What You Don’t Know CAN Cost You – and Cost You A Lot
Using estimated figures representing the average cost of college for the public university on the Your Dilemma page, let’s make the following assumptions:
Grandma writes your child (the student) a check for $ 5,000 (her entire yearly gifting) per year to assist with college expenses-commencing his or her senior year in high school.- The first payment arrives in December, as part of a Christmas gift.
- This money resides in the student’s bank account when the family files the FAFSA in January.
- Gifted aid, which doesn’t require repayment, comprises 20 percent of the typical student aid at the public university.
- College graduation is expected within four years.
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Before Grandma’s Payment
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After Grandma’s Payment
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With Our Solution
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|
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Total Cost
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$16,400
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$16,400
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$16,400
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EFC
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6,000
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9,500
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6,000
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NEED
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$10,400
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$6,900
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$10,400
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Gift Aid (20%)
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2,080
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1,380
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2,080
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Unmet Need
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8,320
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5,520
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8,320
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Money Properly Received
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5,000
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||
| You Pay |
$14,320
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$15,020
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$9,320
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In this scenario, you can see that gifting the money directly to the student increases the family’s expected contribution by $3,500, resulting in $700 gifted financial aid loss for the student - or a total of $2,800 lost over the four-year period.
AND
Using our solution, your child is able to keep the entire gifted aid package of $2,080 and fully enjoy grandma’s generous annual gift of $5,000.
Bottom Line: The family saves $5,700 per year or $22,800 during the full four years in college.
To find out how we achieved the above savings, sign up for our FREE College Savings Tip Sheet and receive a complimentary issue of our monthly subscription newsletter Affording College, where we detail the strategies used to achieve the above savings.
Ready to find out how we can help you save thousands of dollars in tuition and other expenses? Visit Reduce My College Costs Now! Or if your still feeling skeptical, read on to see why this is real.
