I want to apply Early Decision but fear that the price will be too high. I completed a Net Price Calculator and got an amount that I’d be willing to go to the school for, but I’m wondering if there is a way that I can get a more accurate estimate before I apply early decision to Northwestern?
The NPC is probably pretty accurate unless your parents are divorced, own a small business, own rental real estate, or if there are trusts involved in their or your finances. You know you can turn down an ED acceptance if the FA offer doesn’t work, right? A few tips:
- Meet all the deadlines to get FA materials in as an ED student
- Don’t slack off on your other apps while you wait to hear. You want to be on track with them if the FA doesn’t come thru
- Do not withdraw other apps until you see your FA package and know it is workable. If there is a delay in that, send in your RD apps if the deadlines arrive so you don’t close off those options.
another tip: be careful about whether some of your RD schools have earlier deadlines to qualify for merit aid. You may need to go ahead and file those RD apps before hearing from your ED school, to preserve your eligibility for merit aid at those schools.
My parents are divorced and one parent owns a small business. Any way to get a more accurate estimate given these factors?
Maybe you could try calling the FA office and ask to speak to an officer about it. Can’t hurt.
Okay, that is tough. Know that if either parent has remarried, at CSS profile schools like Northwestern, the new spouse income and assets will also be included in the FA calculation.
I am divorced and have a small business. I took my best guess at my ex’s income & assets, and added them to mine, and treated my small business as if they were personal assets in the calculators. The aid we got was a bit better than that scenario showed, but not much (a few thousand dollars). I have also heard that you can ask the school for an early FA read, but have not done it myself. I assume you have to provide most or all of the info that needs to be turned in for regular FA, but you would need to ask the school.
I would say that depending on how much each parent is willing to pay, you may need to be looking for schools with merit or at more inexpensive public schools. Do you know what they are willing to pay?
Neither parent has remarried, and only the parent I live with makes significant income so I dont think having both parents income provided will skew the results much. The net price calculator also seemed to provide questions that took the business income into account. For Northwestern I had gotten a low price that my parents would happily cover as Northwestern provides a lot in aid, so with the factors I stated would you think the estimate was relatively accurate?
The NPC would give you a rough estimate only, largely due to the business. It is very possible that some of the business deductions will,be added back in as income.
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the parent I live with makes significant income
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If the parent you live with makes a significant income then how would the NU NPC give you a low price?
how many people are in the household that you live in? One adult and ?? children?
Is this the parent who is self-employed?
Are you near NU? Can you/parent make an appointment and visit the FA office? That is probably the best way to get an accurate picture under your circumstances.
I’m confused. Your custodial parent is the one with “significant income”? What does that mean?
In a financially complicated situation, I don’t know if your want to apply to ED. Although you may decline the admission for a financial reason, but your decision will be based on the estimated FA. In your situation with single parent and small business, the final FA package may be far off from the NPC estimate and the initial FA package. You probably want to wait till RD so you can decide with the FA packages after the tax for 2015 has been filed.
What kind of small business? Does the business own real estate? This gets to the market value of the business, less any debt. A small business owner in my town with ownership of a small building/lot purchased back in the 1960’s that is now worth a large amount was really adversely affected in the FA process since the building’s value (well over 1MM, no debt) really clobbered aid eligibility, even though the business itself (without the real estate) didn’t have much value at all.
What kinds of deductions are taken for depreciation, amortization and Section 179 deductions? What about health insurance deductions by the business, or retirement contributions? These are all types of deductions that FA offices often add back for purposes of computing income for FA purposes.