People see some kid getting full FA an Ivy and think, “Wow, poor people are so lucky.” What they don’t see is that A) that kid would be taking out loans to go to a state school if they hadn’t gotten into that Ivy and B) Most poor kids are in community college. |
I never complain about it. But if I ever mention that we're not willing to pay higher than in-state prices, I get attacked for that position. |
The donut hole is a myth that poor savers tell themselves. Decisions have consequences. Buying a larger house or nicer car - spending more for vacations and fancy summer camps are all decisions.
College costs are not unexpected. You have nearly two decades to save. Plus, you don’t have to save for the most expensive college. All of you who consider yourselves middle class- that means kids stay at home and go to college or they go to an instate college. That is what middle class parents have done for generations. Paying the full amount for high end tuitions for private schools are for rich families not yours. |
A lot of us got into the financial position to be in the donut hole by doing "everything right" being top students all through school, getting into a highly selective college, graduating, working for years to move up the corporate ladder, saving for college every month since our kids got out of daycare, provide the enrichment/tutoring/house in a top school district that allowed our kids to do well enough to get into a top college. But now we can't afford to send them to the top college on the level that we attended.
I know, cry me a river. It's such a deeply privileged sob story. |
That's not true. College costs have increased so much families can't hope to deny themselves every luxury to meet that cost. We're fortunate that we can afford any college, but most people can't, even if they tighten their belt. Please don't be so ignorant and smug. |
I actually agree with you. So background, we have $250k HHI, $3M investment portfolio, house paid off. Yeah, we can afford any college. Probably. For three kids though?? And is private or out of state worth it? No, I don't think so. If we made $600k, that would be a different story. If we had $6M in stocks instead of $3M, that would also be different. So I think we've made decent choices along the way about cars and houses and whatnot. But I consider us donut hole because we're too wealthy for financial aid, but not wealthy enough for a $350k undergraduate degree to be a drop in the bucket. |
PoorER people, not poor people. Read carefully. If you qualify for full or very significant FA, you have more options in terms of elite private universities than if you are donut hole. Also, the EFCs do not take into account high COL areas, which is not realistic or logical.
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There is a big difference between a donut hole family that is right above the cusp of qualifying for financial aid and a donut hole family that is swimming in millions. A big difference. The ones just above the cusp, who perhaps sacrificed and saved for college, could perhaps be justifiably a little resentful of the ones just below the cusp... The ones swimming in millions don't really care about 25k a year here or there. |
YOU HAVE A 3 MIL INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO AND CONSIDER YOURSELF DONUT HOLE? OMG.
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If we earn 225k in NYC, do you really think that we can save enough for private college by skipping luxury cars? We don't even have a frigging car! Maybe if we lived in Nebraska.
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The sandwich is a phase that all generations experience. There is no generation that escapes it as a whole. My grandmother, born in 1905, experienced it when her children still lived at home and her MIL moved in because she could not work anymore and had no retirement. |
There are a wide range, and some can not easily afford 40k a year for instate |
Yes but 1) Ivy don’t give loans any more, so FA is all grants and 2) oftennthose donut hole families have a SAHM or mom doing a creative field like interior design or something, which is way more fun and flexible than the dual GS14 family who won’t get any aid. In both cases we are talking about kids who were accepted to Ivy, who worked hard, so no idea why you talk about state schools. |
We qualify for some aid, but have an efc of around 40k a year. Now that fafsa ignores siblings, that turns into 90k for the two years they’ll overlap. I consider us to be donut hole even though we’ll get some financial aid |
Guess what, for people who get full FA the tickets home and the opportunity costs of sending a kid to college (as opposed to them living at home, attending a local school while working part-time and contributing to the household) are not a drop in the bucket either. Yet, they deal with it, and so will you. |