<p>Ascender: After dd received her financial aid offer from Yale, I had some questions about how it might change in future years. We had savings that we could use for her first year, but I needed to know what her financial aid might be like when we had only our income and home equity but no savings (outside of retirement) They looked at our expected contribution, and told me how much of that was based on income and how much was based on assets. That helped us figure out a little better how it might change.</p>
<p>Maybe if you asked them for that breakdown it would be helpful. </p>
<p>I would also suggest using their financial aid calculator on their web-site and plugging in your same info but without the inheritance and see what it tells you.</p>
<p>They certainly don’t want to make any promises about future years, but they are very forthcoming about why your current award is what it is.</p>