Oberlin said merit-based scholarships do not affect need-based financial (unless it is greater than billed cost). That’s the answer to that one.
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So, I just ran the NPC (not my intuition) for HC, and it said the estimated need-based HC grant would be 43,000. I used the same exact numbers that were on the CSS. I know it’s not 100% accurate, but an estimated 43k vs an actual grant of 0 dollars seems absurd. I confirmed the 20k scholarship I received was merit-based.
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Did I genuinely get screwed, guys? Are they aware we have financial need and just decided not to give aid? That’s the only thing I can think of now.
No, that would be illegal.
There’s a problem somewhere.
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Take a screen shot (or email, whatever works) of that NPC result and send it to your HC FA rep asking why the difference between the NPC and your actual package. We can’t get to the bottom of this here, the HC and Oberlin people will have to take you through line by line of the CSS Profile.
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I think I’ll wait for my parents to come back to do that. I don’t feel comfortable doing that with this specific rep. She’s not very nice and was condescending, borderline rude, to be honest, when I was asking legitimate questions, such as if a scholarship, which is described as being an achievement award for students with financial need, was considered need-based or merit-based. Overall, she gave me a bad vibe about HC and their financial aid office. I’d prefer to call and hope to get someone different than her.
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It makes sense to get your parents involved both at HC and Oberlin. Good luck.
I was coming back to suggest you wait for your parents’ return but you’d reached thar conclusion faster than I had 
The short answer is no you are not getting screwed. Your family income is $130,000 US dollars. For the FAFSA form your income is in US dollars. A $130,000 reported income on the CSS form will not garner anymore more need based aid from Holy Cross or Oberlin and they both have told you so. The good news is you will be getting a maximum Pell Grant because your AGI on your 1040 is $26,000 so no matter how you got to that number (I’m still thinking tax credits) you receive the grant. If you lived in the US you would not be Pell eligible. Just because a school is full needs meet they determine the need. Now if Holy Cross or Oberlin said they wouldn’t honor a Pell Grant than that would be illegal. Keep in mind that Holy Cross considers 100% of your home equity and that tends to not be favorable for many of us. I agree you should get your parents involved but I don’t think will change the outcome of the decision for either school. There is currently another thread on this board about the affordability of Holy Cross. I think the time has come for your to think about your affordable options. I found it helpful to create a spreadsheet to track the cost of D23’s acceptances. We immediately had to eliminate one school due to cost. I know this is tough but you will get through. I honestly don’t think anything is wrong with your CSS or your FAFSA I just don’t think your financial aid packages came out favorably. This may change when your FAFSA is processed with some schools but Holy Cross and Oberlin are telling you it will not. I truly do wish you well.
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Ok, but in what world does 130k a year mean 0 dollars in need-based aid? Especially when the NPC says an estimated 43k a year with the same numbers put on the CSS… I don’t think home equity means much when you have two mortgages, though.
This is my concern - are there any?
Having two mortgages does not mean you don’t have home equity.
How much is your home worth minus how much is left on the mortgage?
I’ve mentioned several times (sorry) but you need a plan and I’m not hearing a plan.
Assuming everything stays as is - can you afford UMN (with no more than $27K in loans) - otherwise what’s your plan?
I’ve given options at less than half and other suggestions to look at.
You’re also looking at two schools - HC and Oberlin - that to achieve your goal will require five years of school.
I know, you are young and everyone wants to be empathetic - but honestly, you need a plan!!
If you say the plan is UBC as it’s affordable, then great.
If UMN is affordable, then great.
But if not, then what’s the plan?
You seem unsure on who is really paying - mom/dad maybe $7K a year and the grandparents, you are unsure…
Hope your parents were willing to help yesterday.
This article details all the problems with FAFSA, which includes incorrect AGIs, incorrect classifications, etc
https://www.chronicle.com/article/college-financial-aid-officers-are-running-out-of-time-and-losing-patience?sra=true
I talked with Oberlin 3-2 eng program coordinator and apparently they have 2 guaranteed admission plans: Case western if you have a 3.0 GPA and WashU in St. Louis if you have a 3.25. Obviously Columbia and Caltech aren’t guaranteed.
