No where have I ever said this: Your posts are coming off as tone deaf because you seem to be implying that a kid who grew up in a homeless shelter and is lucky enough to get into Stanford somehow has more and better choices than your kids do. Because when you think about it- that’s crazy talk.
@mom2collegekids you are correct, we are near UCLA. My daughter’s stats are strong, but not that strong. I would not consider her driving to CSULA a viable option, maybe CSULB if we really had no choice, but I don’t think those are great choices for her.
@socalmom007 - It gets hard to remember who said what…I think @blossom must have been thinking about this comment from @Empireapple
The OP has not replied since he started the thread.
It reminds me of a post from a student who was admitted to Yale a couple of years ago and did not get any financial aid. His parents bought a summer home the year before and now could not afford to pay his tuition.
I am the OP, yes, I have ran some on the colleges calculators. I thought I may have done something wrong with the numbers.
Thank you for the responses. The discussion is interesting.
Here are some example net price calculators that you can try to see what income levels result in no financial aid. Note that the answer will differ for each college.
https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/stonybrook
Something seems odd to me…
The $36,000 mortgage and $10,000 property tax imply a house that cost $1,000,000… where are there $1,000,000 houses (even in California) where the public schools are so low quality that one has to send the (non-special-needs) kids to private schools?
On the other hand, top-end non-boarding private schools in California can cost over $30,000 per year, so it seems like you have chosen relatively inexpensive private schools for $48,000 total for four kids (including one special-needs).
Still, even if she goes to some other UC or CSU that she has to live at, the list price cost will be significantly lower than the EFC of $44,000 that you mention previously. Also, you will no longer be spending money on her private high school.
@socalmom007
<<<
correct, we are near UCLA. My daughter’s stats are strong, but not that strong. I would not consider her driving to CSULA a viable option, maybe CSULB if we really had no choice, but I don’t think those are great choices for her.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
there are Calif and OOS schools that may give your kids enough merit to beat the UC price. Look at the following schools::
USD
USF
Whittier
Redlands
Azusa Pacific
St Mary’s of California. …a nice and fun school usually generous with merit. Spirited basketball fans.
OOS there may be more, depending on her stats. If she could get free tuition somewhere, that would be lower than a CSU or UC.
No… not over $1,000,000. My house is worth 700-800k, purchased for 500k, owe around 400k. Yup, my property insurance is over 10k a year. Youngest child is special needs, no, I’m not willing to send him to public school. Could next child up go to public? Maybe if we had no choice. Budget cuts have hit our district very hard. The quality of instruction, resources, etc… are not good. 48k is for two kids, one special needs, other two kids will be in college.
Isn’t the EFC for 2 kids about 60% times two of the EFC for one? I mean if kid one’s was 44000 then with 2 kid in wouldn’t it be like 48000 divided between the two of them?
I don’t know, this was our first time doing FAFSA, our two college students have an identical EFC of $44,849.
For the FAFSA only it’s cut in half. For the CSS Profile, I’ve heard the 60% rule. Though I usually hear it more that for child A it will be 60% of what it would be if child A were the only one in school. (Since CSS Profile school may have very different EFCs)
I am watching others get financial aid who are in no way poor. Watching them go on vacations etc. and I’m thinking what are we missing?
What you do not see (in addition to the tax returns, aid letters, etc) is their credit card statements. I know people with lots of stuff & who go on great vacations … then they mention how much they carry in credit card debt (or in home eq loans), and I realize exactly how they can “afford” those things. So what you may be missing is debt. Those people may very well not be as well off as you suspect they are …
General property tax in California is limited to 1% of purchase price times 1.02^N where N is the number of years since purchase. There may be local assessments, but these are generally much smaller than general property tax. So your property tax should be around $5,000 * 1.02^N or around $7,000 to $8,000 based on current assessment, whichever is lower.
If your house insurance is that high, you may need to shop around.
We have some school bonds and special assessments in there too, our annual bill is over 10k. Homes constructed in the last 10-20 years, at least in L.A. And Orange counties, likely have school bonds, mello roos, or special assessments added onto the general percentage.
And I meant my property “taxes”.
@mom2collegekids my daughter is applying to USF, USD, St. Mary’s and several out of state private schools.
Did you put down 2 kids in college when you did the NPC?
Forbes publishes a quick EFC reference chart. An annual income above $265,000 equates to “No Need-Based Aid Eligibility” even at elite private schools. This is just an estimate using the EFC formula.
http://www.road2college.com/thinking-about-how-to-pay-for-college/