How to get financial aid as upper-middle class

calmom
Thu, 03 May 2018 22:37:22 +0000

@ericbadmon – a family with a $200K income and more than one child in college might qualify for financial aid at a private school, where cost of attendance can be $60-$80K per year. That’s because the FAFSA EFC establishes eligibility for federal loans, but is also used in conjunction with CSS Profile to establish eligibility for need-based scholarships and grants awarded by the private colleges. In a high income area like yours, it is quite possible that many families are sending their kids to private colleges.

But aid eligibility is determined by subtracting the EFC from cost of attendance. So if a family’s EFC is $50K, and cost of attendance at a private college is $70K – that family would be eligibile for need based aid. But for a public, in-state colelge - let’s say that COA is $30K. If EFC is $50K, then that is well above the COA, so no aid eligibility.

The reason it matters if more than one child is in college is that the EFC is then reduced. For example, lets say a family has an EFC of $60K based on parental income/assets alone – but has 3 kids in college at the same time. That would mean a $20K EFC for each child, which would make all 3 available for some need based aid.

Keep in mind that you really don’t know what other families in your area are getting in aid. When they say they are receiving financial aid, they could also be referring to merit scholarships that are not based on need. It’s very common for people to confuse need/merit when talking casually to others. So if some neighbor says that XYZ college gave $20K in financial aid – that very well could be a merit scholarship, not a need-based award.

Even without need, you are eligible to a federal loans of $7500 if you are transferring into UCLA as a junior and your parents would like you to take responsibility for some of your college costs. Loan payments would be deferred until after you graduate, but interest would start running on the loan right away.

At most schools, financial aid starts with loans and work-study before any cash grant money is awarded. So kids who get financial aid $$, also are usually taking loans and working part-time while in school. You would not be eligible for jobs funded with work-study --but there are plenty of other work opportunities in LA, and there may also be campus jobs that don’t require work study eligibility – so you also have the option to work while you are in school. Also, if you don’t live on campus, you might be able to save on the cost of attendance depending on what your living arrangements are.