<p>While you are waiting on your D’s other college outcomes sit down and figure out what you CAN afford. Your medical expenses are not in the unusual range I hate to tell you. I make less than your wife and our family’s medical is about the same in the supposedly less expensive midwest but that is beside the point and I am pretty much the sole income earner. Many, many, many of us are basically full pay at less income levels than you and have had to make hard choices when it comes to deciding how much we can realistically pay for the kids’ college educations. Figure out what you can afford…your D deserves to know that NOW. UofM does not have full rides…but sometimes miracles happen and they bundle up the kids that want but out of state kids are second to the state kids for whom Michigan promises to meet need. It’s getting late in the game but maybe notch it back in competitiveness to pad out and give yourself more options. There are many really smart and great kids that don’t head for the NE for college, you won’t be “cheating” your D out of anything except perhaps some bragging rights if you have to say no to Yale. I feel badly for you that the outcome was not what you hoped.</p>
<p>Considering that $160,000 annual salary is a higher salary than 95% of US households it can hardly be considered “upper middle class”.</p>
<p>[File:United</a> States Income Distribution 1967-2003.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Income_Distribution_1967-2003.svg]File:United”>File:United States Income Distribution 1967-2003.svg - Wikipedia)</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Income_Distribution_1967-2003.svg]File:United](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Income_Distribution_1967-2003.svg%5DFile:United){kind=link}
<p>*Yes, we saved something into a college savings account. Between that and scrimping, we were thinking we could swing about $25k or so per year for this D (another one two years behind). Part of the challenge is how much to spend for undergrad versus saving to help with grad school. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>If that’s your budget, then you need to work within that parameter. While you might qualify for some aid once the younger child goes to college, there’s a good chance that you won’t because at that point, hopefully, you’ll have an income that once combined with your wife’s, will be too high for need-based aid for either child.</p>
<p>*We did get USC application by Dec 1 as required, and they have history of offering full rides to the very top students from D’s school. So were are hopeful there.
*</p>
<p>I think you mean “full tuition scholarships”…not full rides. </p>
<p>Also, I don’t think UMich has full rides, either…but I could be wrong</p>
<p>What are your D’s stats? Is she a likely NMF?</p>
<p>Your medical expenses aren’t unusual.</p>
<p>*I am guessing they rejected our AGI and added back in self-employment costs and retirement contributions. *</p>
<p>I’m surprised that Yale’s NCP didn’t have a place to add back in your retirement contributions.</p>
<p>I do think that these NPCs for CSS schools need to have some kind of notation that those with business deductions may find some deductions added back in.</p>
<p>$25,000 plus the student federal loan takes you over $30,000 which is a very doable college budget per year. “Helping” kids with grad school is a nice thought that many parents are able to swing on top of retirement saving needs etc. so telling your D she needs to find a college that comes in around $25000 and that you might be able to help with grad school is very generous. I guess the best way to search for some more financially viable options is to return to your D’s original criteria: what region of the country does she want to be in, what major is she interested in, what size of school and those sorts of things then keep reading here or ask to find the ones that tend to be generous with merit aid for kids that are in the top 10-20% of the entering class. You’ve probably got the best options right in your home state with the California system.</p>
<p>Other options abound and it sounds like there are other irons in the fire. Berkeley offers a remarkable value for you as a resident of California. The richest school in the USA (per student) and now ranked #1 in the world by The Times is Caltech. They may have more financial flexibility given their small size and high desire for females. A URM would be another huge plus for them if applicable. Good luck!</p>
<p>Just for point of reference - the median household income in California in 2009 was $58,941, one-third of the OP’s.</p>
<p>[Household</a> income in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Household income in the United States - Wikipedia”>Household income in the United States - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>lol at “surviving” on $175k…with that income, many could pay full anywhere.</p>
<p>Not truly super experienced on these sorts of issues. However, if your daughter got into Yale, I’m pretty sure she won’t have much trouble winning some scholarship money to help soften the load ;).
