I’m an international student and I was wondering if the annual home mortgage amount will be considered as a family expense or not. The reason I ask is because I was expecting (based on the net price calculator) an EFC of around 12k USD from Duke, however I ended up receiving an EFC of around 39k USD. My parents’ annual home mortgage payment is 40k USD. So I was wondering if this could be attributed to the fact that they did not consider the home mortgage payment as an expense incurred by the family.
In the US, a family that pays 40k USD/yr (i.e 3300 USD/month for a 30 year mortgage) is paying for a house worth more than half a million dollars. An EFC of only 12k USD is really on the low side for a family with a standard of living that includes living in a house of that value.
housing prices vary drastically across the U.S. $3300 a month goes a lot farther in rural Louisiana than it does in Boston or DC metros. I think CSS takes that into account.
They don’t have to guess…the CSS Profile asks for the current value of the home.
OP - Most schools don’t meet need for internationals. I would assume the NPC is for US citizens only. That might be your discrepancy. But, if you really want to know, ask the FA office at Duke. Maybe they missed something.
The Profile asks for your current home value plus whatever loan balance you have. The equity is the difference. Some colleges use home equity in their calculations. Some don’t. If your family can pay $3800 a month for a mortgage…in addition to other bills and living expenses, it is not likely that you are low income.
But here is the key from the Duke website:
Financial aid for international students is LIMITED. In other words, the school does not guarantee to meet the Ned of all international students.
Did the Net Price Calculator ask if you were a U.S. citizen? If not…the results would not be accurate.
And even if the NPC did ask about your citizenship…the actual aid award is based on the information from your Profile, not the NPC.
I’m guessing that Profile for international applicants asks about family expenses, and this is what OP is referring to.
@BelknapPoint I totally agree. And if they see that the family is able to pay $40,000 a year in mortgage payments…that might make them think the student can afford to pay for college too.
Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies. My parents’ combined annual income is 86k USD. Yes, the home is worth a little less than half a million dollars, but the home equity is negligible since my parents have only just begun paying for the house. So most part of it is still a loan.
And after including the annual home loan amount as an annual expense, my parents are left with only 8k USD to spend on college. Assuming they take out something from their assets, they would manage a total of 15k USD. What do you think would be a reasonable amount to appeal to Duke?
Btw Duke does meet 100% demonstrated need for internationals: https://financialaid.duke.edu/awarding-and-policy Refer to the first paragraph under “Types of Applicants”
So…contact Duke and find out if you are in this group of 20-25 admitted students.
But first…hope you have a copy of your Profile. Check EACH entry for accuracy. Make sure the parent info is not included in the student section. Make sure every number is accurate.
With an income of $86,000, I would estimate your family contribution to be $30,000 a year…or so. About 1/3 of your gross income.
@thumper1 the cost of attendance is currently 39k USD. I guess I might be in this group, because the portal says that my aid package has been determined based on what I sent them. I gather from this that my package has been determined based on my need.
Yes, I have prepared an email to send to Duke. Do you think in the email, I must quote an amount I would be comfortable paying? Or should I leave it up to them to do the best they can?
You mean Duke is expecting you to pay $39,000 a year! The actual cost of attendance at Duke is over $67500 per year.
Does,your family own a business?
@thumper1 yes they do. But the income amount I mentioned above includes all income (business, salary, dividend etc) For internationals, somehow the price touches 74k USD due to travel and insurance.
@thumper1 is the element of surprise in your comment because the expected family contribution of 39k USD is too much or too little?
I don’t want to hijack the thread but my point was cost of housing varies greatly across the U.S. and just knowing the value of a home doesn’t take that in to account. Neither do I mean to imply that someone with a mortgage of $4,000 is low income.
I do mean to say that $100,000 does not go near as far in the Bay area as it does in small town USA and that I’ve been told that CSS does take the relative housing costs of an area into account when colleges calculate aid. What someone chooses to pay for housing, cars, etc. is irrelevant. Income is relevant but a family with $120,000 in the Bay area who is frugal still won’t have the same available cash as one in an area with a lower cost of living.
I think it could be accurate…that $39,000 they are expecting you to pay.
Your family owns a business. What is the gross income on that annually? What is the value of the business? Is there real estate owned as part of the business?
On $86,000 of income…the family contribution could be in the $30,000 range. The school also likely has a student contribution. That $39,000 amount they calculated could very well be accurate.
But…contact them. Tell them Duke is your NU,bet ONE choice, but the finances are not working out for you as they stand. Ask if there is any increase they could offer you.
@thumperdale do you think ivies like Princeton, Columbia might be more generous with their offers? (if of course, I accomplish the impossible task of getting in) Somehow, the Princeton aid calculator showed an expected family contribution of $5000, which is so much lesser than that of Duke’s calculator and actual offer. Do you know why this (by this I mean the big difference in expected contributions) might be happening?
Princeton has much more generous need based aid than Duke. Princeton has a HUGE endowment, and very generous policies in terms of awarding need based aid.
Every college has its own calculations for the awarding of need based aid. Some schools also have much deeper pockets. That is why you see differences in the amounts of the actual awards.
No specific experience with Duke but based on some conversations I had, the CSS home mortgage payment does not do what you think it does. Most people think, I live in the Bay Area, let me tell them my tale of woe that I make 100k a year and pay 80k on housing! Maybe they will give me more FA than someone from Nebraska with the same income but fewer expenses. NOOOOOO!
Apparently one function of that question is to identify unreported phantom income. Their calculators are then programmed to add income back in. The calculator assumes that no one in their right mind will pay 80% of their income or even 50% of their income for housing and assumes that one of your parents is working off the books somewhere (or something similar) and your family has an unreported income stream or is manipulating something else. I am not saying that is true but that is what the calculator is programmed to do I am told.
Rather than sending an email, I would call or perhaps have one of your parents call (or perhaps you can call together.) Thank them for the offer but ask them why your EFC is so much higher than you anticipated. Perhaps wait until after ivy day (in case you have another offer for them to match, not sure Duke does this) although everyone will be calling then.
Ask them how they treated your housing costs.