<p>There was a local kid a few years ago admitted via QB with a full FA package in ED at Columbia. The parents said the kid can’t go because they wanted the kid within driving distance to them. :D</p>
<p>Just going to throw this out there again:
Joined a few days ago, during many kids’ spring breaks.
Posting inflammatory thing after inflammatory thing.
Is 2 for 2 for starting and getting threads locked. </p>
<p>Just sayin 
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<p>Sorry - back to hijacking the thread…
Most likely this is the case (130-140k annual adjusted income) because we live in a high income but very high expense area.
Does EFC (right acronym?) take into account where you live?
How about your asset (even including the primary resident)?
I am not sure why mcmansion got thrown around. They live in 50 years-old Eichler which unfortunately (from asset standpoint) is probably worth $1.5M. I don’t think college should expect you to sell your primary resident to fund your kids’ college tuition?</p>
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<p>EFC is primarily driven by income. A good rule of thumb is the EFC is about 25% of income under 100k and 33% above 100k. </p>
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No. </p>
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FAFSA does not take into account primary residence. PROFILE may depending on the school. Assets are taken into account and can be assessed at up to 5.6% after the asset protection limit (so $5600 added to EFC for every 100k in the bank). </p>
<p>I would head over to the Financial Aid part of the site if you want more answes. </p>
<p>Sorry, if one lives in a 1.5M house, they likely (and rightly) will not qualify for any need-based money.</p>
<p>Linden is no longer with us.</p>
<p>Thank goodness. 
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<p>Pity!</p>
<p>Thank you, MaineLonghorn. </p>
<p>This site has so much to offer parents and students, and it is unfortunate that some people come on here for “sport”–as if baiting people with inflammatory comments is a worthwhile recreational activity.</p>
<p>@ Texaspg: didn’t they relent when they realized they’d have to pay $10,000 if the kid stayed in-state?
Couldn’t the kid go anyway?
That story breaks my heart if the kid was prevented from taking the full ride at Columbia.</p>
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If your house is worth 1.5M you are expected to be able to borrow against the mortgage. It is also expected that your income is sufficient for the house’s upkeep, therefore sufficient to </p>
<p>I am more concerned about kids being financial shutouts at 3.5/1300 if their family makes 35,000 or less, than I am about kids with these stats being financial shutouts with families earning 140,000. I know many families can’t afford full cost at privates with that income, however there are options, either smaller colleges or the in-state flagship (or decent state university), or even some “cheaper” Out of State universities, depending on the student’s preferences, which would all be accessible to a family making 140,000.
I am also of the mind filling out FAFSA should be required from parents (although I realize it may not be practical to enforce) since some kids are financial shut outs due to their parents refusing to take on their responsability and filling out FAFSA/spending some money on them - I don’t think parents should go into debt for their kids, but I do think they have a responsibility toward them, within reason, until they have their degree. 20 or 30 years ago it may have been possible to pay your way through college - if you went to college in a non impoverished/blighted area- but today it’s impossible even with the best will. </p>
<p>I have to say I have known many families in the situation described, where kid gets into great school, but parents are afraid of the financial and social risks of sending the kid far away. I’d suck it up and let my kid go if that is what he wanted, but I do understand families making a different choice. Parents are much more aware of the risks of debt than they used to be. </p>
<p>MYOS1634 - I only know they gave up the admission. I am not even sure where the kid ended up. Suffice it to say it was a shocker to many of the other kids in the school that someone got the opportunity to go for free but didn’t.</p>
<p>Since it was ED, I don’t think there was a chance to relent.</p>
<p>RIP, linden (the “character” not the actual person)</p>
<p>Sometimes there are other reasons for turning down a school that aren’t financial. I had a friend in high school who got into Brown, at the time her dream beyond dream school. She was over the moon and then suddenly chose to go to U of M. She was vague about why. Two and a half years later, her father passed away. Turns out, he had been diagnosed with fairly aggressive cancer our senior year and she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him and having something happen. She’s now graduated and doing fabulously. I don’t think she regrets it for a second giving up her “dream” school. Those last few years close to her dad mean more to her than an Ivy degree. </p>
<p>Some people just have reasons that outsiders looking in can’t understand for turning down x or y. (Though in texas’ example, it looks like they had a likely explanation lol) </p>
<p>Just want to clarify - they did not pay $1.5m for the house. Most likely, they paid $400k ( still a princely sum) 20+ years ago - real estate appreciation in our local area has been insane. I guess it is still a loan when college expects you to take a home equity loan out of your house. OK - now it all makes sense why some upper middle class people feel that they could not “afford” these selective private schools.</p>
<p>@furrydog: in addition, not all schools meet need.
