First off my kid has only received 1 acceptance so far. That was to Northeastern and they sent a financial aid package. They have us paying $44,000ish after 2 federal student loans ($5500 i think total).
I filled out an appeal form online but they replied about 8 days later basically saying too bad, they already considered my appeal circumstance.
My “circumstance” is that my husband died in 2023. This is my child’s father. Our combined income in 2022 was $114k and that was with him being on unemployment for 5 months. My own income (NET) was $49,000. In 2023 it was $53,000. I am not sure if how I filled out the CSS Profile affected me. But I accidentally listed the life insurance payout as untaxed income. I commented that it was a one-time life insurance payout (just under $600k). I also had to list out social security benefits that my family receives. Those are ending for my oldest child that is applying to college. My younger child will continue getting them. And I am not getting anything this year since the youngest is turning 16. I did get 3 months of payments last year, but not the whole year since I am working full time.
I own my house but owe $200k on it. The mortgage alone takes my entire monthly paycheck or 1 of the kid’s monthly benefit checks. $53,000 doesnt give me much leftover if they want me to spend $44,000 on college tuition. I’m not sure if they expect me to use $200k of life insurance money to foot the bill for college? I need that money to live off of for the rest of my life. I was prepared to dip into it to the tune of maybe $25k or $30k per year, but $44k?
Do you think there’s any chance of getting more aid if I call? And if so, how should I phrase my concerns? I sort of hate talking on the phone and especially about this, but I want to call if it would help. We are still waiting on like 8 colleges so there is a chance of someplace else being a better offer or fit, but I dont want to just forget about this one if its worth calling and speaking to a live person.
At $44k/year I will blow thru all my insurance money after putting 2 kids thru school.
I really hope that you will consider another school. Even if they choose to award additional aid, Northeastern is unlikely to award enough aid to allow you to afford it. Please consider a more affordable school. What is your FAFSA SAI, if it is available to your child to view?
When we submitted the FAFSA they sent my child an email the same day and it said they could not calculate the SAI, but did not give a reason. As of Yesterday the FAFSA said “in process”.
She does have our in-state school as an option. And she applied to a bunch of ivys that say if you make under $X per year you get free tuition or room and board, etc…
That is often for a family with assets typical of their incomes though (which isn’t necessarily your case), it would not be uncommon for them to expect you to use the insurance payout for college.
Did you fill out the net price calculators for these schools? Here’s Penn’s: Net Price Calculator
I did and last fall it was around $30k which i thought was doable. But then when i did it again using the same numbers in December/Jan it jumped to $40k+. I’m not sure what changed. The reality is that my kid really wants to go out of state to a good school. We have some $$ saved in a 529 from her grandparents, maybe $50k-$80k, I am not sure on the exact amount. Then another $17k that her dad had saved. So maybe 2 years worth of tuition and then I could dip into the life insurance for the rest. But then when my youngest goes to apply in 2 years there is no more 529 money for him.
I was feeling OK about it all, but now am worried. She may just choose to go to our state university, but I know she has her heart set on someplace in Boston, not necessarily Northeastern.
its hard to fill out those calculators because I dont have a tax return with just my income, but when i estimate that UPENN one it has be at around $35k.
Maybe we need to just knock NU off the list. She is on the fence about it anyways.
Some schools that meet need may treat an insurance payout like yours differently than other schools. Once you get acceptances and aid packages, you can approach those schools about the insurance payout. Some schools will remove the payout from income but keep it in assets, which is more favorable from a financial aid standpoint (we did this even at a state university). Hang in there - this is a very difficult year because the FAFSA processing is so behind, and many students are still waiting for their FAFSA to complete processing.
The only other thing I wanted to say….make sure to make a deposit at an affordable school before their enrollment deadline. So, if that’s your in-state option, don’t miss that deadline because you are waiting for financial aid packages and/or appeals to play out at other schools. There is no telling when appeals could be resolved this year but could be well into June, maybe even July for some schools.
Adding on to this for the OP: making a deposit at a place you can afford still allows your daughter to attend a different school if your financial aid appeal comes through later on. You will just withdraw from the original school and accept the new one. You may lose your deposit, however.
What you aren’t allowed to do is accept multiple colleges simultaneously. But you’re allowed to accept one, then withdraw and accept another, if you come off a waitlist or get better financial aid after the initial acceptance/deposit.
A lot of people are unaware of these provisions, so I wanted to clarify.
Just as an FYI…if the schools are looking at the 600k as an asset and assessing 5.6% - that works out to 33.6K which may account for much of the parental contribution being shown.
