making $250-$400K in NW DC and paying for college out of Wilson High school or similar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

Sure, it isn't mandatory, but who wouldn't give up the chance to use their hard-earned money to subsidize the education of someone else's kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

Sure, it isn't mandatory, but who wouldn't give up the chance to use their hard-earned money to subsidize the education of someone else's kid?

If that's how you really feel, there's a simple solution for you. Don't opt in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

Sure, it isn't mandatory, but who wouldn't give up the chance to use their hard-earned money to subsidize the education of someone else's kid?

If that's how you really feel, there's a simple solution for you. Don't opt in.

Live in VA and seriously considering this. Have the money to go private but unless it's a significant step above UVA or W&M...it's tough to justify private. Save the $$$ for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

Sure, it isn't mandatory, but who wouldn't give up the chance to use their hard-earned money to subsidize the education of someone else's kid?

If that's how you really feel, there's a simple solution for you. Don't opt in.

Live in VA and seriously considering this. Have the money to go private but unless it's a significant step above UVA or W&M...it's tough to justify private. Save the $$$ for grad school.

It is hilarious that you seem to think this is a daring or risky choice. It speaks to your sense of entitlement--of course your children would be expected to attend elite colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Are you suggesting that #1 has no discretionary income, particularly if they live in a place where the cost of living is low? In this example, I'm not suggesting that #1 is at poverty level.

We know a family living in the Midwest. The husband had a job in IT with pay alot lower than around here, and wife decided to "stay at home for the kids". The older kid got a scholarship to a good local private HS, did very well, got admitted into a Top-50 school, also private, and received financial aid. The younger kid went to the state flagship. I don't know if there is fin aid involved.
My kids, from a 2 income family, went to FCPS and the older one did not even consider private colleges. This was partly because we could not justify paying for private given the quality of VA schools (this kid was not Ivy material). Still, it rankled that I had to bust my a$$ at work while this woman sat on hers all those years, and the outcomes are similar.

+1. Exactly. In this scenario, you are the only one expected to make a sacrifice....and you'll get the holier-than-thou for thinking otherwise.

Honestly, staying at home for the kids sounds like the real sacrifice to me, LOL. Also, depending on where they were living in the midwest....also possibly a sacrifice. And of course, all these sacrifices are available to PP, too. There are plenty of jobs in other, less costly, parts of the country.

I'm puzzled, though, that this bothers some people so much. It "rankles" that PP had to bust her ass at work while someone else did something else and got a similar outcome? Are you just learning now, at your advanced age, that there are no guarantees in life and that things aren't always "fair?" How about the fact that there are other people around who work a helluva lot harder than you ever have, cleaning toilets e.g., but they don't get to live in as nice a house as you do? How come that kind of unfairness doesn't bother you?
I am the PP.
Please don't get me wrong. I respect the choice to SAH, particularly while the kids are young. However, when the kids are in MS/HS most of the day, and you have expensive tastes and your DH actually has to work on the side at some point, on top of his full-time job, SAH is lazy and selfish, not a sacrifice. She, able-bodied and educated, did not even seek a PT job or start a business. And in the end, her choices were rewarded.
I don't begrudge finaid to a family where both parents contribute by either working, for whatever meager wage, or dedicating their time to actually raising their kids. This story, however, is not about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

Sure, it isn't mandatory, but who wouldn't give up the chance to use their hard-earned money to subsidize the education of someone else's kid?

If that's how you really feel, there's a simple solution for you. Don't opt in.

Live in VA and seriously considering this. Have the money to go private but unless it's a significant step above UVA or W&M...it's tough to justify private. Save the $$$ for grad school.

It is hilarious that you seem to think this is a daring or risky choice. It speaks to your sense of entitlement--of course your children would be expected to attend elite colleges.

If they have demonstrated with grades and test scores that they are capable and it makes sense financially, why wouldn't that be an option?

[Anonymous]

Don't forget if you live in DC you can get TAG ... $10k a year to state schools outside of DC and a few thousand for G'town and GW. YOu can make up to a million a year. We didn't do it because we have only 1 kid and she went to Princeton, but if she hadn't have been as smart, she would have gone somewhere w/ TAG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone doesn't live in Virginia!! Do you realize both PItt and Penn State cost $30,000 to their in-state residents?

How is that in any way relevant to people posting from NW DC or the DMV area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question, OP, because it sounds like you are trying to imply that your income level is not that high or at least not high enough to be putting any money away for this purpose, such that you deserve some kind of financial break. To which I have no choice but to seriously side eye. If you've been saving all along, as you say you have been, then you already know the answer: a combination of savings, cash flow, and loans (if the student is unlucky). So why ask the question then?

Anyway assuming this is a genuine q, the general rule of thumb is to save 2/3 up front and cash flow the rest.

12:37 here.

I don't read OP's question as having that implication at all. I read it as, how do people who are rich but not 1%'ers afford to pay tuition that is currently $65K/year/kid and rising faster than inflation? Or do they not pay it, and choose a cheaper option?

