<p>After looking at many elite colleges websites, it appears that you get great aid if you are lower income and if you are very wealthy you can pay without blinking, but how about all of us in between. Is it as bad as it looks?</p>
<p>My son has worked very hard, has a 3.9 gpa, will be a NMF, got a 35 on his ACT, is a 2 sport varsity captain and at least deserves to try to get into a more elite college. </p>
<p>Here's the problem, we make a decent salary but the real problem is that we have lived somewhat modestly for years so we could retire early or at least change careers so have built up a good savings. Based on all those calculators we will get nothing. Less elite schools will give scholarships for merit but it looks like none of the top schools do. </p>
<p>Is that true or did others out there get some merit money? I'm feeling like we are being penalized for being responsible all these years. And I am feeling sad that our son may not have any elite college options to try for.</p>
<p>This is a similar situation that I am in, as I also belong to the upper middle class and feel like some colleges will just be impossible to pay for. It’s the worst income bracket to be in when it comes to paying for college.</p>
<p>For merit money you want to either look for schools that publish merit money for GPA and test scores (mostly publics) or you want to look for privates where your student will be coming in at the top of the incoming freshman class. Most colleges/unis publish their Common Data Set or you can find the statistics for their past entering freshman. There are also dozens if not hundreds of threads, including a sticky thread at the top of this forum about guaranteed merit money. Elite covers a ton of colleges and is too loose of a term to know what colleges you might be looking at, the very top college/unis give financial aid, not merit aid.</p>
<p>I’ve looked at all those lists but most tend to be not as good of schools. He wanted to try…note I said try because we know how selective schools are…to get into a “near ivy” or ivy type. Penn, Georgetown, northwestern, Chicago, etc. I’ve yet to find ANY that say anything except need only. Yet I don’t know many families in our world that can write a $200k check. They say they give need money up to like 190k per year but it appears that is only with zero savings.</p>
<p>Well, you have built up savings. I guess the real problem is just that you don’t want to spend what you have saved on your child’s education. Therefore, he will have to apply to “lesser” schools that offer merit scholarships. You said your son “deserves to try to get into a more elite college”. He can still apply just to see if he gets into those colleges, even if he knows you don’t want to spend money on them. Then, he can have fun watching the scholarship offers come in, knowing that he worked hard for them as did many other bright students who will be attending at schools they can afford as well. He will find bright peers even at the school with the name no one recognizes. Get over the “elite” thing.
Not to mention; plenty of 4.0’s, 2400 on SAT, “found the cure for cancer”, “build wells for poor villages in Africa every summer” type kids don’t get into the elite schools, or can’t afford them. You are not alone…</p>
<p>I just have to try to help you understand something. You state that “we make a decent salary but the real problem is that we have lived somewhat modestly for years so we could retire early or at least change careers so have built up a good savings.” That means that you have money available, but you have chosen to use it for something other than school. That is fine, and it is absolutely your right to do that. However, the low income students do not have parents who have decent salaries or a good savings from which they can draw to attend school. That is why they get aid - their parents do not have the ability to decide how to use their money, because they don’t have extra to use for school. Only the very elite schools meet need, and not all that many low income students are getting in & getting great aid packages. Most low income students are scraping to attend a state U, and their parents are borrowing large PLUS loans (I know - I worked at one of these schools).</p>
<p>I am in your shoes, and my kids had to choose schools that worked for us financially. My D was like your S, and she had amazing leadership EC’s to go with the grades and scores. Both kids had to turn down their first choice schools due to the financial aid packages … they survived. D graduated from a top school - “elite,” but not ivy - and we did have to pay a fair amount. S, who also had great grades & scores (but lacked in the EC’s) attends a state U, and he does very well there. </p>
<p>Life involves choices every step of the way. Be glad you have choices. Research all the wonderful schools that do offer merit, and have your S apply to those - and maybe to an elite or two that is known for good aid … just in case (but make sure he understands that the aid might not work out). If he “deserves to try get into a more elite college,” he can certainly try … it’s up to you whether or not you will pay for it if he gets in, of course.</p>
<p>I knew I’d get some nasty replies but really that is not fair teacandmom. We looked at the financial aid forms and the amount it said we required to live on doesn’t cover our food, mortgage and basic needs. To say I don’t want to spend our life savings on my kids is not fair. I’d give them the world but I also need to be responsible for covering my own future. All I really wanted to know is if there were more schools out there that he has a shot at.</p>
<p>About half of the top 25 schools on the US News and World Report list in the university section do give merit money. But here is the rub: in order to get substantial merit money at ANY school, a student has to be on the school’s “A+” list, be one of the very top picks. So the more selective a school is, the more students it has clamouring for a seat, the choosier the school can be in giving out scholarships. So, yes, schools like Duke, Johns Hopkins, UChicago, Emory, Vanderbilt, Boston College do give out some merit awards, but getting any is all the more difficult Even getting into these schools is quite a feat. </p>
<p>It’s not all that easy to get a substantial merit award at any college, we have found. How much are you willing and able to pay? How much are you willing to borrow? These are all things that you have to decide. </p>
