What determines how much financial aid you get?

Paying for College
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<p>My dad makes 100,000 for the gross income and 15,000 for the adjusted gross income. My mom is unemployed. Neither of my parents went to college. I have an older sister that goes to a CUNY school in her junior year of college. I have a little brother who goes to elementary school. </p>

<p>I get free lunch at school so...</p>

<p>Also if you need my stats:
GPA:98 weighted
ACT: 32, breakdown 30, 33, 31, 32
SAT II US HISTORY: 780
Attend 8 clubs, 1 for 4 years, 3 for 3 years, 4 for 2 years
350+ community service
Attend a nationwide top 80 public high school, top 15 in math and science in the nation and top 3 in nys
Essays are pretty awesome.
Teacher Rec. from teachers with supposedly great letters completed</p>

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<p>Depends on the school Some schools don’t have any money to give as financial aid, so you only get what the federal government gives. Some schools have lots of financial aid, and with good grades/test scores you can get almost all of it paid (Univ of Alabama - Huntsville).</p>

<p>BTW: How do you go from $100,000 of gross income, to $15,000 of Adjusted Gross Income? That is a lot of adjustments. If you are talking Schedule C Revenues, then you adjust that for business expenses in order to determine “income”.</p>

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<p>I have no idea that’s what my dad said… he has own construction company he’s a contractor… so idk man. I get free lunch at school though
Whenever I ask him about money he always changes the subject</p>

<p>And theres no way in hell I’m going to Alabama lol </p>

<p>I’m applying to Cornell, Dartmouth, UPenn, and Columbia. Those are all reach schools.</p>

<p>Target schools are; Georgetown, UCB, UCLA, NYU, Northwestern University,UVA, UMich, UChicago </p>

<p>Safety schools: Penn State, Boston University, CUNY Baruch, SUNY Stonybrook</p>

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<p>What is your unweighted GPA? What is your tank.</p>

<p>If you go to one of the NYC, big 3, there is going to a lot of competition from right within the ranks (there is nothing about your profile, that really sets you apart or makes you stand out from others with grades and scores that put them in the pool). Last year, many students from the big 3 got their lunch eaten in the college admissions process. My recommendation is to see your college counselor. Look carefully at Naviance, Cappex or whatever they are using to see how students with your grades and scores fared last year.</p>

<p>I would recommend that you sit with your dad and run your numbers through the net price calculator. After you do this, then sit with your father to determine, if he is willing to pay or borrow for your education. Keep in mind, that many of his adjustments may be added back in when he files the CSS profile and they pull his records or he submits his records from the IRS</p>

<p>Pay the 65 and file the CUNY app (6 choices) mix up your choices and file to both general admissions and the honors college.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cuny.edu/admissions/undergraduate/downloads/Admission-Profile-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cuny.edu/admissions/undergraduate/downloads/Admission-Profile-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you file now, you will have your decisions before Christmas. You can even file some of the SUNY applications (make sure that your dad wil be able to afford the cost).</p>

<p>I would remove UCB, UCLA, NYU from your list. Should you get accepted, the money will not come to make it financially feasible for your family (you will be full freight paying at almost all of these schools). Don’t pooh pooh Alabama as right now it seems to be (after CUNY) the only financially feasible option in the bunch.</p>

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<p>Most of the schools on your list (except your safety schools) also require the CSS Profile. Your dad’s business income and deductions will be carefully scrutinized by these schools. It is very likely that some of the business expenses he has taken to reduce his gross income will be added back as income by these schools.</p>

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<p>

If he qualifies for free lunches, the add-ins are probably not enough to rule out schools that give a lot of need based aid. </p>

<p>I would be interested to know how a family of 5 survives on $15K.</p>

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<p>…reposted here because the first time I posted, it showed up as 11 am yesterday instead of 1:35 am today, and completely threw off the sequence of this conversation… </p>

<p>I have read too many stories on CC of families who were self-employed who got hammered on EFC with the CSS/PROFILE. Lots of items that were deductible on Sch C went back into the mix as income for EFC. OP, you and your family need to consider some financially realistic choices here. If your dad does not want to talk money, what makes you think he will be willing to fork out or borrow tens of thousands of dollars?</p>

