Financial Aid Results

Paying for College
1

<p>Here are my child’s (freshman applicant) financial aid results for the 2011-2012 school year. Schools are listed most generous to least. I hope this proves helpful to others.</p>

<p>Household: 4
Younger sibling
Married filing jointly
AGI: $32k
Savings: $12k
Home: $160k (paid for)
Investments: $22k
Student AGI: $3700
Student Savings: $1400</p>

<p>Washington University in St. Louis
40950 Tuition
1042 Fees
12674 Room and Board
3790 Books and Personal Expenses
1094 Travel</p>

<p>0 Family Contribution
2000 Work Study
4100 Pell
53450 School Funds</p>

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology
40732 Tuition
11775 Room and Board
2763 Books and Personal Expenses
450 Travel</p>

<p>1900 Student Contribution (Freshman, 2500-Soph,2800-Jr,3100-Sen)
112 Parent Contribution
8800 Pell and SEOG
44233 School Funds</p>

<p>Princeton University
37000 Tuition
865 Fees
12069 Room and Board
2736 Books and Personal Expenses
800 Travel</p>

<p>1100 Family Contribution
2900 Work Study
3800 Pell
45670 School Funds</p>

<p>Rice University
34900 Tuition
651 Fees (plus 490 for O week)
12270 Room and Board
2350 Books and Personal Expenses
600 Travel</p>

<p>2757 Family Contribution
4100 Pell
44164 School Funds</p>

<p>Pomona College
39572 Tuition
311 Fees
13227 Room and Board
2000 Books and Personal Expenses
1000 Travel</p>

<p>4562 Family Contribution
2300 Work Study
4800 Pell
44164 School Funds</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd College
42410 Tuition
13858 Room and Board
1700 Books and Personal Expenses
1100 Travel</p>

<p>0 Family Contribution
8868 Loans
2225 Work Study
7800 Pell and SEOG
40175 School Funds</p>

<p>Northwestern University
41592 Tuition
415 Fees
12780 Room and Board
3642 Books and Personal Expenses
300 Travel</p>

<p>2757 Family Contribution
3500 Loans
2500 Work Study
8400 Pell and SEOG
44164 School Funds</p>

<p>Carleton College
42690 Tuition
252 Fees
11238 Room and Board
1460 Books and Personal Expenses
500 Travel</p>

<p>7000 Family Contribution
4500 Loans
2225 Work Study
7100 Pell and SEOG
35315 School Funds</p>

2

<p>Good job, nearly 200K in wealth accumulation on only 32K of annual income. Now you get free 220K worth of financial aid. I’d say it’s a good lesson for others but I doubt 99.9% of american families could have duplicated this. </p>

<p>A family with similar assests but having an AGI of 80K would have gotten almost nothing in FA. Goes to show with proper planning (like quiting job or maybe working 1/2 time) you’d probably be better off than working full time.</p>

3

<p>Most of these schools ignored home equity or cap it. Unfortunately many schools are not very specific about their treatment of home equity. I scoured cc and school websites trying to find this information. I was surprised that Wash U and Northwestern had such different formulas. Nothing I read indicated there would be such a disparity. I hope our experience will help others decide where to focus their energy.</p>

4

<p>Thank you for posting. Those are great packages and you will probably have a hard decision to make!</p>