Are top private colleges mainly for poor people now?

[Anonymous]

Often 2/3 of students at top ranked schools are getting need based aid that covers the vast majority of costs, on average.

200k is the typical cut off for need based aid (about the income level of a couple of school teachers at the peak of their careers aka “the wealthy”)

It just seems these schools must be populated primarily with lower income kids and then 1/3 rich kids.

I guess middle class kids end up at state school.

[Anonymous]

Poor or Rich

Middle class are fukced

[Anonymous]

Middle class kids end up at community college, trade school or state school. Maybe Harvard is full of 2/3 poor and 1/3 rich, but most of the SLAC are full of rich kids.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t know poor people make $150k or $100k.

[Anonymous]

“ 55% of our undergraduates receive need-based Harvard scholarships. More than 20% of Harvard parents have total incomes less than $75,000.”

[Anonymous]

Top LACs with big endowments have generous aid too though.

I guess low income is the new privileged. If your family makes 80k a year, full ride. If they make 200k, you’re screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top LACs with big endowments have generous aid too though.

I guess low income is the new privileged. If your family makes 80k a year, full ride. If they make 200k, you’re screwed.

Exact opposite. How many kids from families making $80k do you think are getting into top schools?

[Anonymous]

You’re free to quit your job if being poor is so awesome. *Crickets*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t know poor people make $150k or $100k.

Yeah, that is poor in the context of 80k a year. Also we are talking about people in prime earnings years- if they have college age kids- so they used to make less and soon will be making less

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re free to quit your job if being poor is so awesome. *Crickets*

I suspect a lot of families do somehow game the financial aid system this way. Like maybe one parent stops working. Getting 320k of aid bears a pre tax income of 80k or whatever

[Anonymous]

privates are fine with bar bell distributions as long as the 1% side is significantly larger than the bottom 20% side

[Anonymous]

I used to joke that 2 years before our eldest went to college we would both quit our jobs and emancipate the children, then they'd get a free ride. We didn't do either of those things, are just sucking it up and paying and taking out loans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Often 2/3 of students at top ranked schools are getting need based aid that covers the vast majority of costs, on average.

200k is the typical cut off for need based aid (about the income level of a couple of school teachers at the peak of their careers aka “the wealthy”)

It just seems these schools must be populated primarily with lower income kids and then 1/3 rich kids.

I guess middle class kids end up at state school.

You seem to be forgetting that colleges get applicants from all out the U.S. Where I grew up and in many other parts of the U.S., $200K HHI is unheard of. The average HHI in the zip code I grew up in is in the $30,000s last time I checked. For many U.S. cities it’s under $80k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top LACs with big endowments have generous aid too though.

I guess low income is the new privileged. If your family makes 80k a year, full ride. If they make 200k, you’re screwed.

Exact opposite. How many kids from families making $80k do you think are getting into top schools?

How is the $200k family more screwed than the $80k family? If the latter has it so good, the fox is simple for the $200k family. Live off $80k (if you tho k they have it so good) and you save $120k for college per year. Fully funded in NO TIME! There! Solved it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to joke that 2 years before our eldest went to college we would both quit our jobs and emancipate the children, then they'd get a free ride. We didn't do either of those things, are just sucking it up and paying and taking out loans

No such thing unless it’s due to abuse and a judge says so.