Yes, income is weighted more heavily in the FAFSA determination - I could probably dig up the percentage list I saw, but the FAFSA formulation hits income a lot harder than savings.
We have a paltry 529 because early on we decided that was not the right investment vehicle for our purposes. The college money is still there, but not in a 529. I take solace in that when I look at my 20 year old kitchen floor with four different gouges and countless nicks in the builder-grade linoleum. 8-|
Who has the oldest, functioning car still on the road? We are currently rocking a 2004 Honda Accord and 2007 Toyota Sienna, shared among three drivers. I know a new-er car is in the future soon, though, as well as a car for clinicals.
I was trying to explain this to a 1st kid parent the other day. They were talking top full-need schools for their college Jr, but they’re pretty solid upper-middle class and have two more kids coming. I was trying to explain that in this day and age, the smart kids with families with more savings/income are better off (financially) going to in-state flagships or top merit schools. The smart kids with limited savings/income are better off going for full-need schools.
Of course, families that save run into a slight to distinct advantage at the top “non-need blind” schools (Reed, Haverford, Tufts, Colorado College, Colby, Bates, WashUSTL etc…) in the applicant pool, so for each diligent parent whose kid gets into Brown and they’re like “Dang, I should have retired early and bought the Tesla,” there’s another kid sneaking off the waitlist at Tufts 'cause they can write the check.
(BTW: An additional advantage of getting no/less need-based aid, is that any outside scholarship money is less likely to be offset. If you are a full-pay or merit-only parent, push your kid hard for outside scholarships. Many need-heavy students don’t bother because it just washes out need-aid in many cases.)
Daughter hit submit on her last application last night! She says she feels 20 pounds lighter.
We’ve got 2002 and 2005 Volvo wagons and a 2003 BMW. I was actually looking forward to filling out the CSS due to the autos (bummer though–the question wasn’t asked) and the fact that our home value has dropped over $100K so there’s little equity in it. Interesting to see how the CSS schools’ aid compares to the FAFSA schools.
Add me to the family that drives cars until the wheels falls off. LOL We had one school ask what car DD would be bringing to college and how much car is worth/owed. I don’t think she will bring a car to campus the first semester but it doesn’t matter as her car is worth less than 3k.
I’m thinking that if our son ends up at the closest school he’s applied to, and he’s willing to work a few hours a week to pay for gas, he may as well take his 1994 Saturn with him. The school is close enough to home that the insurance wouldn’t be discounted. If he goes somewhere further away, the car is likely to stay home.
My daughter applied to a few outside scholarships that did not ask about need - they are smaller, local ones. There are a few that haven’t opened yet (again, local ones) that do ask, but some don’t. It definitely varies.
We’ve got a 1996 VW, 2009 and 2011 Toyota. All seem fine to me, although my kids just informed me we don’t get “nice new cars”–true they were all bought used.
@glido - Thanks for the timely post about not falling in love with any particular school until the FA offer is in-hand. I showed it to my D last night & reminded her that her college choices were based on NPC numbers & if the FA offers don’t come close to matching the NPC estimates, then we move on. There’s NO WAY I’m mortgaging the house so she can live the dream.
My 2001 Honda is sounding kind of new compared so some of the other “vintage” vehicles being reported! It’s been making some interesting new noises lately, but I’ll hang-on to it as long as it gets me from point A to point B.
If something major (engine/transmission) fails, it’s no longer financially feasible to pay to have it fixed.
I drive a 96 Toyota (our spare) because my 2005 Acura with 230k miles is ready for its first clutch replacement. Our oldest vehicle driven regularly is a 1978 GMC truck. Waiting to see where D is going to school and then we will evaluate our vehicle situation.
D is still fighting some scholarship essays due tomorrow. Then she gets the weekend off, and then right back at it for the January 1 push.
I can’t even come close to competing in the old-car game; we have a 2016 Hyundai, a 2016 Honda and a 2009 Honda. S drives the 2009 and will take that for at least his first year of college, but at some point he will either inherit my 2016 Hyundai Tucson or we will buy him a new but cheaper car (Honda Civic or similar). I like all the modern safety features like the back-up camera, lane assist, and crash avoidance and the 2009 has none of those things. I actually wanted S to have his newer car to start college, but H pointed out that we have no idea how cars fare in the UTD parking lots so we should have S start off with the older car in case lot damage is common.
Just to be clear (and not sure you were even responding to my point) but the issue for some schools in regard scholarships is they consider that part of your expected contribution, so in some cases, if you get 10k in “need” aid, then get a 5k outside merit scholarship, the school figures you don’t “need” 5k any more and lowers your aid to 5k from them.
Not all schools work like this, but a lot do, so it’s important to check. We had friends whose kid was great about chasing scholarship because they wanted to contribute to their education, and while it helped them in terms of EC/CV (having a list of merit scholarships is never a bad thing) it came close to zeroing out on the aid front.
On the other hand, most schools I’ve been aware of don’t cut Merit or Athletic aid if your kid gets additional merit scholarships. So if you’re “full pay” or close and getting 10k in merit money and get a 5k outside merit scholarship, in the cases I’m aware of, the only thing cut is need-based aid.
But every school is different so it’s important to ask.
Don’t give up. When our kid got into their 1st choice school (which was quite a bit more than a public they could also have attended) we made a deal they would apply for scholarships every year in exchange for us committing to pay the extra for the 1st choice school.
But by senior year of HS they were burned out with applications and only half-heartedly applied for a couple of scholarships, but after Freshman year of college, with a much better sense of the real cost of school. they got on the stick and applied to a bunch and scored about 5k in various one-off awards. I told them - you know, you just made about 7500-9000 bucks pre-tax money for those 10-20 hours of scholarship writing. 300 bucks + an hour is not too shabby… And I bought them a $50 Starbucks card. lol…
They recently told us that among their Xmas break plans are to hit the scholarship list again. Must’ve like those lattes. (Pro Tip: many of the essays used in the college application process can be reworked to be used in scholarship applications. It is time-consuming, but when they get in the groove, it’s not terrible. Also, make sure they priorities by amount. Often the $500 scholarships take as long as the $5000 scholarships. And first make sure they money won’t just reduce your aid package, that’s a waste of your kid’s time.)
Thanks @CaliDad2020. My daughter on her own initiative has been working on about 3-4 of those. With the additional essays it was good that she didn’t procrastinate doing the college apps.
