<p>Is there a generally known annual income number above which you shouldn't expect to receive FA?</p>
<p>No. It’s determined by family size, assets, discretionary income, etc. So a family with a high income might get help if there are extenuating circumstances, and a family with a low income but a lot of assets might get less.</p>
<p>Afterwards, it’s determined by how much money the school has to allocate for assistance and to which student. Which is why there are many qualified families on waitlists so far.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply. You mention assets. Does that suggest that schools consider that a family should / could sell assets with varying degrees of liquidity? For instance, a second home (liquid during typical markets cycles) and retirement accounts (not liquid due to severe tax implications).</p>
<p>Retirement accounts are not considered an asset. A second home would be. We were asked by one school if we owned a boat, horse or plane.</p>
<p>You know - that’s pretty close to the truth. Now I know why they ask that.</p>
<p>We were having lunch with several parents and one told us our daughter was welcome to go on vacation with them anytime. They’d flown to parent’s weekend on their plane and always had a pilot on standby. When we were leaving another kid pulled up and the limo driver unloaded her luggage. Yet a third kid was going home on the other side of the country for a formal dance, then flying right back. I asked her how she was going to get ready if she was arriving so close to the time of the event. She told me she’d change and do her makeup on the plane. So here I am trying to figure out how one does that in those tiny bathrooms (I’m picturing Southwest Airlines which is my mode of transportation) and my husband kicked me and said “do the math.” </p>
<p>I had to take stock of my life and my micro-mini bank account after that - sigh. :-)</p>
<p>GREAT Story! LOL</p>
<p>A few of the schools have online “calculators” to see if you qualify and for how much…</p>
<p>Here’s a link to Exeter’s:</p>
<p>[Phillips</a> Exeter Academy |](<a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/1286.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/1286.aspx)</p>
<p>I put calculator in quotes, because it’s really more of a ballpark-your-mileage-may-vary-guesstimator…but it should give you some idea of the ranges of income that qualify…</p>
<p>Very helpful. Thank you</p>
<p>Here’s the SPS one (the Exeter one didn’t work for me…sorry for not testing before linking to it):</p>
<p>[St</a>. Paul’s School ~ Financial Aid Estimator](<a href=“http://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=114046]St”>http://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=114046)</p>
<p>I’ll just add that for us, anyway, the Exeter calculator was spot on in terms of what aid we were offered. (I haven’t tried it for a while though–I have noticed that some links aren’t fully functional on the new website.)</p>
<p>I spoke to a FA officer at one of the schools where my son was put on the FA waitlist. He said that we qualified but they are not giving students half tuition or beyond that. They have an increase in the number of students already on campus that needed additional aid. WE knew it would be tough but hoped that jusrt one school would work out.</p>
<p>That’s what I suspected. The letter from our school specified an early deadline for existing students who needed aid who did not get it in the past. Parents are getting creamed in this economy and house equity is plummeting along. So I’m not surprised that schools are scrambling to fund need. Endowments can only be drawn down so low without hurting the financial well being of the school and a lot of private loan companies have gotten out of the business of making BS loans.</p>
<p>Hang in there. It’s tougher than usual but there still a chance some students with aid will decline and free up funds near April 10.</p>
<p>ExieMITAlum - you mention private loan companies - any reputable one’s that you are aware of that still exist?</p>
<p>I think Tuition Solution is the only provider left. I remember seeing it on one of the school websites recently as the only company still providing private school loans. I just checked the SSS.NAIS site and it’s the only one listed:</p>
<p>[Tuition</a> Loan Programs - Financial Aid Resources - School & Student Services by NAIS](<a href=“http://sss.nais.org/Parents/FinAidResources/content.cfm?ItemNumber=152507&navItemNumber=152526]Tuition”>http://sss.nais.org/Parents/FinAidResources/content.cfm?ItemNumber=152507&navItemNumber=152526)</p>
<p>My son was put on financial waitlist at one school and they told me that in the past two years there was a big increase in the FA that had to be increased to current students who were previously full pay or close to full pay. FA available to new students was down due to this.</p>