The FAFSA is a joke

SlitheyTove
Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:32:56 +0000

sbjdorlo, you should really start a new thread. Have you run your family’s numbers through one of the FAFSA forecasters to get your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC)? That’s an important number for seeing roughly what your family will be expected to contribute. [FinAid | Calculators | QuickEFC](http://www.finaid.org/calculators/quickefc.phtml) You can also look at the Princeton financial aid website and run your numbers through their estimator to see what private colleges that require the college board’s Profile will estimate your family should contribute.

On to question 4:



If junior somehow made it into a highly selective college and also got some merit scholarships, how would that effect what family is expected to pay? Say, COA is 50K and college says family should be able to come up with 9K and junior get the 6K scholarship, is family still on the hook for 9K? If so, how does family come up with that since there are no savings? Is it inevitable that family would have to take personal loans? Would this be a time to borrow from other relatives?



Some schools will allow the student to use outside merit money to reduce the family contribution. Others won’t. It’s going to vary from school to school. My two cents worth of financial advice is that your number one priority should be retirement savings. There are also two younger children, so you do not want to blow the bank and your borrowing power on kid number 1. You’re in California, and we have no idea what will happen with the state budget and the cost (let alone the caliber ) of a UC education. My personal opinion on borrowing from relatives is that it’s best saved for emergencies, and college is not an emergency.

Your son has the stats to apply to top schools that offer to meet full need. That also means he has the stats to apply to a variety of schools that will offer a great deal of merit aid, comparable to the NMF offers. Do a lot of reading here, and on the parents forum, to figure out what schools would be worth considering. For starters, I’ll suggest Rice. But really, start new threads. You’ll get more eyeballs that way.