For every additional dollar you make, you lose a certain amount of need-based aid.
Families too wealthy for need-based aid are turning to the tax code to help pay the bill.
If a student will apply for need-based aid, consider federal aid rules before setting up a 529 as well.
Bottom line: If you have more than one child attending a pricey private college, you may qualify for need-based aid even at a fairly high income level.
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USC's calculator is meant to provide only an estimate of what a family might get in need-based aid, says Thomas McWhorter, the school's dean of financial aid.
It explains those tricky aid formulas, it shows how even prosperous students might wind up with need-based aid, and it offers tax strategies that apply across the board.
To make matters worse, endowments (and their returns) have shrunk, money from philanthropy has dried up and those universities that provide need-based aid have suddenly found their students are needier.
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Formulas for awarding need-based aid come in different flavors.
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But they're less accurate at predicting need-based grant aid from colleges and don't predict merit aid well, says Mr. Kantrowitz.
Her head and her heart were really into Columbia as her first-choice school, even though she intended to apply for need-based financial aid.
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If you're also applying for need-based financial aid, don't worry about private scholarships decreasing your award, says Keema Echols, president of the Kenaly Complement, a financial aid consulting firm for higher education institutions.
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