<p>Hi - I have a question as I ponder how we might respond to college acceptances, when they come (fingers crossed)...</p>
<p>My husband lost his job about a month ago. Prospects for a new job look fairly grim. This moves us from probably-no-need-based-aid to an income level that would qualify for aid.</p>
<p>I'm wondering if we can expect colleges to tell us what the financial picture will be for D's entire college experience. Will we hear "$xxxx in aid the first year, but you will be expected to pay full tuition for subsequent years if H returns to the work force"? </p>
<p>Is it a fair expectation on our part that the college communicate up front what their aid position will be for subsequent years? Given the cost of tuition at D's small pool of LACs, I'm worried that we may get in over our heads if aid is offered for year one only.</p>
<p>Need based aid is evaluated each year and may (probably will) change if your circumstances change. Merit aid can be set for the entire time providing grades are kept up. So if you are taking about just need based aid, then no, the schools will not guarantee anything beyond the current year. Your circumstances may change significantly before 4 years are over. </p>
<p>DD’s roommate had that happen to her. She was able to go back and ask them to reconsider, which they did some. But do not count on the need based aid being the same all 4 years.</p>
<p>They can only commit one year at a time because they don’t know what your situation will be after that. When your husband returns to work, you could expect a large increase in you expected contributions since his income would be all incremental over the first year (i.e. expenses are already factored into the first year package).</p>
<p>Depending on the college, you could probably call a financial aid officer and get some “what if” guidance, at least on a rough basis.</p>
<p>As the other posters have said - financial aid is recalculated each year based on changes in your financial situation and changes in the school’s Cost of Attendance. If your financial situation improves your aid may be reduced. If your situation gets worse your financial aid may be reduced.</p>
<p>No school is going to tell you the financial picture for the entire college experience as they have no way of knowing what changes may happen to your finances over that time.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider, just because DH lost his job does not automatically kick you into financial aid. They are done by the annual numbers, assets, etc and if he got a severance package this year’s income (used for next year’s aid package) will still be high. It happened to me. By the time the next year came along my consulting practice was starting to take off and it changed again. If he still is out of work when acceptances and aid packages come through, you could ask for reconsideration, or add the notes to the package. </p>
<p>Maybe someone who has done that could give more insight. Or contact the financial aid offices of the schools and check what their policies are. Make sure you have a financial safety on the list.</p>
<p>This exact scenario just played out at Swarthmore. Father was out of work freshman year. Aid package was great.</p>
<p>Sophmore year, father was back to work, no other changes in family expense. Family expected that the college contribution would only go up proportional to family income, i.e. income was 40% higher, contribution should only go up 40%. Probably was that they forgot that all the family expenses were already factored into the freshman aid package, so Dad’s income was viewed as pure gravy and the expected contribution went up dramatically. </p>
<p>Now the student is leading a big campaign accusing the financial aid office of being cold hearted blue meanies. Of course, the student isn’t interested in publicly announcing the dollars and the financial aid office can’t due to privacy issues, so it ends up being a rather non-specific conversation about how the financial office shouldn’t be so mean to count the father’s new earnings in the formula.</p>
<p>I do believe that, at many colleges, you could take your freshman aid package and get them to run a “what if” with a hypothetical increase in family earnings. That would give you some guidance about down the road.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about your husband’s job! I hope he is able to find another one in short order.</p>
<p>If your D is applying to schools that meet 100% of need and use the FAFSA only, you try figuring out what the difference in your EFC might be if your husband’s makes X, Y, or Z amount using an EFC calculator. It’s likely not perfect, but it could give you a guideline.</p>
<p>First –> for need based aid, you need to know whether that particular college promises to meet 100% need for all for years. If they don’t do that, then they can reduce the aid package with or without the income situation improving.</p>
<p>Secondly, if you get a good package, then you need to find out as much as possible as to how they calculate need. Hardly any colleges promise to meet full need based on the FAFSA – they all want the CSS Profile, possibly supplemented by their own forms. So when you have a package in hand, you have to work with financial aid to get a sense of where the numbers are coming from. Example: is home equity counted as an asset? How much is it weighted? You want to know as much information as possible about their internal formulas being applied to the numbers, so you can project out what happens with changes in future years. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that even 100% need schools usually require students to take on a somewhat larger burden of “self-help” responsibility from contributed earnings and loans from year to year – so you need to ask whether the school policies are in that respect. </p>
<p>Finally, a caution: when you have income fluctuations, it is a huge stress point every single year worrying about financial aid. You never quite know what it is going to be until whatever point that you get the following year’s award. I am a single parent but my daughter’s school requires non-custodial parent info – my d’s father is self employed with huge potential differences in what he might make from one year to the next, and I am also self-employed with the potential for changes. So I have seen some very big changes; I am very relieved that this coming year is going to be the last time I have to worry about this.</p>
<p>You need to factor that in before your daughter selects a college. If there are big gaps in future years, are you able or willing to take out PLUS loans as needed? Your daughter knows her dad lost his job; as tough as it is, you may have to bite the bullet and tell her that it is going to impact her college plans.</p>
<p>The flip side of the coin is that, if you had already planned well and put aside a chunk of money for your daughter in a protected account (like a 529)… then this might work out to your benefit, and actually allow her to attend schools for less out of pocket overall. So it isn’t all bad news – you just need to tell your daughter that you will have to wait until spring to see what the financial aid offers are and make a decision at that time. </p>
<p>My own experience has been that once the aid offers come in and the packages and overall costs can be compared side-by-side on spread sheet, with nice little Excel pie charts and graphs to look at… it all becomes a lot clearer.</p>
I hope he is able to find another one in short order.</p>