How to get financial aid as upper-middle class

austinmshauri
Fri, 04 May 2018 12:10:39 +0000

@happytimes2001: Many parents still have student loans or a high mortgage. Many may have hit a bump in the road ( medical issues, lost a business). So while you might live in a state where 150K house are the norm and so are 40K salaries, someone else might live in an area where 900K houses are the norm and so are 200K salaries ( in the end after expenses both families might have the same disposable income).

This is why colleges consider gross income, not net. The situation of a family earning $200,000 is nothing like that of a family earning $40,000. The lower income family isn’t less likely to have medical or financial issues. They just have fewer resources should they encounter them. The $200,000 family would have to spend $160,000 (four times the entire yearly income of the $40k family) just to get to their gross. In no way is the financial situation of the $200k family similar to the lower income family.

OP, lots of things can affect financial aid packages. If your friends’ parents are divorced, that might affect aid. Some schools offer merit aid, so you may some of those grants too. It’s nice you want to help pay. One way to help is to search for schools that offer merit for your stats. If your parents are comfortable paying but you want to help, you can take the ~$5500/year federal student loan and work summers. That’s a nice contribution.