Logic behind single parent asset protection amount

mom2collegekids
Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:15:56 +0000

*I’m stunned to find that a lifetime of careful retirement saving, making extra payments on our mortgage, and saving the recommended ‘liquid emergency fund’ is counting against us in the financial aid department. We drove our cars til they were dead, paid our bills in full every month, don’t have fancy cell phones, and never even had cable TV.
My daughter will likely not qualify for any aid (grants or otherwise), so our entire emergency savings (and then some) will be required to pay for her first 2 years of college. To make it even worse, my mom recently passed away and left me a tidy sum of money and even that will need to go toward her tuition.
*

Paying down your mortgage will not hurt you at FAFSA only schools and some top schools that don’t look at equity.

If you’re that upset, then have your child apply to schools where her stats will give her merit scholarships.

Aid is largely dependent upon INCOME. So, even if you had been a spendthrift, your income may have prevented much aid anyway.