<p>The main breadwinner for my family, my dad, retired a few years ago. I have a twin sister (who will also have to afford college) as well. Apparently our income is about $175,000. Will colleges, such as Northwestern, give any financial aid, should be admitted?</p>
<p>I’m sure one of the resident experts on this board will have a clearer answer, but I would doubt you would get much if any FA with $175k in income.</p>
<p>My advice would be to start by googling the fafsa forecaster , which will take you to an online worksheet where you can estimate your FAFSA efc (expected family contribution). I think Northwestern requires the profile/css (there may be worksheets for that too).</p>
<p>In any case, the FAFSA efc will show you an IDEA of how schools might view you for financial aid.</p>
<p>But don’t view the EFC as the maximum you’d be expected to pay. It’s more like the minimum, and private schools add in many things FAFSA does not, like home equity.</p>
<p>But at a guess–I’d say little to no need-based FA at that income level.</p>
<p>Make sure to apply to financially affordable options, too!
Good luck.</p>
<p>Even if my dad’s retired and doesn’t have the rest of his life to compensate? And he has to pay for another child’s education simultaneously? To what extent are these things considered?</p>
<p>Try running the numbers through an EFC calculator:</p>
<p>[EFC</a> Calculator](<a href=“http://www.aie.org/managing-your-money/finance-tools/efc_calculator/]EFC”>http://www.aie.org/managing-your-money/finance-tools/efc_calculator/)</p>
<p>You can find out what your projected expected family contribution might be.</p>
<p>My DH is retired. He is my kids’ stepfather, not their father. So I do understand your frustration.</p>
<p>Did you say you’re a parent? If so, are your kids in college? How much did they respect the fact that the breadwinner is retired?</p>
<p>The book “How to pay for college without going broke” by Chany may be a big help. It breaks down the FAFSA question by question and you can see how your family fits in. </p>
<p>You may need some very specific planning – for instance, the FAFSA asks how much a parent has in savings. It does not ask how much is owed on Visa. It can be smart for a parent to pay off the Visa bill (or car payment) to draw down the amount in savings. </p>
<p>For your situation, you need to focus on the income stream and if any/all of that is from stuff like an IRA. I don’t know the ins and outs of that but a good book like Chany’s should step you through it. </p>
<p>While your family may not like the situation, you actually are in great shape compared to many, many families. Your Dad could pay $50K per kid per year for a private college and still have $75K to live on. That’s amazing. Many families are earning $50K total and wondering how to manage one or more kids at $20K each at a state school. So your Dad may be looking at four lean years, but then he’s doing swell.</p>
<p>Thanks for your book suggestion. His exact words were, “We don’t want to be living in poverty.”</p>
<p>Maybe it’s more complicated than that?</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes I am a parent. My husband is my kids’ stepparent. He was forced into retirement due to the economy. That is life.</p>
<p>Yes I am a parent. My husband is my kids’ stepparent. He was forced into retirement due to the economy. That is life.</p>
<p>is the large EFC because of retirement benefits at the time of layoff?
If it is not an income that will be continued- schools should take that into consideration.
