<p>I just ran the Yale NPC with the following assumptions: total parent wage income $150,000, $5K contribution to 401K from employer, only 1 child, only real estate owned the family house (bought for $500K in 1999, now worth $350K, mortgage $340K), student income 0 and assets $500, family savings (not retirement) $50K. Rounding, the EFC is $35K and the FA is $25K ($2K of which is a student job). Oh, and I picked a random zip code in Sacramento. 
There were some other things I don’t recall, but I tried to keep it as simple as possible.</p>
<p>Depending on your situation, you can get a suprising amount of grant aid from H and Y. I’d check it out.</p>
<p>As I recall, FAFSA included annual 401K contribution in income, but it excluded 401K balance from savings. I’m not sure that’s really fair, but I think that’s how worked.</p>
<p>Do you mean the employer contribution, or the employee contribution? </p>
<p>According to Wikipedia:</p>
<p>“In 2010, the median household retirement account balance for workers aged 55 to 64 was $120,000, which will provide only a trivial supplement to Social Security benefits, but a third of households had no retirement savings at all.[7] 75% of Americans nearing retirement age had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts, which Forbes called “the greatest retirement crisis in American history.”[8]”</p>
<p>I meant employee contribution. In other words, you can deduct it for tax purposes but not for FAFSA. [IRA</a> Contributions: Pay Less In Tax, But More For College - Forbes](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2013/02/28/ira-contributions-pay-less-in-tax-but-more-for-college/]IRA”>IRA Contributions: Pay Less In Tax, But More For College)</p>
<p>This link includes more info about the 401K balance not being considered part of savings. [Financial</a> Aid and Your Savings](<a href=“Are Investments Factored into Financial Aid on the FAFSA?”>Are Investments Factored into Financial Aid on the FAFSA?)</p>
<p>Well, that makes sense. It is disposable income, after all</p>
<p>OP, if your parents make too much money to get any FA, but are urging you to apply to highly selective, need-only schools, I would wonder if they would in fact be willing to pay more for a school they consider to be “worth it.” Or are they looking for bragging rights? I would certainly doubt it and hope not.</p>
<p>In general, HYPS are very generous with need-based aid. They are also flexible if the aid you are initially awarded is not quite enough.</p>
<p>Yes, it definitely makes sense that employee 401K contributions count as income. But not all parents realize that 401K balance is not considered Savings for FAFSA formula.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>Can I assume STEM schools are not of interest? Also, can you either share your apx. income level or run some financial aid calculators at Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard? My understanding is for families that earn up to 200K, there’s need-based aid at those schools.</p>
<p>For my STEM kid, coming from a Christian and conservative family, these schools ultimately made the list:</p>
<p>Princeton
Penn
MIT (where he currently attends; a very good environment, it seems, for healthy dialogue across many different views)
Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Vanderbilt
WUSTL</p>
<p>Safeties: Pitt, UTDallas (you might add this as a safety and try to apply for the McDermott Scholarship. I know it’s not an LAC but…), and Baylor.</p>
<p>Schools that sounded interesting but didn’t make the cut:</p>
<p>Davidson
Furman
Grove City
Stanford</p>
<p>My son’s school choices were based on his interest in math so these schools might not be the best fit for you.</p>
<p>“I think Colorado College is more moderate/middle of the road. It is in Colorado Springs, which is a fairly conservative community, too.”</p>
<p>I don’t think this is it all accurate. Colorado College (which we all really liked, a hidden gem) is pretty liberal, as are most top colleges anywhere. The presence of Col Springs has nothing to do with that. But, I would describe it as “accepting liberal” versus “strident liberal.” And I think that “strident liberal” is what the OP wishes to avoid.</p>
<p>“Haverford and Whitman are not “top LACs” – both are probably second tier, although Haverford is on the cusp.”</p>
<p>Haverford most certainly is a top tier LAC. It’s in the top 10. Why wouldn’t you classify it in the same range as Williams, Amherst, Swat, Wellesley, etc.? I’m wondering if you confused it with another school.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the (extremely) helpful advice you all have given regarding financial aid. As far as income level goes, here’s the complete picture:</p>
<p>My dad, our family’s bread-winner, had been earning 150-200k (my parents don’t like to discuss specific numbers) as recently as last year. In January, he resigned from his job for a plethora of personal reasons and was job-hunting for about five months. He then decided to start his own business and, from what I gather, is earning slightly less than he did before. We ran the aid calculators right before he stopped working. The whole situation has made it more difficult to estimate our family income, tax returns, benefits, etc. for the calculators FOR THIS YEAR. (Since we didn’t really have an income for five months, presumably freshman year’s FA will be much better than subsequent years.)</p>
<p>sbjdorlo-- thanks for sharing your experience. At the moment, I’m interested in economics, chemistry, and a couple other possibilities as far as major goes. Looking at LACs instead of STEM schools.</p>
<p>Well, it seems that my estimates my have been in the ballpark. I really suggest running through the calculators again with figures as accurate as you can make them. You may be in range to get some significant $$ from HYPin particular–if you can get in, of course.</p>
<p>You weren’t too far off, Consolation. Though I do have two younger siblings and we live in a more expensive area than Sacramento-- but overall not bad ;)</p>
<p>I’m definitely not counting on getting in at any of my reaches-- or all of my matches for that matter. Right now I’m operating on the assumption that I won’t get into Princeton, Dartmouth, CMC, etc.</p>
<p>For chemistry, you can check for ACS approval of the major at the school:
<a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society;
<p>For economics, if you are considering going on to a PhD program, look for a math intensive economics department (e.g. intermediate microeconomics and econometrics courses that have math prerequisites higher than frosh calculus, and/or advanced mathematical economics courses) and good math and statistics offerings. Here is suggested preparation for a PhD program in economics:
<a href=“https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/preparation[/url]”>Preparation | Department of Economics;
<p>Whoa, talk about putting the cart before the horse. This young lady is smart, has the goods, and just needs a little help focusing on the right possibilities. Don’t freak her out over getting a PhD in economics. What 18 yo is thinking that way?? Take one step at a time here.</p>
<p>Given that lots of high school seniors have graduate school aspirations, it is worth considering preparation for such in one’s undergraduate school choice.</p>
<p>Lots of high school seniors have aspirations to go to law, medical or business school. This young lady hasn’t started the thread with a “I’m dying to get my PhD in economics” so why even go there?</p>
<p>
One way to do that is to apply early action to a school that is a financial safety (i.e. merit aid) that you also like. With an acceptance in hand, and perhaps a scholarship award letter, you can then apply to any other schools that you want to in the regular decision round.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Given a potential major in economics, it is certainly possible that the OP may be considering that possibility. Would you rather have her not realize the existence of such considerations to avoid closing off that possibility even before she attends college? Of course, if she has no possibility of doing a PhD in economics, then she can ignore such considerations. But at least she would have thought about it and made an informed decision.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus-- thanks for the ACS link. I have taken note when a college’s chemistry department is ACS approved, though I’m not sure what that translates to in terms of major quality/rigor. Are there significant differences between approved and non-approved programs?</p>
<p>Hahaha Pizzagirl. No worries, I’m not freaked out 
(Though it is rather surprising to see how many other 16 year olds already know they want to get a doctorate in _______.) And I’m basically undecided; I like chemistry and economics but have a million other random interests-- everything from epidemiology to marketing to statistics. Grad school is definitely a possibility but obviously not for a while yet.</p>
<p>That’s what I’m thinking I’ll do, ariesathena-- especially since some super-selective schools don’t have a EA round. Is there a significant admissions advantage to applying early action to a reach LAC (Williams, CMC, etc?)</p>