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Great - but can you afford Oberlin - and you’ve just added an extra year to your situation (of cost) and after you get Oberlin fixed in cost, you have to get the other two fixed and you won’t know that for three years.
So if it’s what you want, it’s great - but given all that’s been mentioned with affordability being your biggest issue, it’s a true head scratcher to even consider.
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Please keep in mind that the large majority of students who think they will do a 3-2 program do not end up doing it. Strong recommendation, IMO, is to stick with a 4 year program if you can. Take the 3-2 out of contention. There are also the extra costs involved in an extra year.
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Could the discrepancy possibly be caused by the pension you mentioned? Is all the money in a qualified plan or was some in accounts that would be counted as assets? Were any distributions taken?
Did a pension or distributions from it show up in any tax form or on the CSS?
I wonder if the issue is that the parents claimed a foreign income exclusion on their U.S. tax return. In this case, the maximum Pell award can actually be removed, and it’s legitimate to do so. This is because the untaxed income from the foreign income exclusion counts toward SAI but not toward the Pell Grant. The result can be a SAI too high for Pell but a maximum Pell Grant. This might not make sense & it may well be that the foreign income should count towards the Pell - so each aid office has to manually review & make a determination.
In other words , you could have a maximum Pell due to foreign income exclusion, an SAI that is too high for Pell, and a flag telling the aid office to manually determine whether your maximum Pell should be recalculated using your excluded foreign income. Doing so can remove your eligibility for the Pell Grant. School computer programs will likely keep the Pell from going on your account in the first place due to the flag, and it may or may not be posted to your account depending on what the recalculation determines. Here is the relevant information:
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and PJ
Beginning with the 2024-25 award year, the amount a taxpayer claims as the foreign earned income exclusion will count as untaxed income on the FAFSA form. Because this appears in untaxed income rather than the AGI, it will not be counted when determining students’ eligibility for a maximum Pell Grant. As we noted in GEN-23-11, there will be a new C flag on the ISIR that indicates to schools to review how the amount impacts a student’s eligibility for the maximum Pell Grant prior to awarding aid. As we instructed in our online Q & As (SAI-Q5 and SAI-Q6) FAAs must review eligibility for applicants (and their spouse or parent) who reported receiving a foreign earned income exclusion and are eligible for the maximum Pell Grant award. If an ISIR contains both a Maximum Pell indicator flag and a valid value in the “Foreign Earned Income Exclusion” data field, we will flag the ISIR for the FAA to review.
The FAA will determine—via manual or estimated SAI calculation—if adding the exempted foreign income to the adjusted gross income (AGI) would make the student ineligible to receive the maximum Pell Grant award. If that would occur, the FAA must determine whether it is appropriate to use PJ to account for the foreign income in determining the student’s eligibility for the maximum Pell Grant. If the FAA decides that it is appropriate, the FAA may move the foreign earned income amount from untaxed income to AGI or request additional documentation of the foreign income prior to performing the adjustment. If the FAA decides to add the untaxed foreign earned income to the AGI, the FAA must check the PJ flag on the ISIR before submitting the correction.
Foreign earned income exclusion PJ
AVG, Chapter 5, Example 4: A dependent student’s parent has an overseas business that earns income for which the parent claims the foreign earned income exclusion on Schedule 1 of their IRS Form 1040. The FAA notices this amount on the ISIR and that the Maximum Pell indicator flag has been set, which means that the FAA is required to review the case. The FAA does a manual calculation of the student’s SAI with the amount of the exclusion included as AGI rather than as untaxed income. Because the amount is the maximum that could be claimed ($112,000 for tax year 2022), transferring the amount from untaxed income to AGI makes the student ineligible for an automatic maximum Pell Grant. The FAA decides to use PJ to move the amount of the foreign earned income exclusion to the parent’s AGI.
Is your SAI actually 0, or does your FAFSA just say that you may be eligible for the maximum Pell Grant? Because of how the foreign income exclusion works, students whose parents claim it may not get accurate results from an NPC.
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@ravk06
Have you been able to talk with your parents ?
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It says that my SAI is actually 0.
Does it mean your FAFSA has been processed ? Did you talk with your parents about the difference between 130k income and 26k AGI or the CSS?
The SAI will determine federal aid (Pell and whether your loans are subsidized), the full CSS determines institutional aid.