<p>There are several. Try:
Financial</a> Aid EasyPlanner
FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid</p>
<p>(But that "easy planner" title? no such thing. Don't be discouraged if this gets complicated. Come back to CC with questions if you feel confused.)</p>
<p>You don't say- some college finaid websites actually have their own. I've used FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans but if you google "EFC Calculator" you will get a lot of sites. You need your tax return. There are two ways to calculate, federal (which mostly public schools use) and institutional (mostly private school).</p>
<p>I don't think being a stay at home mother hurts you. Working would just raise your family income.</p>
<p>Youdon'tsay,
It's a "lifestyle choice," along with the consumer debt. Not fair at all. I'm a mostly stay-at-home mom now, too, due to illness and wanting to make sure I get these kids successfully launched while I have the health and strength. (They were 10 & 11 when I became ill.) There isn't enough of me to give to an employer. Didn't make any difference to the first school who has sent us a FA package.</p>
<p>By the time we pay the marginal tax rate and SS on my income, I don't know that we wind up any better off. I think the EFC assessment is a greater percentage than what I would bring home. We did some of the same gymnastics in figuring out day care vs. at-home when the kids were young, but I had a career investment to protect then. Now, I don't see myself going back to what I used to do, so it's a whole new path to blaze.</p>
<p>^^^not be contentious, but I'm curious: how can you tell that the package wouldn't have been different if you were working for pay?</p>
<p>If you have two working parents- income protection is greater than if only one earns a paycheck- even if total before tax is equal.
So while your health can't have a value attached to it-schools do assume that a stay home parent is employable.</p>
<p>I did a quickie one. It's more than I would have thought, but not a truly terrifying amount. I'm too lazy right now to go find last year's tax return. I do wonder how one of s1's assets will come into play: Years ago, before the program was closed, we bought a four-year, public uni Texas Tomorrow Fund. Anyone have any experience with that plan? I am one of those deluded people someone wrote about has always thought S1 would get a good scholarship so we could save he TTF for his little brother, for whom we couldn't afford a TTF of his own.</p>
<p><em>pulling covers over head</em></p>
<p>Youdon'tsay, the fact that your family chooses to have only one income shouldn't make a difference. If you made the same amount with both working, the bottom line would come out the same. Maybe I am wrong? I haven't tried that in the calculators.</p>
<p>I have played with the calculators a lot, because I am struggling to return to work after being a stay at home mom from the time my oldest was born. When she started high school, I began substitute teaching. Even working every possible day, I can only earn around $14k/year. I have looked at what the income from a "real" job would do to our EFC(if I ever land one --- I live in MI, the home of what Mitt Romney calls a "one state recession"). I have found that doubling my income would cause a VERY large difference in our EFC. However, because I know this, I know that earning twice the money would not change my lifestyle ... the extra money would be expected to go to college. I could whine & say, "Why bother then?" But that doesn't make sense to me. If I earn more, I can afford to pay more. And it's the rare school where I would get so much grant money thrown my way that making more money wouldn't be to my benefit.</p>
<p>By the way, I made more my first year out of college than the "double" to which I refer. Yes, I enjoyed staying home ... but life choices come with consequences.</p>
<p>So now you know more than you did, youdon'tsay, and--Hooray! **--**it's not as bad as you feared. </p>
<p>How's your stomach?</p>
<p>I don't know how the Texas system works, but have some familiarity with the Michigan system, but I don't think guessing will help.</p>
<p>There must be information online about your system and its transferability.</p>
<p>The one opinion I will venture is that having the Texas plan will not penalize s1 if he qualifies for awards based entirely on merit.</p>
<p>kelsmom, going back to work full time and the effect on EFC is exactly what I am concerned about. When I worked, I made more than my husband currently makes as a public schoolteacher. While it's been difficult to live on his salary, we've managed and know the trade-offs (What's a vacation? Who need cable?) have been worth it for our family.</p>
<p>mafool, my stomach still hurts. : )</p>
<p>I know that we can roll over the TTF to S2, and can withdraw the money at the original principal (no thanks!), but I wondered if it would count as an asset at the price when we bought it or what it's worth now.</p>
<p>Our S was also a child who only applied to one private school and was accepted early decision. Once the happiness of him getting getting accepted wore off, and reality set in we had a discussion about the cost of this education. Based on our EFC and that lovely CSS profile we had to submit we knew that we should not expect any financial aid. We explained throughly that he would be responsible for the Standford loan, and that we will pay for 4 years of college. For grad school, he knows that he is on his own. He was so thrilled to be going to his #1 school choice that he readily accepted these conditions. And I can honestly say now that he has sucessfully completed his first semester, he is just as thrilled to be returning back to school.
The only downside to a new year, is that I have to get the energy to fill out that wonderful FASA and CSS again for the new school year. In my opinion those 2 forms are very depressing but at least this year we have a little more time to submit them.</p>
<p>justhismom, but this year it's a bit easier - there's only one school and one set of deadlines!</p>
<p>Chedva you are right and it made me smile. One year down 3 to go....</p>
<p>Our HS runs a financial aid night for senior parents - they bring in a FA officer from a nearby college, and use books provided by the state higher ed funding agency. They tell you to go on the computer and calculate your EFC, and they tell you how the gov't calculates it (heavily income based). However, they run this seminar the week before Christmas. At that point, it's assumed pretty much all of the applications are already in! (Guidance wants everything submitted to them a full week before Xmas break for a Jan 1 deadline).</p>
<p>However, they also run 2 other parent nights, one in Spring of Jr year, and one in Sept of Senior year. At both of those, the GC was clear: You as a parent can/should set limits in 2 areas - cost, and safety (i.e. if you don't want your kid going to college in NYC tell him up front). But beyond cost and safety, they said let your kid decide. GC warned us, if you force your kid to go to a school they don't like you'll hear about it for the rest of your life. But if they make a bad decision on their own, they learn from it, transfer, and life goes on.</p>
<p>But Guidance did emphasize, only the parents and family can decide what works for them financially, and please be honest with your kids about it.</p>
<p>youdon'tsay, I did a really quick check on a calculator to see how much you are penalized for having only one working parent. It looks like you are penalized in a way for not working. From what I can see, you are expected to pay about $1500 or so more at the same income level if only one parent works. This was true when I used $91k & when I used $61k. I also found that, using the same total income, if one parent makes at least $10k of that total, the EFC remains constant (that is, if it's 81k/10k or 71k/20k, the EFC is the same). That surprised me. Of course, individual situations will cause the numbers to vary.</p>
<p>Oh, the four years thing is a good point. I have to remind son when he's choosing his classes that he <em>must</em> graduate in four years. Full aid won't cover a fifth year and I have no way of paying for it, so he needs to stay on top of his class choices.</p>
<p>$1500 isn't enough to encourage anyone to work; that's way less than working people spend on transportation, clothes, takeout food...</p>
<p>I don't think you're penalized either if you have an M.D. but decide you'd rather work as a vegetable farmer.</p>