<p>dad started a laboratory 2 years ago. debt = $150,000
mom has no job for a year+
i am only child
mortgage...$310,000, house costs like 600,000
need to pay $5,000 for recent arm surgery?
savings (not just for college)...$10,000</p>
<p>applying to private schools ($32,000 tuition)
and UC's (instate $6000-$7000 tuition)</p>
<p>what do you think?
what "kind of" financial aid can you predict? i know only a very rough estimate will be possible but i want more of a human response besides the EFC calculator. haven't done the EFC calc yet. i will soon.</p>
<p>The biz debt only matters when valuing the business.</p>
<p>The financial aid at the UCs is entirely based on the FAFSA, go online and check out the FAFSA based on last year's info. The important numbers are the ones on the tax return. </p>
<p>For privates, the house will be considered, but the income will be pretty paramount.</p>
<p>You didn't say what your dad's income is-- that will probably be the main thing determining your EFC.</p>
<p>EFC is a % of:</p>
<p>parents' income
parents' 'liquid' assets
student's income
student's assets</p>
<p>If the savings is your parent's (not yours), it's a relatively small amount that won't be assessed. If you have no income or liquid assets, your contribution will be 0. So it really depends on dad's income-- </p>
<p>He's probably a self-employed Schedule C taxpayer. It's not uncommon for new businesses not to show much (or any) profit in the first year or two. If that's the case-- little or no profit due to startup expenses-- you'll be in very good shape for financial aid, and your EFC (federal methodology-- most public schools) will be quite small.</p>
<p>As somemon said, it's a bit different with the Institutional Methodology (many private colleges) since they consider home equity. But many cap home equity, so I think you'll have a good chance under the IM as well, so long as you dad isn't making a lot of money.</p>
<p>What's 'a lot of money'? Over 100K income, and you'll probably be paying for most of your college yourself. Under 50K, and you'll probably get financial aid (including loans) to cover most of it. </p>
<p>CC has an EFC</a> calculator that will estimate what a FAFSA college will expect from you.</p>
<p>As others have noted, you are likely to see big differences depending on the methodology used to calclulate your EFC. CSS Profile schools will get into the business accounting in detail, and and ask for an income statement and balance sheet. Your somewhat non-standard situation suggests that you should apply to schools that use a range of aid approaches to optimize your aid offers.</p>
<p>By the end of the aid process, espcially if you apply to some private schools that use the Profile, your family will provide more detailed financial information than if you were applying for a million dollar loan. :)</p>
<p>I have a question. My estimate says that my family would be responsible for $4000, would that number be different if I wanted to go to a private college?</p>
<p>Yes, the number at a private or public school can be different. Some privates use the CSS profile requiring much more info, like home equity, etc. Other publics have additional detailed questions. I had two privates and one public ask about home equity. The public and one private computed an EFC similar to the public which did not ask for home equity. The other private had our EFC much, much higher.</p>
<p>I filled out fafsa for every one
I filled out Profile for one private
I had another private which used fafsa only
I had one public which had an extra form with lots of profile type questions, likt home equity.</p>
<p>The public fafsa only, the private fafsa only and the public fafsa + HE all had about the same EFC (in the ballpark)
The private with profile had a larger EFC, significantly larger, we do have a higher than average amount of home equity</p>
<p>If they only want the FAFSA, then home equity won't play a role. Note that some schools supplement the standard forms with their own questionnaire, sometimes targeting specific areas that the FAFSA doesn't include.</p>
<p>I've already looked at all the forms the require, they don't have anything other than the FAFSA that is related to financial aid. On the application, they only ask if you'll apply for financial aid/scholarship meaning they aren't need blind, which really doesn't bother me since I knew before hand.</p>