<p>i am wondering, my income (approx) is about 300k, but we have 2 kids and grandparents that live with us sometimes. i hear that it is occasionally beneficial to not check the need-based financial aid box, although i am not sure. what is typically the income cut off for colleges like harvard, yale, stanford, and upenn? thank you!</p>
<p>Are the two kiddos both going to be in college? What matters on the financial aid forms is how many kiddos you have in college. Do you declare the grandparents as dependents on YOUR income taxes? If not, their living with you won’t matter either.</p>
<p>If you only have one kiddo in college, the financial aid incentives end below the $200,000 income level at the best of the financial incentive schools…and way lower than that at others.</p>
<p>If your child isn’t competitive for admission at those tippy top schools, not needing financial aid isn’t going to help at all to tip admissions in their favor. AND remember too…those schools only accept about 10% of the students who apply…and many of the 90% who are denied admissions are full pays and are very qualified applicants.</p>
<p>All of the Ivies and Stanford have need-blind admission, so checking the “Applying for Financial Aid” box on the application form will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on the admissions decision.</p>
<p>There is no specific income cut-off for financial aid since each school sets its own policies and will take into account a family’s assets and liabilities as well as annual income. But I can tell you that with an annual income of $300K and just 2 kids – and barring any extremely unusual circumstances – you are probably WAY, WAY over the limit for receiving any need-based financial aid. And none of the Ivies or Stanford give any merit aid.</p>
<p>So are you a parent with $300K or a URM from africa claiming to be a first generation college student?? Why do you post these threads?</p>