Also, I think most schools require you to fax them your 2011 tax return form as well. I’m not completely sure, but you should call in and ask them if they reasses a family’s financial need once they get the 2011 tax form.</p>
<p>Good luck I hope everything works out for you and your family in the end!</p>
<p>Hey parents, if OP had two kids in college at the same time, would he get financial aid at Yale with the numbers he’s running now? My thinking is that if D really wants Yale, she could ask to defer and take a gap year. Maybe OP will get a job in that year or pick up more consulting. If D then goes to Yale, and finances are still bad, there would only be one year of full tuition before second D goes to college and 2 kids in college may change the numbers. Therefore my question - if OP had two kids in college at same time, would he get financial aid at Yale?</p>
<p>Living in the NYC area ,for example, 175k is not a lot of money…and you defintely would not be able to afford 50k per year tuition…if you are in Ohio,or Iowa making 175k ,you are living large…</p>
<p>Luckily Yale is SCEA, isn’t it? This means that it is not a binding acceptance and the OP can wait to see how the aid at the other schools his daugher is accepted to stacks up. The decision does not have to be made today. </p>
<p>To the OP…the school may have calculated your family contribution using some of what you have listed as deductions for self employed. Very often schools do this. The besty advice I can give you is to contact Yale and see if you filled out the Profile correctly (assuming you had to do this by a priority deadline, right?). </p>
<p>Your income is your income…and your assets are your assets regardless of where you live. Hopefully you will find gainful employment of some kind…and perhaps that income can be used to fund your daughter’s college costs. With an income in the $200K range…I would not have expected even a generous school like Yale to give you very significant need based aid.</p>
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<p>Retirement savings must come first. Your daughter can go to a cheaper school, get loans, get a job, etc. But once you retire, you can’t do any of that. Yale is great, but other schools that cost much less offer great educations, too. Any shock to your daughter will be a wonderful life and financial lesson for her. I would hope she has already learned a lesson about certain jobs (i.e. real estate): they are cyclical, and, therefore, you must plan ahead.</p>
<p>I fully agree with qdogpa (post #30, sorry, can’t figure out how to quote in reply, the button is permanently grayed out) - $175K IS NOT a lot of money in NYC area, you can’t even buy a decent house with this level of income. There are pretty high taxes as well (state and city, in addition to the federal taxes). And $50K per year tuition is not affordable. </p>
<p>To EnVinoVeritas - I hope you’ll work something out. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes right now. My DD really liked Yale, but decided it was too much of a gamble to apply EA there. It’s too bad that FA office does not use any kind of indexation based on the cost of living in certain areas, thus - no break for people living there. One action you could take, since it’s an EA, apply to a few peer institutions, such as Harvard, Princeton, Brown. IF you D gets accepted, AND their FA offer is better than that of Yale, you can bring it to the table and try to negotiate. Please, keep in mind that there is no guarantee the offer will be better. You can also try to find a few merit scholarships - again, I am not sure how doable this will be, and how much you can get, but every $ helps.</p>
<p>One thing to remember is that high cost of living areas also offer the possibility of much higher incomes, and professional salaries definitely reflect the difference.</p>
<p>It’s true that NYC is expensive- if OP moved from LA to NYC for example, they would experience comparable living standards to require $15,000 more dollars a year.
( Of course if they moved from LA to Portland Oregon, they could save $40,000 more a year)</p>
<p>But if they don’t want to move- they do still have choices.</p>
<p>Agree, however when FA Office is looking at these income figures, they award the same package regardless of the applicant home state, assuming all other factors are identical. And I think you would agree that $175K worth A LOT MORE in, say, Oklahoma or Nebraska, then in NY, NJ, CT or CA.</p>
<p>I have no wisdom to share. I might encourage the D to apply to Berkeley or I might consider downsizing lifestyle. Deferring admission a year, as someone suggested, is also a good idea if the predicted cost would be reduced when D2 enters college in D1’s sophomore year.</p>
<p>Sometimes looking at ALL options is best. USC might come through with a good offer. I would encourage D to look at all offers in April and then decide. </p>
<p>I am sure she will have some great choices!</p>
<p>As for finances: I took a second job to pay for my D’s college (and she gets financial aid). It won’t be forever!</p>
<p>Taking an extra job when your kid is on need-based financial aid is kind of like running uphill though – the extra income will reduce her aid the next year and you’ll have to scramble even more to cover it. More income is always better than less, of course, but the extra income helps less than we would like it to…</p>
<p>For smaller scholarships, usually local ones have the best odds, your HS will know about them. However, they are generally for less than 1k and most often only for fr year. </p>
<p>I would really recommend calling Y and talking to them, just to make sure their and your calculations were correct. I have talked to them in the past, and have always found them to be helpful.</p>
<p>One more question, has your D applied to any of the other schools with top FA, HPS? While I have always found Y FA to be very generous, there have been members who received substantially more from one of these other schools, and Y is usually willing to match these other schools.</p>
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<p>Not from Yale. Yale gives need based financial aid only. The daughter might get some private scholarships, but these usually are lower in dollar amount AND are usually one time awards only. This would not help in subsequent years.</p>
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<p>Some colleges require families to submit their tax returns and some don’t. You would have to check Yale’s website to see what they require AND how they want them submitted. I have to say…we NEVER faxed a tax return to anyone…they went in the regular mail. Maybe times have changed, but personally I would not feel comfortable faxing my tax returns. </p>
<p>When this student applied SCEA, they should have completed a CSS Profile by a priority deadline. This should have had accurate income estimates for 2011. The family should NOT have used the numbers from 2010 tax returns as they are not accurate for 2011.</p>
<p>I will only share my own personal experience. Six years ago, our kiddo applied EA to several schools. We submitted our CSS Profile to meet the priority deadline. She got her aid package about a month after her acceptances. We then completed the FAFSA, and updated the Profile with EACH school (had to do this by hand…printed it out and wrote in the corrections…that’s what they told us to do). It was then that we MAILED our completed tax returns to the schools that requested them. Some did…some didn’t. The schools presumably did review our financial aid AFTER our final tax returns and FAFSA/Profile changes were completed. In two cases, there was NO change to our kid’s awards. In the third case, the school deleted $9000 in grant money from her award. Our estimated income was about $3000 more than what was on our estimated Profile.</p>
<p>The OP needs to contact Yale. They need to find out IF their forms were completed accurately.</p>
<p>And again I say…an income approaching $200,000 a year is not in the “needy” range even at the most generous schools.</p>