If the $100k in the bank added only $5600 to EFC, I wonder how the EFC then got to over 80K? The home we had was sold for a huge loss after the FAFSA/CSS was completed. My dad’s partnership job only reduced a little due to the corona.
My dad’s AGI for 2018 was $197K but he has a lot of expenses that chips away at this income. I want to talk to the Fin Aid officer but I wonder what talking points to use?
Again, look at the FAFSA formula and see if you can replicate the EFC. However, none of the Ivies use FAFSA to determine financial aid and their calculations are highly likely to expect even more money from you and your family.
Your family’s 2018 income is used with assets as of the date you sent in the info for financial aid. Any money contributed to a pension or 401k plan are added back to income. Also, it is possible for some schools to give a business, a partnership a value and deductions and depreciation taken on any such income added back. Home values are usually included in assets at PROFILE schools,.
Though once you get a good idea how the school came up with their need numbers, you might be able to address some of their assumptions, it’s doubtful you are going to be able to beat down the cost to where you feel is affordable.
If your family supports taking out loans for your college education, that is an avenue they can take. But it’s up up to your parents as they will have sgn for the bulk of the loans.
that is your answer.
@SteelJustice - Sit down with your parents, and run the Net Price Calculator at that university’s website. This should give you numbers similar to the aid package you received. If the results are quite different from your aid package, you can talk the numbers through with the financial aid office.
I know it is hard for you to think about turning down this particular university. But you need to do that thinking. No college or university in the country is worth taking on the level of debt you are asking your family to consider. They have just sold a house at a loss, and the business that is keeping your family afloat is shaky. A gap year to find better options for yourself could be your best plan.
$197,000 in AGI? Did you really think you would get need based aid with that income? Really?
Expenses…like what? Everyone has expenses.
If money was really an issue, you could have gotten very very decent merit aid at Alabama, Arizona, New Mexico. Your cost to attend any of these schools would have been far less than $36,000 a year.
Plus, your instate VA schools would have been affordable too.
So, you are planning to take $300,000 or so in loans to attend one of the expensive colleges you got accepted to? If your parents want that kid of loan debt, that’s their decision. But for undergrad school…that’s insane. My opinion.
Did you already declined your acceptances to any affordable colleges? Did you even apply instate in VA?
“I really do not want to attend elsewhere.”
Then start working (OK, granted, easier said than done now). But I think it would be a good experience for you. You’d start appreciating value for money.
And nobody says everyone has to go to college straight out of HS.
“So, far just less than $7K in private scholarships.”
This is actually very good. However, as you have noticed it does not go very far with the current cost of university in the US.
“My parents are looking into loan options.”
This is too much to borrow. Do not do it. It will be like an albatross hung around your neck for a long time.
Need based financial aid in the US is terrible for students who have a self-employed parent. That is the reality. You need to find something affordable.
You have the good fortune of living in a state with great in-state public universities. Unfortunately given the date the way to get in is to either start at community college, or take a gap year.
Did you apply to any states schools in VA, UVA, W&M? my rough math is you need about 30k a year in loans, your parents can do 36k, you can take a 5500 loan and you said you have 7k in outside scholarships, You would be better off being a full pay student at UVA or W&M, I would run to each of them and see if you could be a spring admit, no shame at all in going to UVA or W&M, you have said your parents credit is not great they sold their home at a loss, and it seems their make 200K but might live like they make 300K, learn from them, they are very kind to pay 36k, but at a 200K income, a side business and 100k in the bank, I am not sure what you really expected a school would cost you, since you applied to 12 schools what were the non ivy’s?
@thumper1 - it seems the OP may not be 100% sure what he filled out, someone else pointed out that the ivy’s require more paperwork than just a FASFA, also OP just raised his family’s income by about 20K and we have no idea what the side business did in 2018.
I’m not sure what you are looking for. You appealed once already. They didn’t give you what you think you need for aid.
Again I ask…did you really think your AGI parent income of $197,000 a year would net you need based aid?
And did you apply to ANY instate public universities…and did you get accepted? If you haven’t declined those acceptances, maybe it’s time to accept one of those affordable options.
@SteelJustice , as you work through the options you hope will happen, allow me to present one that can logistically and financially happen if you start now.
