<p>my brother had a 5 bedroom home with a lot so large he had to have a ride on lawnmower in a "gated community" with a country club and golf course that he bought for $150,000 3 years ago</p>
<p>Of course he had to go to Indiana for it- and now he is having a acute case of sticker shock trying to find an identical home in the Seattle area for the same price( or even 3x as much)- but if the average income in the country is about $47,000 it stands to reason that they aren't all living in cardboard boxes- some even have jennair stoves!</p>
<p>Yes, and I could probably live in a mansion in Bangladesh on my earnings, as well. I'm not trying to bash "flyover" country -- but we live where we live. Many of us have extended families and strong ties to our communities as well as careers and friendships - and even if we don't, we can't all be migrants. The solution isn't for all of us coastal occupiers to pick up stakes and move to Kansas. If we did, we'd just end up driving up the real estate prices wherever we went (at least that's what the Oregonians complain of when Californians go North). </p>
<p>And if it makes any difference, I personally am dealing with financial aid policies in other coastal, high-cost areas. I'm not asking Grinnell to turn a blind eye to my California equity gold mine. But what difference should the price of real estate in Iowa make when my kid is asking for financial aid from private colleges in Manhattan, where I doubt my net equity would go all that far?</p>
<p>So as not to spark any outbursts of home-equity-rage, I'm going to start out by saying that I am not applying to any of my "dream" schools for the simple reason that it would place too much strain on my family. I have a 2 and a half year old little sister, and my family just can't swing a loan payment. </p>
<p>One thing that no one has really mentioned, is what happens when your home's value increases drastically in a very short amount of time. Over the past 8 years, the house my family lives in (I live in FL) has gone from a $40,000 home....to being valued at almost $150,000. Now in my area, the average price of a house is well over $200,000. The only reason we can afford to live here is because our house is payed off. My family didn't plan on any of this. we didn't think the housing market was about to explode. If i applied to a school that used the profile, we would look pretty good in comparisson to what we actually have. I feel as if my family is being punished for deciding to buy a house.</p>
<p>Using that, my house is valued at slightly more than half of what it is reported to be on web sites such as zillow.com</p>
<p>I was aware of the Federal Housing Index before, and in fact used that figure when my son was in college, but when I prepared the Profile this year I was afraid that would get me in trouble. When my son was in college the numbers were not so far off, but I figured that now no one would possibly believe me if I told them I lived in a $380K house in California, in a county where median home value is $750K -- and in any case, all someone has to do is run my street address on any one of a number of web sites and they will get a different reported market value. So I opted for honesty and provided the value that was given to me when my home was appraised for a refinance laast year. (Home values around here are crazy - Zillow.com now says my home has increased in value by $9000 the past WEEK -- obviously I am not $9000 richer and houses can't be traded around like stocks.) </p>
<p>In any case, I now have assurance from the financial aid department of one college that they are using a much more conservative and reasonable way to look at the value of my home. This is what I advocated in a previous post to this thread: yes it is an asset, and yes I am far better off than a renter or someone whose home has significantly less value - but no it is not fair or reasonable to treat the home we live in as a spendable or easily cashed out commodity. </p>
<p>The whole point of this comment is -- some colleges are more reasonable than others, and apparently many are sensitive to the problems caused by inflated real estate values in some parts of the country. </p>
<p>Don't be afraid to apply to a college that uses the Profile -- so far this year I have only one CSS-Profile based award in hand, and it looks pretty good. The difference between what the Profile school expects me to pay and our FAFSA EFC is $5,300 -- and whether or not I borrow, I don't have any problem with the idea that my home equity means I can somehow come up with $5300 extra next year.</p>
<p>I know I'm only a high school student so my understanding of this is limited, but I think using home-equity is ridiculous. My father is in debt more than our house is worth yet they counted our house as an asset. Not to mention that we live in Southern California where, like many coastal regions, cost of living in comparibly high. The fact that someone in Kansas who's house is the same size would get more (or in my case any) financial aid just because their house is worth less is ridiculous to me.
Second, its ridiculous to expect someone to sell their house (or anything comparible) for their child's education. My parents offered to take out all the loans they could and give me every spare penny but I turned it down. How is that fair to them. Forcing my parents to work another ten years just so I could say I went to an Ivy is not a fair trade. Instead I choose EMory on a full scholarship, I think this will end p being one of the hardest (and best) decisions I make.</p>
<p>200K for a house doesn't look like a housing market explosion from where I sit (in SoCal
lawdy where is this?
