There are a lot of people in your situation, or at least a similar situation. An income of more than $300,000 per year (before tax) is a lot. However, some universities now cost over $80,000 per year. If you have two kids in school at the same time, then taking $160,000 per year out of your after-tax income is a huge hit.
However, that is the way that it is done in the US.
There are very good affordable options. You have good ones in-state.
You have a choice, you either find a very good affordable option, or you pay a lot of money for an education.
For undergrad we found very good affordable options that were a good fit for our kids. For graduate school, we might make a different choice.
Based on who I have seen hired at work, it definitely seems that an increasingly large number of very strong students are attending their in-state public universities. They get a great education. Four years later they graduate and we hire them.
This isn’t going to get you far. The schools will rightly say…this is a choice and the money could be used for college costs. Plus this would be a special circumstances consideration. You would need to document every single penny you sent, and the necessity for doing so. Special circumstances considerations are done on a case by case basis, and there is no guarantee that this will net you a dime more in need based aid.
AND you will need to do that special circumstances consideration every single year, times two.
You don’t need a Profile EFC…which doesn’t exist. You need the results of the Net Price Calculators for each of your kids’ target schools.
Why are you ignoring the strong suggestion that you run those Net Price Calculators?
True the schools you are talking about use CSS Profile. Run their NPCs so you can see your estimated cost. Please run the NPCs…where u have the option do the detailed one.
Regarding the parental support and large medical expenses you are paying, yes, you can ask for professional judgment once your kids are accepted, but really, with your income and assets, I don’t think you will be able to make a compelling case. But you can try.
What is your efc if you add in both your parents as household members (not that they are but just to get an idea of the impact)?
@Mwfan1921 , why would you even suggest to add in their parents as household members? They are not qualified just because they receive monetary support!
What I believe you are missing is that NPC gives you general ball park number what people with situation similar to mine pay for specific college. This would be the same as going to kbb.com and plugging all kind of parameters down to color and options to get the price of Toyota Corolla LE 2012 in my area. I will see it is $6K. However, few people really pay $6K. Some people pay $6500, some people pay $5500. Until you find that car and negotiate the price with specific seller you really don’t know what YOU will be paying for this car.
I don’t really need the NPC to give me a ball park number what I am expected to pay. I know each college sticker price. It is public information. However as I said few folks in my circle pay that sticker price. Each family is unique so is mine too. Until I get the package and go to negotiate that price that “I” will be paying nothing else is really relevant. If we determine that the price the college expects us to pay is not worth it we will forego that college.
This thread is going so fast because the OP refuses to think there is non merit based money that his kids can get. After all, the neighbors got it, right?
OP can bury his/her head in the sand or take the advice of VERY knowledgeable parents here.
I may ad that when you get your FA packages, you will the realize that those in your “circle” have been lying to you about their financial status. They weren’t getting freebee money. Good luck on those negotiations.
Most of my friends got initial package that included sticker price. I assume colleges calculated this sticker price based on their EFC, CSS and NPC. However, all of them were able to negotiate at least some discount from this sticker price.
Your EFC per kid is $107,000. If the cost of attendance is 75,000, you are asking for a “discount” of $32,000…each. Seriously…do you really think you will get that?
Oh…and do you have home equity…because the Profile does ask for that. And yes, some schools do figure you can borrow against your home.
I would also strongly suggest you not use the word “negotiate”. This isn’t a used car deal.
There is a lot of negotiation that goes on for a Toyota. Not so much for a Jag or BMW. The schools you are talking about are not Toyotas, they are Jags.
Your assumption shows just how willfully ignorant you are. A college’s NPC is not at all like pricing a used car on kbb.com. NPCs can be very accurate, as long as valid data is entered, especially so for elite competitive schools. The fact that you refuse to use NPCs and insist that you can “negotiate” a good deal when the EFCs are over $100k speaks volumes.
I believe applying to colleges is a two way street. As many applicants compete to get to top colleges these top colleges compete to get best students. And if some is hypothetically accepted to say MIT and Harvard and MIT costs $70K and Harvard costs $65K while MIT does not formally offer merit aid, it may match Harvard price and offer a discount. I also think that at least some FA officers realize that having $2mil assets is a lot on paper but may not be a lot in practice. It all depends on your specific circumstances. If you live in SF where an average house price already exceeds $.1.1 mil, $2mil is not that much and paying more than $500K for two kids just bachelor degree is neither feasible nor reasonable. And maybe they will offer some discount. Call it merit or need to anything else, I personally do not care.
Right. Elite universities can just say good riddance to a family not willing to pay. They’ve got tons of other families who will pay full price. They don’t need the one who wants to negotiate on a price. The school has already determined the right package unless there are big changes in the family’s financial situation.