I am not a parent, but I was there when my dad filled out the PFS.
On the PFS, there is a question that asks: “How much do you believe you can pay from all sources for tuition and other expenses for the 2015-16 school year for each child you support?”.
We put down a dollar amount (the PFS recommended for us to put down our maximum), but we would be willing to pay a bit more if needed. I’ll just say that we put down $20k (not our real amount, just for this example). If the school ($50k tuition) decides that they can’t give us the remaining $30k, would they just reject or waitlist me, or would they send my family a letter on M10 (after proposed acceptance) saying “Hey, we can’t give you $30k, but we can give you $20k” and then we can decide if we would be able to accept it or not? I am a bit confused on the financial aid process so some feedback from parents would be appreciated.
Please let me know if I need to further clarify on my statement.
Since it has been almost 72 hours since your post and no one has responded you may be frustrated. I think the reason no one has posted a reply is that there is no simple answer. FA awards just aren’t as mathematically concise as your example. The PFS is just ONE factor some schools use. There are people who perhaps could be FP but because of the qualites the applicant offers get some FA to entice enrollment. And there are some worthy candidates who need substantial FA who don’t get it for one reason or another. Sorry but there’s just no way that I know of that your question can be answered with any authority. If anyone has any other viewpoints I am sure they will chime in.
I know that doesn’t help you but I hope it all works out for you!
I agree, there isn’t one answer to your question. So much of this will depend on the individual schools. Some schools will reject or wait list a person if they can’t meet their full financial request, others will accept with partial aid. For us, the number that we put on our PFS was way different than what the SSS said we could afford, and I think that is common. There was a Mother last year who reported that she stated she could afford more than the recommended amount. In our case, the school took almost exactly the number that we said that we could afford. As has been said, it really depends. Frequently, the schools with the larger endowments will offer more aid, but not always. You just never know.
I was happy to see on the Groton financial aid page a breakdown of how many families were receiving different amounts of aid. It breaks them down by income groups and then how many families paying 0 to 5 thousand, 5 to 10 thousand and on up. It was interesting to see. Just click on admissions and scroll down to who gets financial aid.
1 - you get rejected, you will not know whether or not needing FA and how much was a factor,
2 - you get WL, again you will not know whether or not needing FA and how much was a factor,
3 - you get accepted and the school will offer you enough FA for it to be feasible for your family,
4 - you get accepted and the school will offer you less FA than you need.
I am leaving out the possibility of you getting accepted with no FA, if your parents are saying they can afford 5x what the calculator says they can afford than that outcome seems unlikely because it implies that your family income is low enough that you will qualify.
Each school will determine how much FA to give you based on a whole host of factors, some of which are based on your need as demonstrated in the FA app and some of which will be based on the strength of your application. They need to make decisions on how to spread the FA out over the applicants who they most want and most need it each year. Someone posted a link to a NYT article which discussed the review of applications including the FA piece….they are not giving as much aside to a family with a lot of credit card debt as they are to a family with medical debt for example….they will take into account what the calculator says you should pay and what your parents are saying they can afford but there is no guarantee that the FA offer will be either of those numbers.
Each school handles it differently and I’m many cases you will no first if you have been accepted or not before you know what your FA package looks like.
No one here on cc knows exactly how that question about what you can afford to pay factors into the school’s decision. There have been previous threads about it. Personally I think it’s a gauge of commitment.
If the family has a lot of wealth but says they can only afford to pay a small amount, it shows a lack of dedication to the child’s education.
If the family is poor but is willing to give their all, it shows a strong commitment to the cause.
This is just my take on it. Many parents on cc have debated what they should answer to that question.
Financial aid is largely determined by an analysis of income and assets, not what the parents say they can pay. Many families, mine included, receive vastly different FA offers from difference schools because of differences in FA budgets, or the desire of a school to enroll a particular student. So don’t sweat it, just wait and see.
Both of my kids, quite a few years apart, got FA offers that ranged from zero or wait list to almost full ride. They each were rejected by some schools that could have been FA related or not.
I have a question about the estimated contribution on the PFS. I estimated what I could realistically afford, plus what I could borrow. We would still need FA. I would be willing to take another job, if FA is insufficient. The other parent, however, is unwilling to pay a penny. I imagine he has put $0 as his estimated contribution. Obviously we are not together, and have completed the forms separately. Should I contact the AO and tell them that I will find a way to cover any shortfall - or am I being paranoid that his answer will jeopardize our chance of admission??
I think you should wait. They will make their FA decisions based on your income and assets (and his). See what you are offered and then call. they are busy evaluating applications now, it is not the time for them to be discussing FA specifics with individual applicants. This is assuming that he actually submitted what he needed to and that your applications are complete, they can read between the lines. They will see that you are divorced and that you are willing to bend over backwards to help your child and that he will not. If on the other hand he makes 500k after tax, and owns a million dollar house without a mortgage that will preclude you from getting financial aid and you will have a problem.
When schools determine FA, do they look at the gross income or net income (among other things)? My family’s gross income is 200k+, but oddly, on our PFS, we have a pretty low amount for our EFC – 2k-5k. I guess we have a low EFC due to our lower net income (after everything is deducted: taxes, etc.,). Is it normal for those with a higher gross salary but a much lower net salary to have a low EFC? My parents recently double checked our PFS again and everything is correct (no added zeros, etc.,).
@thelittleswimmer they look at the whole picture. You do not need to post the specifics of your parents financial situation here…you can PM me if you want to, but it does’t matter what I think. It is much more nuanced than X is gross income therefore Y is how much FA you will be offered. They understand about taxes and how the tax amounts vary based on where you live, some families have student loans, some have medical expenses……
They know that 200k is not 200k after tax and does not leave your parents able to contribute 50k to your education. Also, the amount of FA you get is subjective. Different AOs look at applications differently, different schools have different budgets and different schools will be willing to offer you different amounts.
An EFC of $5K for a family with 200K income is unusually low. However if there are 6 children in the family or 2 or 3 kids in private school or college, or high medical expenses, it’s feasible. If you don’t have any such extenuating circumstances, I think there has to be a mistake somewhere.
I agree with @alooknac, there must be a mistake somewhere. Our EFC, with 2 kids in college and a similar income in close to 15X that (for all kids total). So, yeah, sounds real off and should be double/triple checked.
Best of luck on M10.
