<p>i just came back from the fafsa day today, and the counselor told me that i pretty much wont' get any financial aid coz my parents make over 100,000 dollars. does anyone know if this is true? or has anyone dealt with this kinda of situation? i'm probably going to attend UIUC, where tution costs around 33,000 a year for out-of-state. thanks, any opinoin/info is appreciated :)</p>
<p>it's true for my parents. They make slightly under that amount, and my older sister got basically nothing, and the same will hold true for me. It really sucks, because they can barely pay 6k for her tuition (she has a 6k scholarship) so I basically will go to college based on my scholarship money</p>
<p>it depends upon the school. If you are attending a school that cost $15,000/year and your parents make $100,000 then yes, your EFC is going to be more than the cost of attendance making you a full pay.</p>
<p>on the other hand, making $100,000 going to a school that is upwards, of $40,000 per year that meets 100% of your demonstrated need, will give you some aid.</p>
<p>it's all relative however. You may get aid at the 40k+ school, but how much is a totally different issue altogether</p>
<p>It's pretty unfair that people who save don't get aid, but parents who are irresponsible get a free ride, and the hardworking parents have to subsidize the kids of the spendthrift parents.</p>
<p>i'm going to apply to basically every scholarship I can get my hands on, or else even if I get into a private, i'll be stuck somewhere local.</p>
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i'm going to apply to basically every scholarship I can get my hands on, or else even if I get into a private, i'll be stuck somewhere local.
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I hope it works out for you. The financial aid is pretty bad unless you are pretty poor.</p>
<p>it's also worth noting that colleges count equity in property your parent's own (like second homes that they rent out). I bring this up because my parent's own a second home and because of that home (and their modest salaries) our EFC is ridiculous ($70K). My parent's can only afford $10K a year without having to seriously postpone their retirement plans.</p>
<p>College for me is going to be funded primarily by scholarships. I need to get as many as possible or its the local state college for me.</p>
<p>The price of private college is ridiculous, but what can you do about it?</p>
<p>looks like we're in the same boat seven nights. Does anyone know how divorce affects the efc? (my parents might be/are going through the process and all the numbers I know are from marriage)</p>
<p>I have no clue, but I have heard horror stories from divorced kids. One that I prominently recall is that a close friend of mine (whose parent's separated when he was five or so) EFC was extremely high due to the fact that the college expected his father to give a good chunk of change (he was a wealthy guy). The only problem is that he never had seen his father since he divorced his mother and the college wanted money from the dad, but the dad refused to pay a dime (saying that he wasn't involved with the child anymore and didn't owe him anything aside from the alimony of the divorce settlement). Eventually, after lots of calls to the fin aid office the school backed away from insisting the dad pay some change and he got decent fin aid (and is enjoying college now). But the poor kid was a wreck for the good part of April.</p>
<p>a parent like that is really terrible.</p>
<p>having to worry about money is starting to slowly suck the fun from my college search, because I know I'll have to have more than just a safety, I need probably 2 good financial safeties. It'll really stink if that's the only thing holding me back from going where I want to</p>
<p>I saw the question about divorced parents and financial aid and figured I'd add something I've learned. FInancial aid is based on the custodial parent...and if that parent remarried...the stepparent's income. In some cases, that may help.</p>
<p>Celebrian, </p>
<p>I am sorry to hear about your parents divorce. The primary responsibility for the funding of a child's education first lies with their parents (both). In the college's eyes a divorce does not absolve the non-custodial parent of the moral or social responsibility of contributing toward the education of their child(ren). </p>
<p>DivaMommy is correct in her statement that if your parent has remarried, the combined assets of your parent and stepparent will be taken into consideration when calculating financial aid.</p>
<p>thank you very much for that information divamommy and sybbie</p>
<p>The EFC (expected family contribution) depends on income but also on assets (savings, investments, home equity etc). as well as on how many children in college at same time and some other factors. So no one can say what you will get based solely on income. </p>
<p>There are EFC calculators you can find on line to give you an idea.</p>
<p>Have you considered applying to schools known for their generous merit aid? I don't know them all, but Tulane, Carnegie Mellon are mentioned often.</p>
<p>"Have you considered applying to schools known for their generous merit aid? I don't know them all, but Tulane, Carnegie Mellon are mentioned often."</p>
<p>I have the impression from various posts on this forum that Carnegie Mellon is generous selectively and only parts with merit money when it has to since they don't have much of an endowment. I seen it said, for instance, that they don't offer much merit aid to ED candidates or to students enrolled in their top programs like computer science or engineering. I'd like to believe that's not true since we haven't heard from them yet, but it makes sense.</p>
<p>I am afraid that it is true. They use their money to "buy" students that they feel would diversify their campus more, so if you are in the mainstream, it is difficult to get any of their money. Case is much more generous and more stats oriented. With CMU females in science and URMs are targeted along with well, rounded kids with geographics and majors coming into heavy consideration.</p>
<p>"It's pretty unfair that people who save don't get aid, but parents who are irresponsible get a free ride, and the hardworking parents have to subsidize the kids of the spendthrift parents."</p>
<p>I can't believe anyone would say such a thing. I really can't believe it.</p>