Logic behind single parent asset protection amount

momof2opposites
Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:27:14 +0000

I’m just starting in to the financial aid process with our 2nd child. We didn’t go through any of this with our 1st child. He got senioritis in 9th grade and was not interested in college!
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.
Just doesn’t seem fair. I feel like if we had lived above our means like the rest of the people in our town, maybe my daughter would be going to school for free. I feel like I should go out and buy that Corvette I’ve always wanted. Cash deal. What do you think?