I am the squeezed middle class.

[Anonymous]

OP again, I did not want to get into the nickles and dimes, but my point was about the threat of more taxes.

My home in FL is not paid off and the rent that I get from it is less than I pay in mortgage, also, my rent here is higher.
The breakdown is approximately like this $129,000 take home, retirement is taken out before this. I quickly pay bills and do not look closely at what I am doing. Rent (2200), childcare-just got out of this cost but was 2K ,mortage ($290 net), utilities ($400+), food (700++), and health insurance (1.6K), home, life, disability and auto insurance (1.6 K-teen on policy), to name a few. Private school (college) for two kids is about $48K per child per year, that is 4K a month x2. I can afford it, but I will not have extras.
Yes, we could live in a smaller place, but my sons are huge, and they have big friends.
Yes, I could skip the fancy health insurance, but we have used the ER enough for me to know better.
Yes, I got rid of the nanny, but I have this sense that we are not done with that.
No, I can't sell my home.
No, I can use public transportation, my day is long enough as it is.

The point here is not about my ability to afford college.
It is just that I am working my tail off to "easily" afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again, I did not want to get into the nickles and dimes, but my point was about the threat of more taxes.

My home in FL is not paid off and the rent that I get from it is less than I pay in mortgage, also, my rent here is higher.
The breakdown is approximately like this $129,000 take home, retirement is taken out before this. I quickly pay bills and do not look closely at what I am doing. Rent (2200), childcare-just got out of this cost but was 2K ,mortage ($290 net), utilities ($400+), food (700++), and health insurance (1.6K), home, life, disability and auto insurance (1.6 K-teen on policy), to name a few. Private school (college) for two kids is about $48K per child per year, that is 4K a month x2. I can afford it, but I will not have extras.
Yes, we could live in a smaller place, but my sons are huge, and they have big friends.
Yes, I could skip the fancy health insurance, but we have used the ER enough for me to know better.
Yes, I got rid of the nanny, but I have this sense that we are not done with that.
No, I can't sell my home.
No, I can use public transportation, my day is long enough as it is.

The point here is not about my ability to afford college.
It is just that I am working my tail off to "easily" afford it.

I won't scold you, but it's obvious you've made your choices. You live in a big home because your sons are big and their friends are large as well? You're not squeezed, you pay for the things that are important for you.

[Anonymous]

perhaps it is the title of your post? If you'd written: "Wow, $275k doesn't buy everything I want" perhaps you wouldn't sound so entitled and clueless?

[Anonymous]

The title should have been "$75K may get your kids some financial aid; $275K probably won't".

But OP, your niece or nephew will probably have to take out loans -- it won't all be grant/scholarship money.

Your kids probably can take out some loans, too.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, OP, I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that $75k means a free ride for your ex-BIL's kids.

My single-parent mom made $60k/year and I got a few merit-based scholarships, a small need-based scholarship, and the rest was loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again, I did not want to get into the nickles and dimes, but my point was about the threat of more taxes.

My home in FL is not paid off and the rent that I get from it is less than I pay in mortgage, also, my rent here is higher.
The breakdown is approximately like this $129,000 take home, retirement is taken out before this. I quickly pay bills and do not look closely at what I am doing. Rent (2200), childcare-just got out of this cost but was 2K ,mortage ($290 net), utilities ($400+), food (700++), and health insurance (1.6K), home, life, disability and auto insurance (1.6 K-teen on policy), to name a few. Private school (college) for two kids is about $48K per child per year, that is 4K a month x2. I can afford it, but I will not have extras.
Yes, we could live in a smaller place, but my sons are huge, and they have big friends.
Yes, I could skip the fancy health insurance, but we have used the ER enough for me to know better.
Yes, I got rid of the nanny, but I have this sense that we are not done with that.
No, I can't sell my home.
No, I can use public transportation, my day is long enough as it is.

The point here is not about my ability to afford college.
It is just that I am working my tail off to "easily" afford it.

I won't scold you, but it's obvious you've made your choices. You live in a big home because your sons are big and their friends are large as well? You're not squeezed, you pay for the things that are important for you.

That is was meant to be a joke.

[Anonymous]

What is the cutoff at some schools WRT income of parents and financial aid? I have heard that Harvard will consider incomes of less than $150K. That to me is very low. There is no way that a family of say 4 can afford Harvard on $150K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, OP, I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that $75k means a free ride for your ex-BIL's kids.

My single-parent mom made $60k/year and I got a few merit-based scholarships, a small need-based scholarship, and the rest was loans.

