For colleges that only need the custodial parent income, the NPCs should be reasonable using whatever the custodial parent income is.
For colleges that want both parents’ income, most college NPCs will probably show no FA (i.e. net price = list price) at a (combined) parental income of $280k anyway.
Mom’s income 130k and Dad’s income 150k including 401 k contributions.
Kid stays with mom more than 80% of the time. No child support…
So parent income would be $130k for FAFSA and colleges that only require custodial parent finances, and $280k for colleges that require both parents’ finances. In the latter case, expect no or very little need-based financial aid.
Of course, you need to figure the actual parent contribution.
As a rough guesstimate…1/4 to 1/3 of your parent GROSS income will be about your EFC per FAFSA. So for $130,000, that would be be between about $32,000 a year and $42,900 a year. $130,000 income would put you way out of range for any federally funded grant aid (Pell or SEOG). Plus those schools using only the FAFSA don’t guarantee to meet your full need (Chicago is the exception. Vandy reserves the right to ask for additional info).
At $280,000 income, need based aid would likely not be happening at all at most colleges.
You don’t mention assets…like primary home equity, the value of your college savings, parent savings/investments. Those things count too.
Is this GROSS income…or AGI or taxable incomes you are giving us.
Use the formula provided above and do the math.
Mom:
Maybe around 70k equity… Mortgage loan still around 330k…
No college savings 529 etc…
maybe around 60k in 401k
Maybe around 50k in savings/investments in CD’s or online savings accounts
130k is gross income. After 401k and taxes , will get around 70k
Did you think your kid would qualify for need based aid?
How much WILL both parents pay annually for this kid to attend college. That is your budget.
How much aid do you feel you need? Will the student be applying to affordable colleges?
No one has to attend a very pricey private or OOS public.
I gave you suggestions in NJ where presumably this student is an instate resident.
Thank you @Thumper1. Appreciate it sincerely. Learned a lot from this forum.
My intention is just wanna find out how much we can get aid and then see Can we can afford remaining.
Since Kid is interested in medicine, I am thinking to get the undergrad degree as cheap / free if possible.
Here is Kid’s profile:
National Merit Semi Finalist for 2021
GPA: Weighted 5.5/ Unweighted 4.1
SAT 1560 (Last year wrote.)
AP Scholar Award 2020
High Holor roll ( All A’s in High school 2017 - 2020)
Natonal Math Honor Society, National English Honor society, National Frenc honor society
2nd Degree Blackbelt Taekwondo
Two Goldmedals in NJ State Championship - Taekwondo
New york Governor’s cup - Taekwondo
Took below AP tests as of now.
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics 1
AP World History
AP US History.
Yes we are considering NJ and surroundings under 100 mile radius.
The budget has to come first…you don’t want to be in the position where your kid has an acceptance and you and your ex say ‘sorry, we aren’t paying that’.
It’s better to tell your kid what the budget is first.
With NMF, he will be able to get a significant amount of merit money at some schools. Are the NJ schools that thumper suggested on the list?
Edited to add: Here is U Alabama NMF, NMSF scholarship info https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/nationalscholars/
Also look at U Florida system’s Benaquisto scholarship
Yes, you need to come up with the actual budget that you can tell your kid before the college application list is made. Yes, it may require some hard talks with your ex… but (as mentioned above) you do not want to tell your kid in April that all of the admissions are too expensive.
Only after the actual budget is set can you use net price calculator results to get an idea of which colleges may be affordable. Of course, remember to check each college to see if the parent income for that college is $130k (custodial parent only) or $280k (both parents) before using the net price calculator.
But also note that for colleges using custodial parent only, any money the kid receives from the non-custodial parent (e.g. for college costs) will be added somewhere, and used in financial aid calculations.
This. If your kid is a NMF, the Benacquisto currently provides a full free ride plus some other perks at FL public universities.
University of New Mexico also gives a great award for NMF. @WayOutWestMom can describe this one.
In both cases, these colleges send kids to medical schools. They really do.
So, if your kid is a NMF, there are some great awards out there at some colleges. Find those if finances are a serious consideration. These awards do not take your incomes into consideration at all.
Thank you so much all… really helpful… Appreciate it sincerely
UNM offer a true full ride plus to NMFs. Full tuition & fees, full room & board in the honors housing. Plus extra perks.
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/
UNM’s med school is across the street from the undergrad campus. Plenty of research opportunities and a structured program for pre-med to shadow physicians/volunteer at the med school.