<p>I got accepted into Columbia university ed and I am pumped. However, I do not "need" money so I did not receive much aid. My data is skewed and I e-mailed them, but I don't know if they will be sympathetic or not.</p>
<p>Are there any good scholarships you know out there that they give based on merit alone?</p>
<p>What are some other options??</p>
<p>Are you looking for outside scholarships to pay for Columbia? There really aren’t any that would provide what you need. Outside scholarships are typically for small amounts (about the amount for textbooks) and are for one year only. They aren’t what you need.</p>
<p>When you say that your data is skewed, what do you mean? How much aid did they give you? How much can your family pay?</p>
<p>When do you have to accept Columbia?</p>
<p>If by “skewed data” you mean that, despite a health income, your parents have not saved for college – don’t expect much sympathy from financial aid officers. That’s true anywhere, not just Columbia. On the other hand, if your FAFSA or other aid applications included actual errors which have significantly affected your EFC, they can be corrected. Contact the FA office.</p>
<p>mom2 is correct, there isn’t much in the way of big money from outside scholarships. By far the largest pool of merit aid is at the schools themselves. Have you checked into Columbia’s scholarships?</p>
<p>No i have not.</p>
<p>By “skewed” i mean our 2008 income was listed at about 2x our regular level, only because we sold a restaurant that year. we informed columbia about this, but maybe they passed over it?</p>
<p>another factor was most likely the money in our savings account. we have quite a lot. HOWEVER, my parents pay for my sister’s full tuition at seattle u (40k a year) and that combined with columbia’s full tuition alone is a lot more than our annual income.</p>
<p>You’re in a difficult situation. You can talk to Columbia’s FA office, but the fact that you had this income swell from selling the restaurant is a little unclear. If you sold it then basically it went from being one kind of an asset (a business, a property) to another (cash), but it isn’t exactly income. As far as being an asset, you still had that big asset before you sold it, and you have the cash asset now, but either way it is an asset that would be factored into your need determination. When you talk to FA you might just politely inquire as to how they treated the sale of the restaurant and you at least might have a better understanding of their process. It also gives them the opportunity to look at that to see if they perhaps treated in a less advantageous way than they could have.</p>
<p>But I wouldn’t hold out great hopes for an adjustment, certainly not a profound one.</p>
<p>But here’s the thing, all of us can completely understand how your parents don’t want to completely drain their income and assets paying for college, but need-based aid will always go first to the student whose families don’t have those assets to draw on.</p>
<p>Ahh true, I understand completely. But I was surprised to hear that I received no aid at all. Even with money in the savings account having a combined tuition (me and my sister) of over 95k is a lot over our annual income. factor that in with car payments, house, food, electricity, etc etc and we are gonna start losing money, fast… :(</p>
<p>NWd…</p>
<p>I sent you a PM. You need to post a bit of your info here so that those who know a lot about dealing with FA offices can tell you what you need to do. :)</p>
<p>I’m in a slightly similar boat, but with MUCH lower income. But I think it’s very late for you to be thinking about this now. You applied ED at a school without knowing your EFC? It’s also late to be applying for outside scholarships. In our household, since we can’t really know the outcome of merit scholarships, but I DO know what our EFC will be, and it’s basically nothing, which I CANNOT “afford” to pay…</p>
<p>I required my daughter to apply to our in-state Uni. Right now the scholarships they’ve offered have her at about 1/2 COA, and our fingers are crossed it will be a full ride once the whole process is done.</p>
<p>It’s NOT where she WANTS to go to school of course. But…beggars can’t be choosers. Like you, she’s applying to Columbia. But, even if she got in, I don’t think we could pay for it. But…who knows…if you don’t apply, you’re already out of the game. And…we could win the lottery! So…you do need a back up plan if you can’t afford it, which means, again…why did you apply ED?</p>
<p>Did you apply to UWash or Wash St as back ups? Do either of them give merit scholarships and have dates that haven’t passed? </p>
<p>What were your financial safety schools? (Please don’t tell me that you didn’t apply to any).</p>
<p>I have applied to University of Washington for the priority deadline and applied for financial aid as well.-- Hopefully it works out.</p>
<p>This is the situation. First off, my parents income was listed at 170k for 2008, which is skewed because we sold a restaurant that year. Our regular income is 80k, which we “estimated” to be for 2009. However, another problem we have is that we have roughly 500k in savings account, which is most likely a big reason we did not receive aid.</p>
<p>However, my parents have “lost 3 tenants” that are valued at roughly 6k a month (not too sure what that means, but my parents told me to inform Columbia about that). Also, our purchase price of real estate was 4.5mil and now it is at 3mil, showing its rapid decrease in value.</p>
<p>This is made all the worse because my sister’s tuition totals at 40k. If I am paying 55k at Columbia, then that totals to 95k/yr correct? That ALONE is 15k more than our regular income of 80k/yr. </p>
<p>Hopefully Columbia does something about this. Any suggestions if they don’t however? Mom2collegekids mentioned that this could very well be a one-year thing if I choose to transfer all of my savings account to a protected retirement fund, which is a definite possibility. But then I would have to do that fast before our 2009 income tax return becomes final. Does anyone second this move? Also, any other suggestions/advice would be great. Thanks</p>
<p>is your sister an undergrad, too? if so, and she’ll still be in school next year, make sure both schools know this.</p>
<p>
Not really a possibility to transfer all your savings accounts into retirement accounts at all. You can transfer some of your savings but not all. Retirement accounts have maximum annual contributions. For 2009 for regular or Roth IRAs you can only contribute $5000 or, if you are over 50, $6000. If your parents are self employed then the self employed retirement plans do have a much higher limit, but not high enough to move anywhere near all the savings of $500k. </p>
