<p>.... as documented by the NYT :
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/education/01college.html?hp=&pagewanted=print%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/education/01college.html?hp=&pagewanted=print</a></p>
<p>This is a compelling, yet all too common story which thousand of families across California and the nation can relate to. Yet there seems something missing here. The student here is in California, and would be eligible for Cal Grants. No mention of this here. Additionally, UCs have a Blue & Gold Plan which covers tuition for those with less than $ 6o K income annually. No mention of this. Father loses job. What about appealing FA. No mention of this.</p>
<p>Not a well-researched or not a well-explained article.</p>
<p>Yeah-- doesn’t really address the need-based aid situation, just focuses on the attempt to get outside merit scholarships (not a good plan to fund college, IMO).</p>
<p>Part of the problem may be this:</p>
<p>“Last year, the family’s income was $58,000, when Ms. Jackson’s wages from teaching were combined with revenue from a part of a rental property. The family cannot sell the property because it does not own it outright, and Ms. Campbell believes that the investment reduced the direct aid Brennan might have received.”</p>
<p>So if the rental equity was counted as an asset, it might have pushed their EFC up over 25k, rendering them virtually “needless” at a UC. Their AGI should qualify them for a Cal Grant, but there’s an asset ceiling of about 61K for CalGrants, so their rental probably excluded them there, also.</p>
<p>Should have sold the rental a couple years ago and bought some expensive art, or an expensive sports car.</p>
<p>I posted in the other thread – so I won’t repeat too much here. The rental property asset is clearly what makes the family ineligible for Cal Grant, as well as pushing up the FAFSA EFC (which in turn takes them out of the “Blue and Gold” plan which is really just a hyped way of saying that if the FAFSA EFC comes in under a certain amount, then the student will get at least an $8K grant - that’s a “new” plan but not really a “new” policy - its the housing costs, not the tuition, that are the big ticket item for in-staters at the UC’s).</p>
<p>The other big problem for FAFSA is that the kid had $15,000 in a college savings account – no mention of a 529, so I think we can assume that the money is in his name, boosting up the EFC by $4K. </p>
<p>The comment about “art” or a “sports car” really is silly – the family is now having hard times and they have a $500K mortgage on their house --so they probably really need the rental income to make ends meet, but if they didn’t, they could just as easily shelter money for FAFSA purposes by paying down the mortgage.</p>
<p>I do think that the article would be a lot better if there was an informed analysis of some of the financial aid issues – there probably are a number of things that could have been done – or still could be done – to improve the family’s situation. (For example, they said they couldn’t sell the rental property because it is a shared interest with someone else – maybe they could have restructured the arrangement with the co-owners that would have put them in a more favorable position on the FAFSA).</p>
<p>The Family involved would benefit so much more being here on CC – listening to Calmom and others.</p>