<p>i was wondering just how much in assets could a person have to still be able to receive a considerable amount of financial aid. Also, when telling them the value of your homes, do you tell them how much you paid for it originally, or its present estimated value.</p>
<p>It depends. Use one of the calculators online to see how much aid you qualify for. Value of home is present estimated value.</p>
<p>the PROFILE I believe asked for both what we paid for it & what we owed</p>
<p>Its public record, what homes are worth, even if you don't go to zibble or quibble or whatever that thing is called that will not only give you your home info, but all the homes around you :)</p>
<p>( Also if you are speaking of your place of residence as plural- Im unsure how much need based aid you would qualify for)</p>
<p>Isn't FAFSA the one that doesn't take into account your bank account balance (and Profile does)? Or do I have that turned around? I was surprised that FAFSA asked for my savings account balance, if apparently it doesn't factor in.</p>
<p>No; both consider savings. FAFSA doesn't consider home equity; PROFILE does.</p>
<p>wait... so does FAFSA or PROFILE or both determine your financial aid? could anyone help explain</p>
<p>For schools that use the Federal methodology, the FAFSA determines financial aid. For schools that use the Institutional methodology, both the FAFSA and the Profile determine the aid, and that methodology can vary from school to school. That's why different schools give different amounts of aid in different configurations.</p>
<p>hold on, FAFSA doesn't consider home equity on your PRIMARY residence. It sounds like the OP has more than one home...in that case you have to declare current estimated value of the second home.</p>
<p>Right-- FAFSA doesn't consider the equity in your primary residence. But the EQUITY (not current value) in other homes owned gets counted as an asset. Equity is current value less mortgages.</p>
<p>is there a list that shows which colleges use which methodologies? or do we just have to google individual schools.</p>
<p>Check with each school. Almost all require the FAFSA at a minumum. Most of the Privates also require the Profile, and some have their own forms as well.</p>
<p>Many of the top privates that require the Profile, and that do consider home equity, cap the home value at 2.4 times income, and deduct mortgage from that figure to determine assessed equity. </p>
<p>Here are the schools that cap home value at 2.4 times income-- best to verify with the school that they still cap home value since schools come and go from the list a bit:</p>
<p>Amherst College
Boston College
Bowdoin College
Claremont McKenna College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Davidson College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Haverford College
Macalester College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University</p>
<p>i really appreciate all the feedback. another question though, what happens if you have more than one home? do they cap both of them at 2.4 x income?</p>
<p>Nope-- just the primary residence. The full equity (current value less mortgages) of second homes counts as an asset.</p>
<p>sblake7,</p>
<p>That's how I thought it worked also, but recently got a rude awakening.</p>
<p>Example:
Income $100,000
Home Value - Mortgage $200,000 (home equity)</p>
<p>How I thought it worked:
$100,000 X 2.4 = $240,000
Home Equity $200,000
$200,000 - $240,000 = 0 considered</p>
<p>How it really works:
$100,000 X 2.4 = $240,000
Home Equity $200,000
Home Equity capped at 2.4 times income
Home Equity Considered in Assets = $200,000 </p>
<p>They don't cap home value at 2.4 times income, they cap home equity at 2.4 times income.</p>
<p>ps I think it's called zillow</p>
<p>Not sure what you're saying, SBDad. I think you're confusing home value with home equity.</p>
<p>The schools that are part of this group cap home value at 2.4 times income, and then subtract mortgage debt to determine equity.</p>
<p>Let's say you have a home with a current value of $600K. That's how much you could sell it for today. Your income is 100K, and you have a home mortgage of 200K.</p>
<p>Your actual equity is the current value less debt, or 400K. That's the value of that asset for colleges that don't cap home value.</p>
<p>For colleges that do cap, the max value of the home is 2.4 times income, or 240K. Subtract the 200K mortgage, and you're left with 40K equity that these colleges feel is available to help pay for college. That's the number that goes into the calculation to help determine the EFC, not the actual 400K equity.</p>
<p>Individual schools use professional judgment to adjust these calculations, maybe that's what happened in your case.</p>
<p>When I do an estimated EFC on the EFC calculator available online, is that a FAFSA based calculator? I used both FM and IM. My income is modest and I don't own a home right now but have a large amount in savings due to the recent sale of our home, and both IM and FM gave me an EFC of $0. I'm assuming its FAFSA-based because my understanding is that Profile <em>will</em> take into account my savings?</p>
<p>FAFSA = FM. Profile = IM.</p>
<p>What I was told by the admissions officer at U Chicago is that the method you are describing is an old standard and is no longer used as a guideline. The new guideline is as I have described it - home equity cannot exceed 2.4 times your income. Not good.</p>
<p>So, if Profile supposedly takes into account your savings balance, its strange that for me, IM still spit out $0 EFC. Hm.</p>
<p>U of Chicago (and others) may have developed their own methodology. The consensus approach adopted by the 568 Group was to cap home value at 2.4 times income, and deduct mortgage. Students and parents should check with the colleges they are considering to see how they treat home equity.</p>