Families making $200k - $400k

[Anonymous]

Would these threads be more useful if instead of sharing the amount of merit aid given, we shared what the real out of pocket cost of attendance will be for each school? Seems like we've bought into the fake listed COAs that schools publish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For families making $200k to $400k (of which there are a lot in the dmv. Two parents each making $150k, etc). If you have a senior going to college, what kind of merit aid are you seeing?

We were at ~$280k for 2024 (the tax year colleges review for current HS seniors). DS has strong-ish stats like so many others (4.0 w, 1400 (not submitted except to safeties), deep ec's including 4 years volunteer, robotics, debate, and varsity athlete- not playing in college).

We received $20k merit from two T50 private universities, $40k from two SLACs, and $70k/yr from a target liberal arts school where we expressed extreme interest. $1.3m house w/$950k mortgage and virtually all savings in retirement funds.

What merit aid are others in this income range seeing?

Out of curiosity, how much do you have saved for retirement? Also, which liberal arts school offered $70k/yr?

[b]
This sounds too good to be true...
OP, would you be willing to share which schools? Thanks!

It is. The only school that comes close to that is Wash & Lee’s Johnson Scholarship but only 44 students a year get that. Sometimes parents here claim a figure like $70k. That but it’s over all four years - like $18k a year.

[Anonymous]

DD has 4.2/3.8 GPA and is test-optional. We paid $479k for our house and have a $379k mortgage. Retirement is $2.5 million.

So far, she's gotten yearly merit ranging from $6k in-state to $41k private university. She applied to one in-state (the only VA school on her list) and one OSS which she hasn't heard back from yet. The rest are all private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For families making $200k to $400k (of which there are a lot in the dmv. Two parents each making $150k, etc). If you have a senior going to college, what kind of merit aid are you seeing?

We were at ~$280k for 2024 (the tax year colleges review for current HS seniors). DS has strong-ish stats like so many others (4.0 w, 1400 (not submitted except to safeties), deep ec's including 4 years volunteer, robotics, debate, and varsity athlete- not playing in college).

We received $20k merit from two T50 private universities, $40k from two SLACs, and $70k/yr from a target liberal arts school where we expressed extreme interest. $1.3m house w/$950k mortgage and virtually all savings in retirement funds.

What merit aid are others in this income range seeing?

Out of curiosity, how much do you have saved for retirement? Also, which liberal arts school offered $70k/yr?

This sounds too good to be true...
OP, would you be willing to share which schools? Thanks!

Way behind on retirement, only $300k. Lots of savings to do in coming 15 years.
Saint Mary's MD: $24k ($6k/yr but tuition is only ~$12k)
WASP-B: $40k/yr (assuming income doesn't change, bonuses mean income will likely be higher and amount will go down)
Bard: $70k/yr.

Bard endowment has increased massively to $1B in recent years after $500m donation in 2021. They are starting another $1B fundraising campaign, their strong financial position is part of why we targeted this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Merit aid looks at merit, not HHI/assets

There’s a lot of need-aware merit aid out there.

There is, but not for these kinds of kids. The big merit awards that take need into account are generally targeted at low income kids.

Exactly. Son applied to a mix of schools-publuc and private. Only applied for FA with the privates and did not receive any need based aid. Income was just over $200k/yr. However MERIT (based on stats) for the privates:
BU: $25K/yr
CWRU: $30k/yr
Lehigh: 50% tuition each year
Publics (no financial aid application)
UMN: $25k/yr
Ohio St. $16.5k/yr
UMD: $10k/yr
WM (in state):$0
Pitt: $0

Is this current? UMD and Ohio (on our list) or WM has not released decisions yet even for EA as far as I know?

[Anonymous]

DC 3.9/4/4 gpa, 1530, HHI $300Kish. Penn State - $0, CWRU $48k/year, Purdue $0, UTA $0

[Anonymous]

Class of 2028
1430 SAT, 3.9 GPA

HHI $250K
529s and retirement on track
Inexpensive house by DMV standards
No need at $50K per year level, full pay Ivy would be rough

Cornell ILR - RD waitlist so no info, NPC suggested slight discount on OOS tuition.

Michigan - In-State - $0. Usually free financial aid up to $180K HHI.

Indiana O'Neill OOS - $10K merit per year. Still way more than Michigan in-state.

MSU - In-State - went to Honors College scholarship day with test. No big $$ offer. So invitation to apply further for smaller named scholarships. MSU is very generous with Honors College kids from our school.

Pitt OOS - applied at December 1 deadline. Dietrich. $5K merit.

At Michigan.

