@austinmshauri Well said!
People need to count their blessings. Being able to go to college at all is a privilege. People need to realize that. There are worse things in the world then the FAFSA being screwed up or who did or did not get a full ride. Life isn’t fair. Yes, college costs are too high, but that is a whole other problem.
There was a girl in D’s class who got a near full ride to prestigious university. This girl was a scholarship student at D’s private high school. She also lost her mother at a young age. Given the choice between a full ride to a prestigious university and getting her mom back, I’m sure this girl would choose to get her mom back. But, she can’t get her mom back. You could take one of my D’s friends, who comes from a very wealthy family and is very nice. She had an operation to remove a brain tumor. She can’t drive and walks a bit off. Yet she has all the money in the world and can go to college wherever she wants. People have lots of hardships. I’m sure she’d trade all her wealth for not having to have had brain surgery.
Life isn’t fair. Sometimes you don’t know what people have had to deal with. Lots of people get and have things that you don’t. Be grateful that you’re healthy and happy
@cshell2 there is a place on the Profile to explain any extenuating circumstances…BUT it’s better to contact the financial aid department and ask how to get a special circumstance consideration…because you won’t have that child support when your kiddo starts college.
Worth asking.
@suzy100 there is no place on the FAFSA for any kind of comments…at all.
FAFSA looks at the HOME the student lives in and the income of the family members. The NCP doesn’t live in that home so NCP income isn’t considered. Child support from that person is. If income is coming from grandparents or even income the child earns, that’s household income.
If the family has other circumstance like a job loss or medical expenses, a request for reconsideration can be filed.
What better way is there? The formulas consider the most common scenarios. The schools just aren’t going to go through every single situation and decide if that parent is earning enough, paying too much for a mortgage, blowing the food money on beer and cigarettes.
@natty1988 I totally agree with you that life isn’t fair. My middle child has autism and will not be graduating high school with a diploma, will never have the opportunity to go to college and may never live independently. I would give anything to have him be able to even attend our local community college. I am so thankful that my other 2 kids will be able to go to college, and our local state schools will be just fine for them and will allow us to save money for our autistic son’s future after my husband and I are gone.
It’s all about perspective.
Can we stop with this divorce stuff, it is the biggest destroyer of wealth in the US, not even sure there’s a close second.
The best way to avoid divorce is to not get married. Hopefully the kids are watching. Once we start looking at it as a financial arrangement it will be clearer. I think young people are smart.
The only thing worse than divorce is living in a horrid marriage.
I don’t know if it “wins” but I see health issues destroying a lot of wealth including alcohol/drug abuse among health issues. It’s at least a close second around here, and it could indeed win.
Here is the scenario I see a lot: EFC, NPC comes up with $70k. Family can’t pay it. Perhaps they have not earned this amount consistently over last 10 years and had some unemployment and bills during that time. They are not funded as they should be for retirement. Taking out huge loans not a good idea.
Most of these families can pay State U prices, can even send kid away to school. $35k is doable with kid paying 20% of cost with loans and work, and parents paying the rest with loans and austerity.
But $70k? It can sink them. So the HYPSMC Et al crowd is out of reach. But the kid whose parents make under $60 a year, those kids likely can afford to apply to those schools and are urged to do so if they have the academic stats. In fact, the highly selective private schools are often the best deal IF THE KID CAN GET IN. But those kids have an opportunity that the high income kids do not if the parents can’t or won’t come up with the money.
That is the small corner of college apps and admissions that upset upper income families.
This affects middle income families too. They actually qualify for financial sid at the top schools, maybe for as much as half the cost. But, here’s the hitch: They can’t get more than half the cost covered through merit money unless they get scholarships that are more than the financial aid, because the scholarships erode the aid. For those who get self help in the aid package, the kid can’t earn much or borrow that direct loan towards EFC.
So the eyes turn laser green and focus on the rare bird who is low income gets full aid package which makes it possible to go the high priced schools that the above categories can not afford
Divorce is terrible in many ways. It poses a particular problem when a we’ll to do parent refuses to pay for college or even release the financials to be considered. I’ve seen this happen many times. Especially if that parent remarried and started a new family.
Right now, the divorce aspect- and the non custodial refusing to pay- seems hypothetical.
OP needs to find affordable options and not dismiss instate colleges. Learn more about them.
It would probably help to list the kid’s stats, test scores (ACT/PSAT/SAT) as I am not sure this is a tippy top school kid, period. As this kid is a current junior, apps are within weeks of opening. As dad sounds new to the process, it would be well worth a reality check WRT stats.
OP …there is nothing wrong with state schools. If you share your daughter’s stats we can help you figure it all out.
@cptofthehouse I think you summed it up pretty well. Some of those families who can’t pay the $70K will go ahead and take out loans for the difference.
It would be interesting to know the number of kids/families at the elite who are getting 75% of the COA no loans and then who are getting 95% of the COA with no loans. Then compare the grad rates for those two populations compared to the rest.
Some folks have said they would rather not have the income so their kid could go to said elite school. Let’s just frame that for a moment. Today I happen to be at work(mgrs. have to cover every 6th Saturday). When I get home neither myself nor my wife will be interested in cooking dinner. So my family of four will either go out for food or maybe someone will go grab food and bring it home. But I won’t think twice about the extra cost compared to making dinner. The folks with low income think about that stuff every day all day long. It doesn’t sound like fun.
Quit your job and get rid of your assets. Let the FA officers at the schools know you are a displaced worker. Give up the house and live in cheap digs. You can always slide down the economic chute. The way up is a painful ladder, not so easy.
gpo613, so many elites do have high 4 and 6 year grad rates.
With a $70k EFC, parental income is probably a bit higher than $200k. By my math, you could be sending two kids to full-pay school and still be better off than the family making under $60k.
well they’re not better off unless you are counting the well-running two cars in the driveway, a nice multi-bedroom house being paid off regularly, good health insurance, a low-crime neighborhood, etc. (all of which is “eating up” that nice salary") And of course all of that “counts.”
It’s just not a divorced parent who can refuse to pay for college, there are plenty of married parents that won’t pay for expensive colleges either!
I’m a big advocate of saving early and often for college if/when the “big crash” happens you can hopefully weather that storm. 18-21 years is a long time to accumulate some savings.
To the OP, if you live in CA you can always go to community college for 2 years and transfer to one of the several dozen of excellent state colleges. Heck, 4 of my 5 siblings did just that and saved our parents a ton of money. We all turned out ok, with good paying jobs.
Stop the complaining, YOU are the one in control of your life, no one else is the culprit.
Based on information from the following, middle income families (of 3 with 1 in college) get much more than half of the list price covered at Harvard (list price $74,750).
https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-percentiles/
https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
Income Harvard NPC
percentile amount income used net price
30 35495 40000 4600
40 48002 50000 4600
50 61822 65000 4600
60 78567 80000 7000
70 98823 100000 9600
To get a net price of more than half of list price in the Harvard NPC, income has to be $185,000 or higher (91st percentile or higher). Probably not “middle income” in a real sense, but commonly seen as “middle income” on these forums.