My child is on the financial aid in high school (we pay about 40%). We own a house, meaning we own a mortgage haha. We want to move for reasons I would prefer not to mention here.
My parents are offering to pay a downpayment on another house. So we would rent our old house out so it would cover the mortgage. But pay a mortgage on the second house, about the same sum. So basically financially we would be spending the same amount of money per month (paying for second house instead of a first one)… But our equity(?) would become bigger. We would be owning 2 houses…
What do you think? is it possible we would loose our financial aid? I would prefer to stay in our old house if moving would mean losing financial aid.
ps
no, parents would not pay for private school - they don’t agree with our decision to send our child to private school. but they do agree we need to move.
Your 2nd home will be considered an asset and the rent it generates will be considered income. How much can you afford to pay for college per year? Will your child qualify for merit anywhere?
No one in this forum can give you a solid answer unless you name the school and someone here has been in your shoes at that school. You would have to discuss this with the FA office at the school.
I would have the discussion with the FA office at your school.
At a fundamental level, you are getting a chunk of cash which you are choosing to invest in a piece of real estate rather than use for tuition (even though you aren’t really able to choose.) So the school may wonder why it should be paying for your decision to tie up your wealth in that manner.
They may also want to know why you are converting your existing home into a rental property rather than selling it to get the equity out so you can pay for school.
The reality is that everyone has to choose how to spend their money and the FA office doesn’t have to support your choices. Some families make sacrifices others will not or cannot. Only the FA office can opine on your situation.
Absolutely, or at least have it reduced. That’s up to the school to decide, of course, but now you would have a new asset plus a stream of additional income.
That’s an important distinction. The FA office tells you how much they will give; this may be at odds with how much you want to pay.
I am just worried about my kid loosing high school financial aid for now…