M.P. asks: Our daughter is going the conservatory route and (so far) getting into the best of the best for singing and acting. I used to make a lot of money, but now I’m retired and much less is coming in. We no longer own a house since we recently sold our home for a good profit – which inflated our income that year, so our Student Aid Index is almost 500,000. How do I go about letting the schools she gets in to know that some financial aid might sway her choice? Are there merit scholarships that might become available? Is there a roadmap for this delicate dance?
Jess Klein, senior advisor and financial aid team captain at CollegeAdvisor.com, responds:
This is a fairly common scenario for families navigating the financial aid process. You have a couple of options to help manage your daughter’s educational costs.
If you use a Net Price Calculator and your income without the inflated figures qualifies for financial aid, it may be worth pursuing a “professional judgement” review. Families can request that schools use a different tax year, or an adjusted income, for situations like these in which the tax year used for financial aid is inflated or not representative of your current income.
You need to reach out to each school individually to request this review, and schools will likely need your tax returns and any documentation you have regarding which income is non-recurring.
If your regular income won’t qualify for financial aid, I recommend shifting your focus to merit scholarships. Some schools use merit scholarships as a recruitment tool, meaning your daughter may be more likely to receive merit aid where she is a top applicant. You can also use scholarships as leverage to present to other schools via the appeals process. It’s always worth it to ask – the worst they can say is no!
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