If Pomona cam up with a 43k Net Price with income and asset, and then you subtract 150k in assets, I don’t think that puts you into poverty.
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If your father didn’t report the scam to the police, it doesn’t exist.
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Even if Dad was scammed - if he put savings at risk that could have been used to pay for college - that won’t make Pomona offer a larger package. It wasn’t an unforeseen and unavoidable situation like being let go from a job.
He said he did, but now I am actually wondering if he lied about that
My situation is really weird and complicated right now, but all I know is that we are struggling to pay our monthly mortgage fees, eletric bills, and other stuff that my father keeps hiding
because this happened in June and it has been a month
My understanding is that this is closer to the super exaggerated valuations of stocks that happened in the dot.com bubble, or even the extreme valuation of tulip bulbs that happened in Holland in the 1630’s (you can google “tulip mania” to find a description). People get hurt when these bubbles pop.
Regarding cryptocurrency, someone invented a way to do on-line “money”, and patented one part of the technical process. Several people who I know or vaguely sort of know have expressed interest in this and have asked me about it due to my having high-tech experience and my having a math background (there is quite a bit of math in how cryptocurrency works). The valuations of cryptocurrency got very high.
I was always skeptical of this because I do not see cryptocurrency as having any intrinsic value, nor do I see anything stopping many people from creating many types of cryptocurrency. They cannot all have value if anyone can create more. However, quite a few people have invested quite a bit of money in this.
So what I have seen does not seem like a “scam” as much as an unwise investment that quite a few people have gotten into. Some people also lose money in the stock market, and the last few months has been a good time to lose a lot of money.
Right now is an uncertain economic time for all of us, and for students going off to university. A first year free ride in-state at UF to me sounds really good under the circumstances.
Given your acceptances to UF, Bowdoin, and Pomona, it sounds like you are a very strong student. The hard work and study skills and intelligence that make you a strong student in high school will carry over to UF. Plan to work hard there. Classes will be demanding and there will be quite a few other very strong students. However, given all the uncertainty and given how strong UF is to me it sounds like it would be a big risk to spend more money to go elsewhere.
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Thank you for explaining this to me. And yes, you’re right I should should take the wonderful offer that I currently have. Sorry for the prior ignorance.
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You would have to know how much of the $150k value of the crypto your father included in the asset section of the CSS/FAFSA when he completed it (last Oct?) At that time, the value may have been $75k or more or less. Those assets may have been reported elsewhere on the forms too (if it was money in the bank, and then he invested in crypto like in Jan or March?)
The school will want to know where this money came from. If it suddenly showed up out of no where, they probably won’t care that much that it was lost (your father would care as to him it is a real loss).
I’m sure the school has considered your mortgage debt as that’s part of the CSS. Some schools consider something like a funeral for a relative but others do not and feel it is a personal decision to use assets that could have been used for your education for the funeral or to support grandparents in another country. They mostly look at income and assets, and determine what the family should be able to pay based on those figures.
Good luck. Gather your information and then talk to Pomona. Do understand they there will be a lot of expenses that aren’t on the bill from Pomona (travel, incidentals, insurance, Ubers, eating out, spring break) that you will have to pay. You’ll also have those expenses at UF, but they will be less.
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The only way mortgage debt is considered is to determine your home equity. It doesn’t matter if you have $800k home with $600k mortgage or a$250k house with a $50k mortgage. In both cases you have $200k in home equity.
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Adding…your parent actual mortgage payment is not relevant to the financial aid application process. Some schools use home equity as noted above. But your actual payment? No.
You’re correct that home equity is viewed as an asset that can be used to help pay for the cost of college education by most colleges. However, a family with a $600k mortgage in a higher cost of living area has a much larger monthly mortgage payment than another family with a $50k mortgage in lower cost of living area. I suspect colleges do take that into consideration.
Not sure they do. Colleges do not award more financial aid because families are living beyond their means.
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They may very the living allowance by geography, but that doesn’t consider your individual mortgage amount/payment.
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I’m not sure either, but I suspect they have to in their final analyses of FA applications. It probably isn’t going to be reflected in their Net Price Calculators, however.
I agree that colleges aren’t going to award an FA applicant more money because her/his family borrowed more to buy a much bigger house than they need, or a much more expensive house than what’s typical in their neighborhood.
I’ve always been under the impression that COL isn’t factored n, which causes issues for those of us in a high COL area, where $600,000 for a house is certainly not the most expensive on the block, and very modest.
I believe they do. They have to subtract the essential expenses, which depend on COL in the area, from a family’s incomes to come up with what they think the family can afford to pay in college education.
Do you guys know where I should get guidance on how to recover the money, if that’s even possible at this point?
I am already calling the bank to file disputes and have the number of a FBI specialist but I am not sure what to ask . My father doesn’t speak good English and like he works daily so how do I even approach this
I don’t know much about bitcoin (my 25 year old started with $50 and the last I heard it was up to about $8000 and she was just letting it ride since she only started with $50). My financial advisor husband and my son who works in valuations won’t touch it, they’re not gamblers, although my son did buy a $1000 platinum coin from a friend). I’m guessing your dad really didn’t understand the risk involved, but that’s not fraud.
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