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I come from a 4-person family. My mother does not work and my father makes ~$110k/yr. We have 2 Toyota Corollas; 1 is new and 1 is 1995. There is no need and it's all praries of plenty now but there are no significant savings as in order to send me to a top public HS we bought a house for ~$280k with a short mortgage and so we buy everything at Costco and Marshalls, no vacations/summer camps not that I am complaining cause Marshalls pwns everything else so completely but my parents insist that I cannot get a job in college. I don't want to be a burden and I am curious. Thank you

By Thumper1 (Thumper1) on Monday, September 20, 2004 - 08:07 pm: Edit

$110,000 per year is a pretty good income. You can estimate that your family's EFC (expected family contribution) will be 1/4 to 1/3 of that income. The finaid calculations do not take into consideration what types of cars you own or how old they are. In addition, they do not factor in the types of shopping or vacations you take. They really look at assets....income and savings (that would be ALL savings except retirement accounts...meaning savings don't need to be for college purposes). Our income was similar, but with two folks working. Our EFC this year was $41,000. DS didn't qualify for any need based aid at all. There are EFC calculators that can give you an estimate of your EFC. Try one of those. Also, look at options where you might qualify for merit aid. AND bottom line is that you might qualify for some need based aid...but I suspect it won't be a huge amount.

By Dt123 (Dt123) on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - 01:23 pm: Edit

Just a nuance to add to your excellent reply, Thumper1. I believe some schools do ask about cars, their ages and purchase prices in their Profile Section Q questions. Not many, but MIT comes to mind, and there may be others. I filled out the profile for 8 different schools and MIT had the most invasive questions of all.

By Thumper1 (Thumper1) on Thursday, September 23, 2004 - 05:12 pm: Edit

I believe the Profile is a form put out by the college board. Individual schools often have financial aid questionnaires. Perhaps that is what you filled out for MIT. We did the same for New England Conservatory....they wanted to know how much we spent on groceries (no kidding). BUT the Profile questions are the same from school to school.

By Dt123 (Dt123) on Friday, September 24, 2004 - 07:58 pm: Edit

Profile Section Q - check it out. Individualized questions for specific schools. Like this one: "131. Write in the number of motor vehicles owned, operated, or leased by your family. (Give in Section P. the make, model, and year of each vehicle and state whether any of the vehicles are leased. Also, give the cost and date of purchase or leased for each vehicle. In addition, identify which motor vehicle (if any) is the student's.)"

By Thumper1 (Thumper1) on Friday, September 24, 2004 - 08:27 pm: Edit

Thank you DT....we didn't have to complete anything but the basic Profile for Boston University. Didn't, therefore, know there were supplemental questions.