2025 & 2026 donut hole families

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What is a donut hole family? High income nut no savings?

Too rich to get aid. But not rich enough to easily pay $90k a year, especially with multiple kids. Usually live in high cost of living areas.

And also made the choice not to save but instead increase their lifestyle as their income increased. Because even in a "hCOLA" if you have been making $250K for the last 5 years, you could have chosen to save $20-30K/year, and likely for more than 5 years

This doesn’t get you anywhere close to affording private colleges at full cost for one kid, let alone two or more.

And of course you’ll say, “just go in-state public!!” Which, sure, but that’s kind of the point of the donut hole. It’s not that you can’t afford *any* college, just that you are priced out of some of them while others above and below are not.

Actually it does. We could "afford it" now as we paid off our house and we live way under our means as we haven't changed our lifestyle as our income goes up. Would it be smart, no. Does my child want to go to a school thats $90K, no, but some are $60K. If you made lifestyle choices that are different, then don't complain of what you cannot afford when you choose a differnet path. While you vacationed, we saved. While you go out to $100-300 meals, we go to $60-80 meals.

No, it doesn’t. A kid starting school at good private colleges next year is looking at a total COA of close to $400k over the next four years. Five years of saving $25-30k does not get you there at all. You would need at least 10 years at that amount and with a real return of 7%. And that would just cover one kid.

So when you choose to have a kid, that should be a consideration you make. We didn't start until we were 30, we paid off our own loans, bought a home and had an emergency fund. We didn't really take vacations until we were 35+. Most vacations were drive somewhere for 4-5 days and stay in a cheap hotel/rental. We made it a priority to save for our future and for our kids college from the time they were born. When you start early, you don't need to save as much, as you have time for it to grow (tax free in a 529) So while we increased our income over time, we never increased our lifestyle, and we didn't have kids until we could afford them (save for our retirement and some for college).

But you are complaining that you cannot afford the Top 25-30 schools that are priced at $90K and won't get any "financial aid". That is like me complaining nobody is giving me a $100K BMW at a discount. THat's not how life works. If I value cars and want to drive that, I act like an adult, save for the BMW and adjust my budget accordingly to meet the needs of "what I value most". Or if I'm like 99% of people, I realize it's a dream and that I can get everywhere I need to go safely in a $40K Honda/Toyota and save my $$.

I’m not complaining about anything. Just pointing out that the other PP’s math doesn’t math. No matter how many Motel 6s you stay at.

It’s funny, all of these comments about lifestyle choices. It’s also a lifestyle choice to make better educational and professional decisions so you don’t have to live like a pauper to afford college. But some of you who are obsessed with lifestyle choices never seem to mention that one.

We don't even stay at Motel 6. The difference is you are the one complaining and expecting a handout. I don't care about school ratings. I care about best fit.

I haven’t lodged one complaint, other than about people’s bad math. I can afford college but also recognize the absurdity of its cost. You should really ask yourself why you are so seized with this topic.

The cost is absurd but its supply/demand and enough are willing to pay it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What is a donut hole family? High income nut no savings?

Too rich to get aid. But not rich enough to easily pay $90k a year, especially with multiple kids. Usually live in high cost of living areas.

And also made the choice not to save but instead increase their lifestyle as their income increased. Because even in a "hCOLA" if you have been making $250K for the last 5 years, you could have chosen to save $20-30K/year, and likely for more than 5 years

This doesn’t get you anywhere close to affording private colleges at full cost for one kid, let alone two or more.

And of course you’ll say, “just go in-state public!!” Which, sure, but that’s kind of the point of the donut hole. It’s not that you can’t afford *any* college, just that you are priced out of some of them while others above and below are not.

Actually it does. We could "afford it" now as we paid off our house and we live way under our means as we haven't changed our lifestyle as our income goes up. Would it be smart, no. Does my child want to go to a school thats $90K, no, but some are $60K. If you made lifestyle choices that are different, then don't complain of what you cannot afford when you choose a differnet path. While you vacationed, we saved. While you go out to $100-300 meals, we go to $60-80 meals.

No, it doesn’t. A kid starting school at good private colleges next year is looking at a total COA of close to $400k over the next four years. Five years of saving $25-30k does not get you there at all. You would need at least 10 years at that amount and with a real return of 7%. And that would just cover one kid.

Yes, it does. We started saving since birth. Those vacations you took, well we didn't and that money got put away. When you bought your expensive house in the "good" school district, we stayed in our small little house and paid it off... We saved about half that but stopped as we can pull from retirement.

No, it literally doesn’t. Saving $25-30k a year for the last five years before college does not get you to $400k in real terms even with the average market return.

You’re trying to lecture people about financial responsibility and you don’t even understand basic compound interest or math.

Of course I do. You don't start saving the last five years. You start saving at birth. We started at birth.

