Employer's Cost Cutting Measures & Filing for Financial Aid

Paying for College
1

<p>My H and I work for the same employer. Due to the financial crisis, they are currently implementing a 3-year salary freeze (no increases for 3 years, but subject to review in 2 years), and suspending payments to retirement accounts for one year. </p>

<p>My question is whether this information will be deemed pertinent by institutions in filing for financial aid and, if so, how I should make it known. </p>

<p>Also, as a tag on, we recently got the figure for financial aid from one of D’s EA schools – $5500 in Stafford Loans. Period. This was from UChicago, not known for stellar aid. But is this indicative of what we can expect from other schools to which D has applied? I had figured our EFC using various calculators, and I thought we’d get something from Chicago. We have lived in our home in SoCal for over 15 years, so perhaps the equity we have accumulated did us in. In light of what happened to our savings and retirement this fall, I don’t think it was our other assets.</p>

2

<p>UChicago is not known for stellar aid, but it is not known to be particularly stingy either. They are saying your D is not eligible for fin aid. </p>

<p>If it is your home equity that is making you ineligible, you may want to double check that number you provided since house values have plummeted. Also, look at the other schools on your D’s list and see if they cap the home equity numbers or do not count them. </p>

<p>The first thing to do is to look at your income figure. That is the biggest factor most of the time in financial aid calculations.</p>

3

<p>The salary freeze and suspension of retirement accounts don’t come in to play. Future income is taken into account in future years.</p>