meets 100% need schools

3puppies
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:14:49 +0000

First - congratulations to your son for getting into a “meets 100% need school”! Since these schools are able to offer generous FA, they are also very very difficult to get accepted.

You’ve gotten some great answers here. I wanted to add a few thoughts.

Is there ever the idea that the other spouse could get a job and contribute?

We are a single-income family. Due to medical issues, I have been unable to work, and when we went into the college search process, there were several schools that asked why there was only one income. We didn’t consider them as being judgmental, they just wanted to be sure the application was complete. All the meets 100% need schools that I am aware of will use the CSS Profile, but several of them ask some questions that others don’t.

And from the other side, what if after the freshman year, for example, one of the parents takes a voluntary buyout or voluntary retirement (for example, teacher with years needed for state retirement). Do they figure that person could keep working and continue earning his previous salary or do they just look at the new income and base the need on that?

Additionally, since they are using prior prior to determine the FA, the change (decrease) in income due to retirement should be described in the “special circumstances” section. These schools FA offices are VERY willing to help students and families, and a call to them would be helpful. After you explain what is (or may be) happening, simply ask them what is the best way you should report it to them on the CSS Profile for future year’s applications. They have undoubtedly seen your situation before, and they will be glad to help. They aren’t there to give you financial advice, but they will give you information to consider. And it will help you answer their questions and submit your application so that they don’t have to come back with extra rounds of questions.

One thing you not discussed so far is the actual choice of retirement date, and when pension payments may commence. Depending on the employer involved, and how the plans operate, sometimes this can be used to your advantage. If you can afford to do so from a cash flow situation, if you quit working, but there is a lag in the first few months before pension payments begin, you can perhaps “lower” your income to become eligible for more financial aid.

And last, what is the connection between additional income and reduced aid. If one of the working parents took a second part-time job during the student’s freshman year and earned an additional $10,000 per year. How much would the aid be reduced for the next year or two? By the full $10,000?

As others have said, this depends on the school and their formula. The rule of thumb is that after a certain point, schools generally expect a percentage (often in the range of 17-22%) of income to become available to pay for educational expenses. The school’s FA department can better answer this.

But there are plenty of families who have decided that adding an additional $10K in income, would mean $2K less FA, and $1800 more in state/fed/local taxes, plus with additional commuting and other expenses it would really be only like net $5K - which is not nearly enough to make it worth all the additional hours needed to earn the $10K to begin with.