A lot of families with high incomes and assets, “high” interns of being in the upper single digit percent of families , often even far less, still want to find lower costs in colleges even if they can “afford” the list prices. Even if they have all the money saved up to pay for it. Even if grandparents will pay.
Many will bite the bullet ( not literally @BelknapPoint ?) and pay it, especially for a name recognition, High prestige school. But the prices are getting up there to the point that there that I feel that there is more balking at paying amounts, getting up to $80k, for schools that may not have the recognition, and even for those that do.
I was away from the scene for a few years, and first thing I noticed was that merit awards have gone upwards at some selective schools. With my older two, getting $5k was pretty good. We thought $10k for middle kid was terrific. Now $30k popping up all over the place.
But some schools simply do not give merit money. And with an Expected contribution over the COA of the school, I don’t expect anyone in such a situation to get anything from schools like HPY et al.
But they can try. (They referring to applicant and parents of applicants to highly selective schools wanting to negotiate aid awards). No reason not to do so. We don’t know the intricacies of anyone’s finances, or if what they present to us is exactly right. There might be negotiating, or as colleges prefer to say, “discussion “ over the financial terms.
A bit harsh, IMO. I’ve known a number of people who are not lying and deceiving, and are quite proud that their kids got merit money from whatever school and would not caveat it’s as likely enticement money to get the able-to-pay-full kid to go to that school.
Those sweetness can make the difference $10k, even $20k from a less prestigious school might not knock HPY out of contention, but sometimes comes down to choices among a bunch of like schools With no clear favorite. Absolutely, merit money can tilt the results.
“They” are the calculators (whatever that is) at CSS Profile? Nobody/nothing at CSS calculates anything to come up with a student’s EFC. Profile is only a reporting vehicle. Every school that uses Profile has their own EFC formula and does their own calculations. There is no standard practice associated with Profile to determine EFC percentages when the student has siblings in college.
My comment was in response to what ordinarylives posted, and has nothing to do with the “number of people who are not lying and deceiving” that you know. And I’m sure you know lots of people who can serve as an example for any possible scenario that’s needed to backup one of your claims, because that’s how most of your posts read (“I know this can happen, because it happened to my cousin’s friend’s daughter…”).
P.S. If able-to-pay-full kids are in such demand because of that status, doesn’t it at least partially defeat the purpose of getting them to attend if the school needs to pay money to make that happen?
Ok, they do count home equity with few exceptions at the best ranked schools. Test the online formulas if you don’t believe it. They also count retirement savings ( different formulas depending on the school. Why wouldn’t they. We have a large retirement nest egg. If someone owned an apartment building or someone had several million in retirement—those are assets and should be counted.
Trust me, you’re kids are not going to want to go to Rutgers if dream school x is in the table. There is no way in the world, i would do that to my kids. They might not know how much $ you have but they will one day. We raised our kids to recognize that education is a gift.
Op-I don’t envy you. This is going to be a tough bridge to cross especially with two kids.
Profile asks for qualified retirement account balances, but there is no evidence that I am aware of that any school actively and routinely uses that information to calculate a student’s EFC for any kind of need-based aid. If I am misinformed, please tell me where I can find information that supports your claim.
Run Collegeboard’s EFC calculator and select both federal and institutional aid. Its not perfect. but will give you an idea of the difference at FAFSA and Profile schools.
OP, what are your twins’ stats? SAT/ACT scores? GPA (weighted/unweighted), course rigor, APs, etc. This will also help understand if this is even a conversation wiorth having.
Why will your income drop, if both of you are salaried employees? If one of you chooses to retire, that is a choice, not a hardship. Will you have a pension?
@A173 - You might want to add a second ‘safety’ school if Rutgers BME program is impacted. Your twins may not get accepted to the program. What would you do then if you deem none of the financial terms of other accepted schools as ‘affordable.’
Just a heads up - you do not come across as the kindhearted parent of three kids. Think the opposite. Read through some of the replies on this thread. Do you see the frustration of those who have tried to offer advice?
As a father of twins, I know it can be challenging. I was sorely disappointed by the number of schools my NMF twins (yeah, both of them) were rejected from. We wish we would have had a few more safety schools on the list. That’s my bit of advice that I doubt you will take.
Twin 1: SAT 1570 (Math - 800, ILA - 770), SAT II Math - 800, Bio - 800, Chem - 770, GPA 4.68, top 1% in her class of 700. GSET scholar, Liberty Science Center program, MIT conference, FBLA president, Waksman program, Science Olympiad since 8th grade. 10 AP classes, I believe all exams she took she got 5 except CS where she got 3.
Wants to study BME.
Twin 2: SAT 1530 (Math 800, ILA - 730), SAT II Math - 800, Bio - 800, Chem - 740 (I believe, don’t remember exactly), GPA 4.32, I believe top 7% in her class of 700. FBLA, Liberty Science Center program, Science Olympiad since 8th grade. Varsity track team. 10 AP classes, those she took already I believe she got half 5 and half 4.
Does not know what she wants. She is going to college as “undecided”.
We know this. But we do not want them to go to any college that gives them free tuition. They and us want them to go to top schools as thy are top students.
Congrats on the achievements of your twins…you should be proud!!
Your twins would likely receive merit money at many schools. Just make sure that if they apply to schools that meet full need, you are prepared to pay full price should they get accepted (keep in mind that many of these schools are quite competitive).
If you want them to attend Top schools, then you should be prepared to pay full price, which many parents happily do, with fewer assets than you.
I am not sure what exactly you are looking for, and seem to be conflicted on how much to spend.
What If, your kids get into a Top 10 school, but it costs 80K, would you pay ?
Again, there are plenty of families who choose NOT to pay full price, when they can easily afford it, because they do not see the ROI.
You just have to do whatever works for your family.
But do not expect need based aid or ‘discounts’, you will get none.
Do you have the full list of schools in play? I think the schools where acceptance is likely as you are full pay and your DDs are stellar students (like OOS publics) are going to create the most angst. You would be happy to be full pay at a tippy top? And are they NMFs?