Is it standard for Institutional EFC to be calculated at nearly twice ones yearly net pay? I was shocked when CMU Financial Aid package contained NOTHING! No need. No merit. No loans. Just an Institutional EFC number that was double our net yearly wages.
Did you fill out the FAFSA and did it say that you would be eligible for federal loans?
CMU doesn’t claim to meet full need. To the contrary, they say up front that they meet need for early decision candidates only, and, even then, I’m not sure if they meet those candidates’ full need.
Did you run the net price calculator for CMU before your student applied?
That does not sound right, even at a school that doesn’t claim to meet full need, at CMU’s level. Are you eligible for financial aid, like did you fill out FAFSA? What was your FAFSA EFC? Does your family have a lot of assets, have a NCP or own a business? Are you an international student?
Do call them to find out what is doing.
Looks like you have a lot of home equity. Profile schools will consider that in your EFC.
^ That would do it. It happens a lot around here. A million dollar home here looks like a $300K home in most areas, epecially in a good school district, but COL is not taken into consideration. Even worse in the Bay area of CA where my brother lives. Friend of mine sold her house early and is renting in the area, so that she can pay for her kids’ colleges. When the youngest goes in two years, she’ll find an even less expensive place out of that school district. I think she put the money for her home into her mother’s account too, because she now qualifies for financial aid after two years of full pay status for her oldest. Now she gets nearly full aid for her two in college.
Net pay means nothing. That sounds like you are a business owner who deducts everything. All those deductions are added back. Your GROSS pay is what counts in that case.
DH is self-employed. We have not found that all the deductions are added back in.
Does that depend on the income? Type of business?
Self employed means…?
Sole proprietorship.
Was depreciation added back? Meals and entertainment?
Our Gross Income is $80K. CMU’s EFC is $154K. Pell grants have been part of other schools FA. We went through some hardships after the Oct. 2008 collapse. The only thing remaining is our home equity. My wife and I work, neither are self-employed, but it’s just enough to pat the bills and our for our son’s education. there’s nothing left at the end of the month. academically, My son would be in the top 10% at CMU.
Shoshonte…
For one year? Impossible. The school costs about a third of that per year. After any aid awarded…(and everyone is eligible for the $5500 Direct Loan), the bottom line cost for you for the upcoming year would NOT be $154,000.
Where are you getting a CMU family contribution of $154,000? The school costs just over $50,000 a year, not $154K. Was this number from a net prce calculator, or off an actual financial aid award?
There is something wrong. Either you have HUGE…and I mean HUGE assets, or you didn’t enter something correctly.
If the gross income for both of you is $80,000, you would not have had an EFC of $154,000. Here are some variables to check. Did you put the value of your retirement accounts (IRA and TSA type accounts) as assets? Did you list income under both the student and parent? Any chance you did any kind of rollover with your retirement monies this year? Is there a misplaced decimal point?
Do you own any other real estate beside your primary residence? What IS your home equity? It would have to be in the $2.5 MILLION dollar range and assessed at 100% to have that fully account for a family contribution of $154,000.
And it’s home equity you enter on the forms…not home sales price. Did you do that correctly?
Did you list the home as a student asset?
Any savings in the student’s name…or income above about $6000? That would count too.
Also, my opinion, but $80,000 gross income seems pretty high for any amount of Pell to me. How much Pell money did you get? And remember, Pell is based on the FAFSA EFC only…So it is possible to get a Pell and still have a different family contribution because of the Profile information.
Right, if 2 kids are in college it’s possible to get partial (tiny) Pell grants around 80k AGI if other assets are below the protected amount and kids’ assets are zero.
What is your home equity? What is the worth of your assets? Do you own a business. Easy to own a million dollar home in some areas of this country (including mine and my brother’s) that don’t look like much. THat will give you about $56K in EFC right there.
How colleges value businesses depend upon the college, the business. THere are kids who do well with fin aid even with a family business in the picture with certain PROFILE school, but not always… There was a case on these boards where one student got an abysmal package from Swarthmore due to the family owned business. He had to get a release from ED, was all set on going to STate U but then Carlton offered a great aid package despite the business.
Cpte. Don’t most colleges cap the amount of home equity they tap at a %age of the family income? I thought that was the case. And that is what THIS student should be looking for if they have a $2.5 million in equity home.
Something isn’t right with this story. There is a huge missing piece.
Are retirement “monies” in regular savings accounts? That also could be an issue.
This parent also just posted this morning on the Georgetown thread that their student might be heading to DC.
Does this mean Georgetown gave them a great financial aid package (Georgetown does guarantee to meet full need, while CMU only does so for ED applicants).
I don’t know if MOST colleges using PROFILE or asking for home equity values do cap at % of income. Some do, some don’t. Some don’t count home equity. Some count the home equity fully. 1.2X and 2.4X are the most common caps I’ve seen. Someone posted a list of schools and the caps–how accurate and time relevant this info is, we don’t know. But without playing around with NPC by changing the Home equity values from zero to the commone cap figures, one can’t tell. It’s not like the schools advertise that they do this or give out much info on how they come up with the expected contribution.
Really, as I said, in my area and my brothers, having a $1 million dollar house is not uncommon, and the houses often look like something that would cost $200K or under in other places. It’s just that the real estate values are way up there. My brother lives in a 3 bedroom ranch that is valued at $2.5 million. He lives in a prime area. But the house…well, it wouldn’t impress most middle class folks. The $1Million dollar home he rented befor this one was the size of a standard double wide trailor and had about the same amenities. I choked when I saw it, given what he was paying. And the landlord got her million when she sold it. Also the asset protection allowance is a FAFSA thing. A school can do what they please with their own formulas. I’ve always felt that the CDSs should include % of need met using FAFSA EFC to give us a better idea as to how stringent a school is about financial aid.
Also, does the family own a business and are there unusual assets and situations in the picture? And, as you bring up, Thumper, some folks have retirement money in non qualifed accounts. Doesn’t count for protection when you do that. And for all I know CMU may even count qualified accounts. Some schools do, you know. THat’s why they ask how much. At some thresh hold, unshared with us, my guess is that most of them do.
@thumper1 CMU Institutional EFC is written on the top of the FA package. Home equity is about $1400K and a rental worth about $240K. No hidden retirement or other factors. Savings and much of retirement was spent during during the lean years between work. No other assets. No business. There is very little there. We’re maxed out on a monthly basis as it is. The rental is about what is left for retirement, which I’m sure the schools don’t care about, but it is what it is and there’s nothing to tap into.
Case’s FA (mostly merit based scholarship) was $40K. We are waiting for Georgetown.
Home equity is $140K, not $1400