Because smart parents know they want their kids to attend college and college is ever more expensive each year, so you have to save and the sooner you start the less you need to save

Yuck. This is just joyless. Neither the UC and WC are expected to work amd strive this hard. At some point, I may choose to just be left behind.

You choose to enter the rat race and let DCUM rants affect you / consume time or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a donut hole family? High income nut no savings?

Too rich to get aid. But not rich enough to easily pay $90k a year, especially with multiple kids. Usually live in high cost of living areas.

And also made the choice not to save but instead increase their lifestyle as their income increased. Because even in a "hCOLA" if you have been making $250K for the last 5 years, you could have chosen to save $20-30K/year, and likely for more than 5 years

This doesn’t get you anywhere close to affording private colleges at full cost for one kid, let alone two or more.

And of course you’ll say, “just go in-state public!!” Which, sure, but that’s kind of the point of the donut hole. It’s not that you can’t afford *any* college, just that you are priced out of some of them while others above and below are not.

Actually it does. We could "afford it" now as we paid off our house and we live way under our means as we haven't changed our lifestyle as our income goes up. Would it be smart, no. Does my child want to go to a school thats $90K, no, but some are $60K. If you made lifestyle choices that are different, then don't complain of what you cannot afford when you choose a differnet path. While you vacationed, we saved. While you go out to $100-300 meals, we go to $60-80 meals.

No, it doesn’t. A kid starting school at good private colleges next year is looking at a total COA of close to $400k over the next four years. Five years of saving $25-30k does not get you there at all. You would need at least 10 years at that amount and with a real return of 7%. And that would just cover one kid.

So when you choose to have a kid, that should be a consideration you make. We didn't start until we were 30, we paid off our own loans, bought a home and had an emergency fund. We didn't really take vacations until we were 35+. Most vacations were drive somewhere for 4-5 days and stay in a cheap hotel/rental. We made it a priority to save for our future and for our kids college from the time they were born. When you start early, you don't need to save as much, as you have time for it to grow (tax free in a 529) So while we increased our income over time, we never increased our lifestyle, and we didn't have kids until we could afford them (save for our retirement and some for college).

But you are complaining that you cannot afford the Top 25-30 schools that are priced at $90K and won't get any "financial aid". That is like me complaining nobody is giving me a $100K BMW at a discount. THat's not how life works. If I value cars and want to drive that, I act like an adult, save for the BMW and adjust my budget accordingly to meet the needs of "what I value most". Or if I'm like 99% of people, I realize it's a dream and that I can get everywhere I need to go safely in a $40K Honda/Toyota and save my $$.

NP. The problem is that there are some people who can afford the luxury cars, there are some people who are given the luxury cars for free because they spent their money differently or don’t earn it in the first place for any number of reasons, and then there are those of us in the middle who don’t get given a luxury car but also can’t really afford it. And then the bigger issue is that we’re not actually talking about a luxury car for ourselves, but an education for our kids. And as some other posters said, for some of us, the genuine best fit for our kids is one of these elite schools. So yes, it sucks to not really be able to afford it, and so we will “realize it’s a dream and save our $$$” as you suggest, but it sucks to watch people who have made bad decisions their whole lives get rewarded with an education for their kids at an elite institution when some of us are more deserving by every metric and don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am the PP poster - I agree - I am saying I am NOT a donut hole family - and that peers who are whining about colllege at that level are ridiculous.

Who is whining about college at 700K? Haven't seen it.

Donut hole depends on number of kids. 300K for 1 kid is a lot different than 300K for 3 or 4.

3-4 kids vs. 1 is a lifestyle choice.

Exactly. Don't have kids you can't pay for. I only feel for those who have unexpected twins. Everyone else should keep their pants on. Not my job to subsidize your libido.

Couldn’t this he said about a lot
of things, though? Not my job to subsidize a SAHM, to subsidize someone who doesn’t work to their full earning capacity, to subsidize someone who chooses a higher COL area, to subsidize someone who has a car loan, to subsidize someone who chose a non-lucrative major in college so can’t afford for their kids to be full pay now, etc…..

Nobody has ever subsidized me as a SAHP---please explain how that has happened?
Nobody has ever subsidized us because we live in a HCOLA, we are just forced to budget better and make more choices than if we lived in Nebraska.


And nope, we don't subsidize kids to go to college. Schools like Harvard get to decide who they admit and who they will give aid to. That is not subsidizing.

There are lots of reasons why people are SAHP's. No one is subsidizing them. And, full earning potential. Do you want teachers, babysitters, day care workers, social workers, police, and other helping professions to quit and earn more? Then who takes care of your kids? We need those in lower paying jobs and yes, they should get aid.

As a SAHP, we have gotten zero help. I stayed home as I could not afford child care on my salary. I stayed home as my MIL became ill and she/we could not afford to pay for help. I stayed home later because of my serious health issues. We have never gotten anything from anyone.

Your family probably subsidizes others!