Lots of Unaccounted Factors?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hey guys, I'm applying for financial aid, but there's a lot of things I can't cover in my app:</p>

<p>My family makes 150k+, I'm an only child, so I'm not getting any financial help.
Except that my parents still support my grandparents, who live out of the country, and thus cannot be counted as dependents.
Plus we have 3 houses underwater because of the 2008 recession. And my parents are going back to school.</p>

<p>So we don't have enough money to send me to college full-tuition, but it seems like we do. Is there anything I can do about it?</p>

2

<p>I’m sorry to hear about the circumstances! While your family does sound affluent it sounds like they have many constraints on their income as well. I think that the best bet is for your and your folks to sat down and work out! just as much they are willing to spend per year for your college education. </p>

<p>Once you get a $## down, you can look at what schools that #$# can cover as well as what schools you can get into with the parental contribution + any unsubsidized stafford loans (or whatever they are called now!!) </p>

<p>There aren’t a lot of schools that will count money that you support to spend on grandparents who live out of the country as well as the fact that you have three houses as factors in financial aid but i THINK (double check me ont his one!!) that some might care about if the parents are going to school too! it might not help you but it might help them and this may free up some money!</p>

3

<p>Consider your instate public Us and CCs, as they are likely among the lower cost options for college. If and when finances improve you could apply for a transfer and will have saved money in the years you were able to attend a less expensive U or CC. If you live at home and commute, it can also often save a lot of money over room and board at a U.</p>

4

<p>

Probably not. FAFSA specifically does not allow parents in school to be included as a family member in college on the student’s FAFSA. The student can be included on the parent’s FAFSA as one in school, but not the other way round. </p>

<p>With $150K income, it is unlikely you will qualify for need based aid as your EFC will be higher than the cost of most schools. Perhaps a little at the most generous schools, but they are generally the most expensive.</p>

<p>If you have good stats, look for schools where you might qualify for good merit aid.</p>

5

<p>*Hi guys! I’m a long-term stalker, first time user of CC. I’m in my senior year and I’d like to know where I sit in the pool of applicants for the Ivies, Northwestern, JHU, Urbana Champaign, UChicago, & MIT</p>

<p>*Note: I just received my SCEA from Stanford. Rejected </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 770 Math, 760 CR, 790 Writing (Total: 2320)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 780 Math 2, 780 Chem, 780 USH
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.633333
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/508
AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 in European History, 5s in USH, Chem, Lang, Calculus BC, Calc AB subscore, Psychology.
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load:Currently taking: AP Gov, AP Microecon, AP Physics C, AP Statistics, AP Environmental, AP Spanish, AP Lit
Awards: AP Scholar with distinction, JHU Engineering Innovation Program Valedictorian, California High School Speech Association State Qualifier, International Academic Competitions Mathematics Divisional Winner, NMS Semifinalist: Finalist candidate.</p>

<p>Engg major *</p>

<p>You have the stats for large merit at a few schools. I suggest that you QUICKLY apply to a few and have those in your back pocket…just in case.</p>

<p>Are those “extra homes” rentals? Do they have income? </p>

<p>Your family’s income is too high for anyone to get federal money even with 3 in college (2 parents). You can’t count your parents, but your parents can count you…but even doing that will still make their EFC too high. your EFC is going to be over $50k for one in college. Divide that by 3 and your EFC will still be way too high for fed aid. And Calif aid won’t consider your parents in college. </p>

<p>YOUR EFC will be over $50k…likely MUCH higher.</p>

<p>Are your parents going to school full time? Are they going for GRAD school? If so, there isn’t any aid for them other than loans and maybe merit.</p>

<p>Schools aren’t going to care that your parents send money to relatives. That’s a choice. Their first responsibility is to you. schools aren’t going to give you money just so your parents can continue to send money…otherwise, the school would essentially be supporting your relatives…lol…and no, they’re not going to do that.</p>

<p>Instead of wondering/worrying, you need a FIRM FIGURE from your parents as to how much they’ll pay each year for YOU.</p>

<p>maybe your parents don’t understand the US system when it comes to aid. In other countries, aid is often merit-based. Here, at the best schools, aid is usually need-based…and they expect parents to PAY.</p>

<p>You’re wasting you time and getting your hopes up by focusing on top schools that use “need” to determine aid. You don’t have the “need” to get the money. Your parents are going to be handed a big bill. </p>

<p>you live in Calif…have your parents said that they can pay the $32k per year for a UC? If not, then those won’t be affordable either. </p>

<p>Don’t be stubborn (not saying you are), find some affordable schools and some big merit schools, and apply. Otherwise, you’re going to have a handful of acceptances with NONE that are affordable.</p>

<p>Look at the thread of assured merit. As an engineering major, Alabama would give you FREE tuition plus 2500 per year…remaining costs would be about $12k per year. There’s a safety for you. But, you have to apply NOW…the scholarship deadline in Jan6. No essays, no LORs…the app takes like 5 minutes! California is #5 in sending kids to Alabama.</p>

<p>Get a figure from your parents!!</p>

<p>Edited to add…I see that you’re a likely NMF. If so, then Alabama will give you a LOT more…</p>