We have saved but cannot pay full freight at top-tier schools, nor do we qualify for FA.

We have 2/3rds saved (as of now; tuition increases outpace inflation) but there is no way we could cash flow the rest. Moreover, we are older parents (DH is 64) and one of us will likely need to retire while our second is still in college.

Families like us are in the "donut hole." We can neither pay full sticker price, nor qualify for FA. Children of families like ours are therefore increasingly attending state schools (hence the rise in UMD's competitiveness), or going to second and third tier schools with big merit scholarships.

+1. Same boat as OP- 3 kids. All public in DC. We had our own loans to pay off first, and while we've saved a lot, we do not have enough for 3 kids full freight. We have about 40K a year for each, so they go to state schools, and one receives merit $ as well. We have two in at once and no break for 9 years. I resent when people think we should have saved enough for full freight because of our HHI. Our HHI has not increased in years; it's actually decreased, and we have done the best we can. I have no issue with state schools, second or third tiers either. You send them where you can afford to send them. They'll survive.

Or you don't have 3 kids. College cost is one reason we stopped at 2 kids. And why both of us kept working full time throughout their childhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If #2 had been living the way #1 has been living all along, #2 sure as hell would consider it a sacrifice!

Exactly! If you live below your means and actually save, you could easily afford to send your kids to any college. We specifically did not choose private school and take meager vacations because we know we need to save for college. I'm sure all our NW DC friends think we are poor living outside the beltway in an average home and not going to Aspen every year.

I have to laugh. Our neighbors, who have a mountain home and in which family the wife has SAH for 15 years, were shocked to learn that V Tech runs 22K a year, UVA 27 and W&M 32K. WTH did they think that in our family, we have one house and two incomes? Not surprisingly, with their oldest child a junior this year, Mom went back to work making $30K a year in retail. Talk about burying your head in the sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More interesting than lecturing OP on what he or she should do with income is considering the point that while many Wilson kids can get into top tier colleges that do not provide merit aid, many cannot afford to attend but rather choose state or "second-tier" schools. It is important to consider this when using the colleges attended by Wilson grads versus privates as a proxy for the education provided by each.

This is not unique to Wilson, it is the same in the well regarded HS in Montgomery, Arlington and Fairfax Counties.

+1.

I went to an award ceremony at Yorktown HS in Arlington last June. They announced the many merit scholarships received by graduating seniors...many, many students in high HHI areas taking this path...even over UVA/W&M.

Yes, high school seniors whose parents have saved and don't need to fill out the FAFSA not surprisingly have more choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another way to look at the steep drop-off in financial aid as family income moves above $120K is as a very progressive tax rate. Top private colleges think it's fair to take up to 75% of your incremental income above $120K in the form of reduced grant aid. I can see how that stings and feels confiscatory. And there's usually no aid penalty for a spouse not working. It's similar to the situation where an income gets eaten up by childcare expenses.

It's not confiscatory at all. It's not MANDATORY that you attend a private college, folks! (If they raise the federal income tax rate again...that's another story. You can make an argument using words like confiscatory in that situation, lol). It's a private institution, they can charge what they like!

Sure, it isn't mandatory, but who wouldn't give up the chance to use their hard-earned money to subsidize the education of someone else's kid?

If that's how you really feel, there's a simple solution for you. Don't opt in.

Live in VA and seriously considering this. Have the money to go private but unless it's a significant step above UVA or W&M...it's tough to justify private. Save the $$$ for grad school.

We have decided the exact same thing. I went to Duke; no way is it worth more than twice the cost of UVA. My kids, both in high school now, know they are going to public for undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More interesting than lecturing OP on what he or she should do with income is considering the point that while many Wilson kids can get into top tier colleges that do not provide merit aid, many cannot afford to attend but rather choose state or "second-tier" schools. It is important to consider this when using the colleges attended by Wilson grads versus privates as a proxy for the education provided by each.

This is not unique to Wilson, it is the same in the well regarded HS in Montgomery, Arlington and Fairfax Counties.

+1.

I went to an award ceremony at Yorktown HS in Arlington last June. They announced the many merit scholarships received by graduating seniors...many, many students in high HHI areas taking this path...even over UVA/W&M.

Yes, high school seniors whose parents have saved and don't need to fill out the FAFSA not surprisingly have more choices.

Actually, the PPs are saying just the opposite. Kids from families who don't qualify for financial aid and who are candidates for admission to top tier colleges (which usually don't offer merit aid) often choose to attend state or "second-tier" schools with merit aid because their parents can't afford or don't want to pay full-price at top-tier colleges. Kids from these families actually may have *fewer* choices, because top tier colleges are essentially off the table.

If these kids come from families who can afford to be full pay at top tier schools, because they have saved or because they are very high income or because whatever, then, yes, they have more choices. But that might make them less likely to choose state or second tier colleges, not more likely.