<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I'm trying to get a handle on the NPCs of the various colleges/univs my DS (2014 HS grad) has on his list. Some are public, some private, some FAFSA-only, some Profile. I have read on various threads that if the parent(s) own a business and/or there's self employment income in the mix, then the NPCs aren't that accurate. </p>
<p>What if a relatively small proportion of parental income is from self-employment? My DH is the main breadwinner, and I have self-employment income as a marketing writer. I work from home and my only business assets are an ancient iMac and printer (well, those plus my mad copy skillz :P). Based on 2012 tax return, my income was ~20% of our joint AGI. DS's income is W2-based, and we have a little bit of investment income (maybe 3K in 2012). </p>
<p>Given that scenario, can I be assured the NPCs are at least in the ballpark? </p>
<p>(DS is a likely NMSF, so merit aid is on our radar, but some of the places we are considering, which appear to be admissions matches, don't give huge merit to NMFs.)</p>
<p>Thanks much!</p>
<p>I suggest you ask for a preread. Maybe Carnegie Mellon for an ED preread, which they will likely do on a full need met basis. That is only from that school, but will give you some gauge.</p>
<p>Schools don’t like to reveal how their formulas work, and so without giving them specific info, it’s difficult getting an idea how their formulas will handle something that is what they like to take on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>I would think the NPC would be pretty much as accurate for you as they are for anyone else. When people talk about owning a business having an impact - it is because there is a value to the business and the business assets that are taken into consideration. There can also be a difference between income for tax purposes vs income for financial aid purposes because depreciation and other business expenses can reduce your taxable income - but would be added back for financial aid. It doesn’t sound like this will really apply to you. In your case the business assets are your writing skill - and while they are valuable to you - schools cannot put a dollar value on it to ‘add’ back - so I would think the NPC would be reasonably accurate.</p>
<p>The reason I picked CMU for the pre read is that they will do it if you say you are considering their school for ED and they are hard on family businesses from some examples I have personally seen where some schools were not as hard. This is one of those YMMV type of things.</p>
<p>Some are public, some private, some FAFSA-only, some Profile. I</p>
<p>Are the publics instate? If not, then unless your child gets lots of merit, you may get gapped a lot. </p>
<p>many FAFSA only schools don’t give much need-based aid. </p>
<p>Do you know what your likely FAFSA EFC will be? It sounds like it could be high when you add your income to your H’s.</p>
<p>As for business income on CSS, hopefully someone who knows can chime in. I remember someone complaining that the “employer half” of FICA was added back in as income, as well as other deductions. Don’t know if the FICA story is correct.</p>
<p>I’m guessing the self-employment depends on how the OP has structured the business. If it’s straight 1099 income from customers the OP might be simply using a schedule C and making quarterly tax payments and everything is pretty straightforward. If it’s an LLC or an S corp the OP might be doing taxes differently. Regardless it’s possible some deductions might be added back by some colleges.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your thoughts! </p>
<p>momofthreeboys, my scenario is as you describe (1099/Schedule C, etc.), with minimal deductions for expenses, etc. My/our biggest deduction is the employer half of FICA, which mom2collegekids mentions, plus my SEP-IRA contributions.</p>
<p>cpt, thanks for the suggestion to ask for a pre-read. CMU isn’t on our list, but Lehigh is, for example, and they have ED. DS loved Lehigh but I told him ED is not a good idea because of the FA angle, but it looks like it might be worth asking for a pre-read.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, some of the publics on our list are instate (Florida in our case), a couple are OOS (Virginia Tech, Stony Brook). The latter two admission matches with lowish list prices. Stony also gives some merit aid to NMFs per their website, which would bring the billed cost down to not a lot more than UF, for example. I did the fafsa estimator using numbers from 2012, and it gave an efc of a bit under 20K. We can probably cover that much – it’s the potential for gaps I’m pondering now!</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone – this is why I love this board!!</p>
<p>I did the fafsa estimator using numbers from 2012, and it gave an efc of a bit under 20K. We can probably cover that much – it’s the potential for gaps I’m pondering now!</p>
<p>Yes, you can’t really go by FAFSA EFC. Schools don’t have to do anything with EFC except to see if you qualify for fed aid. Your FAFSA EFC isn’t the amount that you pay. </p>
<p>Since your son is a likely NMF, and you say that Stony gives NMF awards that bring costs down to UF, then that’s great (are these assured or competitive?) I don’t think Stony or VT will give you need based aid except for loans. </p>
<p>As you may already know, merit awards aren’t stacked on top of need based awards. Merit awards get applied to “need” first. </p>
<p>What is your son’s major and career interest? </p>
<p>He might want to apply to a couple of the schools that give large assured NMF awards. I think Fordham gives free tuition, and there are many more that give larger awards.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC is the least amount you will have to pay before losing any federal aid benefits, with exception to PELL grants which are not in the picture for you. I don’t know any school that guarantees to meet need as determined by the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Do look and see what schools have NMF deals. Northeastern tends to give free tuition to NMFs and does Fordham.</p>
<p>Thanks mom2 and cpt…I do know that about the Fafsa EFC – I just have to keep reminding myself of the fact! And educating DH, who is Canadian, educated mostly in Canada, and who when this process started didn’t know fafsa from falafel…:)</p>
<p>mom2…I checked again and Stony’s NMF awards are not assured and the wording on their website is vague about whether they’re competitive and to what extent. And actually I was wrong about the stated award bringing the cost for tuition+fees+R+B down to close to UF–it’s actually not that close (I was using old numbers for Stony). That said, it would be in the high 20s, which is a number we could work with I think.</p>
<p>DS wants to do Engineering, possibly mechanical. He has Northeastern on the list for their NMF award; also WPI gives decent merit to NMFs. We checked out Fordham (friends have applied there). Their engineering a 3+2 with Cornell or Case Western and I’m not sure DS wants that mode. (Actually Case is on our list as well. Cornell, enh, probably too reachy for his taste.)</p>
<p>I would check out University at Buffalo as well, if you are looking at SUNYs.</p>