<p>You can have less money. Just give it away. You are always better off with having the money saved. Though you could lose out on financial aid, the chances are very good that you are not going to get so much anyways. The formulas are income heavy, with parental assets tapped at about 5%, so there would still be 95% of whatever saved left in there. It’s like saying you don’t want to make more money because you would pay more taxes. You would net more. So you would with savings.</p>
<p>Also fin aid is no sure thing at all. Most colleges in the US do not give out a huge % of the cost. They don’t have it. PELL is only for very low income, and everyone gets the Staffords; just not the subsidy during school years. So it just comes down to the colleges and there are not that many schools that will pay 100% of need. You also have to gain admissions to one of them and they are highly selective. If you are going for merit money at far less selective schools, it wouldn’t matter how much your parents have saved. You are almost always better off having more money saved. It’s myth that it is a problem.</p>
<p>If you should be so lucky to have enough money saved to pay the education and not get ANY financial aid, that is not a bad thing. You can afford to go to the school. Without having the money yourself, there is no guarantee you are going to get it.</p>
<p>Ult - very very few schools meet 100% of aid so having the money you do is A LOT better than not having it. Don’t assume lower EFC means you get more, as many people mistakenly find out, some schools will still leave wide gaps.</p>
<p>My cousin just did a quick calc of their EFC. At $25K, they are not going to get anything for the state schools. But her son is not a strong candidate for most of the schools that meet most of one’s need, so that it does not mean that he could go to a private school for the same cost. Can’t assume he would get the full need from ANY school. Most of his match and slight reach schools do not guarantee to meet full need, and many give out mostly loans. </p>
<p>My cousin initially thought that the EFC was all that the family had to come up with for college. As though college has a sliding scale. She was incredulous when I told her that the Staffords and other loans could be used to make up the need depleting them so that she could not necessarily use them to pay the EFC. Realistically, $25K is probably the least she will end up paying unless her son picks a school that costs less than that. It looks like state schools for him.</p>
<p>Ult, I wasn’t speaking directly to your situation…just more of a general observation because many parents don’t seem to communicate exactly what they’re able to do when kids really need to know…which is before they apply! I really didn’t know whether she had a 529 account for you or not, but it sounds like she doesn’t. The savings myth has really been debunked…since parents have a savings protection allowance built into the formula, it usually makes very little difference for FAFSA unless there are significant assets and family income is right on the cusp of the Pell cutoff. I’d agree that it’s always better to have savings and assets that can be used to help fund the EFC and the government and colleges expect that EFC will be funded through a combination of past, present, and future income.</p>