<p>A few liberal arts colleges I'm applying to offer need-based aid for international students and, while I know the applicant pool for such aid is much tougher than if I wasn't appling for aid, I'm not sure if I will qualify.</p>
<p>My parents own 4 houses - thats the first thing. Unfortunately these houses don't actually earn us any money (rent from tenants = mortgage payments) and selling a house in this economic climate is impractical.</p>
<p>Secondly, my dad earns quite a good salary (approx £65,000 or $105,000) but a lot of money is spent on rent on the house we live in (we don't live in one of the hosues we own, silly I know but we had to move for my dad's work)</p>
<p>My mum doesn't work - she is ill and has been for approx 20 years and so is unable to earn an income.</p>
<p>How would this look on the CSS PROFILE, I mean how would a college (eg. Pitzer College) interpret this and convert it into our EFC. Would they look at the property we own and simply dismiss the case and tell us to sell a house, or would they take into account the lack of income the houses provide, the expenditure on rent and my mum's inability to work.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we also have very little savings ($30,000) as we have moved a lot (between countries, which is expensive, and caring for my mother can prove to be costly).</p>
<p>Any thoughts or opinions would be very much appreciated!</p>
<p>The extra homes are assets. Their value will be considered as sources of income if sold or borrowed against. Your dad’s income will be very much an issue, since it’s a highish income. </p>
<p>Nearly everyone spends a good part of their earnings on their rent/mortgage, that won’t get you extra consideration. Whatever your family is spending on their home is a “lifestyle choice.” They don’t care if you’re spending too much income on your home (otherwise, everyone would do that and then everyone would qualify for aid.)</p>
<p>I’m guessing that you won’t qualify for much aid. If I were to try to guess what (non-ivy) schools would expect your family to contribute, I’d say about $35k per year (at least). That might be different if you have other siblings in college at the same time.</p>
<p>Others can correct me if I’m way off-base (which I might be. 
)</p>
<p>How much can your family contribute?</p>
<p>And what kind of “need” do your schools provide to int’ls (full need? some need? )</p>
<p>To the OP…your family earns a decent income. AND your family owns four homes that are NOT the primary residences for the family. On the Profile, the equity in those four homes WILL be counted as an asset AND the income from the rents will be counted as income. </p>
<p>How much need based aid did you hope to garner from the colleges?</p>
<p>@thumper1: I will need quite a bit of aid, maybe $30k. Will the colleges not see that we are not actually earning any money from the houses as the rent only just covers mortgage payments.</p>
<p>Will they also take into account that my mother is unable to work and therefore the family only has one proper revenue stream?</p>
<p>There is a section at the end of the financial aid form where you can elaborate on the circumstances surrounding your family income. Put everything in there and you should be OK.</p>
<p>Put everything in there and you should be OK.</p>
<p>I think that that sentence is misleading. It suggests that if the OP writes his story, he’ll get the aid he needs. I really doubt he will. I especially doubt he’d get anywhere near $30k unless he’s accepted to Harvard.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter that the homes don’t add income. The rents are paying for extra assets that aren’t necessary. The fact that they don’t bring in income is proof that they they aren’t necessary, and therefore could be sold to pay for his education.</p>
<p>Imagine if the OP’s family owned 25, 50, or 100 homes, all bringing in rents that just paid for each homes mortgages. Do you think schools aren’t going to count those homes just because they aren’t bringing in spendable income?</p>
<p>BTW…the OP mentions **Pitzer College **as his example for getting aid. On Pitzer’s website it says this:</p>
<p>*WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR FINANCIAL AID?
All full-time regularly admitted students with demonstrated financial need who are citizens of the United States or Trust Territories, or who are permanent residents of the United States, are eligible for financial aid. </p>
<p>*
Does it say somewhere else that int’ls get aid?</p>
<p>Where else are you applying?</p>
<p>Financial aid is based on income and the value of any assets. So even if the 4 properties do not generate net income their value as an asset. will be taken into account when calculating what your financial need is. You have a pretty good income and that with the ownership of 4 properties makes it unlikely you will receive large amounts of need based aid.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids:</p>
<p>Thank you for your insight. Unfortuantely I have the feeling that you’re right and that we won’t qualify for much aid.</p>
<p>I’m applying for aid at Pitzer College, Occidental College and Claremont McKenna College. From what I’ve read, they do their best to meet all demonstrated need, but nothing is 100% guaranteed.</p>
<p>Is it not unreasonable for a college to expect my parents to sell their houses as that is their retirement plan? Also, in this economic climate, I’m pretty sure we would actually lose money. If the housing market was good, my parents have said they would remortgage a house and that would cover tuition…unfortunately its not!</p>
<p>That may be part of your parents’ retirement plan, but it’s not protected as a retirement plan for financial aid. I realize that the economic climate isn’t good for selling or remortgaging properties, but that isn’t really taken into account. Those homes are still assets. </p>
<p>Pitzer’s website says that you must be a US citizen or resident to get aid. <a href=“http://www.pitzer.edu/admission/financial_aid/index.asp[/url]”>http://www.pitzer.edu/admission/financial_aid/index.asp</a></p>
<p>Many schools say that they will make the attempt to meet need, but you have to also look if they exclude internationals in that promise. Many do.</p>
<p>I think that you need to look at how much your parents can pay and look for affordable choices for paying in full. How much can they pay? $25k per year?</p>
<p>My mistake with Pitzer. I’m also applying to Claremont McKenna, which does give aid to international students so, as they are both part of the Claremont Consortium, I assumed Pitzer had similar policies.</p>
<p>My parents can probably pay around $15k per year, and I’m hoping to receive some money in the form of merit scholarships.</p>
<p>What are your financial safeties?</p>
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<p>The only retirement accounts that are not counted for financial aid purposes are actual RETIREMENT accounts such as IRAs. TSAs, 401K, 403B etc. These accounts have money in them which is put away for retirement purposes and there is actually a hefty penalty if the money is withdrawn before the age of 59 1/2. Most of these accounts (with the exception of Roth accounts) have not had taxes paid on them so when you DO withdraw the funds you have to pay taxes as though they were income…another incentive to leave them in place until retirement age.</p>
<p>Any real estate might have been purchased with the idea that it would be used to support your family’s retirement. BUT the reality is that you can sell those properties at any time and take the money out of them. They are NOT considered to be “retirement” accounts for financial aid purposes because there is nothing that prevents your family from selling them at any point. That is a CHOICE they are making. To be honest, many families with additional real estate investments DO sell some of them to help pay for college. </p>
<p>The thing that will be considered is the VALUE of these properties. If your parents are filing taxes (or whatever they do as internationals who own properties), there may be some kind of offset between the rent/mortage whereby the total income from the rent might be used for the expenses related to the house. BUT the value of those houses WOULD count.</p>