How does most of America pay for these elite schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that most people on DCUM have $80k saved per year of college and much of America (HHI under $125k) gets aid but do these two realities really cover these gigantic pools of applicants to all the top 50 schools? has the rest of America also saved $80k/year/kid? am I missing something? thinking about this tonight as friends of ours just had their daughter (one of 6 kids, first in college) commit to Carnegie Mellon. I know for a fact that they make more than $150k but I had no idea that $&0k/year was in their budget.

Responsible parents save for their kids' education.

STFU.

Gawd these self-righteous posters are sick.

We saved for our children's education!

I understand your anger. The truth hurts sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Between a kid who had some needs when younger, and a parent with cancer (okay now), one of us had to take quite a few years out of the workforce. We have a good income now but lost a lot of years saving. So we’re doing the best we can now and live simply, but no way could we pay full fare for most of these universities. We are in the donut hole and don’t have the savings some people might who had our current income but hadn’t lost years in the workforce. We have a good kid who is unlikely to have high stats and get merit aid. DC is not interested in some of the careers like finance that may lead to a super high salary in the future. We’ll make the best choices we can and look for a university that is a good fit, will give good options for DC’s future, and won’t bankrupt us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high stats kids from donuts hole families give up on elite schools and go to the in state flagship

This is us. Our HHI is $145K. We didn't qualify for much FA, despite the fact that $80K per year is more than half our HHI!! Crazy.
State schools for our kids.
Meaning, the best and the brightest are NOT going to the Ivies or the SLACs like Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, etc.
My kids should be at these schools, but we can't afford to send them there.

Ivies and SLACs are free or practically free tuition for a family with $145k HHI and 2+ kids.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, no. You see, there’s something called the CSS that delves deeply into your finances. Sometimes you’re even asked what cars are in your garage.

Don’t count on aid for your kid even if you’re just a couple years from retirement. Oh, and you’ll be expected to drain your other kid’s 529 account too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is our situation. I opened 529s the week of birth. We saved. Grandparents helped.

We drive old cars. Live in old house. We still do not have 80k/year saved.

+1 If you have multiple kids and income of $150k/year, it's really hard to get anywhere close to $80k per year no matter when you start saving. We started saving for each of our 3 kids before they were born and also increased contributions after the high day care costs ended.
It's really astonishing that colleges as rich as some of these private schools (which have been called "hedge funds with a university on the side" for a reason) charge so much and only give like 50-60% of the kids any kind of financial help. At these prices, it should be like 90% of the kids getting at least some assistance.
Sorry to vent but I get frustrated when people act like these extraordinary costs are on the same level as 20-30 years ago and it's no big deal. You can save forever but once your kid is college-age, you find that the assets count against you and any little crumbs of financial aid disappear once you add your 529 savings into the net price calculator.
The options are limited when schools like UMD get 55k applications. Thank goodness for other in-state options and merit aid at some colleges, but it'd be better for the economy and for America in general if cost wasn't the first thing most families consider when evaluating colleges.
I really think there ought to be an organized push from families and employers to make all colleges (including the uber-expensive private ones) more reasonably priced.

I totally agree. My alma mater is all about the "xxxxx family," yet when middle class alumni cannot afford to send their kids for $75K per year, it's just unfortunate. Meanwhile you can read the online comments from financial aid recipients just gaming one school against the other, not really caring where they end up. But oh, yeah, I'm supposed to keep the alma mater in my will. Sure.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that most people on DCUM have $80k saved per year of college and much of America (HHI under $125k) gets aid but do these two realities really cover these gigantic pools of applicants to all the top 50 schools? has the rest of America also saved $80k/year/kid? am I missing something? thinking about this tonight as friends of ours just had their daughter (one of 6 kids, first in college) commit to Carnegie Mellon. I know for a fact that they make more than $150k but I had no idea that $&0k/year was in their budget.

Responsible parents save for their kids' education.

I resent that remark.

[Anonymous]

2nd mortgage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, no. You see, there’s something called the CSS that delves deeply into your finances. Sometimes you’re even asked what cars are in your garage.

