It asks for a “parent contribution in dollars,” but my parents don’t know how much they’ll be paying. What do I do?
Likewise, it asks for the value of my parent’s business, but we aren’t too sure of that…
They want to know how much your parents feel like they can pay. No idea on how to figure out business value. Does their business have an accountant? It seems like that would be a standard equation.
Remember that any value needs to be net of any long-term debt (including mortgage if a home based business). An accountant would be helpful. It’s also helpful to understand the purpose of the question: the school is looking for equity in the business (ie asset value net of related debt) because that’s a source of funding (through cash distributions, borrowings, etc.).