<p>no explanation needed</p>
<p>No family debt is not considered.</p>
<p>I went to the fafsa site and used the estimator tool…
as far as I could tell from the first pass at it—it does not take into account debt load–so it is loooking for 25-35% of income regardless of mortgage/credit cards etc…whatever is in your nut per month does not get dealt with in this formula… nope.
Bad news for many families I am afraid…</p>
<p>I could be wrong but the estimator did not ask for mortgage payments etc…</p>
<p>FAFSA does not taken into account debt. The only exception is where debt is directly against a reportable asset, in which case the value of the asset that is reported is it’s value less the debt against it. For instance a second home would be reported at its value less the mortgage outstanding against that home. (primary home is not reported on FAFSA). Otherwise no, Debt is not a factor.</p>
<p>Debt is considered to be a personal lifestyle choice. An exception is medical bill debt.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids… Medical debt is NOT noted on the FAFSA. Medical debt is something that is treated as a special circumstance by the individual colleges. It requires significant documentation of the debt. AND it is up to the COLLEGE to determine if they will allow this as a special circumstance.</p>
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<p>Actually, there is an income protection allowance as well as allowances for taxes built into the formula. It doesn’t address the parent’s specific spending profile and isn’t tied to income but does consider family size. For example, a family of 4 with one student has an income protection allowance of $24,370 while a family of 6 with 1 student has an exemption of $33,630.</p>
<p>This document will show you how the EFC calculators actually work:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thumper </p>
<p>Yes. I just meant that medical debt is one of the rare debts that a family might get some relief.</p>
<p>What is interesting is that the FAFSA isn’t accouting for mortgage debt.
A modest family home ranges greatly in price from one part of the US to the other…
gosh 25 yrs ago when Dh and I bouth a 1 br 1.5 ba with a sitting room, den and galley kitchen in Wash DC we paid as much as his folks were selling their 4 br 2.5 bath home in FL…
so debt for a home/property taxes etc is not always a “lifestyle choice”…</p>
<p>And frankly 20 yrs ago my parents paid 2-3x what I pay now in state property taxes because they were in the NE and I am not…if I lived in that same house–the prpoerty taxes would be 6-7x what I am paying…</p>
<p>So I think its a little snarky when people say–too bad - your home mortage is your “lifestyle choice”…when we don’t know what the avg home cost in that zip code is…
kwim… not everyone can live in the “middle of no-where” so to speak…</p>
<p>Income may seem high for folks when compared to their own —but you have to look at COL in that region. Gosh–a doz eggs or a gal of gas varies from state to state.</p>
<p>just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I lived in upstate New York (near Syracuse) when I met my (now) husband, who lived (and still does) on Eastern Long Island.</p>
<p>My house and his house are very similar - both modest but nice (about 1600 sq foot, small lots).</p>
<p>I sold my house upstate for 100 grand and was thrilled to get it.</p>
<p>This house is assessed at close to 300 grand. At the time I sold my house (2005) we probably could have sold this for close to half a million (although now the market has tanked). Property taxes are significantly higher here, as well.</p>
<p>So I also disagree that home mortgages are necessarily a “lifestyle choice.” Yes we can sell this and move somewhere else, but for most people that is not an option. Unless there is a job waiting elsewhere, most people can’t just sell and move.</p>
<p>This is one area (just like federal taxes) that different areas of the country are not treated “fairly.” <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>I had another thought…since the implosion of the real estate market–and how schools ask about your home as well as other real estate…</p>
<p>At least in our area–nothing is selling. In our neighborhood–some things have sat 2-3 yrs. We have had several foreclosures in the neighborhood. And there is a glut of business property --empty–too much for lease, and too much for sale.</p>
<p>Finding a real value when there aren’t market comps is a real trick, isn’t it.</p>
<p>No one is saying that the system is fair. It’s just what we have to deal with.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is being “snarky” by stating that the FA system considers debt as a “lifestyle choice.” They’re just stating a fact as to how debt is viewed by the system -whether it’s for a home, credit cards, etc.</p>
<p>Since zip code is requested, perhaps there is something in the formula to take into account the average housing in an area.</p>
<p>In our case, average housing is much less than our home. We chose to buy a more expensive home. That was our lifestyle choice.</p>
<p>Ugh ziP codes. I live in an area that we bought our 100 year old-1000 sqft home in a semi industrial blue collar area that was cheaper than most because nobody wanted to live in this neighborhood because it was full of shipyard and factory workers ( which we are BTW).
Now it is full of hipsters working at Adobe making 6 figures who have jacked up their basements to get more headroom intheir recording studios (not that I have anything against “hiPsters”, since they have taken over,a coffee shop and hair salon have taken over where the ratty gun shop used to be and now people are really impressed when they hear what neighborhood we live in). ;)</p>
<p>So our proPerty values have increased even though our income hasn’t and Private colleges exPected us to borrow from the “new” equity that was formed with the inflated real estate.
But now that we did that, the “bubble” popped and Prices went down.</p>
<p>But to answer the question no, debt isn’t considered.</p>