My wife’s daughter is graduating high school next year and is in the process of narrowing down her college choices. We’re getting up to speed on the whole Financial Aid package world. Of course, we’re hoping for some merit based scholarships - she’s a 4.0 plus - but I understand that is always a great mystery to predict.
So, in the realm of needs based financial aid we’re getting a handle on the general principals and have seen general estimations from some of the schools. We understand that the big factor in determining need is the “expected family contribution” (EFC).
But, here is what I haven’t been able to find out: In the case of divorced parents who have re-married, is the family income based on the combined income of all 4 parents?
Some sources suggest the answer is YES, some sources suggest it is more nuanced - income from primary support parent + only actual financial support from secondary parent (with no explicit mention of spouses…). So, I’m a little confused.
I welcome comments from any college financial aid experts or from people with personal experience in this, I just want to have my expectations set properly as we move through this process.
You should consult with a financial aid counselor of the college of your choice. It’s my understanding that the custodial parent’s contribution is paramount. If you have joint custody, that’s another whole set of calculations.
As someone who had three kids in college at the same time, I caution parents against pinning too much of their hopes on need-based aid. The bar is set pretty high for grants, although with a 4.0, she’ll probably be in line for some need/merit private scholarships.
After you fill out the FAFSA, it tells you the EFC. I’ve had two or three kids in college over the past few years. Be prepared for the EFC to be a lot higher than you expected it to be.
The FAFSA, IME, isn’t the final word, espeically if she will be applying to private colleges with large endowments. My experience in my own case was that two schools where I was accepted wanted to take my father’s income into account, even though he didn’t have primary physical custody (though they had joint legal custody).
The third school (NYU) decided that since my father was being a pain in the ass about divulging financial information (he and Mom ended up suing each other, in part, over what his contribution to my education should be), and since I was a cut above the rest of their applicant pool, in their discretion they were just going to consider Dad’s contribution to be the pittance he had been paying in child support. They gave me a full tuition grant from their own endowment funds, and I had federally guaranteed loans and work/study for the rest that wasn’t covered by Mom’s contribution.
I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with who you’re living with. My friend was denied financial aid for 6 years until she was 24 even though she lived in poverty with her boyfriend while her parents refused to contribute a dime to her education. At 27, she’s just now finishing up her bachelor’s degree because she could only afford one or two classes a year since she was 18.
I don’t have any more specifics, but I really wouldn’t expect this financial aid stuff to make any sense at all. It’s a crapshoot. There’s free money out there, and a lot of people get it; but I wouldn’t count on anything other than loans and your own bank account.
When your wife’s daughter files the FAFSA, she will need to enter the income information of the parents who claim her on their taxes. If the divorced parents have both remarried and all four parents claim the daughter on their taxes (very rare, but happens occasionally) she can pick one of the two pair to enter their info on the FAFSA; obviously, she would then pick the couple with the lower total income/holdings/etc.
Merit-based scholarships for 4.0+ gpa students are readily available at moderately selective schools across the country, with the top non-competitive awards often covering as much two-thirds or more of tuition (at my institution, for example, the top non-competitive award is $15,000, and tuition is $21,000).
Those moderately selective institutions, both private and public, often offer competitive full-tuition scholarships for high ability students. At a typical private school, students need to have at least a 3.8 weighted cumulative GPA, an ACT of at least 29 or 30 or SAT w/ writing portion of at least 1950, top 5 or 10% of class rank, strong recommendations and a varied resume of extracurriculars.
Highly selective schools don’t always offer as much but many of them are covering all of a student’s need if they get admitted. Stanford, for example, no longer charges tuition to students whose parents make less than $100,000 (link to story). Other big-name schools are starting to offer similar assistance.
I echo the sentiments of an earlier post - talk directly to the Financial Aid offices your step-daughter is interested in attending. Folks in admissions and financial aid deal with this situation all the time and will be able to give you institution-specific information.
Them’s the rules, though. Students can’t apply under their own income until 24, and the gummit doesn’t care that your parents won’t help you. I assume it’s different for emancipated minors, stuff like that. But it’s not voodoo why your friend was denied. And those rules are in place precisely so that parents who can afford it can’t game the system by using their kid’s income. It does suck for friends like yours, but I’m sure there are many many more families that would game the system than 'rents who won’t help their kids.
My dilemma here (I guess) is we’re trying to narrow down the schools we’re looking at. And, while I accept the notion of talking to the school of interest, we’re looking at some “top 10 most expensive”. I’m deeply deeply concerned about getting her hopes up if their package just plain puts them out of reach. If there is a reasonable shot at getting most of it paid for with merit and needs based aid, then it’s a win. But if I ever find that I must utter the words “we can’t afford it” I’m positive that the universe as we know it will end (mine, at least. But that’s a tale for another day…).
I don’t know where your stepdaughter is applying to, but remember that the highly selective private schools offer a lot of financial aid. For example, take Harvard. "In December 2007, Harvard introduced a new financial aid plan that dramatically reduces the amount families with incomes below $180,000 are expected to pay. Families with incomes above $120,000 and below $180,000 with assets typical for these income levels are asked to contribute 10 percent of their incomes. For those families with incomes below $120,000, the parent contribution declines steadily from 10 percent, reaching zero for those with incomes at $60,000 and below. "