omg help with fafsa-- what am I doing wrong.

@mhop72 What is her major? We are instate for RI and make a bit more than you do but have been through this. Even RI schools like URI with the best merit is still 22-23k a year. UMass Amherst is much worse for aid even instate.UMass Lowell is a good value but no residential colleges will get you to the 15-17k range each year. Even though it is the ugliest building on the planet, she should consider knocking out her Gen Eds for FREE at CCRI if you are instate. A place like UMaine will cost similarly to URI. Privates in Massachusetts, I really think will not be affordable unless you can get to at least 30kish, give or take 5k.

Actually, you could look at UMaine Farmington which is a nice public LAC for great value. They have skiing right near by. I think applying is still possible tho year and free. Still you need about 20k per year min. New England colleges are not a good value because they’re so popular.

NO more replies are needed, thank you.

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@mhop72 just an FYI…

Had no idea that RI residents could do that. I am a grad of Brown and that is news to me. Thank you for the information. (I did know that RUE and marrieds could live off) In all likelihood, it will be URI, Brown is so crazy competitive… but we did want to “toss our hat in the ring” so to speak.

Oh, you have at least one OOS public on your list. Unlikely you’ll get aid for that school…you don’t pay taxes there. They don’t care what your EFC is. If umass or URI is instate for you, the cost is less than your EFC.

Did your child apply to any financial safeties at all?

On an income of $157k, the FAFSA calculation determined an EFC of $45k. That is the minimum. An OOS public will likely expect you to pay more since rarely do they give need based aid. Some will give merit awards.

So, if a school gives you a bill for $45k, then you can either pay for all of it, borrow some of it, or choose a cheaper school. Again, which schools were your daughter’s financial safety schools.

We applied for RIC. I could practically pay cash for that.
SHe rec’d 20k in merit aid to a local Catholic Uni. The balance owed is LESS than my federal EFC… sheesh.
New England State U’s have a consortium for discounted tuition…
I think everyone is missing my point. I am floored that US gov calculations give an estimate that is 1/3 of our family income. It does not matter if you earn 40k or 400k, no one is going to be able to give 1/3 their income to fund school. That is just bad math.
As for those

Nobody expects you to pay 1/3 of your income in tuition. The presumption is that you’ve had an 18 year head start- i.e. you knew that your 1 year old would graduate from HS some day, and that you’d start saving for college.

So part of the money comes from savings, part from current earning, part from future earnings (either your own loans or your kids).

The assumption is flawed as evidenced by kids who grad with a 4 yr degree and a 10 year debt load.

SO I should have saved 45 x 3 kids over the years. 400k in savings? Living in one of the highest cost states in the U, its hysterical. Heck, I don’t even have that in retirement funds… and hubby did *not earn this big salary most years, and I went back to college as an adult. Life is not reflected here. I am beginning to think fafsa is a joke. It is a yardstick for loan eligibility and nothing more. Perhaps that is why so many schools now use CSS ?

Anyway.

It’s a nice learning curve! Two more kids coming up right behind.

Colleges figure the bills will be paid three ways…

Past earnings (savings)

Current earnings (that would be something out of current income)

Future earnings (loans)

And yes, some people DO start saving money for college…some even before they have their kids. Again…that’s a choice some folks make.

Luckily your student applied to some affordable options…as every student should. There is another whole thread in the Parents Forum about $70,000 a year colleges. The salient point is…that is a choice. No one is required to attend a $70,000 a year college.

Yes, the financial aid formulas are nuts. When the higher education act of 1965 was written the current census data was from 1960. A lot of the assumptions about allocations of family budgets are still based on that 1960 data – though the numbers have been tweaked by the social security cost of living adjustments and a few other patches. But, fundamentally, the formula is divorced from reality. All you can do is run FAFSA estimators and NPC calculators and see how the formulas treat you. It’s “fair” in the sense that everyone is stuck in the same boat, but it is not fair in the sense of being well-matched to national average or individual circumstances.

That is exactly what is is designed for - to qualify for FEDERAL financial aid, either Pell grants or loans. Even if your income was $60k, your EFC would probably be $10k and that’s still too much to qualify for a Pell, so that leaves you with loans.

Some school also use the FAFSA to award their own money but what those schools use as the cut off could be different than qualifying for the Pell grant or subsidized loans.

