My parents did the Vanderbilt Financial Aid Calculator last night just to see home much Vanderbilt would cost. I was very dissappointed to say the least. Even assuming I become a National Merit Finalist and get the $5000 per year scholarship, I cannot afford it. There was one part of the financial calculator in particular that confuses me. In the parents’ assets section, I am supposed to add up normal parents assets as well as all of the 529 accounts for me and my 3 siblings. I don’t understand how this makes sense for the calculator to take sibling 529 accounts in to the net price because I cannot take money from my siblings’ accounts to pay for Vanderbilt. Any thoughts?
Most 529 plans are parental assets so they count as parental assets. The good thing about that is the % of your parents’ assets that are expected to be used for college is smaller than the % of the student’s assets expected to be used. When will your 3 siblings be in college?
BTW I have found the calculator to give good ball park numbers. Some people have reported it be very accurate.
@Work2Live I’m the oldest. My younger brother will go to college in two years. That’s so unfortunate because I really, really want to go to Vanderbilt.
Does adding in your siblings 529 plans make that big of a difference? If so, put that in the comments section when you do the CSS Profile. Also let the financial aid department at Vanderbilt know that. It may or may not help but it can’t hurt.
Be aware that the $5000 NMF scholarship is not a “real” scholarship. It’s only advantage is that it can replace work study. So, if you’re calculator spits out $30,000 in grant aid, and maybe $2000 in work study, thats what you would get with no scholarship. With the NMF scholarship it would be like $27,000 in grants, and $5,000 scholarship. They basically take any scholarships out of your grant aid so it doesn’t really change anything. Unless you are full pay, then I think the scholarship would remove some cost of attendance. I know because I have that scholarship.
What have your parents said they are willing to pay per year? How much is available in your 529 (per year)? You can also take our $5500 in federal loans for your freshman year. Do you have a source of income (i.e. summer job)?
Do you plan to apply for one of the full tuition scholarships?
^ Here is the link - http://www.vanderbilt.edu/scholarships/ There are 250 of them. You should check regarding when the scholarships are awarded. It may be that RD would be a better option if scholarship decisions don’t happen until the spring.
Your cost will also go down when siblings enroll in college, so that might be important to consider. Try the numbers with 2 in college (and less in assets due to use of your 529) and see how the numbers will change when the next sibling starts school.
It may be important for your family to realize that the children who have the least overlap of college years with other siblings will be eligible for less need-based aid than the others. That might affect how they decide to distribute their 529s (just because it’s currently “assigned” to one kid, doesn’t mean another can’t use it at some point).
Have you found calculators from other 100%-need-met schools giving more aid? Vanderbilt is usually among the most generous in the nation. The bill can still be tough to swallow for upper-middle class families.
He is correct that the NMF scholarship will only replace work-study, which will probably be around $2700. To say it “doesn’t really do anything” is not the case at all. An “award” of $2700 for work study does not at all mean that you get $2700. It simply means you are eligible to earn $2700 in hourly wages through a work-study qualified job, if you choose.
With your scholarship, you’ll instead just get $2700 in additional money paid towards your bills with zero work required. You’re of course still welcome to get a job to help out more. You won’t be eligible for work-study jobs, but that only eliminates a few options.
@Pancaked thanks for the information! You’re the Vanderbilt expert lol. We have a friend who works in financial ai,d and he is going to give my family an official number this week. I have discovered that I may be the eligible for the Top TENN scholarship since I am currently the valedictorian of my class in a Tennessee high school - will that help me?
@Belle315 I am 10000 short per year of what financial aid calculator predicts. My contribution would go down when my brother goes to college in two years, but I would still have 20000 in debt. I have a small source of income during the summer. I will be applying for the merit scholarships, but I’m not sure how competitive I would be for one of those. They are extremely hard to get.
@mamaedefamilia my parents have been trying to convince me to apply RD. I suppose it’s the sound financial decision, but I’m just scared I wouldn’t get in RD lol
