Financial aid unlikely?

thumper1
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:14:55 +0000

You need to find:

1. Colleges that do NOT use primary home equity in their calculations and are very generous providing need based aid to all. And yes, there are colleges that won’t count your primary home equity at all. Of course, their acceptance rates are...below 10%.

2. Is this N.Y. apartment your primary residence? If it’s NOT, then all bets are off because the equity WILL be counted as an asset....everywhere.

3. If your student is really a competitive applicant for those very generous schools that meet full need without counting home equity....then your student should also be applying to colleges where there is GUARANTEED merit aid, or merit aid that the student would be highly likely to receive.

4. The FAFSA EFC does not count primary home equity at all...so have your kid apply to some colleges that use only the FAFSA, and nothing else that asks for primary home equity. University of Chicago would be a good suggestion.

5. If you can pay all but $20,000 of the costs to attend a private college...then you can pay over $40,000 a year, right? There are PLENTY of colleges out there where the cost to attend would be below $40,000 a year. Start looking for those. Start with the SUNY schools...Bing and Geneseo both attract some very smart students from all over the place. And they would be a true bargain for your family.

I’m a little flummoxed over your finances. If you have a gross income of $150,000 a year…you certainly are not bringing that home each year. Between state, federal and local taxes, and your property taxes, your actual take home is far less than $100,000 a year on a gross $150,000 annual income.

Do you also have some college savings someplace? If so, and you think you can pay any amount out of current earnings…try putting that amount aside for 6 months or so. So if you think you can pay $4000 a month…put $4000 a month in a dedicated savings for six months. See if you think that will be sustainable for 4 years.