<p>My parents have a combined revenue of about $170k and huge assets, but they're not willing to pay more than $20 000 a year for university, including travel to that university. The reasons: they want to buy a retreat centre in India and already pay about $12k to send my sister to university. What happens if the EFC is this low for a place like Stanford, when the family income and assets are large? Will Stanford consider it a need if the parents aren't willing to give more than a certain amount (despite being able to afford it)?</p>
<p>If not, then would I pay the rest through loans? Wouldn't that shackle me down in the future?</p>
<p>yes it will affect your rating even if they arn't willing to pay it, otherwise it'd be too easy to manipulate the system. You'll be forced to take out loans and such if no one will foot the bill.</p>
<p>Yes it will shackel your future, go somewhere that you'll get a scholarship or else go public.</p>
<p>No, Stanford will NOT consider it a need just because your family has other priorities. You might want to consider applying for a lot of outside scholarships and applying to at least some schools where you would be eligible for merit aid and/or which don't cost as much as Stanford. Another option after your freshman year is to apply to be an RA. That can save you several thousand a year, depending upon the school. You can also work summers and during the school year to help yourself out.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, Raman. I'm in the exact same situation, except my parents won't pay more than $10,000 and they have explicitly told me they will not cosign for loans. I'm applying nearly exclusively to schools that offer large merit scholarships and are a fair step below what I'm capable of getting in to. I figure that there is always grad school when I'll be free of them.</p>
<p>First of all there is a big difference between what your parents can afford to pay and what they are willing to pay. Your financial aid will be based on what your family can afford to pay. with their level of income it is highly unlikely that you will get any need based financial aid.</p>
<p>As an 18 year old you are only going to get a limited amount of loans in your own name ($2625 stafford subsidized or unsubsidized) you would be eligible to borrow an additional $4000 if your parents were not deemed creidit worthy. It will be very unlikley that a financial insitution is going to loan you the $20,000 balance (especially with out a co-signer, where the buck is going to stop with your parents).</p>
<p>Your options are to find a school which fall in the range your parents are willing to spend, find a school where you are in line for major merit aid, although being an RA can be an option becoming an RA as a freshman is not going to happen at a large number of schools because you have to be an upperclassmen.</p>