Right now, federal money market rates at Vanguard (not at all a plug, just an example) are just over 5%. You could conceivably earn $30k a year on the 600k to help pay for college without touching the principle.
I do not think that you can afford Northeastern. I know a few people with similarly unusual financial situations and they in most cases cannot afford Northeastern either (or other private schools in many cases).
We have consistently taken the view that whatever we spend on our older daughter is a precedent – we are only willing to do it if we will be able to spend the equivalent amount for our younger daughter. So far we have made this work (but not at NEU).
Most of the people who I know who were in a similar situation ended up either at an in-state public university, or at community college followed by an in-state public university. However, they did make it work and their kids have done well.
This sounds like a lot of money at first glance. However private universities in the US can go through this much money very quickly.
I have met at least one person (and heard about another here on CC) who got part way through their bachelor’s degree and realized that they could not borrow enough to finish. This was a very expensive mistake for them.
There is also always a possibility that some sort of graduate school will come up in the future. There can be unexpected medical setbacks (usually more likely for the parents just because we are older than our kids).
Also, avoiding debt can make things a lot easier down the road.
We had one daughter get accepted to NEU with an offer that we did not consider to be affordable. She went somewhere else. Then she changed her major to something that NEU does not offer, but that was just a fortunate coincidence. Then she graduated with no debt, got a dream job that she could only take because she had no debt (the job was wonderful but did not pay well), then she thanked me for not letting her take on any debt at all for her bachelor’s degree. She is doing very well right now (with no debt).
I think that you just need to go somewhere more affordable.
OP- hugs to you and your kids on your loss. I’m sure there are many unexpected glitches/pockets of sadness as you all work through your grief.
Agree with Beebee… figuring out the right investment strategy for your nest egg is MUCH more important than negotiating with Northeastern right now. A- because if it’s not invested appropriately you will lose out on income, lose out on whatever tax advantages might be available to you (you didn’t mention IRA/401K… but if you haven’t funded those every year, that’s possibly a solid use of some of the 600K). And B- because the financial aid folks at Northeastern aren’t in the business of giving you investment or life advice re: the insurance payout, the 529, etc. Their job is to look at your finances and determine what is available to pay for your kid at Northeastern. And based on just the raw numbers- it makes sense from their perspective.
I don’t believe you can afford Northeastern unless you’ve already got the funds invested in something that is throwing off the kind of cash Beebee mentioned, and moving on quickly is probably a better strategy than holding out for more money. I suspect that anything you get from them will be a minor piece of the financing… why waste the time and energy?
Focus on making sure you’re maximizing the growth and tax advantages available to you. Wait and see which other acceptances come in. Make sure YOU have life insurance (god forbid). And reassure your kids that you’re going to do your best to make sure they have a secure home and a solid education, even if it’s not at Northeastern.
Yes, its part of my assets. But I listed it as an asset and also as untaxed income because I received it last year. Under comments i said the untaxed income was from life insurance.
Thanks. I do have it invested for about 11 months now and its made about 8.5%. So technically I could be making the tuition in interest each year. So it might be OK.
I do have retirement savings as well. But I didnt mention that since I cant touch it until I’m 59.5.
I did call Northeastern this morning just to better understand. They wouldnt talk to me. The guy just said that the package is final.
The good news is that NU isnt her 1st choice and her grandparents want to help out with tuition, so I guess its still an option for her to go to NU if she decides thats her choice. We have a few more weeks to wait. She’s smart and I dont think she will choose to spend $200k on college if there is a cheaper option available. I just really wanted her to be able to go away because our state school is about 10 min away from where we live.
I do have life insurance but it ends in another year and I decided I have enough money put away that my kids will be OK without buying another policy.
How do schools know if you deposited 2 places? I had a friend who said she deposited an NEU and also at another place while they waited for NEU to assess their change of circumstance. Once NEU came back with more money, they withdrew from the other school and decided on Northeastern.
Schools have no way of knowing if you deposited at multiple schools (unless someone tells them.)
I do think there will be more double depositing this year. People should try to avoid it if they can.
In your example though, why did your friend deposit to those two schools at all, well before the enrollment deadlines? Some schools do require a housing deposit (and some schools require enrolling before one can place the housing deposit)…but not Northeastern. Why put your money at risk if you don’t have to?
If you do end up having multiple enrollment deposits out for more than a day or two…I would encourage you and your kid to not tell anyone. You can have multiple housing deposits, no problem.
This was a few years ago. She enrolled at 2 schools by putting a deposit down, then when NEU reassessed and gave more money, they committed to NEU and backed out of the 2nd one and lost the deposit.
I believe we have till May 1 to make any decisions. My daughter has only heard from 2 schools so far, but has about 7 to go.