<p>So basically I'm in a little bit of a predicament. Back when I was a freshman, my family had a very high income and we had an EFC of like 60k or something ridiculous, so my sister went to Columbia and while it's not easy shelling out the 50k every year it was doable. My father recently lost his job and purchased a house to turn into a financial services company. Most he won't be making a solid income for another two years or so (I am a junior). Additionally, my college savings which were about 175k were hugely hit by the stock market and are now worth 100k. So currently my household income is 33k however, we own 3 houses (residential, vacation, and office house). In addition, we rent our vacation home and generate about 15k each summer with that. Will I be able to qualify for need based financial aid even though the value of my houses is approx $2 million combined?</p>
<p>Have you entered numbers into the FAFSA Forecaster? [FAFSA4caster</a> - Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf]FAFSA4caster”>http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf)</p>
<p>Probably not. $2,000,000 in assets will push your EFC over 100,000 which is well over the cost of any school (currently).</p>
<p>My parents refuse to give me specifics about our financial situation. I know the value of all of our homes and I never knew my father’s income but I do know my mothers’. She teaches at a private school and naturally makes about dirt. It’s such ashame that I can’t qualify for financial aid because my parents are not about to sell our home house and our vacation house would sit on the market for years before it sold (they will sell it once the market peaks) and the third house is simply for occupation.</p>
<p>Well need based aid is for people with need. Owning $2,000,000 in real estate makes your family much wealthier than the majority of families in the US.</p>
<p>Your family home however is not reported as an asset in FAFSA.</p>
<p>Oh well that’s a little bit better. Then our assets should be 1.3 million. I know that we are in the upper echelon in regards to our net worth. But, my family cannot do anything with that money that we have invested in those houses. One day we may be able to, but right now we cannot sell the beach house and we cannot sell my father’s business because that will be our source of income. For right now, my family is living on 33k which would naturally be really hard for any family of 5.</p>
<p>And I just realized if our EFC is 100k, I could possibly get a wee bit of finaid since my sister is in a 51k a year school at the same time.</p>
<p>The house purchased for the office should not be reported on the FAFSA as well considering it is a business asset. The vacation home still needs to be reported.</p>
<p>Well then this is not seeming too bad then. Perhaps I will be able to get at least some financial aid.</p>
<p>If you are planning on attending a more expensive school that has generous aid they will probably require CSS in addition to FAFSA. All the properties will have to be reported on CSS. They will base any federal aid on the FAFSA EFC. Federal grant money requires a very low EFC (<4617 for the Pell for the 2009-2010 school year). They will base institutional aid on the CSS information which will include all the properties.</p>
<p>Regarding the value of the houses – I believe that you only have to report the value minus any loans that are owed on those houses. So if your parents have mortgages on any of the properties, that will make what you have to report lower.</p>
<p>I can understand that your parents might not want to share every detail of their finances with you, but you really need to know about how much (if any) they will be able to contribute to your college expenses. Knowing this will help you determine how many & what type of schools to apply to. </p>
<p>If you think you will need some scholarship money, then you might start looking for colleges where your grades/test scores will put you in the top 5-10% of applicants. You should also apply to a lower cost state school or two.</p>
<p>the flaw with need based aid…the families who are land rich with moderate incomes.</p>
<p>If you have college savings of 100K why do you need financial aid? That should get you through a couple of years.</p>
<p>2 years, not 4. That’s not enough for top privates.</p>
<p>If you are looking at top privates then all your assets - the properties, including home and business, as well as any other assets such as college savings - will have to be reported on CSS. The non reporting of the primary home is only a FAFSA thing.</p>
<p>But $100K will get you 4 full years (or close enough to 4 years, that you will need to take only a modest amount of loans) at many very good public universities. And if your grades and test scores are good enough to be looking at top privates, you may very likely qualify for some sizable merit scholarships at many schools, both public and private.</p>
<p>Yes I do understand that. I am virtually guaranteed a scholarship into the University of Delaware Honors Program which is certainly good, but if possible I would love to go to a small, private, LAC that’s very intellectual. I know I might not be able to get that and the UD Honor Program is a good fallback, but I’d rather do what I want if I can.</p>
<p>So spend your money on the first couple of years (and maybe get some financial aid then when you have less) and take out loans, work, or maybe your dad’s company will be doing good by then.</p>
<p>*2 years, not 4. That’s not enough for top privates. *</p>
<p>Well, in 2 years, your dad’s business should be on track. :)</p>
<p>You’re not going to get much aid with your assets.</p>
<p>how is that a flaw with financial aid? what if for years, i make 300k a yr, invest 2 million into realestate and items (thus having no cash reserves), and then lose my job. do u think my kids should still qualify for financial aid considering i make 0 a year?</p>