At least one public school in VA is still accepting applications – VCU. https://www.vcu.edu/admissions/apply/freshman/
In-state costs for Tuition, R&B and Fees total $25,419. Apply the $7K in scholarships you’ve already earned. With your grades and test scores, you might qualify for a discount of another couple of thousand from VCU. It’s very possible you could attend VCU in 2020-21 with your parents paying $16K cash and without you taking out any student loans.
There may be other public VA universities that continue to accept applications. Go to each school’s Admissions page and check. This is your best chance and your most practical chance to attend college in the fall of 2020.
If you want, you can transfer out and go to a different college in 2021.
Good luck.
PS - it looks like ODU is also continuing to accept applications. It may not hurt to call schools like CNU and MWU and check. It’s too late to hope VT and UVA will accept your application.
Also, I’m not sure what your plans are for a major, but I think your father is in medicine. If you are at all considering a pre-med major, VCU has very nice program for pre-med students. It may turn out to be a great accident, you attending VCU.
With your stats, I would apply TODAY to UAlabama to meet their May1st deadline and send transcripts and ACT 36 score.
Apply TODAY…the app takes 5 minutes only …ver quick…no essays, no LORs. And send your transcripts and scores immediately.
With a 4…0 and ACT 36, you’d get a HUGE scholarship. You’d get the Elite scholarship…which is full tuition, a year of housing and other goodies.
What is your major and career goal?
This is the award you’d get from Bama if you apply NOW
Presidential Elite
A student with a 4.0 GPA and a 36 ACT or 1600 SAT will be selected as a Presidential Elite Scholar and will receive:
Value of tuition for up to four years for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
One year of on-campus housing at regular room rate
$1,000 per year stipend for four years
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
$2,000 book scholarship ($500 per year for four years)
@SteelJustice when you committed to this college…who paid your enrollment deposit?
@SteelJustice the 197k AGI reflects your parental income AFTER relevant business expenses have been subtracted. So I’m not sure what expenses are chipping away at that amount aside from the personal expenses other folks have. It’s also possible that some of the expenses your dad deducted on his business return were added back in by the FA office. In any case, unless you’re getting a different amount from the NPC than what is in your FA offer, you don’t have much basis for an appeal. I’d get apps in to an in state and Alabama, as suggested above.
I suppose a loan might make sense if it’s something like the Princeton parent loans which have pretty good terms, but that’s a decision for you and your parents. Honestly, 36k a year is plenty of money for someone to get a great education.
Neighbor just appealed son’s COA at a top school due to income disparity from 2018 and went from $70k+ contribution to $56k. They are taking half of that amount in loans. Yes, their kid could have done a SUNY for half that price, and, yes, I believe they are almost certainly going to see an uptick in costs in future years, but for now they feel they can swing this. Apparently worth it to them to go to a private college with what they feel Has more name recognition.
OP, you and parents can put in yet another appeal, but if it’s no go— you’ve already presented your case, then it’s really up to your parents to decide whether they are going to come up with the money, likely through loans. If you can’t pay for the school, you can’t go there. So, if they won’t pay, you either do a gap year or find an affordable school that will take you at this time.
If your parents have savings, that is a death knell for need-based financial aid. Our EFC exceeds our annual take home pay after taxes. That doesn’t take into account the fact that out of that money we need to pay for clothing, food, shelter, transportation, and insurance. It is ludicrous to expect families to contribute more than their entire take home pay to college education, but that is probably why we have an entire generation saddled with college debt. We refuse to partake in that system so my daughter will go where she receives merit aid.
The OP has not been active on this site since May 4. Wondering what the final decision was. He or she was given some good options…including applying to Alabama ASAP at the time…for terrific merit aid.
@SteelJustice any update on what you did?
Well, it depends. If your annual take home pay after taxes is $60,000 but you have $1,000,000 in non-qualified retirement savings or investments, it’s not unreasonable that your EFC exceeds your annual take home pay after taxes. Context matters here. Students and parents generally aren’t expected to pay 100% of the EFC out of current earnings. Savings can and should play a part.
Well, parental assets now hit up at 12% by FAFSA towards EFC , including 529s. This doubling of percentage of assets can hurt especially with the parental asset exclusion allowances as low as they are now. $100k in assets adds about $11k to the FAFSA EFC now days.