Both my parents used to work full-time but switched to part-time several years back. They were very smart with their investments which is why we have so many assets. No large inheritances.
Mom2Two, I’m just saying that if Vassar could give a little more (even just a few thousand more), then it would help to make it more realistic for me to take out loans in the future (since my parents aren’t gonna pay for all of it themselves).
SeekingPam, yes, my other schools offered me quite a bit more similar to my brother’s school. And yes, you’re absolutely right haha I am not too familiar with my parents finances, I just know the basic numbers! But I think I’ll tell my dad to call them again to talk about the Profile, thanks for all your input!
You have just 9 days left. While working on Vassar, be sure that you are also looking at your other aid packages and seeing what your realistic options will be if Vassar does not work out.
What is your back up plan? How much will that school cost?
You can only borrow ~$5500/year. The only way to borrow more, which generally isn’t a good idea, is if your parents cosign loans or take them out for you. Either way, they’re responsible for making sure they get paid back. If your parents won’t pay the net cost for Vassar for all 4 years don’t go there. Attend a college where you have a viable plan in place to pay for all 4 years.
It sounds to me like OP’s parents are semi retired from very high paying jobs? Lots of assets and equity? For reference we make over 2.5x the OP and have roughly 150,000 home equity, only one in college and were awarded about 40,000 in grants.
@pizza459 - You absolutely should call Vassar and ask them to EXPLAIN the factors that went into their award. There’s no reason you can’t make this call yourself. Sit down with your father first and go over your FAFSA and Profile so you understand the numbers. Then, when you call Vassar, take notes so you can review it with your father afterwards. But also ASK QUESTIONS when you’re on the phone with Financial Aid - they should be able to explain it so that you understand.
It’s absolutely predictable that your expected contribution at a private college such as Vassar wouldn’t be the same as your FAFSA EFC. But it should be reasonably comparable to your cost at similar private colleges. If it isn’t, then it’s possible that someone at Vassar made a mistake, and they just haven’t realized it yet.
I think it is great if OP wants to be on the phone call and her parents are ok with that. Great advice to ask questions and absolutely both she and her parents should understand why this award is different than her sibling’s and the other schools. Absolutely keep asking questions until you have the answers you need.
Yet, there are at least $5,000 reasons the OP should not make this call herself. She can join her dad or mom on the conference call but she is not the one earning the money, she is not the owner of the assets and she is not the one investing the money, her parents are. Her parents are in the best position to catch a mistake and they should not obtain the information second hand which will result in some distortion (telephone anyone?). No disrespect OP, you sound like you have a better handle on your family finances than many kids your age, but ultimately they are your family’s finances, not yours.
I personally, as a parent, would be less constrained talking to FA myself. While my children have a general idea, I am not sure they should have the same understanding of our finances as our accountant does. I seem to remember there was something I could check on one of the forms which prohibited schools from discussing my finances with my child. I am sure 10 years from now my child will not want to discuss her finances with me either.
I also believe that while it is great to establish independence and let kids fight their own battles, this is an area where adults have expertise and kids do not yet. Schools encourage kids to speak for themselves for a mixture of reasons. On the one hand it is great because it builds self reliance. On the other it works for the school since most kids at 18 do not have the skills that a college educated 40 year old does. Parents may be a huge nuisance to a school but part of the reason is that a parent, especially a parent who is applying for aid for the second time is more likely to know what to say and less likely to accept a mistake.
^ This sounds more complicated than a simple conversation.
Also, having CSS Profile on hand and being ready to go over it is what is important, not the FAFSA. OP’s parents could go through a print out of the CSS Profile report before the conversation to look for anything that looks like it was entered incorrectly. No one at Vasssar sits there and enters figures onto the computer for you. Numbers from CSS Profile get crunched according to formula and a report is generated which then determines the package. I suspect that something on the CSS Profile was reported wrongly, but it may be quite complicated to figure out.
@pizza459, Your parents’ income is $40k and you have a sibling in college. Even if the net cost was reduced from $36k to $18k, how would you pay it? Are they willing to liquidate nearly half their assets so you can go to Vassar? You said your parents “won’t pay all of it” and mentioned loans. How much will your parents pay? And how much are they planning to help you borrow?
Sorry, I should have been more clear. That should have been 2 separate paragraphs. Right now the net cost is ~$41k ($36k EFC + $3500 loan + $2k work study). IF the family was charged $18k/year (plus the student contribution of $5500), how much of that will the parents pay? She said they won’t pay for all of it and she has to take out loans. I’m wondering how much she thinks she’s going to have in loans (federal and cosigned private) when she graduates.
Vassar isn’t going to give her additional money though. The net cost is ~$41k. OP has $14k total federal loans and $8k work study.
Are the parents planning to pull the ~$140k that Vassar is charging them out of their investments? It doesn’t sound like it. Do they plan to cosign loans for her? I hope not. The reality is that unless there was an error in the aid calculation, the cost of this college will eat up a huge chunk of their investment account or OP will graduate with astronomical debt.
“Vassar isn’t going to give her additional money though.”
I’m not entirely sure about that. This is a school that purportedly meets full need and has a student that WILL attend if they meet it. Knowing that several other comparable schools are coming up with a much lower EFC, they should revisit and adjust, the FA. There has to be something wrong here. They should fix it.
@momcinco I never mentioned FAFSA. It is a Profile School.
Good idea about going over the CSS line by line, maybe comparing it to the sibling’s or seeing if there is a school specific negative question.
No experience with Vassar but at a peer school I had a FA officer sit down over the phone and pretty much figure out what I would get (my forms were not fully processed yet and I needed a read). We spoke for about a half hour. There was a question on home equity that he revised because he realized I approached it with incorrect assumptions, was very helpful. K was not anything special either at the school. At a different peer school I had a 10 minute conversation with a FA officer, explained one of the things that school 1, said I did wrong on the CSS and he and his committee reviewed what I told them and got back to me a week later. At a third school that was offering much less than the other 2 but was a peer and known to be good for FA, I spoke with someone, explained that there has to be a mistake because there was such a difference. They reviewed my information and came back with questions which I answered and it was a mistake on their end because they did not understand the ownership of an asset and they adjusted our package also about a week later.
I ran the NPC at Vassar and it was reasonable. Home equity of even $1M did not change it much for me (no do not own that, just curious). So I agree this may be a mistake.
OP, what did you write in your original appeal letter? Did you ask on the Vassar forum whether other people pay a lot more than the NPC says?
Unless this was the OP’s only Profile school, this seems unlikely. This appears to be a situation where one Profile school (that meets full need) came up with an entirely different result from other Profile schools (that also meet full need). That suggests that any error, if there is one, is at Vassar’s end.
And, yes, it makes sense for the OP’s parent to make the phone call, so long as the parent is clear on the purpose of the call. It’s not “We need more money, please!” It is “What the heck went wrong here? We submitted the same info to (names of comparable, “meet full need” private colleges), and their awards were entirely different - is it possible there’s an error in the calculation of my student’s aid?”
Vassar does meet full need, and doesn’t “low ball” its aid offers, so if Vassar’s award is out of sync with everyone else’s, you need to find out why.
SeekingPenn, I was not responding to your post. OP mentioned the FAFSA in the original post, as did several others. My intention was to make sure the Profile was what they had on hand when calling.
Sorry thought the ^ meant me. Thank you for clarifying and yes that is important. Also tax returns and W2s and anything else that reflects their fiances.
