Undergraduate > Graduate Loans

cptofthehouse
Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:44:55 +0000

You can have less money. Just give it away. You are always better off with having the money saved. Though you could lose out on financial aid, the chances are very good that you are not going to get so much anyways. The formulas are income heavy, with parental assets tapped at about 5%, so there would still be 95% of whatever saved left in there. It’s like saying you don’t want to make more money because you would pay more taxes. You would net more. So you would with savings.

Also fin aid is no sure thing at all. Most colleges in the US do not give out a huge % of the cost. They don’t have it. PELL is only for very low income, and everyone gets the Staffords; just not the subsidy during school years. So it just comes down to the colleges and there are not that many schools that will pay 100% of need. You also have to gain admissions to one of them and they are highly selective. If you are going for merit money at far less selective schools, it wouldn’t matter how much your parents have saved. You are almost always better off having more money saved. It’s myth that it is a problem.

If you should be so lucky to have enough money saved to pay the education and not get ANY financial aid, that is not a bad thing. You can afford to go to the school. Without having the money yourself, there is no guarantee you are going to get it.