<p>My son got a very large Rice Tuition Grant. After just a tiny bit of research, we see that the Rice Tuition Grant is actually need-based aid. His award is considerably more generous than what our FAFSA would have indicated (yes, we know it's a CSS Profile school and that mileage does vary), but we are curious if there is any sort of "merit" element to this award. But that's a peripheral "wonder." Our REAL question is this ...</p>
<p>Even with this very nice grant, it will be a stretch to pay for the remainder (which, admittedly, isn't much). I was thinking all along that I would take on a second job to help pay for college and to dig myself out of college debt for my other current college kids. But here's the rub: If this is need-based aid, then it seems awfully unpredictable (read: scary) to permit my son to attend Rice, despite this very generous offer. When one child graduates from college, this child's need-based grant will likely decrease. And likewise when the next child graduates from college. And if I take on a second or third job to help alleviate the financial strain, Rice's need-based grant will decrease, and no financial strain will be alleviated at all! (Oh, how I wish it were merit-based.)</p>
<p>Am I looking at this correctly? I'm assuming TONS of others before us have accepted similar grants. How did it work out for you? Did your (your child's) aid decrease year after year as more money became available to your family via promotions, additional jobs, or graduating college kids? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Usually the aid does decrease after a child graduates (for the one still in school) but not necessarily your out of pocket expense. If your EFC is 10k USD per year and you have 2 kids in school, the EFC of your family is still 10k. If one kid graduates, you will still be expected to pay the EFC, although you will pay more to the school as your aid will go down.</p>
<p>A second job will affect aid as it counts as income. I am not sure what the finance situation is, so I cannot comment for sure, but it depends on where you land with the second income. Under a certain amount annually puts you in a different section on your 1040. </p>
<p>How about loans? Rice offers loans at a decent rate. The interest on some of these education loans is tax deductible as well.</p>
<p>We had 7 years of really great Rice Financial aid (2 kids with one year overlap…) Youngest graduates this May, with whopping student loans of about $7500.(That’s sarcastic - the loans are extremely reasonable. I think loans are now capped at $10,000 at graduation, plus any outside scholarships reduce that amount dollar for dollar! :)) I was surprised that my EFC did not go up much when we went from a family of 4, to a family of 3. I found that my Rice family contribution was almost EXACTLY the same as the FAFSA EFC figure each and every year; all 7 years. DS’s workstudy remained a low $1800 each year (which is excellent. Some colleges make the Workstudy element very high - and then the kids can’t earn that amount. Rice amount is easily able to be earned in 8-10 hours a week.) We were very happy with our financial aid, and there were no surprises at all. We also managed to pay for college out-of-pocket - no parent plus loans, no grandparent loans or contributions, and we still managed to enjoy our life in our fairly frugal lifestyle, and were even able to afford a new metal roof on the house, a family vacation overseas. I will happily be donating money each year to Rice for the next however-many-years-I-live. My kids both loved their Rice years, and both benefited from many, many opportunities there. :)</p>
<p>We are another family that has found Rice to be very generous with their financial aid (so far…). D is completing her second year at Rice and year-2 aid was exactly what I would have predicted based on year-1. If you have a “simple” financial case (investments less than the fafsa caps [around $50k for a 50-year-old parent], salaried worker(s)) then I think you can trust the fafsa forecast of your EFC and trust that Rice will meet all other needs until your child graduates. Your S/D will be expected to take small loans (as anxious mom notes), but a max of $10k over four years seems perfectly reasonable to us. Our D will owe less than $10k because outside scholarships can be used to replace the $2.5k/year requirement.</p>
<p>We don’t know our year-3 award yet, but I don’t expect any surprises. When our S graduates (from another college) we expect Rice will essentially double what it asks us to pay them; that also seems reasonable since we will no longer be contributing anything for our son and our out-of-pocket college expenses will stay ~constant.</p>
<p>The cost of attendance at Rice is probably padded a little (the travel may be high, book costs definitely are) so you may recoup a little there. D gained a mentor in her 1st year at Rice, had a well-paying job for that prof over her 1st summer, has a work-study job with that prof in her 2nd year (and is gaining lots of experience in her chosen field). She has a job in her field this summer (the end of her sophomore year) and has already published a paper with her mentor. D is worked hard, finds it VERY challenging at Rice, but loves it there. The opportunities at Rice are fantastic. We are very happy with our choice to scrimp and save to send her there. Like anxious, we will not incur debt and D will have minimal debt (but its not easy - the Federal formula is not generous to middle class families). We were fortunate to have no significant debt and modest mortgage payments otherwise it may be a different story.</p>
<p>We were in the same position 4 years ago; my son was offered a full ride and stipend at several schools, however had fallen in love with Rice. I bought the book “Paying for College Without Going Broke”, authored by the Princeton Review and Kalman Chany. If you are a bit detail oriented, and/or really curious, it totally opens the door to how the numbers work, including CSS profile; and is updated every year for tax law changes, financial aid changes, etc. (i.e. you’d want to purchase the copy that says 2011 on the front, not an older one). There are worksheets (VERY simplified, more a question and answer chapter); and explanations of how CSS considers home equity (capped for some schools, not for others), small businesses and much more. It was very enlightening to understand how the FAFSA and CSS consider family earnings and savings, student earning and savings, and the percentages of each they’d like you to provide. Every year I completed this; and every year the answer was extremely close to book’s prediction. Only you know how your next 4 years could change financially; reading the book with that in mind will help. This is a long answer, however he did go to Rice, I’ve always felt Rice does everything possible to help a family financially once you have committed. We’ve never regretted it for a moment; and he graduates in May. Good luck…go for it!!</p>