<p>I'd like to figure out how colleges determine how much of a student's assets/savings should be used each year. I've heard that each year the student is to contribute 25% of her assets. That means each year the dollar amount is smaller since the base is smaller. Thus the student would not be expected to spend all of her savings to finance college. Correct?</p>
<p>At my kids’ colleges, their contribution ALSO included an amount (about $2500-$3000) from expected summer earnings. The amount increased each year.</p>
<p>FAFSA counts 20% of the student’s assets per year, which would be around 60% of the total assets over 4 years (this was recently 30%/year, which would be 75% over four years).</p>
<p>FAFSA also counts 50% of a students income in excess of an allowance of ($3750+taxes).</p>
<p>Non-FAFSA schools can do what they want, although the calculators seem to use 25%/year for the “institutional method”. Student income seems to be ignored for IM in the calculators, but I’m sure the schools require something.</p>
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<p>Good - I’m working this summer and am afraid that the $4k that I will make will be counted against me. I want to contribute that money towards my EFC… not have my EFC increased because of the money!!! Tufts had a $1500 student contribution set for me when my income was 0, and this number goes up every year. I think it is set, regardless of your parents’ EFC because although my friend has a parent EFC of 0, he has the same student contribution as me - 1500.</p>
<p>What happens if the student couldn’t get work one summer? I know students that tried but couldn’t find work or had their old summer job cut their hours in half. Do the colleges just say, “this is your contribution” or do they factor in actual work time?
I ask, because at a women’s college, I was reading that they expect the student to contribute more and more every summer, under the assumption they will be makig more, but no loophole if they weren’t.</p>
<p>If they couldn’t find work then more money will have to come from the family or a loan. If the school didn’t have those expectations for summer earnings and allowed an out then it would be a loophole.</p>
<p>Most top colleges with great financial aid programs require a student contribution no matter what. Eh, I guess that’s what Stafford loans are for. The student contribution sucks because most students, especially in our current state of economy, can’t make more than $3000 in a summer. For truly low-income or otherwise unable students, all of that money is dedicated to books, transportation, and spending. But the required amount is usually no more than $2800, so it’s really a drop in the bucket.</p>
<p>This is an interesting site though. Take the $20,000 column (EFC = 0) and then click on it to arrange the colleges by least money required. The money in this list is the money that a student with an EFC is expected to contribute with work study, loans, and a student contribution on a per year basis.</p>
<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: What’s the Bottom Line?](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php]Project”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php)</p>