<p>1sttimemom, you should do your visits if you can afford it. DC is beautiful this time of the year and a great place to visit. It will also give your student some perspective on colleges outside of your area. Also GW, American, and Catholic all give merit money. Get information on what they have and the how to best qualify for them. I know my second son could have gotten some money from Catholic from our parish, along with some other grants, had he wanted to go there. GW is a tough one when it comes merit money. Also, have you checked out what your institutional EFC would be? You might qualify for aid at private schools. Garland is right on when she says there are other grants that colleges have. That is where the majority of grants come from.</p>
<p>Our EFC is approximately 1/3 of our gross income. We live in an expensive area of the country and have one child in college and one child at home. I don’t think the EFC is supposed to be based on our “disposable” income because I can guarantee you we don’t have that kind of money left over after paying our bills. We have a similar/smaller home than many of our friends, drive mid-level cars, and don’t have the fancy electronics or home furnishings that most of our kids’ friends parents have. We did manage to save enough to pay cash for about </p>
<p>Yes, we are in that wide band of folks who make $100k - $200k per year - enough to live relatively comfortably, but not enough to be “wealthy” - but too “rich” to qualify for financial aid with only one kid in college at a time. There are a LOT of us, and for us the EFC is kind of a joke. When my teenager heard what we were expected to pay for her brother’s college, she said, “Do they think I don’t need to eat?”</p>
<p>Disposible means what you could do without. So if you have 2 cars and insurance on both, then 1 car and 1 insurance bill is not really a necessity. If you have the Platinum package of cable tv, everything above basic is disposable. </p>
<p>Lafalum84, I mean if you make over 100K a year you are doing something right. My patent just made over 30K and 4 people lives on that for an entire year and we paid the bills and everything im sure you do.</p>
<p>I guess what is needed vs not is debatable, but it also depends where you live, what city, state, etc. My family hasn’t had a real vacation in years, my children never even flew anywhere…we have basic cable, 11 year old van and 7 year old car, basic, no texting cell phones (with teens!)etc. but an old house that needs fixing a lot. Most furniture I had since marriage, no real perks like big TV’s etc. We find it hard on a little over 100,000 in our area, but we do it, but to have over 23,000 EFC is high. We also didn’t have this salary until the last 10 years. You do what you have to do though, whether it’s scrimping more, taking out loans, researching colleges better, but it has to be something you and your child can live with; 4 years shouldn’t ruin your life.</p>
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<p>I agree with this and with the poster just above me. If you’re willing to tone it down a little, you can save a lot of money. We live in Maryland, which is a reasonable state - not cheap but not expensive, either. We feed, clothe, and house 5 people on less than $30,000 a year, with one in college and one on the way. Our situation isn’t always comfortable and we don’t have any savings, but an income of $50,000 (after taxes, as we don’t really pay taxes on our $30,000) would be ample. I’m not saying you SHOULD do it, I’m saying you COULD do it. </p>
<p>What are you willing to sacrifice? Do you have more than one car? Do you live in an expensive home that costs more than the average home in an area? Do you have cable TV? Do you buy books or do you visit the library? Where and how often does everyone shop for clothes? How much do you spend on an average meal, in-home or out and about? How much to do spend on private school or private extracurriculars? How much do you spend on the cell phone and high-speed internet bills? Do you clip coupons and shop around? Do you use credit cards? Do you go on annual vacations? How much do you spend on entertainment every month? Do your children have part-time jobs? Do you have one parent staying at home?</p>
<p>Some people are willing to make those sacrifices in order to scrimp and save money for their child’s education. Because of that, financial aid calculators often assume everyone is willing or capable of making those sacrifices, even if that may be the case. It’s a case of “if someone can do it, everyone can do it.” It’s not fair. But it’s what happens.</p>