<p>Quote:
Target schools are; Georgetown, UCB, UCLA, NYU, Northwestern University,UVA, UMich, UChicago
Most of these schools have acceptance rates that make them reaches for any applicant. UCB, UCLA, UMich and UVA are not known for being generous with FA to OOS students. NYU has a reputation for offering acceptances, but with huge loans. You will not be able to take out any loans above the Stafford/Perkins limits without a cosigner. Your parents may conclude that they cannot take out or cosign loans for your education.</p>

<p>A smart and mature approach here would be to research schools where you can get merit money based on your grades (which means your stats are in the tippy top of the school’s applicant pool) or where your EFC is a do-able amount for your family. At that point, you sit down with your parents and discuss finances. Listen to what they have to say and recognize that it is darned difficult to come up with 25-30% of your family’s income each year to pay for college. College Board assumes families have three resources from which to pull money for college: 1) savings; 2) current income; 3) future income (loans). Not all schools meet full financial need; many schools will expect you to take out loans.</p>

<p>Here’s an example of how FA estimates can vary:
Income in 2011: $40,000, single parent mom became unemployed in August 2011. Used to make $100k+ before economy tanked. Father’s business collapsed, lost house to foreclosure in 2011. He had no income other than four months of unemployment in 2011. Kids qualified for food stamps and free lunch.</p>

<p>Expected income in 2012: $15,000 (mom is still severely underemployed)</p>

<p>EFC from school A (a school you have listed as a safety): $32,000/year
(on what planet?!?!)
EFC from school B (an Ivy): $11,000/year</p>

<p>Student was salutatorian, 34 ACT, 13 APs (9 5s, 4 4s), significant leadership and awards. She is now at her flagship on an almost full ride. She is able to cover what the scholarships don’t with a PT job.</p>

<p>You have very decent stats and grades. There are schools that would love to have you and would pay for you to attend. I’m not saying you can’t aim high – but you also have to aim for money.</p>

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<p>*Target schools are; Georgetown, UCB, UCLA, NYU, Northwestern University,UVA, UMich, UChicago </p>

<p>Safety schools: Penn State, Boston University, CUNY Baruch, SUNY Stonybrook*</p>

<p>Take off NYU, UMich, and the UCs…they won’t be affordable. The OOS publics won’t give you the aid you need, you won’t qualify for merit, and NYU gives lousy aid.</p>

<p>Penn St and Boston U are NOT safeties. They will not be affordable. They don’t give the aid you’d need.</p>

<p>For a school to be a safety, you have to KNOW that it will be affordable. Penn State will give you a $5500 Pell Grant, a 5500 loan and expect YOU to pay the other $30k to go there. Where’s that coming from? Boston U will have a similar expectation that you’ll have to pay a lot.</p>

<p>I think you’re going to find that CSS Profile schools will not accept some of your dad’s clever deductions that bring his $100k income down to $15k. And, yes, it will seem a mystery as to how the family lives on $15k per year. What’s your monthly rent/mortgage payment? For many/most families of that size, their rent/mortgage is going to be about $1000 per month. </p>

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<p>don’t write off Alabama (Tuscaloosa…the flagship). Not only is it better ranked than your real safeties (CUNYs and SUNYs), but it would give you a full tuition scholarship and you’d get federal aid. you must apply before Dec 1st…the apps are easy.</p>

<p>Alabama’s campus is gorgeous, the academics are strong, and the people are friendly. Tuscaloosa is a good-sized city with people from all over the country.</p>

<p>The fact that you just outright dismissed Alabama as some outrageous idea suggests that you have NO CLUE about the school, the city its in, nor the state. Alabama actually has MANY New York students attending. The frosh class is 55% OOS. </p>

<p>here’s a video of Bama’s College of Arts and Sciences. If you’d be a STEM major, then note that Bama has a brand new mega-sized Science and Engineering Complex…800,000 square feet of new STEM academic buildings. you’d see Phase I in the video (shelby hall). There are 4 phases.</p>

