If college is so expensive ... why don't more families get need-based aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do okay (at around $200K HHI until a 50% jump three years ago) but are not RICH.

We planned. Used the Vanguard college calculator and saved $400-$600 per month in the 529 since birth.

Limited vacations. Public school. Not a lot of meals out. DIY home improvements. No family support.

Both children will graduate with no student loans.

That's wonderful, but isn't it crazy that we have created a system where college without loans even for the well to do requires 22 years of significant monthly savings to pay for 4 years of education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:short answer is everybody takes out loans, right? that's how they make us pay so much. they know we have demand at a level that will make us pay more than we want or even have at hand via savings, income, 529, but what we will accept because we can stretch repayment via loans.

No loans here! Full pay but on a salary Dcum says is “poor “ just planned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay (at around $200K HHI until a 50% jump three years ago) but are not RICH.

We planned. Used the Vanguard college calculator and saved $400-$600 per month in the 529 since birth.

Limited vacations. Public school. Not a lot of meals out. DIY home improvements. No family support.

Both children will graduate with no student loans.

That's wonderful, but isn't it crazy that we have created a system where college without loans even for the well to do requires 22 years of significant monthly savings to pay for 4 years of education.

Education is an investment. I knew mine were ivy/t10 material from early on and wanted to be able to pay for that type of education and experience. With a salary over 250k one can easily cash flow a chunk of it if not all-of it for one student, then 300-500 per month is not that difficult: make cuts, no eating out, no sbux, credit cards that earn miles or $75-100 gift cards per month, use those to buy essentials

[Anonymous]

Undergraduates can only borrow approximately $28K for a bachelors degree. Gone are the days that students with non credit history are taking out private loans. Some parents are taking out parent plus loans and private loans to fund college but at schools like Harvard, that is not the case (there is published data on plus loans usage).

[Anonymous]

Harvard is a small school that has lots of wealthy families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are only about 20 private universities that genuinely meet all need. And they are usually very hard to get into. Unless they get merit somewhere, for most middle class families who want to avoid debt the options are T20 or State U. Which is why admissions to State U flagships will continue to become more competitive even with changing demographics. Affordability is increasingly the main driver of where students choose to go to college.

Yes to this! The high endowment elite school was less out of pocket for us than UVa in state, because they gave a lot of need based aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do okay (at around $200K HHI until a 50% jump three years ago) but are not RICH.

We planned. Used the Vanguard college calculator and saved $400-$600 per month in the 529 since birth.

Limited vacations. Public school. Not a lot of meals out. DIY home improvements. No family support.

Both children will graduate with no student loans.

We have the same income, bought a house for $380K, fixer-upper, mainly DIY (not the roof and siding) - we still haven't fixed everything but just paid it off. Once the kids get to activity age, that gets expensive. We would struggle to do it full pay. We have saved for 4 years with a prepaid and about $100K in 529's. No vacations in years, though a few pricy summer camps for a few days each for their interests, public school, shop at Walmart and Amazon (no fancy clothing, shoes or purses) etc. House is very small and not so nice (we need things like new appliances but put it off). Could we do it, probably but we didn't start with the higher income till recently either and started marriage/family later in life too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay (at around $200K HHI until a 50% jump three years ago) but are not RICH.

We planned. Used the Vanguard college calculator and saved $400-$600 per month in the 529 since birth.

Limited vacations. Public school. Not a lot of meals out. DIY home improvements. No family support.

Both children will graduate with no student loans.

That's wonderful, but isn't it crazy that we have created a system where college without loans even for the well to do requires 22 years of significant monthly savings to pay for 4 years of education.

We saved since birth. Ours will go to a state school and grad school we can afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is a small school that has lots of wealthy families.

Harvard and other ivies have 55-60% on need based aid, and a large amount of them are full pell grant qualified/highly aided. These elite schools have less full payers and more below the poverty line kids than SMU, tulane, Wake. Those are the real schools for the rich. WashU used to be too but they are need blind for a couple yrs now and have increased low income kids a lot. The list has been linked many times on DCUM. Ivies do very well on the metric of supporting low income as well as expansion of support well into the upper middle class(ie need aid for those in the 200-250k range)

[Anonymous]

Harvard draws a lot of students from two pools:
1. Rich or
2. Gets a LOT of financial aid.

Not much in the middle. The middle might go to other schools on full rides instead of struggling to pay for (or pay for most of the sticker price) of Harvard, but it's also because the admissions process doesn't really favor the middle. The admissions process favors either rich kids or kids who are first-gen, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Undergraduates can only borrow approximately $28K for a bachelors degree. Gone are the days that students with non credit history are taking out private loans. Some parents are taking out parent plus loans and private loans to fund college but at schools like Harvard, that is not the case (there is published data on plus loans usage).

Data: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school?166027-Harvard-University

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So called need blind schools rig their acceptances so they know statistically that about half their students will not qualify for aid (by focusing on private schools, affluent zip codes, etc)

links?

Georgetown!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is a small school that has lots of wealthy families.

True. But all the private colleges now cost 80-90K tuition/r&B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay (at around $200K HHI until a 50% jump three years ago) but are not RICH.

We planned. Used the Vanguard college calculator and saved $400-$600 per month in the 529 since birth.

Limited vacations. Public school. Not a lot of meals out. DIY home improvements. No family support.

Both children will graduate with no student loans.

That's wonderful, but isn't it crazy that we have created a system where college without loans even for the well to do requires 22 years of significant monthly savings to pay for 4 years of education.

That is why there is a public school system as an alternative. Private education at "Elite" schools is a luxury good, not a basic need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay (at around $200K HHI until a 50% jump three years ago) but are not RICH.

We planned. Used the Vanguard college calculator and saved $400-$600 per month in the 529 since birth.

Limited vacations. Public school. Not a lot of meals out. DIY home improvements. No family support.

Both children will graduate with no student loans.

That's wonderful, but isn't it crazy that we have created a system where college without loans even for the well to do requires 22 years of significant monthly savings to pay for 4 years of education.

That is why there is a public school system as an alternative. Private education at "Elite" schools is a luxury good, not a basic need.

How many elite schools do you think would agree with you that they are nothing but frivolous luxury brands?