<p>My dad just entered his 2011 tax info to the NPC and my parents' expected contribution was something like 45k. That seems ridiculously high to me seeing as we're on the lower end of the 150k-200k income bracket. My dad does make less money now, but not much less, and obviously when I apply in the fall he'll be using his most recent tax info (2012). </p>
<p>Seeing the EFC really kind of disappointed me. How accurate is it? Because if there's no way in hell that I'll be able to afford it even if I do get in, what's the point in applying?</p>
<p>Why is your dad entering 2011 tax numbers. Everyone should have 2012 tax returns done by now and he should be putting in those numbers for a better assessment. Moreover, they also incorporate CSS profile like most other top schools to get a better picture of the financial status of your family. And it may significantly be different than the net price calculator.</p>
<p>If you are making 150k, it seems accurate. You may get different numbers from Harvard/Princeton/Yale since they don’t use EFC but some other formula.</p>
<p>He got an extension for his 2012 taxes which is why those aren’t done yet. And I thought Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford were all sort of the “elite” schools in terms of need-based aid? Because it seems to me like HYP completely out-class Stanford in this regard. For example, at Princeton, the average grant that goes to a person with an income between 160k-180k is 75% of tuition; that’s over 100% better than what the NPC from Stanford gave me.</p>
<p>Yep, Stanford’s EFC is at the high end. My parents income is also in the 150k to 200k range, and Stanford’s verdict is that my parents can pay $71,000 a year. That is right, our EFC is more than 40% of AGI. Ridiculous is the right word. There is no way my parents can pay this much … with all the other household expenses and taxes. I will have to take massive loans to attend Stanford. The irony is that after I graduate and start earning big bucks, I will not be able to give back to Stanford … for I will be busy paying back my student loans … thanks to Stanford.</p>
<p>Yeah but it’s kind of disheartening after hearing all that BS about socioeconomic diversity on their website. I’m not saying it’s better to be poor than in the middle class, but in terms of paying for a college education, it is. If my family made, what, ten thousand dollars less a year we’d somehow magically not be expected to pay 40%+ of our AGI? That’s ridiculous. I don’t care whether or not Stanford wants me to apply; I know they don’t care either. But I don’t think they should pride themselves on their “generous” need-based aid while all but shutting out people in certain income brackets.</p>
<p>I don’t think the calculator is all that reliable, especially in terms of estimating scholarship funds. I was given close to the same estimate as you last year, and I’m currently paying around 20k-25k/year.</p>
<p>EFC is based on more than income. It also considers assets and any parental assets count 5% for EFC and 100% of child’s assets count towards efc. So if one plugs in 500k in assets, the efc automatically becomes 25k + even for someone with no income.</p>
<p>We are in a similiar financial situation as your family. A couple of years my D was accepted to both Yale and Stanford. Their financial aid packages were almost identical. She selected Stanford. While we have had two kids in college, we feel that Stanford’s aid package has been very generous as we received no aid for our S going to our local public university. Next year we’ll only have our D in college so we expect our Stanford aid to dry up. That is very unfortunate; but expected. We’ve felt very blessed to receive substantial aid from Stanford for at least two years and with the help of grandparents and our saving for college since the birth of our kids, we’ll be able to swing the next couple of years.</p>
<p>My S is currently a freshman at Stanford and of all of the schools he applied to last year, Stanford gave him the best need-based aid (other than a safety that offered him almost a full ride). For us the NPC gave us an estimate that was very close to what we ended up having to pay this year and was significantly lower than what the FAFSA EFC was. I know that like HYP, Stanford has its own income-based calculation for how much aid they give. For example, if parents make below $60K, they have zero expected contribution, between $60 and $100K, tuition charges are covered, and above $100K, up to $200K, there’s a sliding scale of how much parents are expected to pay. By the way, our family income is $130K and our total family contribution is about $25K. Compare that to our FAFSA EFC of $35K.</p>
<p>I am at The Farm for the admit weekend and talked with an FA lady yesterday, again. Still no tangible help or guidance from Stanford on student loans. I detected another trick of Stanford FA office. They kept pushing me to ask my parents to take PLUS loans. They are discouraging loans in my (student’s) name. Apparently, Stanford does not want their students to graduate with high debt burdens. Yet they seem perfectly okay to burden parents with high debt. Suddenly I realized that’s how Stanford (and many other expensive private colleges) have stats showing their students graduate with an average of less than $25k in student loans. All the big loans are in parents’ name and those are not reflected in the stats. (US News ranking: You need to look at parents’ loans for sending kids to colleges.) What a game!</p>
<p>@Mom2jl: “By the way, our family ncome is $130K and our total family contribution is about $25K. Compare that to our FAFSA EFC of $35K.” </p>
<p>The above is interesting. Stanford FA showed me that they use 25% of parents income for EFC. In that case, your EFC would be over $25k just from your income. It looks like you do not have any assets or savings in your name. One would think that someone making over $100k a year will have some savings and assets. Our family live below our means and diligently save for retirement, house, kids’ tuition, and rainy days. I guess, just like the experience from the recent housing bailout, savers and people who play by the rules are penalized. Maybe we should start living for the moment, spend lavishly, and never worry about savings … for savings only hurt, and besides someone always bails you out for your financial mistakes.</p>
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<p>BTW, The Farm is everything I expected … beautiful campus and fun people all around.</p>
<p>Assets in homes and retirement accounts do not count against you in Stanford’s financial aid calculations. So if you assume with 150K in income (one wage earner–two wage earners could actually shelter more), that wage earner can put $22,500 into their company retirement account and fund two IRAs at $6,500 each (24% of that income). Every year you can shelter 24% of your income from financial aid calculation. Clearly, one can save without penalty. No one (especially Stanford) is bailing me out for financial mistakes.</p>
<p>Further, by investing in retirement accounts, one is reducing AGI, hence increasing your ability to qualify for financial aid. So those who do plan ahead and save, taking financial responsibility, are actually rewarded, and are not “bailed out.”</p>
<p>@PumpkinPi: “Assets in homes and retirement accounts do not count against you in Stanford’s financial aid calculations.”</p>
<p>Stanford looks at equity in home (and I am talking of the main residence, not rental or investment property) in calculating EFC. I know this because my family owns our home outright (paid off mortgage) and it is killing our EFC. </p>
<p>From Stanford website: “We also consider your family’s assets, including home equity, savings, investments and real estate, but not retirement accounts.” Here is the link: [The</a> Parent Contribution : Stanford University](<a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University)</p>
<p>@futureinfinance - I have been following your posts and I do sympathize…however, did you/your parents not run the EFC calculator before you were admitted. Either be poor or extremely rich…</p>
<p>But I know most middleclass parents are taking home equity etc to pay for private schools. It is a choice they are making, unfortunately, unless Stanford or other private colleges stop charging these exhorbitant tuition or direct some of that huge endowments to pay for tuition, nothing will change.</p>
<p>At this point, yes, it is what it is…unfortunately. You said you have 2 other siblings, maybe in the years ahead, with multiple kids in college, perhaps you can ask for a financial aid review. Good luck.</p>