High income but 3 kids in college at once- financial aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar income. Yes, our mortgage is 7200. We have 4 kids. Life is expensive. We live ok. Decent house , but one that needs 39 new windows and new heat that is in a good neighborhood and not that far from DC. We go to Disney every year. We have the kids enrolled in 1 activity each. But I find it interesting that people are so angry at people who essentially have a house and can take vacation. I shop Costco, outlet malls, tjmaxx and target. I don’t have a cleaning lady. I don’t have expensive cars. No European vacation. No fancy house stuff. I have 50% ikea. While, yes this is a good life, it’s not a RICH life. So much hate here though.

You want empathy with a $7200 mortgage. You choose an expensive house vs saving for college. You choose 4 kids vs 2. You don’t get it.

+1 we have a similar HHI but a $3700 mortgage. Guess what, both our kids are at Ivies -- full pay.

Disney is really expensive. Disney is generally a once in a life time trip for most families after they save up for 5-10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why you forego vacations and restaurants and Starbucks and salon coloring and manicures etc as needed once they are born to start saving for college. You had 18 years’ notice.

This is ridiculous! Don’t go on vacation for 18 years, if you love your kids? The system is broken.

Many families take affordable camping vacations at $20 per night or visit family and stay with family. Not sure when taking a luxury vacation became a given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why you forego vacations and restaurants and Starbucks and salon coloring and manicures etc as needed once they are born to start saving for college. You had 18 years’ notice.

You are an asshole and you turn up on all these threads.
I'm not the OP but we're from Europe where extortionate school fees are not the norm. We came to the USA when our kids were small, not knowing if we'd be here a couple of years or many. We only became aware of the ridiculously high college fees when our kids were in grade school - so no, we've not had 18 years to save and actually I've never had a manicure and we don't go on vacations or to Starbucks. F U.

Perhaps take paycuts. Return to Europe. Get the subsidized college in Europe.

In the US the affordable college is at community colleges. Many kids go to community colleges. My local community college has 35,000 students enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why you forego vacations and restaurants and Starbucks and salon coloring and manicures etc as needed once they are born to start saving for college. You had 18 years’ notice.

Haha 18 years of no Starbucks doesn’t make nearly enough for three college tuitions. This is the dumbest advice ever.

Starbucks, hair, nails but it depends on what you spend. Vacations, new cars, yes. It absolutely helps, especially if you have three kids and want to send them all to private.

I know people who make that much money and still don't have enough for private college. I haven't seen them doing any of the things first PP mentions.

You people just looking to judge.

Exactly. Your own student loans. Mortgage. Cars. Saving for your own retirement. Medical costs over the whole family. Insurance costs. TAXES (mine have gone up since 2016). Child care costs. Regular items (food, clothing, etc.) Phones/IT (don't give me any BS about those being extra - they are not in this day and age). All the extra fees for things at school. Maintenance costs that are just part of life: car maintenance, house maintenance (roofs age, septic tanks give out, appliances stop working, sometimes all at once). Sometimes people are supporting parents, siblings, etc.

There are ANY NUMBER of very good reasons that do not include living extravagantly as to why simply paying out of pocket is not an option at that income level. Half a million dollars, while a lot of money, is not the same as being a Bloomberg, Buffett, etc. So just stop.

Sorry, they earn a million bucks over a two year period. They earn two million dollars over a four year period. They are rich.

Expecting financial aid is ridiculous. They are 1 percenters.

OP, check out Mr. Money Mustache.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar income. Yes, our mortgage is 7200. We have 4 kids. Life is expensive. We live ok. Decent house , but one that needs 39 new windows and new heat that is in a good neighborhood and not that far from DC. We go to Disney every year. We have the kids enrolled in 1 activity each. But I find it interesting that people are so angry at people who essentially have a house and can take vacation. I shop Costco, outlet malls, tjmaxx and target. I don’t have a cleaning lady. I don’t have expensive cars. No European vacation. No fancy house stuff. I have 50% ikea. While, yes this is a good life, it’s not a RICH life. So much hate here though.

You want empathy with a $7200 mortgage. You choose an expensive house vs saving for college. You choose 4 kids vs 2. You don’t get it.

+1 we have a similar HHI but a $3700 mortgage. Guess what, both our kids are at Ivies -- full pay.

Disney is really expensive. Disney is generally a once in a life time trip for most families after they save up for 5-10 years.

Its only inexpensive if they are active or retired military. Then, its I forget but maybe $300-350, but that would add up with 4 kids. And, you can stay at the value hotel for $100-150 or so a night depending on when you go but I don't with that kind of mortgage they'd stay at the value hotel and they'd need two rooms or a suite.

