I believe Villanova may have significantly changed how they factor home equity when calculating need based aid and not for the better. For my current freshman, I ran the net price calculator last year and we qualified for some need based aid. The need based aid awarded by Villanova more or less matched up with the what I expected after running the net price calculator.
This year I am running the net price calculator using the same financial information for a younger sibling who will be headed to college in another 1.5 years. Long story short, the expected contribution for our family has increased and the need based aid has evaporated.
When I tinker with home equity I see that this is the variable that has changed sometime in the past year. Last year, I was able to figure that Villanova was considering home equity as a parent asset, but capping the amount considered to 2x household income. Now at least according the current net price calculator, they are no longer capping the amount home equity considered as parent asset. They are calculating 100% of the home equity as a parent asset and an asset available to pay for the college’s cost of attendance.
This is a major change in how financial aid will be calculated, particularly for families who live in areas with very high real estate values and have relatively modest household incomes. There are many who purchased homes years ago for relatively affordable amounts and have seen the their home values as well as property taxes increase dramatically over the years.
It could be that this year’s net price calculator has a glitch in it and that Villanova’s financial aid office hasn’t changed their policy toward home equity. However, I doubt that to be the case given how important the net price calculators are for prospective students when evaluating whether applying to the school makes financial sense.
Anyone else run the numbers on the net price calculator and come up with the same issue? Anyone aware of a change in the financial aid formula at Villanova?