@calicash How is a quarter of a million dollars deceptive?
@calicash Have you heard the expression, ‘She can dish it out but she can’t take it?’
@Madison85 No, and I’m not sure how that relates to me.
But $240,000 is deceptive because as you make more, you live in different areas and pay more in taxes. I read an article somewhere saying that a family who makes $250,000 per year usually has about $80,000 to spend per year after taxes basic necessities (water, mortgage, electricity)
Calicash…the point is…if you had Northwestern stats, you would have been able to garner more merit aid at other less selective schools…but you don’t. And that is why your merit offers have not been forthcoming in the amounts you think you need.
Since miney is coming from grandpa in 2017…which is two years from now when your EFC is going UP…why do you need to ask for money from him NOW? Makes no sense!
My family makes 150K per year. We will be paying 40K per year for my son’s college, and it will be difficult. We have equity in our home though, and our mortgage payment is very low right now, before we start paying for my son’s college. We also will have a 10-month payment plan, a fee around 50 dollars and then interest free, paid between July and April. He will be taking out 34K of loans total over four years.
I do not understand how 240K per year, 90K more than my family makes, with my family living near NYC in a very expensive town with high property taxes, can be that “deceptive” that your family can only pay up to 35K per year. Unless that is what they will pay, and they do not care about what they actually have available (you are their youngest child, correct?). Please look up the cost of living in the NYC metropolitan area, and please let me know it is more expensive near you. I cannot believe it.
Let us look at Northeastern. With absolutely NO FA, and NO work study (I hope you would work during the school year if you are this worried about money, to offset costs), the cost of attending is $57,490. It is certainly not $70,000 per year.
http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/pdf/calculator1.html (2014-2015 costs)
Based on your parents’ ability to pay 35K per year, that means you would have to take out loans for 22,490 each year. IF you live on campus and use the meal plan listed. That’s about 90K you would need. If you work during college, that would be another 2.5K each year (usually). If you work in the summer, you might get another 2.5K after taxes. That is 5K per year working, so 20K less than 90K is 70K owed. If you can get any federal loans, that would be around 35K total, based on my son’s federal loan package (noting that we make quite a bit but still he was offered loans). That would be 35K left for you to get out as personal loans with your parents co-signing, or PLUS loans they would get.
But all of that is assuming your parents have no equity in their home. And no way to borrow from their 401k. And once your sibling is out of school, the money they paid for them will disappear. And no cash saved. Or they run a business and are paranoid things might hit the fan.
And assuming you aren’t in the top 25% of Northeastern’s applicants, which from your stats, you may be:
http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/grants-scholarships/undergraduate.html
And if you look at the SUNYs, or Alabama, you’ll see much lower tuitions, and if your parents are still willing to pay, you’ll be fine.
Relax. Wait. See where you get in. See what FA packages you are offered. About the only thing you could do now is try to line up some summer work so you’ll get some income. If you know you won’t get FA (and that remains to be seen, because you did submit both FA forms according to your other posts, so you could get grant or merit aid), your income won’t matter at all it will only help.
@calicash Dishing it out but not taking it is when you say harsh truths about other people (your sibling and cousins) but when someone says a harsh truth about you (not having Northwestern stats) you call it an unnecessary dig.
Re: Post #41 for example, federal, California, and SS/Medicare tax on income of $240k is $90k, according to an online calculator, leaving $150k for food, clothes, cars, insurance, housing, vacations, utilities, retirement, and education. That’s over $12,000 per month!
I want to be deceived with $12k per month in my bank account!
Is the issue that your parents CAN afford to pay for your school, they just don’t WANT to? I know you mention high COL but I can’t imagine that would affect your income/ability to pay as much as you say it does, based on what other posters have mentioned and just experience with friends. It seems the CSS/FAFSA is generally pretty accurate on what we can technically afford to pay, even if it’s a little uncomfortable.
It just doesn’t make any sense that your EFC is $70,000 between you and your sister, your sister only needs $7,000 of that and is planning to pay them back, and yet your parents can only afford $30,000 for you. Something isn’t adding up.
You’ll have to attend a SUNY or Alabama like you mentioned. I would NOT recommend taking out $75k in loans as someone who wants to be a writer.
Here is another one: ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’.
An example of this would be parents who are continually stretching the budget and borrowing money to live in a bigger home in a nicer neighborhood with fancy cars and vacations, and their child also wants to push the limit of affordability and go to a pricier college with name recognition.