Not surprised or upset merit offers were low. Some tactical mistakes were made and it's likely that other schools could have figured out DC was most likely to end up at Michigan no matter what.

Mistakes included refusing to prep more than minimally for SATs, not doing a 2nd test cycle, not applying earlier to all schools.

Kid is really enjoying Michigan. In-state cost fits within our budget.

On to DC #2's planning cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD has 4.2/3.8 GPA and is test-optional. We paid $479k for our house and have a $379k mortgage. Retirement is $2.5 million.

So far, she's gotten yearly merit ranging from $6k in-state to $41k private university. She applied to one in-state (the only VA school on her list) and one OSS which she hasn't heard back from yet. The rest are all private schools.

OP here. Nice to see the $41k at private university, clearly they didn't consider retirement (as they state they won't). This aligns with our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For families making $200k to $400k (of which there are a lot in the dmv. Two parents each making $150k, etc). If you have a senior going to college, what kind of merit aid are you seeing?

We were at ~$280k for 2024 (the tax year colleges review for current HS seniors). DS has strong-ish stats like so many others (4.0 w, 1400 (not submitted except to safeties), deep ec's including 4 years volunteer, robotics, debate, and varsity athlete- not playing in college).

We received $20k merit from two T50 private universities, $40k from two SLACs, and $70k/yr from a target liberal arts school where we expressed extreme interest. $1.3m house w/$950k mortgage and virtually all savings in retirement funds.

What merit aid are others in this income range seeing?

Out of curiosity, how much do you have saved for retirement? Also, which liberal arts school offered $70k/yr?

[b]
This sounds too good to be true...
OP, would you be willing to share which schools? Thanks!

It is. The only school that comes close to that is Wash & Lee’s Johnson Scholarship but only 44 students a year get that. Sometimes parents here claim a figure like $70k. That but it’s over all four years - like $18k a year.

What are you talking about? I am in the very beginning of the college search with my sophomore, and have looked at only a small handful of schools, yet I can tell you Villanova and Lafayette both have full tuition scholarships, and tuition that rounds to 70K. If I have already found 2 there are many more.

[Anonymous]

DC got merit aid per year - we are not in VA.

West Virginia State University $17,000
Virginia Commonwealth $15,000
George Mason University $23,000
Loyola University Chicago $34,000
Seattle University $31,000
Loyola Maryland $39,000
Hofstra University $43,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC got merit aid per year - we are not in VA.

West Virginia State University $17,000
Virginia Commonwealth $15,000
George Mason University $23,000
Loyola University Chicago $34,000
Seattle University $31,000
Loyola Maryland $39,000
Hofstra University $43,000

This is fantastic. Congratulations!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For families making $200k to $400k (of which there are a lot in the dmv. Two parents each making $150k, etc). If you have a senior going to college, what kind of merit aid are you seeing?

We were at ~$280k for 2024 (the tax year colleges review for current HS seniors). DS has strong-ish stats like so many others (4.0 w, 1400 (not submitted except to safeties), deep ec's including 4 years volunteer, robotics, debate, and varsity athlete- not playing in college).

We received $20k merit from two T50 private universities, $40k from two SLACs, and $70k/yr from a target liberal arts school where we expressed extreme interest. $1.3m house w/$950k mortgage and virtually all savings in retirement funds.

What merit aid are others in this income range seeing?

That sounds reasonable. Sounds like you need to make some lifestyle changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would these threads be more useful if instead of sharing the amount of merit aid given, we shared what the real out of pocket cost of attendance will be for each school? Seems like we've bought into the fake listed COAs that schools publish.

+1 I think it's silly for these expensive privates to offer $$$ merit to 95%+ of their students. Just bring down the costs, and they down have to give so much merit aid.

I know, I know.. it's a psychological thing that makes people feel more special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC got merit aid per year - we are not in VA.

West Virginia State University $17,000
Virginia Commonwealth $15,000
George Mason University $23,000
Loyola University Chicago $34,000
Seattle University $31,000
Loyola Maryland $39,000
Hofstra University $43,000

This is fantastic. Congratulations!!

It would be if DC decided to go to one of those univ. Instead, DC is choosing oos Penn State, 0 aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC got merit aid per year - we are not in VA.

West Virginia State University $17,000
Virginia Commonwealth $15,000
George Mason University $23,000
Loyola University Chicago $34,000
Seattle University $31,000
Loyola Maryland $39,000
Hofstra University $43,000

This is fantastic. Congratulations!!

It would be if DC decided to go to one of those univ. Instead, DC is choosing oos Penn State, 0 aid.

Oos Penn State with 0 aid is tough! Penn State is a great school but yikes! We are also supporting DC who does not want to go to the school with the highest scholarship.