Too rich for FAFSA? Still apply.

Fortunately, most families in Saratoga have an annual household income of at least $100,000. Unfortunately, this means that these same families fail to qualify for need-based financial aid.

Inevitably, many SHS students will end up without financial aid but also not enough money to pay tuition comfortably.

In fact, according to the latest edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Almanac of Higher Education,” during the 2012-13 school year, 149 colleges and universities in the U.S. charged at least $50,000 per year for tuition, fees, and room and board.

Of course, the situation isn’t necessarily dire, but paying for two students’ college educations — $100,000 in tuition per year — is not an easy feat even for high earners.

When Saratoga students apply to Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), many aren’t sure why they are doing it. Will we even get financial aid? Often the answer is no.

FAFSA requires a plethora of personal information, such as your Social Security number, income tax statements and parent’s income. Although adding this information may seem cumbersome, it requires at most an hour with your parents and their Internal Revenue Service documents.

The benefit with FAFSA isn’t so much that it gives need-based aid, but that it qualifies a student for merit-based financial aid.

Many schools, such as the University of California Los Angeles and Carnegie Mellon University, only consider students for these scholarships if they’ve applied to FAFSA.

So rejoice — or not — for earning too much to qualify for financial aid. Just make sure to fill out your FAFSA.