<p>Your contribution is not just based on income but on assets. For most people income is the larger contributing factor but when assets are very high, which yours are, then they will become the larger contributing factor. Remember your assets are not just the savings but also all other investments such as the real estate you mentioned. With real estate in the $3million range and savings of half a million you are not likely to get much, if any, aid anywhere.</p>
<p>I highly doubt Columbia will make any changes to be honest.</p>
<p>Ah that’s discouraging. Its not as if I will back out of my ed agreement. My parents are willing to pay full freight, its just I realize how much of a financial burden it is. Hopefully it is all worth it in the end.</p>
<p>I’m confused. I was under the impression that if there were two in college, the EFC would be cut in half. Is your EFC over 95k? (The combined tuition)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You’ve withdrawn your application to UW, right? Either that or you need to decline the Columbia ED offer right away if you and your parents have determined that their financial aid will not be sufficient. You say they can pay it; if so, all other applications must be withdrawn.</p>
<p>If your parents’ 2008 income is more than twice what it will be in 2009, that point needs be be stressed to Columbia. If your “regular” income is $80k/year, then you should be eligible for financial aid in 2010-2011 and beyond. Your parents’ $500K in assets will add about $28K to your EFC, but since your total COA is $95,000, the difference in EFC and COA seems significant to me.</p>
<p>*this could very well be a one-year thing if I choose to transfer all of my savings account to a protected retirement fund, which is a definite possibility. *</p>
<p>I’m confused. Is the savings YOURS or is it your parents? You’re now calling it “my” savings. If it’s your parents’ money, then they need to find out how much can be put either in some kind of retirement or protected trust or something.</p>
<p>Also, find out what your EFC is with 2 kids in college.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This was significant added income. Columbia would assume that a chuck of it would have been available for college payment purposes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Columbia is part of the Ivy League. They do not award ANY merit scholarships, only need based aid. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed with Swimcatsmom. With assets in this dollar range, it is highly unlikely that you will get need based aid anywhere with a family income of $80K a year.</p>
<p>And lastly…if it’s YOUR savings it is assessed at 20%…which would be $100,000 and that would definitely put you out of the range of getting need based aid even with two kids in college at the same time. That is only what you savings would add to the EFC…it doesn’t account for the amount of equity in real estate or income.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>From what you’ve written, this does NOT sound like your primary residence. It sounds like a rental property (you mention loss of tenants). That being the case, it is considered an ASSET without protection just like your savings accounts. Depending on the equity in this property…that would add 5.6% of that value to your family contribution.</p>
<p>Your family is fortunate they can purchase real estate in that dollar amount. To do so, one would have to show a bank an income far higher than $80,000 a year. Something doesn’t sound right about this. If you have only $80,000 in income, I can’t think of ANY bank…ever…that would have financed a loan for 3 or 4 million dollars without a VERY significant (like most of the cost) down payment. Something isn’t “adding up” here.</p>
<p>Also…$500,000 is a large regular savings.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So…what is the problem???</p>
<p>I don’t think Columbia is going to care that your parents have recently lost a few tenants. Those things routinely happen in the rental business. As far as I know, it would be treated like a loss of job; there would be an assumption that another job (new tenants) would be found in a timely manner.</p>
<p>If your parents are willing to pay, let them. They can always sell their rental property at some point and live happily on that money. :)</p>
<p>Hi,
Three years ago my child had an acceptance to Columbia. Both my husband and I worked in a firm downsizing-- the firm was told in March that decisions would be rendered June 1. We were both axed.</p>
<p>We contacted all 10 schools that had accepted our child. Columbia was the most rude and arrogant. The acceptance letter was so welcoming - so personal…so I called the admissions officer to explain our situation. His exact quote: “Columbia is a great place. My mom worked three jobs to sent me here and hope your family can make the same sacrifice for your child.”.
Well -that tipped child away from the school…we wrote a long letter to the Director of Admissions and the President of the university about this experience-- to which there was NEVER a reply.</p>
<p>The financial aid office had a “income reduction” form-- the end result, the EFC dropped a whopping $3200 …boo haa… Their rationale, carefully explained to me by a fast talking weasel… job loss is at most 3 months in length-- however if you are out of work longer than this, contact us again in September and we will review the package a second time. I told her we had to decide where to send our child by May 1 – and I couldn’t predict what my situation would be in September. Well…end result is obvious, Columbia was child’s 4th choice anyways–so it didn’t matter.</p>
<p>Other schools were much more supportive-- they understood our situation and adjusted the package by in excess of $10,000. In the end, we were out of work 7 months and our household income was 35% less that year.</p>
<p>Columbia’s reaction was so different from 9 other schools, it was appauling. Penn and Cornell worked with us to review our entire budget and came a bit further…but Columbia was such a turn off!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Haha thanks averagemom. And thank you to everyone responding to this thread. Yes, that is a significant difference in income from 2008 to 2009, but it is true. I will be receiving my 2009 income tax return soon, so it makes it all okay.</p>
<p>Regarding the withdrawal of applications – I have not accepted Columbia’s admission yet (I have until January 15), and I will withdraw other applications promptly when I do so. It will most likely be soon.</p>
<p>So I get that the general consensus is that I will not be receiving much aid? I agree my savings account is quite a lot, but with a 95k combined tuition with our income of 80k just makes it pretty difficult. The savings account is definitely MY PARENTS’. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.</p>
<p>I sent them an e-mail but they have not responded yet. Should I continue to wait, or should I call in tomorrow? Or would that be too pushy? Thank you for all your opinions – every single one of them is greatly appreciated!</p>