Affording College
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Anonymous
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How does the middle class in our area afford college? We are solid middle class in Fairfax (based on the Pew Research tool), which absolutely puts us out of the running for the schools with free tuition and any need-based grants. The same jobs (education and non-profit) in SW VA would likely qualify us for those opportunities because they would have a lower incomes (and we'd have a bigger house).
We will have about $50-60K in our 504 when our oldest is ready to start college. We are trying to save for retirement too. Our kiddos are academically strong with great EC, but anything more than $20 year would literally break us financially. Is the only option community college for two years? |
Anonymous
| Do you drive 2 cars? Have you renovated your kitchen in the last 20 years? |
Anonymous
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Loans, if needed. My kid went in state (MD). Tuition, fees, room & board are $32,000. Almost everyone gets merit $, but my kid, alas, did not. We were just happy he got in, to be honest.
We can also pay about $20,000 a year, which leaves us $12,000 per year from the 529. We have enough to cover 4 years at that rate. If we didn’t, then we’d take loans to make it possible. It seems a reasonable reason to take on some debt. |
Anonymous
At least try to aim for the honor programs! |
Anonymous
| Many colleges offer generous merit. |
Anonymous
This only works if you have decently high stats for the college you applied to. So, if you aim low, and have much higher stats than that college's median/average, then chances are you can get good merit. DC had decently high stats and applied to a few lower ranked private schools and oos publics. DC got generous merit aid from all of them. The other option is to cashflow some of it. Some universities have payment plans (pay in 3 installments). |
Anonymous
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Typical donut hole family. Join the club.
There are countless threads on this. You can find them easily b/c it pops up a lot. For us, we stayed in-state. The 529 covers 1st 2 years of tuition. Work-study helps too. |
Anonymous
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My daughter's least expensive option was $17k at U Mary Washington (merit aid only, no need-based aid). So that would have been do-able with your budget.
Less selective in-state universities will likely be your best option. Or, take advantage of the community college transfer option. Join the honors program at the CC to connect with more academically-focused students. |
Anonymous
| Your student may be able to graduate in three years if they do well on several APs and dual enrollment. |
Anonymous
| Our oldest son is a freshman in state at JMU. We put a few hundred dollars in his 529 since he was born. It accumulated to about $110,000. JMU is about $28K a year for tuition, dorm, and meal plan. Our son got not merit aid or financial aid. Got 6 credits for dual enrollment. He didn't get any credit for his APs because I think he got 3s on his exams. So if you didn't save, I would think you need to take student loans. I'm guessing you can't get subsidized loans like us either. So your kid will need to take unsubsidized loans. Obviously, there are more more expensive schools and less expensive schools than JMU. You will need to do you due diligence on cost and merit aid. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| Is HHI less than 250? |
Anonymous
Anonymous
+1 NP, also donut hole. Mary Wash is DC’s safety — academically and financially — and fortunately she really likes it. Also applying to several private LACs that are a tier or two below what DC’s high stats could achieve in hopes of merit, mostly schools known for giving good merit. Plus one that is not but is a top choice if DC got lucky with aid. DC is a junior, so details of the plan may change, but finances won’t change so that’s the overall plan. |
Anonymous
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OP,
We did: 1) in-state college with small merit scholarship OR out-of-state college that offered a good scholarship for strong students. Tuition, room and board around $27,000-$30,000 per year. 2) $10,000 per year from the 529. 3) Students took student loans each year ($5,500 to $7,500) 4) Student earned $5,000 each summer 5) $1,000 per month from cashflow = $12,000 annually. 6) If necessary, stopped contribiting to 403b OR take from our own (not 529) savings to make up the rest. (when both were in schoo lthe same year). Example: Freshman year: $10,000 (529) + $5,500 (student loan) + $5,000 (student job) + $12,000 (cashflow) = $32,500 Once the second child finishes college I'll help the first one pay off his student loans. |
Anonymous
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^^^^
Curious what this HHI is for this budget? |