You couldn't get a studio condo for $200 in Seattle ( I know a friends daughter has been looking)</p>
<p>I didn't know about this group when we were looking for colleges- but it appears they take a closer look at expenses & may give a more do-able package to families who apply</p>
<p>
[quote]
Section 568 has allowed financial aid officers to pool their expertise in the review of these complex issues and has resulted in recommendations for a further revision of the methodology used by participating institutions. For example, these recommendations provide guidelines for: the expected contribution, if any, from the non-custodial parent in the case of divorce or separation; the treatment of certain business or real estate expenses, such as depreciation, that may reduce income available to pay for college; the valuation of rental properties owned by an applicant's family; and the recognition of unusually high medical and dental expenses. Because of these discussions, colleges and universities eligible to participate have at their disposal more sophisticated guidelines that result in a more accurate and reliable assessment of the family's financial circumstances. Financial aid awards are therefore be more equitable and institutional funds will be awarded in a way that supports the maximum number of students. In addition, financial aid officers are both better informed about the needs analysis methods used by each school and better able to explain differences in aid packages to families. These principles and methods can also serve as a model for other participating schools, including smaller colleges that may not have in-house the expertise required to resolve the questions covered by these needs analysis guidelines.
568 Presidents' Group Member Institutions
Amherst College
Boston College
Brown University
Claremont-McKenna College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Grinnell College
Haverford College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Rice University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University
[/quote]
I can't find where it said now- but I am positive they stated that they allow families with homes in CA- NY & WA, more allowance for housing costs</p>
<p>Sewcurious: Good for you! Congratulations on your full ride scholarship to Emory -- and for also placing priority on your parent's needs. </p>
<p>EK - the 568 list that you posted is useful information, but my daughter's aid package from University of Chicago was not particularly generous. My daughter also has been accepted at Barnard, which offered a substantially better package, because of its practice of using the federal housing index minimum derived value to calculate equity. (See my post #48 above). Also, U. of Chicago and Fordham offered a similar level of grant aid; Fordham is not on the list. </p>
<p>My point is simply that parents should not use that list as an exhaustive resource for determining which schools have the best policies insofar as how they treat home equity.</p>
<p>hm
well if they aren't actually going to do what they say they are trying to do ( which I thought was have a more accurate picture of expenses and available income)
then what the heck did they get this little group togther for?
D didn't even look let alone apply to any of the schools
but housing costs aren't getting any better- there was another article in the paper today about housing that is going for thousands more than the list price because of bidding wars ( and these homes are nondescript ramblers)</p>
<p>Some people are doing ok apparently though.
1/3 rd of the housing market is for 2nd homes</p>
<p>I'm not saying that the 568 group isn't doing what they are saying they are doing - but all they have done is agree to treat certain parts of their financial aid formulation in a consistent manner -- there is no agreement on other areas, such as how to treat self-employment income & deductions, or how to treat noncustodial parent financial information. Univ. of Chicago is known for being conservative with aid; Grinnell is known for being generous: they both are on the same list. Home equity is only one variable in the overall calculation of aid. </p>
<p>Barnard happens to use a method for determining home equity valuation that works to my benefit, and probably would work to the benefit of any family that has lived in their home for many years in an area where real estate values of increased substantially over the years. It might not be helpful to families in areas where values have not gone up, or for families in more expensive areas who bought their homes more recently. I happen to like their approach better because it looks to what the family actually agreed to pay for the house as opposed to an inflated paper value, which probably better reflects the family's true economic circumstances.</p>
<p>wow that really bites
@ Reed which isn't even part of the group my daughters EFC is the same as FAFSA.
I don't see how schools can do that- I dont think they should admit them if they are going to be so far off- a family whose need is less than $1,000, is certainly not going to be able to comeup with $10,000</p>
<p>I'm not in flyover country - I'm in Maine. And housing prices in my neck of the woods are reasonable.</p>
<p>You can have a nice lifestyle, be within an hour of the ocean and fantastic hiking, have no crime to speak of, a wonderful community, and no lack of cultural opportunities -- and have a mortgage that is not outrageous.</p>
<p>This will be helpful for paying for college, but then again, we're not building giant equity for the household.</p>