what amount of income is considered a financial aid qualified?

<p>?? i dont know if i am eleigible or not. can you guys give me some feed back</p>

<p>Apparently, any amount.</p>

<p>The real, true answer is: It depends. It depends on many different components of an individual's family situation. It depends on the cost of the school. It depends on the amount of other scholarship money you'll receive. There is no way to know for sure ... so apply!</p>

<p>However ... you can get an idea of the aid you might receive by going to fafsa4caster.ed.gov or finaid.com & running your family info through the calculators. For schools that use only the federal methodology, you'll get a good idea of your EFC (expected family contribution). Profile schools (generally the more expensive private schools - they use a form from College Board called CSS Profile) usually - but not always - come up with a higher EFC because they consider more assets (like your home equity). However, even at a Profile school, eligibility for government aid like the Pell is based on the FAFSA-generated EFC. </p>

<p>Cost of Attendance (COA) is determined by each school & can be found on their financial aid websites. COA - EFC = Need. Aid is awarded to meet the need. Not all schools will meet need, and many schools that do meet need may include lots of loans in the award package. Obviously, if your family income is pretty high, your best bet of getting aid is a school with a high COA!</p>

<p>Depends upon several factors including, but not limited to, cost of the school to which you are applying and how many dependent children in the household are attending tuition based schools. Many private national universities & LACs estimate the cost of attending school for a 9 month academic year in the low to mid $50,000 range--as they include tuition, room & board, fees, books & school supplies, personal expenses & travel expenses. Health insurance may also be counted as a cost if needed to be purchased separately for the student. Incomes are typically examined by financial aid officers in addition to family assets. Thus a family with an income of $150,000 may qualify for substantial financial aid, while a family earning much less in terms of annual earned income may not even qualify for any fin'l aid. Many private colleges & universities provide sample charts matching various income levels with financial aid awards. But be aware that not all financial aid is in the form of a grant or outright gift. Some financial aid offers are solely comprised of loans & work study, while others are a mixture of two or three different types of aid.</p>

<p>I don't know what the max is. I suppose it can be calculated by putting in extremes for parents' ages, dependents, assets, and working down down to where you finally are eligible for something at an income level. I've not seen that done.</p>

<p>its kinda like how much money do you need to live?
Income meets 110% of expenses- :(
Income meets 90% of expenses - :)</p>

<p>this might not be the right place for this, but do those standards change if one is a foreign national. for example I live in Latin america and wish to go to the states, but will probably need financial aid. will this change the standard that applies to financial aid?</p>

<p>I just processed an application for a student whose AGI was just under $75k (not a typo) who was PELL eligible; not just a little bit but just over $3k. Granted there were 9 legitimate people in his household, but it goes to show that there is a lot that determines maximum income for financial aid eligibility.</p>

<p>I have known families making over $200k who got financial aid (not PELL) but from colleges. They have had multiple kids in college (two had a set of twins and a singleton in school while a parent was also going to school and kids in private school). They have had one parent who is old and a large number of dependents. They have had few assets. All of these things can come into play. Also fin aid directors have a great deal of lee way, particularly with college funds in making certain decisions when there are special situations. If a student is particularly desirable for a good reason, and there are circumstances that can be viewed in various ways, there is a possibility of looking at things in a way more favorable for getting aid. There is some leeway.</p>

<p>At the same time Fin aid officers have heard MANY<MANY stories, and are not likely to be pushovers.</p>