My parents make $200,000 a year total. We have 4 houses: one worth $600K, one worth $300K, one worth $200K, and one worth $1 million.
Should I bother to apply for financial aid, or is it safe to assume that I will get none?
You are wealthy. You will not get need based aid. Your parents will have to pay full price. They may need to sell one of their houses.
I agree with @TomSrOfBoston. I think that your chances for need based financial aid are quite bleak.
However, there are still relatively affordable options out there. You should make sure that you know what your parents are willing to pay and select universities accordingly. Paying $70,000 per year is actually a bit unpleasant with a salary of $200,000 before taxes. Whether taking on debt makes sense might depend upon a number of factors, such as how reliable the income is and how long your parents have before retirement.
By the way, what do you do with four houses? I have generally felt that two might be nice, but more than that would seem like more trouble than they are worth.
No, and no.Some odd merit scholarships require you to fill in FAFSA, just make sure to double check that when you are applying. If they don’t, you don’t need to bother. Have you had a sit down with your parents about the budget? It seems to me you really need to do that.
Go to the financial aid threads and look for the one on guaranteed merit scholarships if you are concerned about finances. At the majority of schools merit scholarships are not reduced for people with high income but are given to anyone with the required GPA and test scores.