere in the $20-30K range, but that would certainly mean scrimping quite a bit. And it’s a far, far cry from being able to cover an entire $50-55K cost.</p>
<p>I am not saying that you can afford any specific amount of money. That is certainly not for me to say. I suggest you use a FAFSA calculator to start with:</p>
<p>[Expected</a> Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.aie.org/managing-your-money/finance-tools/efc_calculator/]Expected”>http://www.aie.org/managing-your-money/finance-tools/efc_calculator/)</p>
<p>That will give you a ball park idea of what your Federal EFC might be. Once you know that, then you will know if home equity will be a factor.</p>
<p>BTW, I live on Long Island, and my husband paid very little for this house in the late 70s, so I understand about having a lot of home equity.</p>
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<p>That is a good guestimate. Your $160K income alone will yield about a $40,000 to $53,000 a year family contribution. The higher number would likely be reflective of your assets in addition to your income allocation.</p>
<p>Schools expect that college costs will be paid out of past earnings (savings), current earnings (income) AND future earnings (loans). They do not assume that ALL of the costs will be paid for out of current earnings.</p>
<p>If these costs are too high, you are wise to look at schools that have instate tuition status for your child. If U-Wisconsin will work, that’s a good choice. What is the matter with UMinn…the flagship main campus?</p>
<p>Wow-do most parents take out a second (or third) job to cover the EFC? I did the calculator, and it said I could somehow come up with $41K/year. There isn’t any way that’s happening with my current job/income. Do they really think someone with an AGI of $160K has $41K in spare change between the sofa cushions?</p>
<p>I have a headache…</p>
<p>And the thing about the second job is that it will raise your EFC in successive years, since it increases your income.</p>
<p>Hopefully your child will be eligible for some merit money <em>hugs</em></p>
<p>The biggest factor will be income. You can “play” with the FAFSA calculators to get an idea. There are also institutional calculators that will give you an idea. For some people the FAFSA number and the institutional number are very close, others find that the number is different.</p>
<p>I agree that it would be smart to look at colleges where your D has the best potential to garner merit based scholarships.</p>
<p>@jrmills20 – I think you are listening to everyone and I am glad. I’ll reiterate two points that I think emphasizing.</p>
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<li><p>Your daughter’s list is top heavy. I sounds like she needs to be convinced of that more than you so do what you can to get it through her head that she needs safeties. I have seen more applicants in recent years who got into only their safeties than I care to think about. These days safeties need to be the foundation of an application list. I wish I had realized that when my daughter applied to colleges two years ago, fortunately she realized it.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t think you will qualify for need-based assistance from private schools, (although maybe from Yale). It isn’t that they think you can afford their COA, it’s just that is where the line in the sand is. I also came to the this realization two years ago and I also had a headache for about a month.</p></li>
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<p>No, what they do is send their kids to state schools or send them to a school where they have received some merit aid. But, in general, they don’t become full pays at private schools. Well, maybe some do, I just don’t know any.</p>
<p>Which brings me to my advice, chase merit aid, (I see that the two posters above me also mentioned that). You’ve still got time to come up with a list of schools that would be attractive to your daughter and give merit aid. My personal opinion is that these days it is easier to get merit aid at a private school than to get into a school like Yale anyway.</p>
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Just completed FAFSA today. AGI = $93,000 FAFSA EFC = $33,300
So yeah, it’s in the ballpark.</p>
<p>Thanks again all for the feedback.</p>
<p>I guess when I heard that some of the elite schools covered all of their students’ financial needs, I didn’t realize that they play with the formula so that it doesn’t really help so many people after all. Seems like they really only want you if your AGI is below about $50-75K (in which case they’ll give meaningful aid), or well over $200K (in which case you really can afford to pay $40K or more). That leaves quite a gap in the middle, where the calculated EFC doesn’t seem realistic.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant – don’t mean to make it sound like I’m taking it out on all of you. I just never thought a school like Vandy or Northwestern would be so out of reach for someone who has a decent income but isn’t rich, and really is willing and able to cover $20-30K per year…an amount I thought was awfully significant until today. Sigh…</p>
<p>jrmills, I’m glad you used the calculators. It’s a definitely reality check. $20-$30K is not insignificant at all. As far as what the top colleges give… well, you have to realize that not too many lower-income kids have the stats to go to those schools. You should also know that the first $10K or so of aid isn’t even grant money. Almost all schools will start by estimating that the student can earn about $4,500 in summer and school year earnings and then start by awarding aid of $5,500 in federal loans. So anyone within $10K of full pay is unlikely to get need-based grants. (By the way, your daughter could get $5,500 in loans from any school as long as you fill out the FAFSA. She doesn’t have to have need.) </p>
<p>I’m glad you have a couple of schools to which she could apply (UWisc and UMinn) as financial safeties. Personally, I would urge you to encourage her to apply to both because if $ doesn’t work out elsewhere, she’ll probably enjoy having a choice. </p>
<p>I will also echo the advice to look for schools that give merit aid.</p>
<p>removed my rant.</p>
<p>I can really empathize with your family’s situation jrmills. Most of the descriptors you’ve shared re: income, assts etc seem similar to our, including the annual contribution we can make. Our d will head off to large OOS public in the fall, costing between $30 and 40k annually. She knew to afford the several privates she had applied to she’d have to get significant merit to avoid huge loans, so we are fortunate she is attracted to the big rah rah state u’s she is looking at choosing between this month, and they are quite highly rated,actually they were not safeties for her. She did get $15-18k from a couple of private safety schools, but in the end doesn’t think she’ll be as happy there, and starting price was so high anyway(low 50s)that they still wouldn’t qualify as a bargain. I would suggest you look at the Kiplinger ratings for public and private universities online. It’s eye-opening.</p>
<p>We are all very excited and comfortable knowing she’ll be happy and not worried about huge loans. Be as upfront with your child as possible and take the solid advice about safety schools from the other posters here.</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about the term “safety school” and I think when we start looking for schools for Kid2 I’m going to change it to “merit-likely school”. “Safety” has a somewhat negative connotation – it’s where you go if you can’t go anywhere else. “Merit-likely” is a school that loves you enough to throw money at you.</p>
<p>Also in the lessons learned department, for Kid1 we had a lot of lottery ticket schools on the list with only a couple of “safeties”. Next time around we’re going to have a lot of “merit-likelies” with only a few lottery tickets. IMHO the lottery tickets were a waste of application fees and energy.</p>
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<p>Ah but check those merit likely awards…some schools give merit aid but it is not sufficient to bring down the cost of attendance enough.</p>
<p>I think that safety schools are not ones you would go to if you don’t get accepted elsewhere. They are the schools on your list that you feel very confident in being accepted to…AND where you would be happy to attend.</p>
<p>In addition, a financial safety which is a place you want to attend if accepted AND is affordable for your family is a must for everyone’s list (this can include GUARANTEED merit aid).</p>
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<p>OP, I don’t think that’s true. I have a middle class income (though lower than yours) and was fortunate to receive generous financial aid for my D. But, you are very fortunate to be in the top 5% income earners with the luxury of having a house with a lot of your principal paid. You have had and do have choices, something that lower income earners don’t have.</p>
<p>I really like this tool–
[url=<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/]Kiplinger.com[/url”>Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger]Kiplinger.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I believe Kiplinger weighs academics at 2/3 and cost at 1/3 to arrive at their rankings.</p>
<p>Don’t rule out the British schools for financial reasons - they cost about half of US schools for international students. If Oxford and Cambridge are reach schools, she can look at University of Edinburgh or St. Andrews.</p>