Great colleges for kids with great grades, social skills, and athletics, but parents make minimal salaries

[Anonymous]

Sons roommate at UvA has free tuition because his family makes under $100 k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sons roommate at UvA has free tuition because his family makes under $100 k

But still paying room and board, meal plan, textbooks, etc?

[Anonymous]

Service academy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are MC around 140k. Mine are both at Ivy League schools. Sure they have some rich and entitled friends, but also middle class and QB friends too. Great FA and similar to state school cost. Cheaper at the moment because I have 2 attending college at the same time. They (and many other private schools) still consider that.

#1 kid had been interested in some LACs. Wondering if the disparity would have been more of an issue on a smaller campus. Have a friend doing QB at a Maine LAC. Also have an UMC friend with very down to earth kid at that LAC, so that concern might be more at some than others.

OP described the student's situation as POVERTY. $140k is not poverty. OP is describing a situation where the student regularly had to skip meals and probably only owned one pair of shoes, likely donated.

No, OP asked about parents with minimal salaries.That would be in the 70k+ range with 2 parents working. Did I miss where OP wrote about skipping meals? Why would you infer that? I also mentioned QB (students in families under 80k hhi) for this reason. Families under 100k usually get full COA aid or close to it at these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are MC around 140k. Mine are both at Ivy League schools. Sure they have some rich and entitled friends, but also middle class and QB friends too. Great FA and similar to state school cost. Cheaper at the moment because I have 2 attending college at the same time. They (and many other private schools) still consider that.

#1 kid had been interested in some LACs. Wondering if the disparity would have been more of an issue on a smaller campus. Have a friend doing QB at a Maine LAC. Also have an UMC friend with very down to earth kid at that LAC, so that concern might be more at some than others.

OP described the student's situation as POVERTY. $140k is not poverty. OP is describing a situation where the student regularly had to skip meals and probably only owned one pair of shoes, likely donated.

?? This is a comment who doesn’t know what poverty looks like today. Most downright poor people own multiple pairs of shoes and have food- maybe not nutritious food- but food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sons roommate at UvA has free tuition because his family makes under $100 k

But still paying room and board, meal plan, textbooks, etc?

Don’t know the details but he also has a part time job - I don’t think that is uncommon

[Anonymous]

Most, but not necessarily all, state flagships do very well in serving both the poor and middle class, as it's been part of their integral mission for many decades. This is why UCLA has a current Pell Grant percentage of around 30% and was 35% 20 years ago. Whereas, Harvard's current Pell Grant percentage is about 20%, which is nearly double what it was 20 years ago (12%).

[Anonymous]

Top 20 private universities with exceptional financial aid like Rice and Princeton as well as state flagships. Those schools will have a broad mix of exceptionally good students from all backgrounds who bring a wide variety of interests.

[Anonymous]

Ivies/top10! All have 55-60% on need based aid now. Full pay kids have become the minority. These schools are much more socioeconomically diverse than kid's suburban public was. My full pay ivy kid has many friends doing work study jobs; it has given them perspective on their own advantages. Our neighbor has 2 kids at Duke, on a large amount of need-based financial aid and they have loved it there, don't feel poor, fit in, and all that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are MC around 140k. Mine are both at Ivy League schools. Sure they have some rich and entitled friends, but also middle class and QB friends too. Great FA and similar to state school cost. Cheaper at the moment because I have 2 attending college at the same time. They (and many other private schools) still consider that.

#1 kid had been interested in some LACs. Wondering if the disparity would have been more of an issue on a smaller campus. Have a friend doing QB at a Maine LAC. Also have an UMC friend with very down to earth kid at that LAC, so that concern might be more at some than others.

OP described the student's situation as POVERTY. $140k is not poverty. OP is describing a situation where the student regularly had to skip meals and probably only owned one pair of shoes, likely donated.

No, OP asked about parents with minimal salaries.That would be in the 70k+ range with 2 parents working. Did I miss where OP wrote about skipping meals? Why would you infer that? I also mentioned QB (students in families under 80k hhi) for this reason. Families under 100k usually get full COA aid or close to it at these schools.

No, OP specifically used the word POVERTY. Go back and read the OP again.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, all of the schools that meet 100% of need are VERY hard to get into. If your kid is super high stats, they can take their shot there, but it is a lottery.

Some regions of the country offer free tuition to community college based on parents' salaries. This can be a very good option if it is available to you.

If neither of these options apply to you, you are going to need to do a lot of research to find schools you can afford through a combination of financial aid and merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the responses on here are about state schools for "donut hole families," NOT "families in poverty."

If you are legitimately "in poverty," you are going to get significant financial aid at privates with large endowments, to the point where you get a BETTER deal by going to the private with deep pockets compared to your state university.

A bright kid "in poverty" actually pays less and actually fits in better (as there are more other first-gen, financial aid kids) at a private school with a big endowment compared to a school like UVA.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sons roommate at UvA has free tuition because his family makes under $100 k

yes under 100k usually goes for free or close to free at UVA. Under 200k goes for free or close to free to at least 4 of the ivies. The better the school the better the aid package. This is why many in the 110-200k HHI range pick ivy/elite over Uva or WM, it is much cheaper. These people are above average income, not poor, yet not super rich either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sons roommate at UvA has free tuition because his family makes under $100 k

But still paying room and board, meal plan, textbooks, etc?

no usually under 100k is completely free at uva, with work study as a part of the package

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are MC around 140k. Mine are both at Ivy League schools. Sure they have some rich and entitled friends, but also middle class and QB friends too. Great FA and similar to state school cost. Cheaper at the moment because I have 2 attending college at the same time. They (and many other private schools) still consider that.

#1 kid had been interested in some LACs. Wondering if the disparity would have been more of an issue on a smaller campus. Have a friend doing QB at a Maine LAC. Also have an UMC friend with very down to earth kid at that LAC, so that concern might be more at some than others.

OP described the student's situation as POVERTY. $140k is not poverty. OP is describing a situation where the student regularly had to skip meals and probably only owned one pair of shoes, likely donated.

No, OP asked about parents with minimal salaries.That would be in the 70k+ range with 2 parents working. Did I miss where OP wrote about skipping meals? Why would you infer that? I also mentioned QB (students in families under 80k hhi) for this reason. Families under 100k usually get full COA aid or close to it at these schools.

No, OP specifically used the word POVERTY. Go back and read the OP again.

OP used both. “Minimal salaries” in the thread title and “poverty” in the post.