What year was that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, OP, I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that $75k means a free ride for your ex-BIL's kids.

My single-parent mom made $60k/year and I got a few merit-based scholarships, a small need-based scholarship, and the rest was loans.

What year was that?

Very recently. And my older sibling went to college a few years earlier than me with the same result, and my mom was making more money than that (and there were more children in the household).

[Anonymous]

Some grants based on income:

Federal Pell Grant.

A Pell Grant is a federal assistance grant that is awarded to students who have not already earned a bachelor's degree. While most Pell Grants are awarded to students with family incomes below $20,000, most students with family incomes below $50,000 are eligible. Awards range from $400 to $4,050.


Federal Supplement Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG).

Like the Pell Grant, the FSEOG is available to students with exceptional financial need who have not already earned a bachelor's degree. Awards range from $100 to $4,000 per year.

Academic Competitiveness Grant.

The Academic Competitiveness Grant is available to all first-year college students who graduated high school after January 1, 2006 and all second-year college students who graduated high school after January 1, 2005. This grant provides up to $750 for the first year of college and up to $1,300 for the second year of college, provided the student is eligible for the Pell Grant, has successfully completed a rigorous high school program, and can maintain a 3.0 GPA.


http://oedb.org/library/financial-aid/hacking-financial-aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, OP, I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that $75k means a free ride for your ex-BIL's kids.

My single-parent mom made $60k/year and I got a few merit-based scholarships, a small need-based scholarship, and the rest was loans.

I meant to say a small need-based grant, not scholarship.

I got a nice amount in scholarship money for my academic achievements.

A small amount of need-based grant money.

And a not-so-nice amount of loans .

[Anonymous]

So here's how I see it OP. You can temporarily give you about $150K of your income each year, and then your kids will qualify for an extra $8K a year in federal grants for college, plus whatever the colleges themselves will award.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again, I did not want to get into the nickles and dimes, but my point was about the threat of more taxes.

My home in FL is not paid off and the rent that I get from it is less than I pay in mortgage, also, my rent here is higher.
The breakdown is approximately like this $129,000 take home, retirement is taken out before this. I quickly pay bills and do not look closely at what I am doing. Rent (2200), childcare-just got out of this cost but was 2K ,mortage ($290 net), utilities ($400+), food (700++), and health insurance (1.6K), home, life, disability and auto insurance (1.6 K-teen on policy), to name a few. Private school (college) for two kids is about $48K per child per year, that is 4K a month x2. I can afford it, but I will not have extras.
Yes, we could live in a smaller place, but my sons are huge, and they have big friends.
Yes, I could skip the fancy health insurance, but we have used the ER enough for me to know better.
Yes, I got rid of the nanny, but I have this sense that we are not done with that.
No, I can't sell my home.
No, I can use public transportation, my day is long enough as it is.

The point here is not about my ability to afford college.
It is just that I am working my tail off to "easily" afford it.

The government isn't squeezing you. You have two houses, had a nanny, and you live in a big place because your children are large. These are all choices that your brother would never have made. He was probably never underwater on his mortgage, would have stayed put if he had to move when he couldn't sell, most likely never had a nanny, and he certainly would not justify his rent based on having large children. Sorry, I just lost it knowing how my giant cousins all lived in tiny ramblers, but their parents were all blue collar and it never would have occurred to them that they "needed" a bigger house.

The bigger question is, where have all your savings gone? You are a highly paid person who lived in a state with no income tax and relatively low cost of living overall. That's where the math breaks down. You should have pretty big retirement and college funds by now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about applying for a government job and then see if your kids can qualify for financial aid? Or maybe try home schooling? I understand that there are many who might be considered near or below poverty level who do home schooling.

You are kidding right? You're asking OP to take a pay cut just to try to qualify for financial aid, or maybe quit his/her job to home school?? Does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about applying for a government job and then see if your kids can qualify for financial aid? Or maybe try home schooling? I understand that there are many who might be considered near or below poverty level who do home schooling.

You are kidding right? You're asking OP to take a pay cut just to try to qualify for financial aid, or maybe quit his/her job to home school?? Does that make sense?

Yeah! It makes perfect sense to me. OP is upset that she has to pay taxes and that her BIL's kids are going to get a free ride at college. So shw should reduce income to a lower level, and guess what -- she'll pay less in taxes. AND she'll get that cushy free ride for her kids to college. (Well, it turns out to be more like about $8,000 maybe... but still!!)

Even better is to cut back to $20,000 a year income. Then you get all sorts of perks like FREE FOOD COUPONS and sometimes there are dental clinics that will give you FREE DENTAL CARE!