Yeah, I don’t get it. I think the better way to put this is:
"My parent’s EFC is more than the cost of most colleges. They will pay up to 35K per year of my college costs, but beyond that, I will be responsible.
What should I do?"
The answer will be:
- Go somewhere where the cost of attendance is 35K per year or less
- Resign yourself to taking out loans of the difference
- Or go somewhere that offers you enough merit aid that you won’t have to take out too many loans
The “deceptive 240K” is perhaps, to put it in the OP’s words, part of the parents’ “delusional” thoughts.
Hopefully, the OP will be pleasantly surprised to get some good FA offers from the schools applied to, and this will all be conjecture. And in 2017, the OP will cash in and worry even less.
Wait, is grandpa projected to pass away in 2017?
@thumper1 he’s 90. I don’t know if he will be around that long. I figured that if my parents were to ask and he said yes, he would put it in a special account. Don’t they have special college accounts for that?
In addition, only one of the schools I am applying to awards aid only by SAT score.
@Madison85 No. Why are you twisting this? My EFC jumps to $70,000 in 2017.
@Madison85 I don’t really appreciate what you are insinuating. My parents bought their house in 1994 for less than $200,000 and my mom drives a car from 2003 and my dad had to buy a new car because his car from 2001 broke down. And I don’t live in a wealthy neighborhood. I don’t appreciate you insinuating that my parents are fiscally irresponsible. You don’t know my family situation.
@calicash: From post #37 - ‘getting money from an elder in 2017’.
@Madison85 I just said that I should’ve explained it that the elder would hopefully be my granddad
Post #41 - You said when you make more money, you live in different areas. But now you say your parents have lived in the same house for over 20 years. I apologize for misunderstanding your comments @calicash.
@novafan1225 The loans would be to make up the difference. I don’t know what the exact break down would be but the $75,000 over 2 years was just a number I threw out. The issue is that my EFC in two years will be too high and my parents will not be able to afford that. We can manage the first two years just fine, but I’m looking into the future. I don’t know what my family situation will be in two years, but I’m just trying to plan ahead. I also don’t know what my merit aid packages will be from 1 of the schools I’ve gotten into and the other 7/8 I’m waiting for.
@Madison85 sorry for the confusion. I don’t mean that I live a lavish lifestyle jet setting around the world. I just mean that the cost of the area you live in is higher than say, a family that lives in an area where people make $50,000 per year.
Okay - so we don’t know your family situation, but it is such that 240K per year is middle class to you, and your parents real ability to pay is 35K per year, half of what the NPCs you run say your EFC should be.
Have you spoken to anyone about how to include special circumstances, like if you are paying for a sick relative’s hospital bills, or a parent is disabled, etc., on your FA forms? Or how to discuss such issues with a college’s FA office?
We made sure to mention that we are responsible for an elderly relative who is below poverty level in the extra information section. I do not know if it matters, but if you truly have a special situation, and truly cannot afford the cost of your dream college, you need to let them know. We on the CC forum obviously do not need to know your personal details, but it is a bit alarming that you have money woes when you report such a high family income.
Again, relax, wait, get your FA packages, and call each college if you have special circumstances.
I live in an area where 100K per year puts someone at lower middle class, having trouble to get by if they have three kids. I know that in some areas of the US, that would put you in upper middle class. I do not know where you got the idea that 240K year anywhere in the United States is middle class. I think some people find that offensive, without knowing your personal situation.
And that is how colleges will be - if they DON’T know your personal situation, they cannot help you. Pick the best FA / COA combo and go there, or make some phone calls after you get decisions.
(PS - if you told grandpa that you are going to the University of Alabama (before you send your deposit anywhere), because of money, there is a slim chance he would ask where else you were accepted, and THEN you could do a pitch for getting some FA from Grandpa if you were accepted at a much more costly school…)
(PPS - to other posters - I would take a bet that the OP has friends who have much richer parents, so perhaps that is why 240K per year seems middle class?)
@rhandco I go to a public school and most of the people in my school have an EFC below $10,000 and there is actually a person on my moms side who has an EFC of $0. So I really think I am middle class because of the money my parents have available while not frivolously spending. My mom is paying to take care of her mother for about $12000 per year, but she does have not have any documents to prove it, so she chose to exclude that. I am excluding many details on this thread though so that I can protect my identity.