What are the general assets / income cut-offs for financial aid....??

Paying for College
1

<p>Just wondering if it pays to fill out the various forms, etc... BTW, do financial aid forms need to be completed to be eligible for merit scholarships ?
Thanks.</p>

2

<p>a) Yes, in order to received aid you need to fill out the forms.
b) Some merit scholarships require the applicant to be nominated, but in most cases a FAFSA is not required.</p>

3

<p>HI ses. I guess it might be best for me to check with each school. If necessary for merit $$$ scholarship eligibility, I would certainly complete the required financial aid forms. Otherwise, I guess I will pass on them. Need based financial aid does not seem in the cards. Thanks.</p>

4

<p>Yes, you do need to check each school. Many schools require the completion of their finaid forms for merit aid as well as need based aid. I always recommend that folks complete the finaid forms. You have to hope that you will not have a financial hardship (loss of income, job, medical expenses, etc), but sadly it can happen to anyone. If this happens you will want the school to reconsider your child's financial aid. They cannot do so without the forms on file. You would be asking them to review a change in your situation from the original finaid forms. The LAST thing you want to do if you have a crisis is fill out the FAFSA or Profile. I suggest you complete them as if you are applying for aid.</p>

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<p>^Financial aid is reviewed and renewed every year at most colleges. Should your financial situation change you could always reapply.</p>

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<p>Do financial aid forms get completed as part of the Common Applic. and hence get sent to all the Common Appl. schools or do they get sent to each school individually through some other forms / website ? Thanks...kind of new to this process ( things were very different 30 years ago..)</p>

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<p>Yes, finaid is renewed annually. BUT what if something happens to you in December? If you lose your job or have high unexpected medical expenses, do you REALLY want to complete the FAFSA/Profile during the financial crisis? The college will NOT review finaid for you if these forms are not on file. And they will want info regarding your former income AND the income reduction (and why). </p>

<p>Re: finaid forms. They are NOT part of the Common Application. Financial aid application is separate from application for admittance. The FAFSA is online and can be amended online (and is free)..beginning on January 1 of the student's senior year in high school. The Profile is administered through the College Board (for a fee) and will be available beginning October of the senior year. In both cases YOU (the applicant) designate where these applications will be sent.</p>

8

<p>There is really no general asset/income cutoff, because it depends on a variety of factors, including income, assets, age of older parent, number in family, number in college, etc. And cost of the school comes into play. For example, you might not get any aid at a $20,000/yr. school but get some at a $40k school.</p>

<p>As a "general rule," though, I have found that --- for a family of 4 with 1 in college --- the EFC seems to really shoot up with AGI over $100k. But again, that is just me playing with numbers in a financial aid website calculator!</p>

9

<p>^I'd also caution that houses are part of your assets. Just about any middle class family in a northeast suburb is going to get less finaid than they had hoped to simply by virtue of the value of the house, regardless of what it was worth when they bought it 15 years ago.</p>

10

<p>
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I'd also caution that houses are part of your assets

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<p>For FAFSA your house is not part of your assets.</p>

<p>For schools using profile it may be.</p>

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<p>I am thinking that with income over 250K a year and assets over $5M, there is no point in applying..........</p>

12

<p>I would say no!</p>

<p>BTW, can you adopt me??</p>

13

<p>lol...Actually, good health and some happiness is where it is at. All the rest are just numbers....Best to you.</p>

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<p>Unless your assets are TOTALLY secure, I would still recommend applying anyway....just in case your finances tank.</p>

<p>If your assets are as you state...no...you won't be receiving need based aid. BUT some schools do require the finaid forms be completed for merit aid (if you are looking for that kind of aid)...check the websites for the specifics of each school. And don't be surprised (with those assets) if the development office contacts you after you enroll.</p>

15

<p>But why would colleges award merit aid to someone with large income or assets? Seems to me since the endowment pot is limited, those with large bank accounts, etc. are not going to get the need-based...or the merit aid.</p>

<p>I am trying to sort this out for myself, since we have nowhere near the assets as the above poster, but have saved for our children's college education over the years. I just keep wondering if having done that saving now really jinxes even the merit aid...which kind of burns me up.</p>

16

<p>Allmusic,
While some merit scholarships are connected to FA, many (most?) are not. For instance, my D was in the running or received large merit awards from UMichigan, WUSTL, Rice and Emory and we are definitely on the cusp of not qualifying for FA (several schools said our need was 0). My experience is that unless a merit scholarship states that it is tied to need, then it is not.</p>

<p>I sympathize with you an the college savings, I did the same because I wasn't willing to do the "spend it all" and hope for FA strategy, just not my style. My kids are four years apart, so that works against us too. But I did read a long paper on how the FAFSA was developed, and with such a complex situation like FA, it's not possible to be "fair" to everyone as there is no way to determine individual circumstances. It didn't help my pocketbook any, but at least it explained the method to the madness. Looks like there might be some relief for 529 savings in the future at least.</p>

17

<p>Merit aid is based on a students Stats - GPA/ACT/SAT etc - not financial need. If your children qualify for merit aid your savings will not afffect that - they will only affect the need based aid. Mostly to get merit aid the student needs to be in the top tier stats wise for that school.</p>

18

<p>Well, I would also have looked at merit aid as based entirely on "merit", but this is apparently not the case, at least at a couple of school's my son is considering, which require the PROFILE, even for merit aid.</p>

<p>I don't know why this burns me up so much, but it seems that awarding talent, high scores, or whatever should not be at all contingent upon parental assets. Apparently this is how some schools award merit.</p>

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<p>Depends on the school. Some schools DO have merit scholarships that are completely merit based. These tend to be highly competitive and require a separate application from the one for admittance. However, the number of students receiving these is limited. E.g. Boston University has the Trustee Scholarships. The number given is not huge. No separate application is required and THOSE scholarship recipients do not need to file separate finaid applications but they DO need to apply for the Trustee Scholarship. However, the vast majority of Boston University merit aid requires the completion of all of their finaid applications. You need to check each schools policy AND the policy for the scholarships YOU are applying for. The policies vary with regard to the filing of the FAFSA/Profile for merit aid. Sometimes required, sometimes not. </p>

<p>And FYI...another example, DS received a great performance scholarship from BU based on his audition only...not based on need or academic work. HOWEVER, we still had to complete the Profile and FAFSA and send in two years worth of tax returns for him to receive this award. We did NOT qualify for a penny of need based aid.</p>