It’s an administrative burden for sure.
Not sure I follow? If you are asking how the home ownership is going to impact your QB outcomes…I’m going to be honest. I don’t know to what degree QB will consider the home equity and how that impacts your chances to make QB finalist.
But each school’s NPC is going to tell you how they consider the home equity if you apply via common app or their own app.
@tsbna44 said that the better approach would be to apply through some of these schools directly through CommonApp instead of QB
All FAFSA does is qualify you for a loan - it’s not giving you aid.
The privates you are dealing with use CSS - which gets into much more depth.
Yes, four posts up - because you don’t have a free lunch (87% of QB do) and you have a $481K asset, so you are not, in my mind, the neediest of the neediest - and that’s who, I believe, QB is seeking.
You may still have need that schools will meet - but maybe not through the QB program is what I’m thinking.
Others can weigh in as to whether I’m right or not…
As for administrative burdens - well, you are seeking a free education - 100% covered - that others are paying $90K for.
So it may be a pain…but for what you’re asking for, for free, you gotta do what you gotta do…
It’s likely that OP qualifies for full or partial Pell grant considering mom’s income is less than $65K (we don’t know how much less). Of course mom might have other assets that do go on FAFSA that we don’t know about. OP should run the SAI estimator I linked above, even tho it’s for last year, to get a sense of the Pell grant amount.
If OP doesn’t qualify for a full/partial Pell grant, I would likely not recommend a QB app at all. And again, many/most QB finalists qualify for a full Pell grant.
I would have to know your full financial situation as well as how/to what degree QB considers home equity to choose finalists to answer this, hence I don’t have enough info to make a recommendation.
Doing FAFSA calculator, what would I put for student earnings?
Do you have earnings - i.e a job??
Reading about home equity and certain schools - Denison does not consider but interestingly, describes people with home equity as middle class:
“After significant research, we have come to the conclusion that considering home equity puts an unfair burden on middle-class families, in particular, who must either leverage their home or take out additional student loan debt to afford college.”
Here’s an example from Oberlin - that shows how they use Home Equity. They are a meets need and QB school. Scroll down for examples. I think the second example is closest to you but certainly not exact…you have less income and a lot more home equity.
Did you have any income from a job in 2024? (you are using the year 2024 for your mom’s income too, even tho the calculator says 2023, because it’s from last year). The new one should be up soon.
I had a job as a camp counselor but got money under the counter. Don’t want to report it.
Ok. Are you going to be dishonest about anything else on your college applications or financial aid forms?
No. I only got a $200 stipend throughout it
This is the rub…QB partners agree to provide full COA scholarships to those finalists who match. So, what that means for some schools, even though they are all meet full need schools, is that the QB match FA packages are more generous than those for non-QB matched admitted students.
What I don’t know is how QB considers home equity when deciding who gets to become a finalist (I only know that they ask for this info.) But, in theory, home equity shouldn’t be an FA factor for a QB finalist who matches (even at a school that does hit home equity), because all QB partners agree to give a full COA scholarship to all matched finalists (although partner schools can require some self-help $ from students). Does that make sense?
But it’s why I thought maybe these schools would be better off non-QB - because why would QB even let this pass the filter.
The median net worth in the US is $192K.
This student is more than double that.
I don’t see how they would qualify for a program designed for those with biggest need…which isn’t remotely them.
I guess the question is - does QB filter and send in those they deem reasonable.
Or do they send all to the schools - so if someone makes $1 million a year and has $10 mil in assets - but applies QB, does their app still get sent to Harvard?
If QB filters them, how could this student with more than 2x the American median net worth get put forth?
As I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t know how QB assesses home equity when choosing finalists, so I can’t answer your questions. Also note the mom only owns 1/2 the duplex, so 1/2 the market value goes on FA forms.
You and/or OP can call QB and ask these questions.
You aren’t understanding how QB works. QB chooses finalists, then schools that are ranked see the finalist’s app, then the finalist matches, or not.
Unmatched finalists can send their QB app to any of the QB partners (only those they ranked thru early app rounds), QB won’t hold any back. AFAIK, ‘normal’ FA formulas generally apply at a given school if an unmatched finalist is accepted.
As for non-finalists, some QB partners will accept the QB app (and QB won’t hold any of those back), and some won’t (student would have to apply via common app, coalition app, or school self app.) ‘Normal’ FA formulas apply.
OP can check this website for home equity https://westfacecollegeplanning.com/how-colleges-assess-home-equity-for-financial-aid/.
This list need to be double check. some of them not are not correct. Brown also does not ask primary home equity.
All schools that do not count primary home equity will not ask the anything related to the primary home (current value, how much owned, purchase price and year etc.) in the NPC calculator.
If you earned $200 you should report $200.
In my opinion, don’t start off on the wrong foot by not being honest on your applications.
If you are concerned about maybe you didn’t report it to the IRS, I’m pretty sure that amount does not need to be reported, so no worries there. Asking @BelknapPoint or @politeperson to confirm re: IRS (which is just a guess on my part right now about why you don’t want to report the $200 as part of your QB or FAFSA / CSS application).
The half they own is $481K…but yes, it’s lived in, not investment. Just to clarify, it’s not $240K.
Thanks for the explanations.
So with $75K (we know OP salary is $65K or less) and $200K in home equity (OP is $480K) and no savings, Oberlin gives a loan, requires work, and $22K family contribution.
A QB is a full ride.
I can’t imagine them sniffing that QB kid because this student would get much less via a regular app.
I agree they can call QB and ask…but I guess in this case, they should figure out which schools don’t count home equity and don’t use any that do in their list of 15 (so don’t apply Oberlin - not that they were).
See what the estimate is at realtor dot com. That site uses 4 different value estimators to get to an average estimated value. You can also check the estimated value at other sites eg. trulia, homes, redfin, etc and use the lowest one.
Schools would have to be need aware for QB finalists then, and I don’t know if that’s the case. I would be surprised if these schools knew the financial details of the QB finalists, which is what they would need to be to make the calculation you describe. Could be I guess, but that would serve to complicate the decision making process for sure.
