^Sure, ok, but then answer this: who should pay more/receive less aid so some other student’s grandparents can live more comfortably?
Helping elderly parents or family abroad is a very worthy thing to do. But colleges do not consider this in the financial aid formula.
@Madison85: How about “who should pay more/receive less aid so some other student’s grandparents can not be homeless?” What about families with a tradition of multi-generational support? Are they any less deserving of consideration than families with 8 children? (Not being negative about having lots of kids, but I don’t really see a reason for drawing a distinction – and don’t go into parental support obligations and all that.) Anyway, as I said before, it was a passing hypothetical. If I cared, I could probably come up with a better one. I don’t. Sheesh.
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you. Thank you for your responses. I still think schools should take that kind of thing into account. Happy holidays to all!
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Schools might be able to if money wasn’t a finite situation for them. I think some people think that schools have some bottomless treasure chest to draw from. They don’t. Maybe Harvard might take this under consideration if they really wanted a particular student and the “story” really could be substantiated. The idea of sending money abroad and therefore needing more financial aid isn’t going to move many FA officers.
You can always ask a college to review the particulars of your family’s situation. No formula is going to take into account the outlier situations- so ask for a review. But know going in what the items are that tend to result in a successful review. And have documentation. If you don’t have a paper trail or are trying to avoid the IRS, good luck to you.
Support of your multigenerational family through FA based on that expense comes out of the pockets of others – full pay families and donors. They don’t print money for FA, they take it from someone else.