Many privates will consider your home equity. The OP should check with the specific schools they are considering. I don’t have experience with the specific schools mentioned but I can tell you that Rice and Northwestern for example will consider home equity in determination of the need based aid that they offer.
But home equity and I’m saving this money for a home is not the same thing. I’d make sure that a home is purchased in order to take that money off the table. And I would check dates to ensure it doesn’t get counted for a specific year.
I’ve seen posts where folks have posted that they have 200K from an inheritance or 50K in stocks or a second home but they don’t think it should be counted in FA. Well, seems like it will be. I have a friend who has saved a couple of hundred thousand for her kids for college, she intends to use it. Another friend was complaining that she has to sell her second house or use the rental $ for college. What?? Or course all assets are considered (one of my SIL’s took a Heloc out to pay for college for her kids).
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To clarify:
All schools will treat as an asset money that is being saved for a down payment but that has not been spent for a home.
FAFSA-only schools will not consider home equity as an asset.
CSS Profile schools vary – some will not treat home equity as an asset, some will treat all of it as an asset, and some will “cap” the asset amount as a multiple (1 to 4 times) the amount of your income.
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@MMRose yes to your description of how home equity is treated.
Adding…it might not matter at all if a college doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students OR if income exceeds the threshold for qualifying for need based aid at certain colleges.
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Excellent points!
Thanks, that is helpful. Yes, living in NYC. Child is bright, but Smith and UPenn may be pipe dreams.
We live in the NYC metro area, even with a lot of kids we’ve never received any FA until recently, any only 2 schools, with 3 in college at the same time. The amount of income needed to live here usually makes you ineligible for FA since COL isn’t taken into account. My kids have to chase merit at public schools.