<p>Don’t hire these people.</p>
<p>Think about your long-term financial picture, not the short term.</p>
<p>A lot of things can happen – your kid could end up attending a college with substantial merit aid, your kid could go to some other college and drop out, etc. Your kid will have “skin in the game” based on whatever expectations you as a parent set – if you want, you can essentially treat your financial support as a form of scholarship, in which you set out expectations as to GPA and course load for continued support. (I don’t think parents should insist on all A’s from their kids, but certainly its reasonable to tell your kid that you might withdraw support if they can’t manage to sustain a C average). </p>
<p>When I say to think of your long-term financial planning, it means: where will you be in 10 years? in 20 years? If the real estate is a good investment, producing good income - you should keep it, and mortgage rather than sell the properties to pay college costs – especially if market value on the property is depressed at the time your kid starts college. On the other hand, if the income to value ratio of a particular piece of real estate is not so good – or if real estate values climb again – then it might be a good time to sell. Depending on your income, you might also elect to borrow using a PLUS loan – you may find that that the income from one of your properties is more than enough to support a loan that will cover the full cost of college. </p>
<p>Your kid will probably be in college for 4 years. It would be a dumb move to liquidate a piece of property at a time when market values are depressed, to “shelter” it in an instrument that produces less income than the real property. </p>
<p>The rationale for this bad advice is essentially the same rationale that you would reject in any other circumstance – to make you eligible for some sort of benefit that is designed to aid people with substantially lower income and assets. I mean – I could quit working and live off my savings, and probably within a few months I would qualify for Medicare and food stamps. This would save me money from my grocery bill and also would be a substantial savings over the insurance premiums I now pay for individual insurance. But obviously that would be a dumb move. The reason I CHOOSE to pay cash at Safeway instead of using food stamps is that my quality of life is better overall when I earn too much money to qualify for food stamps. </p>
<p>So count your blessings. YOU don’t need to worry about planning for FAFSA because you have enough assets to allow you to fully fund your child wherever she chooses to attend college.</p>
<p>I know a lot about FAFSA because I’m a single parent with a much lower income than yours and fewer assets. My children qualify for financial aid. What does that mean? It means that each, in turn, had to turn down their top choice school in favor of a different school that admitted them and offered more aid. They were fortunate in that their financial-aid giving choices were also great colleges with excellent reputations… but your d. won’t have to make that choice.</p>