You make $157k but have a mortgage and 3 kids in private school and your own student loans to pay. What if your neighbor makes the same $157k but has paid off his mortgage and sends his kids to public school? Should your child get more in need based aid than the neighbor’s son? Why, when you both make the same? The FAFSA formula is treating everyone the same and doesn’t care if you live in a 1000 sq ft house in Ark or a 5000 sq ft house on the beach or if you spend all your earnings on booze and lottery tickets. Income is income, and the formula assumes you have it to spend on college for your kids. Now CSS does take into consideration the expenses of the family, but it becomes more judgmental on the equity in your house, the number of cars, the value of some tangible assets.

But there are lots of unfair things to come. The tax breaks for students and parents are not fair to all, scholarships that have a need component,

It’s not as simple as saying they expect 1/3 of your income. There are (in effect) tiers of income that affect how much a family is expected to be able to contribute. Under XX, over YY, number of kids, etc. Your income happens to put you at a diferent level than someone supporting a family of 4 or 5 on 40k. The harsh view we sometimes take is that it’s the college’s money and not their fault, eg, that you still pay your own college loans or whatever.

And you’re getting this sticker shock late in the game.
You’re not necessarily expected to have saved 400k. Rather, to have explore the realities and options, just as families exxplore target colleges or review their kid’s strengths, needs, and fit. The NPCs have been around since about 2011 or so.

Ithink we understand your shock, but there are options.

@mhop72 They are expecting that you save 2-3k a year per kid so you would end up 45-50k in college savings. You’ve probably spent 70-90k on private schools per kid. Private school is a luxury item. People work towards that goal of saving by living in the towns with the best public schools such as Barrington or EG.

You would then have 15k a year available for each kid from savings. You would pay 15k a year from salary. And then 15k in loans from Stafford (your kids portion) and Parent loans - funding based on future earnings.

Most middle class people cannot afford these private colleges unless they have carefully planned for it which is why they are going to instate schools, high merit options like the University of Alabama or foreign options like Canada or the UK. The New England reciprocal program is tricky - FYI.

UNLESS YOU ARE POOR. FASFA is ONLY useful for you to get the Stafford loan ($5500 Freshman year, $6500 Sophomore year, $7500 Junior, Senior years) And that is it. You don’t just get money. Your kid gets the opportunity to take out 28K in LOANS. That is it. Even if you are poor, you don’t get much extra. You are basically asking for a free ride.

“New England State U’s have a consortium for discounted tuition…”
Be aware that’s for certain majors only (not offered in the hoime state) or kids for whom the nearest public U is within X miles, in an adjoining state. And it only bridges about half the difference between the target college’s instate and OOS tuition. If you apply as a qualified major but change, you may be back billed for cost differences.

Have you now run NPCs on UMass and any other schools, plus epxlored the merit awards at URI? Plus, please be sure that 20k at the Catholic is for 4 years, if you’re considering that college.

Actually… @gearmom
Bill Gates can get the Stafford (Direct) Loans. Anyone who completes a FAFSA cannget the Direct Loans.

However…reality is…those direct loans will really only find the cost of tuition at community college to which your student can commute.

Financial planning for college comes in many many forms. Some folks have college savings…in 529 accounts or the like.

The Thumper Family chose to fully fund the parents’ retirement accounts, and not college accounts. In addition, both parents worked. We paid off all debt before our kids went to college…mortgage included. No car payments, no mortgage payments, no other loan debt. Then both parents continued to work…and one entire salary paid college costs for the years our kids were in college. The other parent salary paid the rest of our bills. Kids went to our local public school which was a district we carefully chose when building our home. So…we had no private school bills either.

I will add…we did look at private high school for one of our kids…but the kid didn’t feel there was a match as good as his public high school.

We were fortunate that my salary was sufficient to pay all the college costs at private universities. But if that had NOT been the case, we would have had our kids look at less costly options, or places where more significant merit aid was offered.

Our kids did take the Direct Loans…it helped us with cash flow. Our gift to them was full repayment of their undergrad loans. Those payments are a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of college.

@thumper1 I said that anyone can get direct loans. Fill out the FASFA and get 28k over 4 years. If you are poor you also can get grants. Sorry if that was not clear.

@gearmom yes!

I’m just not sure what the OP expected for need based aid with a FAFSA EFC as high as hers is.

And to the OP…when DID you complete that FAFSA…because your FAFSA EFC would,have been available to you within days of submitting that FAFSA…which could,have been in October.

It sounds like this surprise number is coming up…now.