<p>So I'm applying to a fair number of schools with very generous fin aid policies (i.e. Harvard). My family makes around 250,000/yr. My dad is in a new job and previously he was not making nearly this much. We own two homes; it's sort of a long story but our non-primary residence is not a second home or summer home and we're renting it out. I have younger siblings who will not be in college for a while but are at private schools, which are a significant financial burden. They'll probably go public for HS. The cost of living in my city is really high.</p>
<p>Basically, my dad said he ran the financial aid calculator on the Princeton website and it said we wouldn't get any aid. He said he even played with the numbers by lowering a couple of things and we still wouldn't get anything.</p>
<p>I just want to make sure I'm not messing anything up here, because this is obviously an important issue--there's no point in applying for fin aid, right? I'm pretty sure there isn't but just want to make sure.</p>
<p>While my family is willing and able to be full-pay, it's not like we can just pay that much money with it having no effect on lifestyle and that sort of thing. Anyway, I'm not looking for sympathy or anything (I realize I'm very lucky for my family's financial situation and sorry if this has come off as whiny) but just want to make sure I'm not making any mistakes. There's no reason for me to fill out the FAFSA or any of that sort of thing, right?</p>
<p>Sorry this was so long, and thanks for any help!</p>
<p>Oh, and just another tangential question--why is it that Harvard, with their generous fin aid policy, expects families to pay about 10% of their income up to $180,000, but after that cuts off aid? Like if my family had to pay 10% we'd be paying $25,000--a lot less than the full tuition and COA!</p>
<p>And yes, I do not about merit aid and have an affordable safety and have applied to UCs and all that sort of thing. :)</p>
<p>Families with that income level usually do not receive need-based aid. Your father’s calculations are correct! You are very lucky to be in that income level. No matter what your income level, everybody must make sacrifices & changes to their life styles to send their children to college. Suggest you & your parents sit down & go over your finances so you can make it work. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>If you would like to take out a Stafford loan in your name (the student) you can do so by completing the FAFSA. That is the only need based aid you would be eligible for at this time (that’s my opinion). </p>
<p>There are some colleges that will consider the costs for your siblings to attend private school. However, not all do this. And some only do this if there is a really good reason for the private school placement (some kind of special need, for example). Still…your second home and family income probably would put you over the threshold for need based aid. That second home will count in two ways…the equity in that home will be listed as an asset and the rent will be additional income.</p>
<p>As mentioned, virtually every family who sends a child to college has to tighten their belts a bit to make it all work financially. Good luck to you with your applications.</p>
<p>another home or piece of real state really raises your EFC…and I’m not sure how fair that is. What if someone inherited a second home, or some land that has been in the family for generations and the parents want to pass it along to their kids? I guess you are supposed to sell it to pay for college. I see a family piece of land very differently than savings or other assets. You can use your savings to pay for your kids education…but should you be expected to sell family real estate?</p>
<p>I just bought a book: Paying for College Without Going Broke, which I highly recommend. In it, they suggest that even those, like you, who are lucky enough not to really need financial aid right now, should file the forms anyway because if your situation changes in the next couple of years (your parents lose their jobs, etc.), it will be easier for you to get aid in the future.</p>
<p>However, as the mother of someone who really does need aid, I’m kinda hoping you don’t take my advice Anyway, believe me, if I had the luxury of choosing between being “willing and able to be full-pay”, as *your *family currently is and being willing but unable to be full-pay, as *my *family currently is, I’d choose your situation in a heartbeat. Thank your lucky stars!</p>
<p>No harm in your asking, though.
Good luck getting in!</p>
<p>Many schools will consider having kids in private K-12 as a luxury (I’m not criticizing, my kids didn’t go to public K-12 either), so many will not give special consideration for that. Like Thumper said, unless the children “have” to be in special schools, that won’t make a lot of difference at a lot of schools. Don’t know what ivies policies about this is. </p>
<p>I know that Catholic U’s are somewhat good about this, but probably wouldn’t be that understanding if the kids are in some kind of pricey K-12 (and why should they be…it is a luxury expense). </p>
<p>*why is it that Harvard, with their generous fin aid policy, expects families to pay about 10% of their income up to $180,000, but after that cuts off aid? Like if my family had to pay 10% we’d be paying $25,000–a lot less than the full tuition and COA!
