Pay off mortgage?

jjcddg
Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:25:07 +0000

I saw your post early this morning, but then I hd to run errands and forgot to post this. I also ran some numbers through the EFC calculator to see if it would make a difference and found none. However, I also saw that for the institutional methodology they assessed home equity the same as other assets (12%) My son’s school assesses home equity at about 5%. I also think I recall someone posting something a while back saying that the 5% number is typical.

I hope you get responses to your emails to the schools, but when I tried I got answers like “yes we consider home equity”, but nothing definative. I think that if a school caps home equity as a percentage of income they will probably be more forthcoming.

FYI, I happen to be one of those people with a tiny mortgage, minimal liquid assets and a huge HELOC for emergencies and tuition payments if necessary. SO far it has worked out well.