Hello everyone I am hoping for some advice here. Class of 2017. We just got our FAFSA score above. Combined with our student’s GPA, SAT, XC, and the schools they applied to, 3 State and 4 private, we feel we will probably get some form of FA offer from someone. We have another student starting next year. The reason that our score is low is that we have not been working for 3 years due to some unforeseen circumstances.
We purchased a start up business 5 years ago, and after 2 we sold a portion of it based on its expected growth. So we had a windfall, and being over 60, it went into retirement. For health reasons DH retired. We are both disabled and I have been a SAHM for 18 years. Our retirement is not enough to pay $40K/year for 5 years of college, the estimated cost in our State.
Our expectation was that the startup would “start up” in 2015, but that has not happened. It takes years to get off the ground and show a profit and pay out to us on our remaining ownership. We expect that to happen in 2019, halfway through their college, or it could never throw off so much money as to pay for a college education, but it could be enough to put us in that awkward middle ground where we did not qualify for FA. But we would be awkwardly half way through…
So would the best thing to do be go for a State school where the students could borrow if we became ineligible, or go ahead and take the higher private? I check with the Estimated Net Price calculator and the cost of either with FA would be about the same. However, if we became ineligible due to a profit, the cost of finishing at a private would be of course much higher. I know it seems like the answer would be “the State school, obviously” but the private schools are much more endowed than that state schools – they have plenty of money available—while the state schools have raised their tuition significantly in the last few years, but their endowments are much more limited. We do not have acceptances yet, so still in the planning stages. Any help appreciated. TIA.
Do the kids have high GPA, test scores where they could qualify for merit at schools?
With a $110 EFC based on 2015 income, they would qualify for a Pell grant of around $5,000 maybe work study, maybe SEOG grant, maybe a state grant. They can take a student loan of $5,500, can earn a few thousand in the summer working.
If your 2016 income was the same as 2015, next year the EFC might be even lower, with 2 in college.
The years counting for FAFSA for a student starting in 2017 are 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
For a student starting in 2018 they are 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
With a private school the costs are much higher, aid in form of institutional grants could possibly be high if EFC is low, but if school does not meet 100% need it can still be unaffordable. Also private schools might use CSS profile in addition to FAFSA, which can also factor in home equity, and come up with a much higher EFC than the FAFSA EFC.
^by “counting for FAFSA I mean income wise”, e.g. for 2017/18 FAFSA the 2015 income is used, etc
With a FAFSA EFC of 110, the student is eligible for a fairly hefty Pell grant, so I would say that yes, you “will probably get some form of FA offer from someone.”
I don’t understand the distinction between borrowing if necessary at a state school, but not at a private school. Guaranteed federal loans can be used at public or private schools.
The student could only borrow $5,500 to $7,500 themselves, depending on year in school.
If your income goes up significantly, they might not be able to borrow enough to pay for the private school.
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but the private schools are much more endowed than that state schools – they have plenty of money available—while the state schools have raised their tuition significantly in the last few years, but their endowments are much more limited. We do not have acceptances yet, so still in the planning stages. Any help appreciated. TIA.
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a FEW privates have “plenty of money”…but most privates do NOT…do NOT…do NOT.
And the privates that do give great aid, usually require CSS Profile and they’ll want the info about the business and its worth
What is your home state? And where did your son apply?
BTW…parent…you need to get your own CC acct. Your child and you should not be sharing an acct
At the vast majority of colleges…you will NOT be paying only $110 a year to attend college. Even the very generous colleges have a student contribution that can be several thousand dollars. They expect students to contribute to their college costs.
Do any of the privates offer merit money?
You probably will want to review things after you have financial aid packages in hand in the spring. Outside of the 100% need colleges, the financial aid awards from privates can often be confusing as to whether a grant is need or merit based, or both – but once you have the award in hand, you may be able to contact someone in the financial aid department of any school still under consideration* to get a sense of what the impact might be.
