<p>A friend says mid 5-figure family income, which should qualify child for financial aid, is being "wiped out" on FAFSA quick worksheet by equity in their home. Home is probably worth $400K and they probably have a $100K mortgage on it. This doesn't sound right. Can schools really expect you to borrow against your house to pay for college? Kid is applying to mostly CSS/Fafsa schools and a couple of FAFSA onlys.</p>
<p>Your primary home is left out of the FAFSA equation. At least, that is how the process went for us when we filled it out with a consulting firm a week ago then on our own a few days later. Dont know if that has always been the case but dont despair-just investigate.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind my asking, how did you find consulting firm to help you? Would you PM me if you would recommend it?</p>
<p>Dowrz…how would you have completed a FAFSA last week for the 2013-2014 school year? It is not available for filing until January 1, 2013.</p>
<p>Unless you have a bottomless pit of money, there really isn’t any need to work with a consultant to complete the FAFSA (which is not available for the 2013-2014 school year until January 1).</p>
<p>The FAFSA does NOT include anything related to your primary residence…it is not listed at all.</p>
<p>Schools using the CSS Profile use home equity in varying amounts going from NONE to several times your income. This varies by school.</p>
<p>The best way to get an estimate of your potential financial aid is to do the Net Price Calculator for each of the colleges to which you are applying.</p>
<p>hill-you absolutely do not need a consulting service to fill out the FAFSA. It is a service contracted by the college our son got into so we used it. I did it with them and later directly w FAFSA to see what benefit there had been and there wasnt any. You just get you financial statements together and fill in the blanks.</p>
<p>The parents may be confused or just misspoke…</p>
<p>FAFSA doesn’t use home equity.</p>
<p>Many CSS schools do use home equity.</p>
<p>YES…there are schools that expect you to use your home equity to pay for their school. Keep in mind that attending those schools is a choice. Families are “first in line” to pay for college. Most schools do not have the funds to provide lots of aid.</p>
<p>Your friend is mistaken. That is not a FAFSA worksheet he is using, or he is putting in primary home equity numbers when they are not being asked for, or he has another home with equity since only the primary home is excluded. Whatever the reason, FAFSA does not use primary home equity values in coming up with the EFC (Expected Family Contribution).</p>
<p>But a number of schools will want that information and may ask for it independent of FAFSA or require completion of the CSS PROFILE which does request and may use those values as part of the calculation. </p>
<p>FAFSA calculates what the Government expects a family to pay and to get Government money. Some schools will also use those numbers to distribute financial aid, but those schools do not guarantee to meet it and most often do not. Schools that use PROFILE use the numbers generated from that form to distribute their own funds, not the government money which is regulated by the FAFSA numbers. And schools and private organizations can ask for and use whatever indicators they please when it comes to their own funds.</p>
<p>You should ask the high school guidance office for any organizations or companies that can assist you with financial aid calculations and forms. Many schools do have presentations going over this subject and may know of firms that can work with you. Even if you have someone do it for you, you need to provide tax forms/info and a complete list of your assets on a given day for all family members requested on the forms. PROFILE asks for far more such as home equity value and money in ALL core family member accounts as well as non custoidal parents’ financial info in most cases.</p>