Assuming since the " retirement" was forced- has he pursued retraining?</p>
<p>OP, The colleges take into account that there are two in college and they take the age of the oldest parent into account when they are considering protected assets-- but the simple truth is your parents make a lot of $. If this is what they make after your dad retired, I am thinking they have some sizeable assets, investments and money in the bank-- all of which will be counted for financial aid. </p>
<p>My advice would be to run the calculators and ask your parents how much they can spend for each year of your college. If the amount the calculator gives is in the right vicinity, then apply to those schools and a financial safety. If your parents cannot pay what the calculators estimate, you need to focus your attention on lower cost options such as state schools, schools with merit scholarships, etc.</p>
<p>Nooooooooooooooooo 
bye bye dreams of a private school with a good reputation.</p>
<p>There are plenty of great schools you can attend that don’t cost $50,000 per year.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you ever expected to get any need-based financial aid. Your family is in the top 3 percent of all American households by income and can afford to pay for any school in the country with a huge amount of room to spare. Spending $200,000 for a private school is a luxury.</p>
<p>However, you could well be eligible for a number of merit scholarships at universities which award them.</p>
<p>Privates are pretty much only need-based. And my dad says explicitly we can’t afford it 
I have a twin sister who needs her education financed simultaneously, and my dad is retired!</p>
<p>It’s not true that privates are only need-based. There are a huge number of private (and public) universities which award merit scholarships. They’re not the flashy HYPSM-whatever schools, but they’re hardly chopped liver.</p>
<p>98 percent of retired people don’t have retirement incomes of $175,000. To be brutally honest, if that really is your family income, your family can easily afford a $50,000-per-year private college. Your father is choosing not to spend that kind of money. Which is, of course, his prerogative.</p>
<p>Even two $50k-per-year tuitions leaves $75,000 to live on - and 70 percent of American families earn less than that. It would require lifestyle changes, but that’s true of lots and lots of families who send kids to college.</p>
<p>You need to talk with your father, find out what your budget for college is, and find a school that fits that budget.</p>
<p>@ emeraldkity4, ummm I never said we had a high EFC. I was just saying to the OP that being retired doesn’t change the fact that FA is about income. I was answering the OP’s question to me in post #5. </p>
<p>And to answer your question, my husband is 60, and no he hasn’t pursued retraining.</p>
<p>I work, we are fine. We have several kids in college and are not complaining.</p>
<p>He is adamant that he “doesn’t have the money,” and that for some reason, because my mom spends way too much, her expenditures have caused us to dip into what’s saved exclusively for retirement, so that’s showing up as income? If that makes sense. Ugh. I hate this.</p>
<p>Does he not have the $ for college or just private college? </p>
<p>I just went back and see that you’re instate for Michigan. You’re kidding, right? I know to you it’s your instate, but do you realize that there are kids all over the country who would love to go there? </p>
<p>You have great stats and course load.
ACT: 31 SAT: 2030
GPA: 3.71 UW with 8 APs; USH, Euro, Lang, Calc BC, Physics, Lit, Gov, French </p>
<p>You’re a junior right?</p>
<p>There are many good private schools with merit scholarships. You can try Duke (Robertson scholarship, University scholars, etc.) WashU, JHU, Vanderbilt, Emory - they all have great merit scholarships. Check their websites for more details.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Northwestern also requires the CSS Profile financial aid application in addition to the FAFSA. It’s not uncommon for private colleges and universities that are well-known, highly ranked and/or prestigious to require the CSS Profile. It does not generate an EFC like the FAFSA, instead each college can use the financial information provided on the Profile according to their own policies. Often families will find that schools that also use the Profile actually expect more from the family than the FAFSA does. (This is not always true – sometimes it’s about the same as FAFSA, very occasionally it’s actually lower.)</p>
<p>Just wanted to give you a heads-up on that. If you’re talking about highly reputed privates, it’s not likely to be just about the FAFSA.</p>
<p>I understand how your dad feels, and it is his money and his decision. But your family is in a very high income bracket – in fact, as Polarscribe points out, your father could pay two $50,000 tuitions and your family would still have a higher remaining income than my more middle income family earns in an entire year… and no, we don’t live in poverty, so your dad’s definition of poverty is pretty out-of-whack.</p>
<p>But as I said, it’s HIS money. If you have the stats to get into Northwestern, you could probably get some good merit-based aid from a good number of schools a little farther down the rankings.</p>
<p>I am in the same place- maybe not that high of income and dad isn’t retired, but I have a twin brother and we are expected to pay 110,000 next year if we both get to go to our number one schools. My advice to you is to talk to your dad before you apply so you aren’t let down when you get into the dream school you can’t afford.</p>