Don’t count on aid for your kid even if you’re just a couple years from retirement. Oh, and you’ll be expected to drain your other kid’s 529 account too.

So…. You had the money to pay, because you’re wealthy, or you didn’t, because you’re middle class? Which one is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are parents with a good HHI who are either bad with money or who choose not to save for college. That money goes to living above their means. It drastically limits college options.

Bad with money?? You have never heard of uncovered, out-of-pocket medical expenses? You know nothing of special needs? Expensive prescriptions? Psychiatrists and psychologists who do not take insurance? Ever heard of disability? We have millions in our retirement accounts because it was made easy to save with pre-tax deductions and 401Ks, but our college funds are next to nothing because of medical expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are parents with a good HHI who are either bad with money or who choose not to save for college. That money goes to living above their means. It drastically limits college options.

Bad with money?? You have never heard of uncovered, out-of-pocket medical expenses? You know nothing of special needs? Expensive prescriptions? Psychiatrists and psychologists who do not take insurance? Ever heard of disability? We have millions in our retirement accounts because it was made easy to save with pre-tax deductions and 401Ks, but our college funds are next to nothing because of medical expenses.

True. You never know what goes into why parents don’t save for their kids. It’s not necessarily being irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's absolutely shameful how much a college education costs in this country. And the system pits individuals against each other. People wasting their energies blaming and shaming their peers for not saving enough. Let's direct that energy up the chain and expose the collusion between the schools and the government loan system that perpetuates this insanity.

It's also abhorrent how there is not a viable vocational alternative. Another track that is seen as equally worthy of pursuing.

To answer your question, I don't know how most families pay for a college education other than going into debt to some degree.

Absolutely! The private loan company solicitations sent directly to my HS senior should be outlawed. Thankfully I saw them and explained why he couldn't take out these predatory loans from companies like "Discover," but I now understand how so many kids, particularly first gen, get sucked into high interest, forever loans. It is a scandal. That and college administrators making $300,000 - $1 million bucks a year out in RuralCity, Small University Land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Loans

No 18+ can get such big loans. It has to be parent plus loan.

Uh...you're wrong. They can't get big government-backed loans for undergrad beyond the $5500 annual limit. However, companies like Discover send loan solicitations directly to HS seniors, bypassing parents. This is where the trouble starts.

[Anonymous]

"Most of America" hasn't heard of many of these elite schools and doesn't care. But I know to many UMC people those people don't count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, no. You see, there’s something called the CSS that delves deeply into your finances. Sometimes you’re even asked what cars are in your garage.

Don’t count on aid for your kid even if you’re just a couple years from retirement. Oh, and you’ll be expected to drain your other kid’s 529 account too.

My alma mater, after reviewing our CSS submission, said we had "too much in retirement." I retorted that the university did not teach me to raid my retirement savings. The real issue here is the wealthy establishment types who drive financial aid policy, and cannot fathom how someone could fund retirement yet not fund college plans. Even when presented with proof of 5 figure out out of pocket annual medical expense, the alma mater just wanted to know how long I would have these expenses! This is from a university rated by Forbes as A+ for financial health. I should never have given tens of thousands of dollars to my alma mater - I should have invested it for future children, but what did I know in my 20s and 30s?

[Anonymous]

Who exactly should pay for your kids' education if not the parents? Sure, it would be great if tuition were lower or if we have a national plan to subsidize it for everyone, but we don't. So today, who should pay? If you've really got millions in retirement, why shouldn't you be expected to draw down some of that? The rest of us don't have that much because we set some aside for our kids. Shouldn't those people get financial relief before you? What about people who started out at the starting line, while you were already on second base because your parents were able to put you through college without saddling you with loans like the rest of us? How about everyone whose parents paid for their wedding, or even chipped in? How about everyone whose parents helped them afford to buy a house before the prices shot through the roof? How about married couples where one spouse got to stay home and not work for money? Why should they qualify for more aid than the families where both parents tried their best to earn and save? Maybe these people should step aside till everyone else gets a break finally?