*</p>
<p>Because at some point, Harvard thinks that a discount is no longer needed. I know that they use that $180k figure, but I don’t know how strict it is. If a family earns $181k, I can’t imagine that they’re full pay, while someone who earns $180k pays $18k…but who knows. (The UCs and Blue and Gold have a stupid “exact dollar threshold” policy, so maybe H does, too. LOL)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the super-generous need-based policies for Harvard Yale and Princeton (and maybe Stanford?) are averages. Some families under the $180k cap ($200k IIRC for Princeton) pay more than 10% of annual income depending on individual circumstances. I’d guess that families with incomes higher than the “limit” might also pay less than rack rate if there are exceptional expenses due to medical costs or somesuch. </p>
<p>Kudos to you, OP, and your dad for doing your due diligence.</p>
<p>Can anyone speak with direct experience as to how HPY’s need-based calculations play out in reality? Do they expect families to only pay 10% of adjusted gross income (what if a family’s gross is over $180K but adjusted gross is less than that?), or do they use another income calculation? How do they adjust for primary residence value, cost of living in your zip code (which may have very high state and local taxes), retirement accounts and other assets? Are these colleges discounting tuition only to the 10% of income level, or are they adjusting the total cost of attendence? </p>
<p>A local family told me that due to other assets, they were expected to pay full freight at Harvard although they fell below the $180K income level.</p>
<p>thumper1, I always wonder what “typical” means. Or maybe I should also put quote marks around “means”? </p>
<p>Since the odds of getting in are so long, all a student can do is apply and then see what happens when admissions results come out. </p>
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<p>No direct experience with the named schools, but existing retirement accounts are not included in financial need calculations. The exception is contributions to retirement accounts during the years that your kid is a student will be counted. And yes, the 10% is for the total COA, not just tuition. For the rest of what “they” (those quotation marks again! ) do, it’s a black box. Or a slightly hazy box. </p>
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<p>The family can choose to send their child to a less expensive school and keep the land.</p>
<p>We have been researching this issue as a family, and other posters have indicated that virtually all schools require FAFSA to be done before they award merit aid. Yes, some do not, but in most people’s cases where you still have not made a decision where you will be attending, it makes sense to fill out the darn forms and then fully compare merit aid offers. Some schools do merit stricly on admissions data, some don’t consider FAFSA/CSS at all, and some do. If it takes 2 hours more than getting your parents stuff ready for their tax guy, and you get a 5K merit scholarship, that was $2500 an hour, or 10K an hour if it is a four year scholarship. Even drug dealers don’t earn that much (I think :)</p>
I’ve been reading this forum for years and, from what I’ve read, MANY schools require the FAFSA to award merit aid, not virtually all, and those schools will tell the student if that is necessary. That being said, it’s really not that hard to get the data and put it online so it might be worthwhile.</p>
<p>It is wrong to say that virtually all schools require FAFSA for merit consideration.</p>
<p>NONE of the schools that my kids got merit from required FAFSA. I’m guessing that those schools that DO require FAFSA are mostly schools that either meet need or come close…so they want to see if you qualify for any federal aid as well before putting together an FA package. </p>
<p>I would say that most schools that give merit do NOT require FAFSA.</p>
<p>*A local family told me that due to other assets, they were expected to pay full freight at Harvard although they fell below the $180K income level. *</p>
<p>Then that means that they had a lot of assets. I would imagine that ivies consider anything above about $50k in unprotected assets as available for college…I’m not saying 100% of that money, but a portion. I don’t know at what % ivies assess high assets…could be higher than what FAFSA does.</p>
<p>Yes, lately there have been too many threads focused on “income” alone. Need based aid considers income plus assets plus some grey areas, depending on the school. A family can earn 70k and have a million in assets- bank accounts, property value, whatever- and not be treated like the family with 90k income and nothing else. Number of kids in the family also counts. Number in college at the same time counts. Usually, private prep school costs are considered optional expenses.</p>
<p>Point is: it is confusing and, I sometimes think, purposely so.</p>
<p>Thank you all for being so helpful and relieving my worries!</p>
<p>I’m really grateful that my family makes enough to not really have to worry about financial aid, and I hope everyone who needs aid gets a nice package! I know I’m very lucky and didn’t really expect anything, but just wanted to be sure.</p>
<p>In case anyone is curious (lol), the other house is the house we lived in for 17 years before we moved… We did not sell it because we had sort of a unique situation in that where we’re currently living is the house that belongs to my grandfather, and he’s letting us live here for free since he already owns his house in full. My dad wanted to wait to sell the other house until the market values went up, and there was also some question of us possibly moving back…</p>
<p>The only schools that offer non-need, merit-based aid to which I applied did not ask for the FAFSA explicitly. Do I need to check their websites to see whether I still need to fill it out? Is it advisable to fill the FAFSA out no matter what? I haven’t really done much research on it since I always assumed I wouldn’t apply for aid.</p>
<p>I’d say if you can fill out the FAFSA the first year, before you know where you are headed and your final merit aid package, if any, do so…first, in case your family’s financial situation changes dramatically, and you become eligible for need-based aid (you will have established a baseline with the initial FAFSA for comparison), and second, because some colleges do steer merit grants towards desirable students who they can see will not qualify, or are borderline for need-based aid. Always check web sites and never hesitate to call or email FA offices or admissions offices with questions–try to get answers in writing–and check over merit scholarship renewal criteria carefully before you accept one of these. You should assess whether you’ll be able to maintain GPA criteria in your major before you accept; also, whether you’ll graduate in the typical 4-year renewal period (at some state schools, in some majors, it will take longer).</p>
Anyway, believe me, if I had the luxury of choosing between being “willing and able to be full-pay”, as *your *family currently is and being willing but unable to be full-pay, as *my *family currently is, I’d choose your situation in a heartbeat. Thank your lucky stars!</p>
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