Keep in mind that if your business turns a profit for the first time in 2019, that won’t impact FAFSA based aid until the 2021-2022 school year,-- but I would assume that a student who enters college in 2017 would graduate in the spring of 2021. (But I don’t know how the CSS Profile plays into that)
- "still under consideration" -- even with the $110 FAFSA EFC it is very possible that you will find that some of the private schools are unaffordable from the start. You might be worrying now about questions that answer themselves in April.
This is the parent account
“With a private school the costs are much higher, aid in form of institutional grants could possibly be high if EFC is low, but if school does not meet 100% need it can still be unaffordable. Also private schools might use CSS profile in addition to FAFSA, which can also factor in home equity, and come up with a much higher EFC than the FAFSA EFC.”
^^ mommdc, Still working out how to use this site to reply to a particular person… I agree that the private might STILL be too expensive, even with grants. We filled out the CSS Profile but have not gotten a response yet. It is much more in depth. It seems like it will be still $10-12K for each student minimum per year when I do the school’s calculator.
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This is the parent account
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Ok…remind your student to create their own acct.
That said, this was the first or one of the first posts back in 2013. Isn’t this a child posting?
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After much prep and work, now at TJHSST. Not loving it. Do not believe the stats -- TJ is 85% Asian. Not an inclusive place. The commute is a bear, and the building is falling down. Would love to drop but my parents would kill me. Stay there or go back? <<<We filled out the CSS Profile but have not gotten a response yet. It is much more in depth. It seems like it will be still $10-12K for each student minimum per year when I do the school’s calculator.
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the response you’ll get will be from each school…likely in a month or two.
IF the NPC is showing that you have to pay $10k+ per year, is that ok?
And NPCs aren’t entirely accurate with those who own a business. Some of the deductions may get added back in.
To respond to a particular person, just name them. To flag it to their attention, use @ before the usernname, no space.
Realize that how much you “might” get in aid has everything to do with how much that college can afford to give students, in the first place, and their policies. Not necessarily whether they are private or public. And students can borrow via the Direct student loans, at either. But only up to the max/year and totaling about 27k over four years.
Every school is different. D2 attends a private school that gave good merit and other aid, and although her COA is $58k, she has it met (with a small loan). D1 attends an OOS public with a COA of about $22k and has some of that covered but not all (bigger loan). It’s difficult to compare though, as if D2 attended this public, she would have received a bigger merit scholarship and possibly a department scholarship as her stats were higher when obviously their need is the same. This school doesn’t give a lot of need based aid to instate or OOS students and prefers to give it as ‘Alum Scholarships’ for certain majors (teaching, art, minority representation) which might have a need component.
Privates are not always cheaper than publics but can be. An instate public might offer state grants or scholarships or there might be local scholarships that can only be used at an instate (public or private) school. Merit might be more and not depend on financial need at a private.
When you use the NPC, is the additional money from the private school showing as merit or need based aid? If merit, she wouldn’t lose it if your income increased.
If you can afford the applications, have them apply at a some of each. Then based on the offering, decide which is more feasible. Private can afford a larger Even go out of state, some of the southern universities are paying more to attract students, and maybe they will get more scholarships there, but you will have to take into account the out of state tuition.
Hello everyone. Thank you lookingforward, mommdc, mom2collegkids, thumper1, belknappoint, calmom and anyone else for you advice, which was very helpful. now that I have read other FA posts I feel much more educated in the process! And these posters are very patient in answering the same questions over and over – its complicated for us newbies. I thought we had more time, but the time is NOW! to be getting up to date on this.
To answer some of the questions asked. He did apply for merit aid in every school, but those scholarships are very competitive. We certainly are not counting on those. He did not apply to any OOS b/c there is little money for OOS students who are not stars of one kind or other. He applied to private schools that were recommended by guidance counselor, where he was well in the green on naviance, and where the school had reached out to him by giving him academic awards. He has a good resume, but we are surrounded by Ivy admits and he is not in that league. So we are crossing our fingers and working hard on the financial part.