[Anonymous]

It seems people have no idea what they are talking about with certain income ranges. At the 450k range, I believe even starting at @400k, All deductions are phased out except the basics of personal exemptions and the interest up to 1mm and the 10k taxes. Our house with the 7200 is actually a 3900 mort +13k taxes + a renovation Loan. Our whole tax bill is approx 20k (including state) So it’s not even all deductible. Our 200k renovation loan will be paid over in maybe 3 years. it was about a 7 yr loan. The value of house is maybe 1.4m. It’s the same house as a house In Fredricksburg that would cost half the price.

What I am saying is this - why do people who make choices to to be at their smaller income level deserve to go to expensive colleges vs those who have a moderately higher income? If you look at colleges that are very expensive they are exceeding filled with very wealthy (1mm income a year), minorities, poor and athletes. Ok, maybe that’s what America wants. So be it.

I would rather have memories of vacation, less time spent commuting so I can have time with my family , and a reasonably comfortable house and do state college. However could I afford 80k a yr for 4 kids? No, my retirement would be nothing and it would reduce many things. I am making the choices that are best.

But, we CAN’T afford it more than private. Our kids will have to get scholarships to go somewhere else. No, I will not let them take excessive student loans out and I will not do it either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar income. Yes, our mortgage is 7200. We have 4 kids. Life is expensive. We live ok. Decent house , but one that needs 39 new windows and new heat that is in a good neighborhood and not that far from DC. We go to Disney every year. We have the kids enrolled in 1 activity each. But I find it interesting that people are so angry at people who essentially have a house and can take vacation. I shop Costco, outlet malls, tjmaxx and target. I don’t have a cleaning lady. I don’t have expensive cars. No European vacation. No fancy house stuff. I have 50% ikea. While, yes this is a good life, it’s not a RICH life. So much hate here though.

50% Ikea in a huge house is not a bargain. $7200 means a $2-3 Million dollar house. Disney for 6 people yearly except if you are military is extremely expensive. You are house and vacation poor. Saying one activity is meaningless as that could be $100 a month or $1K a month. Outlets, Costco, and Target aren't excactly cheaper. You could have bought a house for $4K a month and saved that $3200 plus the Disney vacation for the kids college.

A mortgage on a $2-3 million home is much more than that. You would be looking at low one million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you just started earning that much you need to maintain your lifestyle at a lower level and pay cash with what you are currently earning. $80k x 3 kids = $240 (less than HALF your HHI!) - but you should be able to spend WAY less than that on college per year, even with 3 tuitions. Send them to the same school and make them share an apartment or something. If you can't live on what you make you've got bigger problems.

. You’re forgetting federal and state taxes which, at that income, wipes out almist half, especially true if you have large property taxes

[Anonymous]

Op Back - Wow I did not expect this many responses. As I said we just started making this income recently. Before that it was less and we do not have significant savings. There is no reason to expect it will go up. We do not have a huge mortgage. I drive an old car.
I will say our 3 kids have tons of expensive activities and life in DC is expensive and for the first time we feel not under water.

When we look at the numbers even if private colleges are not 80K lets say just 70K with all three in school at the same time (which they will be for 3 years) that is 210K per year which at the current tax rate is almost all of our after tax income. I understand that they do not HAVE to go to private. We live in MD and there are less good public options, so it seems likely that private college/universities are a possibility.

I understand that we now make what is a lot of money. I was merely asking if the schools look at how long you have made a certain income and how many kids will be in college at the same time. I am not feeling sorry for us- I understand how fortunate we are to now have this salary. It is crazy how much college costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op Back - Wow I did not expect this many responses. As I said we just started making this income recently. Before that it was less and we do not have significant savings. There is no reason to expect it will go up. We do not have a huge mortgage. I drive an old car.
I will say our 3 kids have tons of expensive activities and life in DC is expensive and for the first time we feel not under water.

When we look at the numbers even if private colleges are not 80K lets say just 70K with all three in school at the same time (which they will be for 3 years) that is 210K per year which at the current tax rate is almost all of our after tax income. I understand that they do not HAVE to go to private. We live in MD and there are less good public options, so it seems likely that private college/universities are a possibility.

I understand that we now make what is a lot of money. I was merely asking if the schools look at how long you have made a certain income and how many kids will be in college at the same time. I am not feeling sorry for us- I understand how fortunate we are to now have this salary. It is crazy how much college costs.

OP, there are a few schools that have twin discounts like GW and Westchester and Hamline. It might be worth looking into. Google twin scholarships.