<p>What is your intended major. BTW…if you major in some kind of engineering or Comp Sci, then Bama will give you an add’l 2500 per year on top of free tuition.</p>

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<p>this site is depressing… and yeah i went and checked naviance, turns out a lot of my targets are actually reaches</p>

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<p>and my parents are ■■■■■■■■ lol where do i get a net price calculator wth is that… when are all the FAFSA things due?</p>

<p>and idk man my dad’s a contractor with his own construction company so i guess he can bs the sheets? otherwise i wouldnt know, it’s like impossible to get him to sit down and talk.</p>

<p>my counselor said that Washington university st louis gives a lot of aid( my intended major is something major in business mixed with math/physics/engineering something of the sort)</p>

<p>he gets a lot of money from rent and stuff i think…</p>

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<p>i don’t care i’d rather go to some crappy ny school than go to alabama.</p>

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<p>thanks for the advice tho guys, i appreciate it</p>

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<p>*my counselor said that Washington university st louis gives a lot of aid( my intended major is something major in business mixed with math/physics/engineering something of the sort)</p>

<p>he gets a lot of money from rent and stuff i think…*</p>

<p>WUStL is also a reach for you.</p>

<p>Who gets rent? Your dad? From what? does he own rentals? If so, then his income isn’t $15k per year. What is the total family income…including the rentals?</p>

<p>Also…the rentals are ASSETS. That will also negatively affect your aid.</p>

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<p>Wow, just wow. Good luck, but I suspect that in the spring we’ll see some posts from you that you don’t have any good affordable choices because those top schools and maybe the FAFSA schools will figure out that your family’s income (and assets) is a lot higher than what is being claimed, and you didn’t get the aid you expected. </p>

<p>Hmmm…what’s the penalty for free lunch fraud???</p>

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<p>The challenge is with applying for free lunch in NYC is that income is self reported and no one has to actually “prove” that this is their income. I have a student who “qualifies” for free lunch because his mom’s income is from Social Security Disability. However, parent “neglected” to put on the lunch form that she hit the lottery last year and cleared more than $5 Million(not, you can’t make this stuff up). Student came to me the other day requesting a fee waiver (and I had to inform him that it is not gonna happen). </p>

<p>Because of the limited number of fee waivers that the college board gives, many schools has requested, proof of income (pay stubs, tax forms, budget letters, etc).</p>

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<p>Wash U gives need based FA according to the FAFSA/and the CSS Profile or their own profile form.</p>

<p>While Wash U does get merit $$ but you gotta be pretty darn exceptional to get it as there are very few of them given out.</p>

<p>[Academic</a> Scholarship and Fellowship Programs](<a href=“http://issuu.com/wustladmissions/docs/scholarships_2012/1?mode=window]Academic”>http://issuu.com/wustladmissions/docs/scholarships_2012/1?mode=window)</p>

<p>Your best bet for determining your EFC is to start in your own house. Your sister had to file the FAFSA to attend CUNY. What was her EFC? Was she eligible for any financial aid (TAP/PELL)?</p>

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<p>If you parents don’t pay for any of your College then can you get Financial Aid?</p>

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<p>pianoman…</p>

<p>If your parents’ income qualifies you for aid, then you can get aid. however, if your parents’ income is high enough that you won’t qualify, then you won’t.</p>

<p>Refusing to pay is not a reason to get aid…otherwise all parents would refuse.</p>

<p>Imdad…your dad may have put $15k as his income on your free lunch apps (which aren’t verified), but when you submit FAFSA and CSS Profile, then his much higher income/assets will come out (value of rentals, income from rentals) and CSS profile may disqualify some of those deductions.</p>

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<p>Imdad, with a huge discrepancy between income and adjusted gross income, it is highly likely you will be selected for verification. Some of your schools likely use the IDOC services (the Profile schools). In both cases, your parents’ actual tax returns will be required and they WILL be scrutinized. Any business expenses that schools typically add back in as income WILL be added back in as income.</p>