Oh yeah, I wouldn’t actually ask a financial aid officer that. It’s nice to know that fact beforehand, though, so my parents and I could semi-expect it before filing taxes. Thanks!
If they’re making $110K, they’re likely not paying much anyway - so yes, taxes have an implication, but likely not make or break, especially when you have budget concerns.
It’s going to be hard enough to find a school to make budget that has Arabic, etc. - so probably not best to introduce yet another qualifier.
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Really? We don’t know if they own a home, how many dependents they have, or anything else.
And taxes on scholarships belong to the student, not the parent.
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Even if you own a home, it’s not relevant today - very few itemize.
My kid didn’t pay a nickel in taxes on scholarship. And theirs were robust - one kid was $28.5K a year so $106K. And the other was tuition + money back. Nor did I - and I use turbo tax so answer all the questions - even though TT is tricky. The scholarships were never more than COA - tuition, room and board.
On $110K with standard deduction and 1 dependent (I don’t know if there’s more), you are at $7235 (or $7126) - I checked two calculators. Add a 2nd dependent and it’s $2K less. So yes, not much. Of course, there is always SS and Medicare that add to it.
Don’t forget, the standard deduction is HUUUUUGE. A very low percentage today itemizes.
But people often confuse the marginal tax rate with the actual amount they’ll pay and it’s typically not close. In this case, the marginal tax rate would be 24% but actual tax paid less than 7%.
If you’re filling out the CSS profile, home ownership is relevant.
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Yes, but the comment was related to taxes:
From @twoinanddone
I was simply noting the tax liability isn’t high (relatively so).
Of course, OP needs to get to $15K - and has so far honed in on three schools:
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UNM - should get there - but applied more on a dare. But it should get there - interestingly, their study abroad is in Oman - you don’t see that often. They have advanced Arabic (OP already speaks some so this is good) - and heck their prof was American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language professor of the year. So while OP stumbled into it with a friendly competition, it may end up being a gem.
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Denison - appears to get OP close enough $$ wise. Has advanced Arabic
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Delaware - hopes for full ride scholarship - so unlikely to hit $15K but…the student is well above school averages. I’m honestly not quite sure if they can support the Arabic needs.
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OP is looking at the three Language Flagships - with Ole Miss being most logical (cost) but IU (OP likes a lot and has a full ride) and Arizona being a possibility. Recommendation to OP is to talk to the Flagship advisors to find out if additional funding is available (I’m guessing so) to help with abroad costs, etc.
Then OP is looking at others like W&L and running NPCs - NE LAC type schools but hopefully others like Rice (which will hit free tuition) and Emory…to see who hits about $15K. OP should run NPCs for UNC and UVA as well.
I think that’s about where we are 
But I don’t want to speak for OP…but sort of what I’ve synthesized.
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@echoo Do you have any additional preferences/wants/don’t wants WRT size, location, etc?
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Sorry for the really late reply! Honestly, I’ve covered everything that I’m looking for/not looking for in the forum already. If I had to summarize, I would say I want Arabic + int. relations, study abroad, and financial aid—that’s about it. Anything else I’m open minded about.
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Did get into UNM by the way! Expected but still nice to have one acceptance in
Applications have been submitted to Denison and UD as well. Interview coming for Denison in a couple weeks.
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That’s a pretty good summary of what I’m thinking, I can’t lie! I would say that’s accurate, plus applying to most schools I had on my original list other than American and Fordham.
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