<p>^^When you folks talk about income, are you generally referring to gross income, AGI, or taxable income? Thanks.</p>
<p>SSchickens, that is why it is possible , though not probable to get aid at $300K levels. The income is the AGI with 401K and other tax free contributions added back in for most people. Those with small businesses often have other things added back into the mix. Income taxes are taken out. </p>
<p>We know friends who had three in college, (twins and a singleton), a high tax situation one year and they were eligible for some aid. Not much. They had all three at high priced privates. I think that with two in college, if two of my kids should both hae gone to full cost top priced privates, we’d have been eligible by some calculators for aid, especially given a year when we owed some taxes from prior years due to recalculations.</p>
<p>SSchickens, that is why it is possible , though not probable to get aid at $300K levels. The income is the AGI with 401K and other tax free contributions added back in for most people. Those with small businesses often have other things added back into the mix. Income taxes are taken out. </p>
<p>We know friends who had three in college, (twins and a singleton), a high tax situation one year and they were eligible for some aid. Not much. They had all three at high priced privates. I think that with two in college, if two of my kids should both hae gone to full cost top priced privates, we’d have been eligible by some calculators for aid, especially given a year when we owed some taxes from prior years due to recalculations.</p>
<p>Thanks, cptofthehouse. Our AGI is about 250k, but with only one in college (our 2nd child is five years younger), I decided not to spend the $16 to send the CSS to profile schools as need-based aid seemed implausible. We filled out FAFSA for loans.</p>
<p>Sschickens…you DO want to check the policy at your kiddos school. Some schools will NOT allow applications for institutional aid in subsequent years if all of the financial aid forms are not submitted when the student is an incoming freshman. NOTE…you don’t have to be eligible or receive aid as an incoming freshman, but you have to apply at some schools.</p>
<p>No one wants to think about financial issues, but if your school has this policy AND you lose your main source of income or have some other financial catastrophe, you might NEED institutional aid in the future.</p>
<p>Thanks, Thumper. I emailed the five CSS schools that my D has applied to. Four of them confirmed that we don’t need to submit the profile based on our EFC. One school never responded, even after a follow-up email. But your point about a future financial catastrophe is a good one…I may need to re-think this. Again, thanks for your insight.</p>
<p>Not needing FA is a hook. I would think hard about applying (disclosing) your financial situation if you are not going to qualify for FA or be eligible for very little FA. I am not convinced schools would allow your kid to apply for FA later if your family should experience future financial catastrophe.</p>
<p>I think some schools won’t let int’ls file for aid later. However, I think domestics are able to file later if there is a financial catastrophe (death of primary breadwinner, job loss, etc). I’m not saying that there aren’t any, but I’ve never seen where a domestic student can’t apply for aid later IF THERE IS a financial catastrophe. </p>
<p>I meant to say " I am not convinced schools would NOT allow your kid to apply for FA later if your family should experience future financial catastrophe."</p>
<p>They can always file for federally funded aid. But some colleges (not a lot) specifically state that you cannot apply for their institutional aid in subsequent years if you don’t apply as an incoming freshman.</p>
<p>The most generous schools are need blind for admissions for domestic students. They don’t KNOW that you have no financial need.</p>
<p>Maybe Cornell is not the most generous need blind school, but every year they seem to have around 50% of kids who are full pay, so it would lead me to believe that admission is not exactly need blind.</p>
<p>I just checked D2 common app. There is a section where they ask you if you intend to apply for need based FA.</p>
<p>There is a difference between applying for financial aid from the schools and filing a FAFSA for access to PLUS and Student Direct loans. If you are asking the school for consideration for their funds, you have to follow their rules, give them what they request, and you have their deadlines, and yes, you have to let them know you are applying for aid in many cases so that their financial aid office will calculate an aid package for you. If you did not check the box on the Common APP that indicates you are applying for aid, there is a chance that your name will not be on the accepted student lists that Admissions sends to FIn Aid for your package to be processed. </p>
<p>But you can fill out FAFSA and get a SAR right up until the federal deadline, which is, I believe, the end of June of 2014 for the 2013 FAFSA, and a year after that for the 2014 FAFSA. That info only goes to schools or whoever else you indicate should get it, and if you don’t designate, they don’t get it. Parent and student have to get PINs to do this, then fill out the form (those PINs are good for all subsequent years of fed financial aid apps) and get the SAR which gives the EFC. End of matter if you don’t want to go any further with the process.</p>
<p>Anytime during the school year, up till that deadline, the student and/or parent can apply for federal loans, notably the Direct Student Loans and the PLUS, since the FAFSA is on file. It doesn’t matter which school the student attends other than if it’s a school that is accredited and in synch with this federal process, and if the COA supports the loan amounts. The loans can triggered at any time. THe money is directed to the school account, and anything owed to the school will be taken out of it first and each school has it’s own timeline and way to disburse the rest of the proceeds. Though the school is the conduit to getting the funds as they don’ t go directly to parent or student, financial need does not enter into it for that process.</p>
<p>But also be aware that it may not fulfill individual school’s rules for applying for fin aid for future consideration. THat’s why you have to ask the school what their policy is, if any. If a school says that those who do not apply for fin aid as freshmen, may have to show financials from that year as well as the year when they do have need and want consideration for aid, or has a sit out period, these are things you need to know exactly how the cases are handled. Schools that guarantee to meet full need, even, do not usually guarantee it to every category of students. And a student who did not apply for aid from the get go may not fall under that guarantee, and in schools that do not make any such guarantees to anyone,…well…, anything goes there.</p>