Do families with $250K in income get financial aid? If not, how do they afford college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually closer to $100,000 per year at some privates. Times two kids in most families. So, $800,000.

It's ridiculous.

What we told our kids is you have duel citizenship with Canada. So there's that option. You are a resident of this state and we can swing the cost of the flagship. And if you don't like those options, here's a list of the schools that meet all financial need. Go for it.

The catch is that all the schools that will meet all financial need are the extremely selective high endowment schools like Princeton, Rice, Yale, Amherst, Duke, Bowdoin, Stanford etc. Most of these schools are offering aid to families even with $250k in annual income. You just need to get in.

Otherwise, it's merit at lower ranked schools. Or hello State U.

Or rich parents could save more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. I have been hearing all of my friends who are federal government workers saying their kids are not eligible for financial aid. But I don't think this is enough $ in income to afford $70K in college costs per kid per year. And it's not as though these families had extra income before their kids went to college - in this area, a mortgage, saving for retirement, and cost of raising kids will eat up all of that income. Where does the extra $ come from if they don't get financial aid?

We got a 15 year mortgage so that when kids started college we would no longer have a mortgage payment. The cash flow that used to go to mortgage payment goes to tuition.
In addition, every bonus went to paying off cars. After cars paid off, the amt that was a car payment went to 529s. We have historically kept our cars for a long time so that we have a bunch of years with this model.
It might not work for everyone, but it worked for us.

We did this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty clear OP - go to a cheaper college you can afford. Why should someone else subsidize your 70k per year college???

People always say this, but I thought all kids were being subsidized, bc the institutional costs per student exceeds cost of attendance even at full price.

So full pay kids are not subsidizing financial aid kids, it’s just that some kids are subsidized at a higher rate than others.

Is this understanding incorrect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty clear OP - go to a cheaper college you can afford. Why should someone else subsidize your 70k per year college???

This is OP. Why are you being rude already? We don't have a college age kid yet. I am observing the kids of my friends going to private schools that cost about this amount per year.

The weird thing about these posts is that people always direct their hostility toward the questioner, rather than the fact that college today can cost $70k or more per year, which is absurd.

OP, google about the donut hole, and also look at some of the calculators (expected family contribution and student aid). They will give you an idea. There isn’t just one number where you suddenly don’t get aid.

[Anonymous]

Merit aid is often awarded without financial consideration.

Also, there are lots of schools; many are not $70,000/year. But the ones you see people bragging about are often expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually closer to $100,000 per year at some privates. Times two kids in most families. So, $800,000.

It's ridiculous.

What we told our kids is you have duel citizenship with Canada. So there's that option. You are a resident of this state and we can swing the cost of the flagship. And if you don't like those options, here's a list of the schools that meet all financial need. Go for it.

The catch is that all the schools that will meet all financial need are the extremely selective high endowment schools like Princeton, Rice, Yale, Amherst, Duke, Bowdoin, Stanford etc. Most of these schools are offering aid to families even with $250k in annual income. You just need to get in.

Otherwise, it's merit at lower ranked schools. Or hello State U.

This is a good post. The only caveat I have is that for the institutions meeting all financial need, their definition of your need and your definition of your need may be quite different.

[Anonymous]

I have 1 kid that will go 4 yrs in state. The other is doing HS DE and will finish his last 2 yrs in state. I think where they go for grad school is more important than where they go for undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually closer to $100,000 per year at some privates. Times two kids in most families. So, $800,000.

It's ridiculous.

What we told our kids is you have duel citizenship with Canada. So there's that option. You are a resident of this state and we can swing the cost of the flagship. And if you don't like those options, here's a list of the schools that meet all financial need. Go for it.

The catch is that all the schools that will meet all financial need are the extremely selective high endowment schools like Princeton, Rice, Yale, Amherst, Duke, Bowdoin, Stanford etc. Most of these schools are offering aid to families even with $250k in annual income. You just need to get in.

Otherwise, it's merit at lower ranked schools. Or hello State U.

We are at 250k; received no FA because of our significant assets. It’s all about the assets.

[Anonymous]

So let me get this straight , the kids at top privates are there primarily because mom and dad can pony up, not because they are particularly more intelligent than anyone else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight , the kids at top privates are there primarily because mom and dad can pony up, not because they are particularly more intelligent than anyone else?
[/quote

Is this sarcasm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight , the kids at top privates are there primarily because mom and dad can pony up, not because they are particularly more intelligent than anyone else?

How do you think they got accepted in the 1st place? Kids who have hooks for athletics = lots of $ to get to that point
Kids who do not have athletic hooks = test prep and other support throughout the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight , the kids at top privates are there primarily because mom and dad can pony up, not because they are particularly more intelligent than anyone else?

How do you think they got accepted in the 1st place? Kids who have hooks for athletics = lots of $ to get to that point
Kids who do not have athletic hooks = test prep and other support throughout the years.

This is dumb. Most top privates have about 15-20% of kids on pell grants. Aka, dirt poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. I have been hearing all of my friends who are federal government workers saying their kids are not eligible for financial aid. But I don't think this is enough $ in income to afford $70K in college costs per kid per year. And it's not as though these families had extra income before their kids went to college - in this area, a mortgage, saving for retirement, and cost of raising kids will eat up all of that income. Where does the extra $ come from if they don't get financial aid?

When we made less than 200k we afforded $3500 per month mortgage, private school of 28k, and still saved 2k per month….saved more as we made more income ; only spend 3-4k a year on vacation and are good at budgeting. The 529 is not huge but 85k per year minus the 28k we are not spending on k-12, plus 529 cash is doable , for 2 kids even…
Full pay just takes planning, for the 200k + crowd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. I have been hearing all of my friends who are federal government workers saying their kids are not eligible for financial aid. But I don't think this is enough $ in income to afford $70K in college costs per kid per year. And it's not as though these families had extra income before their kids went to college - in this area, a mortgage, saving for retirement, and cost of raising kids will eat up all of that income. Where does the extra $ come from if they don't get financial aid?

What is your mortgage? The ones who do it at 250k do not “cash flow” it, they have saved little by little for 18 yrs. 250k per year is very doable for one kid in college if one has saved even enough to cover 1/4 of the cost over the yrs, which is also very doable over 18 yrs—the market hs been good the last 10-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight , the kids at top privates are there primarily because mom and dad can pony up, not because they are particularly more intelligent than anyone else?

You do realize more than half who are there get some financial aid at these top privates? And there are many more wealthy people who would be happy to pay far more than 80k per year for these places? The elite schools are all need blind, and being full pay is not rare, so it is not a boost in admissions. There is no shortage of naturally high-scoring top1-2% academic kids in the country who are kind and creative and all the rest: in fact there are far far too many that would excel at these schools but there are not enough spots. Stop blaming people who hve more money than you do, or have saved more, and are happy to spend it on college if their kids get into a top one