<p>Tuitiion for 5 years (can be used for grad school, summer abroad)
housing for 1 year including honors housing
$3500 per year (in addition to the 2500 per year from eng’g)
2000 for study abroad
the latest iPad (usually given with a bluetooth keyboard)</p>

6

<p>Cello Buddy,
Do what mom2collegekids said! You can always reject Alabama’s offer but to not apply may be throwing away a fantastic opportunity. Good luck to you. You sound like a wonderful student and understanding child. You have lucky parent.</p>

7

<p>^^
Absolutely! </p>

<p>I’m just suggesting Bama as a “just in case”. The scenario that the OP has presented, parents helping grandparents, parents going back to school (maybe grad school), high income, assets, etc, the student could easily end up with no affordable choices. </p>

<p>If the parents are going for masters degrees, then likely they will be expected to pay all costs. If they’re completing bachelors degrees, again, they’ll be expected to pay all costs. Calif aid isn’t extended to “older students”, and their EFCs will be too high for fed aid.</p>

8

<p>It looks like most schools will be unaffordable on just need-based financial aid.</p>

<p>Look here for schools to apply to. Do so quickly, due to fast approaching deadlines:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html&lt;/a&gt; (safety candidates)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html&lt;/a&gt; (match/reach candidates)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-57.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-57.html&lt;/a&gt; (if National Merit)</p>

9

<p>Cellobuddy,</p>

<p>I would advise you not to give up on getting need-based aid yet. Our family financial situation is similar to yours. If you are applying to schools that require the CSS Profile, this could be to your advantage, as it gives plenty of opportunity to document extenuating financial circumstances that might result in greater need-based aid awards than would be calculated based on income alone.</p>

<p>If your family income is in the 150K range, you would likely receive significant aid from some top schools if accepted, for example:</p>

<p><a href=“https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works[/url]”>https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My daughter was just accepted SCEA to Harvard, and has received a very generous financial aid offer in conjunction with her acceptance. I have read though your post in the chance-me forum, and based on your qualifications, I would think you should have an excellent chance of being accepted to one of the more “generous” colleges. It won’t be a full ride but it would likely be enough to allow your family to afford the remainder of the bill.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

10

<p>Similar situation here - high income, high taxes, underwater mortgage, and medical bills of around $20k a year for the last ten years (paid for some doctor’s kid to go to school, I guess :)</p>

<p>So yes please follow the great advice of the long-time posters here. I will take a moment to thank them here because their advice helped me help my kids. Though my son had the stats to have a competitive application to some of the so-called premiere schools, even with large scholarships, we would have still had $20k or more a year in many cases so he did not even bother to apply. Instead, he focused on the schools mentioned here and has a full-ride on the table plus several full tuition offers. We will have no more than about $9-10k a year to cash flow (which is not insignificant but will be offset by some tax savings and it does include food and housing.). He plans to go to grad school so minimizing undergrad costs was essential.</p>

<p>There are options out there for families in your situation. Just listen to the folks here and open your list to schools you may never have considered before. Best of luck.</p>

11

<p>My daughter was just accepted SCEA to Harvard</p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford have UNIQUE super aid. The other CSS schools don’t. </p>

<p>That said, even HYPS aren’t going to only consider the parents’ income (which is over $150k with ONE child), but they’re going to consider those extra properties. And, if those properties have rental income (likely), then that income will also get counted. </p>

<p>Sure, CSS Profile has places for the family to list that they send $XXXX to grandparents, but we’ve never seen schools take that into consideration because that can be manipulated and schools consider it a choice and they don’t want to subsidize. </p>

<p>And, we’ve never seen schools giving more money because the parents have decided to go back to college. </p>

<p>What the schools are going to see is a LOT of money that could be spent on their only child’s college being diverted to parents’ tuition and relatives abroad. </p>

<p>if the student wants to apply to HYP and see what happens, then fine. But he needs a back up. </p>

<p>Even if HYP accepts and gives some aid, we still don’t know how much the parents will pay.</p>

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<p>Yeah that’s what i just said! I said it won’t help her but it might help her parents by freeing up some oney from their otwn tuition bills that they can spend on hers!</p>

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<p>Axand238…no…not necessarily. If the parents attend college where the school does NOT meet full need, the parents very well might not see a penny in increased aid when they add the student to their FAFSA.</p>

<p>In addition, all we are hearing is that this student’s parent is attending college. If I is grad school, it won’t mean anything to the child’s undergrad college.</p>

<p>The reality here…this student’s family has some significant financial items that are preventing significant need based aid.</p>

14

<p>Oh that’s true. I was thinking that they (parents) could take out Stafford loans I did not realize that even these were restricted for the parents side. You raise a good point!</p>

<p>I do agree that they are affluence and the extra assets on the balance sheet (3 houses!!) are not going to be looked on favorably. It may be that they have to make some sacrifices; kiddo might have to go to Community College for two years or maybe one parent may have to wait to go back to school; it might be tight for every single person in this family to be in college at the same time while supporting grandparents overseas!!</p>