<p>I'm a prospective grad. student with a parent who owns a Subchapter S corporation and could use some financial aid advice.</p>
<p>After 20+ years of sweat and tears, my parent's business is successful. But despite this, my parent's true salary is more modest because most of the profits from the business are reinvested in the company. Moreover, a large part of my parent's 'salary' is designed to cover the tax bills for the whole corporation that are passed on to my parent each year. After these factors, my parent's take-home pay looks fairly different than their tax return.</p>
<p>And while the company (and thus my parent) have significant assets on paper, they are primarily the working funds and property of the company--they're not liquid. My parent would have to find a buyer for the company to extract their equity in it, and who will buy a small company with its heart and brains approaching retirement?</p>
<p>I know I could pursue schools that only use the federal method for calculating need, but I'm a good student and have the academic ability and desire for a more selective school that will use an in-house needs formula. Even with the federal method I'm worried I'll be disqualified.</p>
<p>What to do? Advice is much appreciated.</p>