<p>Financial Aid is a whole other thing from merit scholarships. In order to get financial aid, one has to have need, and there are not that many schools that guarantee to meet full need. It ‘s rough row to hoe for those whose families cannot possibly afford to pay for college, and should not be taking out any loans, as very few schools meet full need, and even those that do, require student contribuitions that are way up there. As a percentage of your income and assets, you will be paying a lot less than most of these kids’ families whose students are getting aid. Bear in mind that there are far few schools, and far higher odds for those who have to get aid money to be able to go to college. It’s the top of the group and a very lucky group that do get enough to be able to go. Believe me, there is not a river of money pouring down from the top schools for all that cannot afford to pay.</p>
<p>I totally understand that aid is needed for those without choices. It’s the families with much much more than us that have opted to spend every penny and get aid that is what makes it hard.</p>
<p>Current income is the biggest component of the EFC. A “modest savings” will not make the difference … if you & the next guy earn the same amount, and if your savings is indeed modest, the next guy will not get more aid than you.</p>
<p>If other families are making more, they are probably not getting federal financial aid. The federal fin. aid is a $5500 (approx) Pell grant, the ability to take out gov. backed Direct Loans in the students name (Bet $5500 and $7500 depending on year of school), and possibly one other grant or loan type. If those high-income families are getting federal aid, then they aren’t making what you think they are. To qualify for any aid from the top schools, they have to file Profile. That asks for info about home equity, the cars they own, school tuitions, etc. Unless you know the inside and out of other family’s financial situations, you can’t begin to guess why they got any aid, the type of aid, or maybe help from relatives, and calling it aid. Did you save any money toward your son’s education, or did you put it all toward retirement? Some of your savings money is protected in the FAFSA formula, and then after that protected amount, savings are only assessed at 5.6% per year toward the cost of the school. If your child has savings, then about 20% of that is expected to be used per year I believe. Run the NPC on several college websites and see what they say. The number they come up with for you to contribute is expected to come from a mixture of savings, current income, and borrowed money…
If your child has a lot, that really increases the expected family contribution.</p>
<p>I believe the formula is 5.6% of assets over your protection allowance. Also home equity is usually capped at a multiple of income, so that will help as well. </p>
<p>I am not panning you at all–our family is deemed full pay, but for us to do so would take away a certain quality of life from other family members and for things we want to keep in a balance. So we have had to take price into account when looking at colleges. </p>
<p>If your son becomes a NMS, there will be some good options for him such as Northeastern, Fordham, and a number of other schools. You should start researching which schools do have sizeable awards so that he can go for them. Some do require separate applications, have earlier deadlines and require a procedure outside of just applying. Georgia Tech, Cal Tech, Emory, UVA Jefferson, UNC Morehead, Duke, Wake Forest, Wash U of St Louis, are just a few of the schools that do have some good merit possibilities.</p>
<p>Listen to Kelsmom, she knows.
If your son is NMF, that will often open the doors for different awards.
It is fruitless to try and guess why one family found need based aid at a school, and another one didn’t.
We aren’t privy to all the ramifications and since PROFILE examines assets and income to a greater level than FAFSA, its unlikely that someone with high income, is also found to have high need.</p>
<p>Identify what your family is willing to pay for school.
Help your son formulate a list that includes schools you can afford without aid. Then he can identify schools that may offer merit aid- there are so many great schools to choose from- no need to restrict yourself to the perceived " elites".
Its great that you sound like you are fully funded so you can retire early. However, need based financial aid is for students who need help to attend. Not for students whose parents could afford to pay, but they just choose not to.</p>
<p>Bsmom. There are 3000 colleges in this country. Surely at least a few are affordable for your family and offer the programs your kiddos want to study. There are plenty of those schools that offer good merit awards to high flyers…and your income doesn’t come into play for these…or your assets. The thread about merit awards here is a good place to start. </p>
<p>There are many ways to get a great college education…and your student doesn’t need to break your bank to do so. Look at the characteristics of the schools he likes, and then look at what your fami,y budget can afford that has similar characteristics.</p>
<p>It is the truth that there are plenty of awesome options for your son, and he will find some schools he likes & you can afford. Happy hunting! :)</p>
<p>You don’t have to retire early… that is a choice you are making. For me it is more important to fund my kids’ education at top schools than to retire early. One of my kids chose a school that offered merit aid because she genuinely liked it as well as the higher ranked full-pay schools she was also admitted to. She had a great four years, graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and has a very good job now. Didn’t hurt her to go to a school with a bit less prestige as far as I can see. My second has a strong preference for a top school where she did not receive merit, and I am making that work as well. She did apply to schools with good merit so we could make that choice this past spring, so she had both kinds of schools on her list right up until May 1.</p>
<p>It is really all about where your priorities are if you make a decent income and have money in the bank. I don’t begrudge families with less who are often taking out large loans in addition to getting grant money. I would rather be in my shoes than theirs any day. We chose early in our kids’ lives to save a lot for college (instead of for early retirement). You apparently made a different choice, but it is a bit disingenous to complain about the outcome now that the college bill is coming due.</p>
<p>I’ve been a hiring manager for 25+ years. From where you get your undergrad degree makes not one bit of difference 99.9% of the time. One exception is investment banking. Once you get your first job no manager cares about from where an applicant got their degree. It is a check box on the app. All that matters is your performance and recommendations. In other words - what you do with your degree.</p>
<p>“Prestige” serves as bragging rights for relatives and not much else. It does not pay the bills.</p>
