Donut hole reality

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Access to the most lucrative jobs were once reserved for connected white men who were part of an old boys’ club (that often started in college). Sounds like a lot of folks here are cool with that.

I thought the complaint here was that "unhooked" well to do white students whose parents chose second homes and luxury cars, were losing opportunities to kids with average family incomes whose parents valued education.

Yeah - no luxury cars or second homes in our two gov't salary household. But we fall well outside the cutoff for financial aid. We have decent retirement savings and home equity and some college savings. It will be a stretch if DC wants to go to the 90K/year school without any merit to take the sting out. We'll either take loans from retirement or home and have some cash flow along with $100K in college savings. I don't fault anyone getting help going to college - and I think it's crazy that people are yelling at each other for whether they should get money or not. No one should be shut out of college - and no one should be guaranteed a $100K degree. That said, some amount of support would be nice.

What is your HHI? If les than 250k, you may get aid at some schools. If you are well outside of that in terms of income, you should not be shut out of anywhere financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:That’s not donut hole. That’s a comfortable family. The rest of our kids go to state schools.

This. If you have sticker shock, but the ability to pay you aren't really a donut hole.

Ability to pay is often at the cost of liquidating retirement funds, home equity, life style and nursing home savings.

Shouldn't be. The top schools have excellent need based FA. Many who would be a fafsa doughnut hole would get FA. To be paying full price means, you are well off in earnings and non-retirement assets. Even home equity is often capped (not 2nd or 3rd home of course).

The real problem is failing to save. No one should expect to cashflow college. We started saving when kids in elementary and thought we were late to the game.

Bullsh. First of all, by the time you get to college aged kids, you may be making the most salary you've made. But almost no one makes that their entire career. We saved and save a LOT. We have old cars. No second home. No generational wealth. We have good retirement. Those are the things we've funded: college and retirement.

But all of those things are counted against us, as if we can cashflow $50-90k/year. We can't. And we aren't getting aid. We've made our peace with the schools are high stats kid can go (based on finances) and have had to forego much better schools b/c of money. It should not be this way.

I get that those of you not as well off like to dump on higher earners (UMC) to make yourselves feel better. But we've done everything right. Both coming from just above poverty line upbringings. The "American Dream" of work hard and good things flow from that is a bunch of horse sh-- when it comes to college admissions and sending your kids to the best school. The very wealthy get that opportunity. The poor get that opportunity. No one else.

Bs back atcha. We made a lot less (like less than 70k) early on and saved what we could. It didn't count that much against us. Home equity didn't count against us -- we focused on schools that capped or didn't include hone equity. Even a few that did had good NPC numbers. We are middle class, not poor. We have good 529 savings. We also got decent aid at several schools. We focused on private schools where we'd be eligible based on NPCs and targeted state schools that would be more affordable.

My whole point is that no one should expect to cash flow college. You either didn't plan the savings or the college app choices well enough. There are lots of options with different price tags if you make over 300k and didn't save. Barring medical costs or unforeseen financial crises (and those can be included in Fa apps/appeals), I just don't get the rage on this. If we had the means to save 100k per kid going from 70k to 140k over the years, why can't people who make more save more? Even savings of 200k per kid plus loans and some cashflow would cover most schools.

What schools don't count home equity that offer such generous financial aid?

Most top tier schools either don't count it, or they cap it (eg 1.5 or 2 times income). Try the net price calculator with different home equity amounts to confirm. Also, we were surprised hiw some factor it. I did not think Smith would be as generous as NPC figure, since they do consider at unlimited or 2-3x income. I can't remember which.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$719k is what it takes to be in top 5% in DC. People making $300k here definitely feel MC and it’s tough with more than 1 kid.

You can't base your class standing off the wealthiest of the wealthy. You may feel MC, but that doesn't make it so. We're doing it on 150k with 2 kids, 2nd headed to college this fall. If you're 300k is MC, does that make us? poor? What about my friend on 75k with one kid? Super poor? Questbridge is under 70k.

300k is not MC. UMC, maybe. But, you are doing pretty well, my friend.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and sending my kid to college on a 58K income. Yep, that's what teachers make in some states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and sending my kid to college on a 58K income. Yep, that's what teachers make in some states.

are you getting any aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$719k is what it takes to be in top 5% in DC. People making $300k here definitely feel MC and it’s tough with more than 1 kid.

Yeah, that's a total lie.
https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/economy/how-much-you-need-to-be-in-the-top-5-in-every-state/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Access to the most lucrative jobs were once reserved for connected white men who were part of an old boys’ club (that often started in college). Sounds like a lot of folks here are cool with that.

I thought the complaint here was that "unhooked" well to do white students whose parents chose second homes and luxury cars, were losing opportunities to kids with average family incomes whose parents valued education.

It’s been said multiple times that people are not picking between luxury cars and a pricey college education. But keep telling yourself that…

Donut hole are. They are making expensive life choices instead of saving.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Access to the most lucrative jobs were once reserved for connected white men who were part of an old boys’ club (that often started in college). Sounds like a lot of folks here are cool with that.

I thought the complaint here was that "unhooked" well to do white students whose parents chose second homes and luxury cars, were losing opportunities to kids with average family incomes whose parents valued education.

It’s been said multiple times that people are not picking between luxury cars and a pricey college education. But keep telling yourself that…

Donut hole are. They are making expensive life choices instead of saving.

+100

false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Access to the most lucrative jobs were once reserved for connected white men who were part of an old boys’ club (that often started in college). Sounds like a lot of folks here are cool with that.

I thought the complaint here was that "unhooked" well to do white students whose parents chose second homes and luxury cars, were losing opportunities to kids with average family incomes whose parents valued education.

It’s been said multiple times that people are not picking between luxury cars and a pricey college education. But keep telling yourself that…

Donut hole are. They are making expensive life choices instead of saving.

+100

false.

How is it false? If you choose an. Pensive home, vacations and lifestyle and scream poverty to get aid when someone else on the same salary manages to save, you don’t see the issue.