What information impacts my financial aid estimate?

Wealthfront estimates financial aid using the same set of information that schools use. We consider  a holistic picture of your projected financial life by the time your child attends college, including your retirement plans, which can  affect your income and account balances in the future.

Specifically, our financial aid estimate considers:

• School-specific data on financial aid and whether the school uses the FAFSA method or an institutional method .
• Projected balances on your Wealthfront and linked accounts. Those projections will depend on your current balances, current positions, planned savings (for all goals), and market return assumptions.
• Projected income for you and your spouse (if applicable) by the time your child attends college. This projection helps determine your expected contribution to your child’s college costs, and depends on your planned retirement age and your current income.
• The ages of you and your spouse (if applicable) by the time your child attends college.
• The ages of your other children by the time your child attends college, in case multiple children are expected to attend college at the same time.