the colleges may be unaffordable because the families were “gapped”, ie., their financial aid package did not allow them to go because there was a gap between what the college estimated they could afford* and what the college provided in financial aid.
- note that colleges typically think you can afford much more than you think you do, so the “gap” is actually greater than what you read.
In the financial aid forum on this website, there was recently a student who’d been gapped by $30,000 - the college camouflaged this by putting “Parent PLUS loans: $30,000”…</p>
<p>There needs to be some maturity on the student side, the parent side, and how well prepared the student is from schooling through 12th grade to make the transition to the major and school they go to for college.</p>
<p>Sometimes the student or the parents have unrealistic expectations - and no insight about how merit works, how financial aid works.</p>
<p>There also are pressures from relatives, other students. Some like ‘bragging rights’.</p>
<p>I can see how disillusioned parents + student combination can spell disaster. Sometimes parents try to reign a student in to realistic expectations, but sometimes they just flat out have to spell things out when all the facts are in and the parents put their foot down. Gosh, if the student is able to go out ‘independent’, but most cannot comfortably.</p>
<p>Also some take the time to apply to a ‘reach’ and then realize the financial package is not comfortably in their budget - and the cost/benefit analysis does not make it a good decision to go into major debt or take away from home ownership or retirement funds. You may have an idea/educated guess, but sometimes there are surprises both ways on what the merit plus financial aid package may be. </p>
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<p>The family didn’t qualify for financial aid, but like many families couldn’t afford to pay for both an expensive undergrad education and grad school. Her dad said he’s paying her full way through undergrad at the flagship, so she’ll come out without any debt and I would assume her summer earnings can go savings for grad school. Seems sensible to me even for a high income family.</p>
<p>I must admit that someone else listening to the conversation started to say, “She turned down Columbia…?!” Neither the dad nor the daughter (at least according to him) seem to regret the decision. </p>
<p>BTW, my post had a typo. It should have read “the parent of a DAUGHTER who turned down Columbia.” It was the student’s choice, not the dad’s. :)</p>
<p>And the reason it took me so long to respond is that I’m currently on the grand college road trip with child #2!</p>
<p>There’s thus one way that kids get locked out:</p>
<p>They didn’t apply to the right mix of schools, and didn’t have a true safety (financial+willing to attend).</p>
<p>Over the years, I’ve seen many who didn’t do their homework on finances. With net price calculators now required for all schools, we can hope this will help people early on.</p>
<p>I’ve been advising a friend who has a very bright high school junior and I say that it’s critical to do the NPC for schools that do not offer merit aid. If they know how much they can spend, that will deal with many potential issues up-front.</p>
<p>I’d also add that anyone with $1 million in home equity or in the bank should not expect need-based financial aid. </p>
<p>Before this whole process started, I feared the worst. Ultimately, we targeted realistically, and expatSon (very intelligent but not (yet) the best student) chose well. Still, I remain confounded that of the 8 U.S. schools to which he applied, he was WL’d by the one ranked (a distant) #8 – one that I’d thought of as a ‘safety’. :-/ So I’m thinking that, at any level, what one considers a safety may not be.
(Happily, he’s been accepted by 5, with one pending. Rejection from the #2-rank, I grok.)</p>
<p>My S was rejected from some of the lower level schools he applied, even tho his stats were higher than students they accepted and awarded merit awards to. It turned out fine for him, as he was happy with the U that he decided was his financial and academic safety. </p>