How do middle class families pay for private colleges?

[Anonymous]

We have been savings for years. With three kids, who knows if we will get to whatever that magical, mystical line is for being about the pay for a private college for all of them when the time comes, but we are trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loans and work study.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myth-of-working-your-way-through-college/359735/

[Anonymous]

DS goes to Grinnell, he said most students are either poor enough to get a lot of aid, or wealthy enough to swing full-pay or close to it. There's some in the middle that I assume have saved as they only provide need based aid according to the EFC. Iowa kids get an automatic 12k per year but there's no merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, lots of very good private colleges give lots of merit aid. My DD averaged about 25K annual aid at safety schools and wasn't even really asking for aid. She will end up going full pay to her top choice but had the option of saving at least 100K at a bunch of places. People make up the difference generally by saving some and paying some. So if you make 200K and save 10K per year for college for 15 years, you have 150K at the start of college. Count on kid making 5K or so. Pay 20K out of pocket during the year (10k you are already saving plus extra now that kid is in college). So a 65K total cost college - 35K from your 529 plan savings + 20K from current income + 5k from kid leaves you only 5 k short that could be made up by increasing one of these sources a little bit or having kid take out a small loan. If you get merit aid, you need less. If you get any kind of non-school scholarship, you need less. I'm not saying this is easy and it is very difficult if you have not saved, but people do it on these sorts of salaries. FYI, at Harvard, a family with 200K is estimated to have to pay 46K.

This assumes that you made $200K/year for every one of those years, which is not typically the case for most people. 15 years ago our HHI was half of what it is now.

Also, I don't know that it is very easy for a family with a HHI of $200K to come up with $20-25K/year/kid out of pocket while the kid(s) are in college. Our HHI is $220K and I am quite sure that we could not pull that off.

I do agree that saving is key. Save early and often, because if you don't have it when they are ready to go, and you are not sufficiently low-income to qualify for need-based aid, you are out of luck - even if your kid gets merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS goes to Grinnell, he said most students are either poor enough to get a lot of aid, or wealthy enough to swing full-pay or close to it. There's some in the middle that I assume have saved as they only provide need based aid according to the EFC. Iowa kids get an automatic 12k per year but there's no merit aid.

Actually, as you can see on page 19 of the Common Data Set, Grinnell awarded merit aid to 38 students admitted for Fall 2016:

http://web.grinnell.edu/institutionalresearch/webdocs/GC_CDS_1617.pdf

[Anonymous]

I have 50K saved for my DD directly....but plan to use my 401K if I have to (I will turn 59.5 in her Junior year).

I am not sure if I am MC or UMC, but have one kid, HHI of 190K (180K from me). But, I have a modest mortage (owned house since 1999).

I will be able to afford a state school (UVA, Tech, or W & M). Private will be hard.

Oh, and dd's grandfather said not to worry.

[Anonymous]

We have IRAs that can be used penalty-free for college. DH will be 59 when DC #1 starts. We prioritized retirement savings, will pull some $ from that but have told kids they need to go in-state or get merit aid to make up the difference.

[Anonymous]

We make <200K, FAFSA thinks we can afford to pay $55K/year. With one exception, merit aid for private schools miraculously brought our cost to $50-$55K. Kid will go in-state at $25K all in or go to the one private that came in at roughly state price.

To answer your question, "middle class" folks like us who don't have family money or want to take out massive loans happily send our kids to state schools!

[Anonymous]

Military service. Our son served four years and then enrolled at a good private regional college that excused whatever wasn't covered by the GI Bill. He got a great education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make <200K, FAFSA thinks we can afford to pay $55K/year. With one exception, merit aid for private schools miraculously brought our cost to $50-$55K. Kid will go in-state at $25K all in or go to the one private that came in at roughly state price.

To answer your question, "middle class" folks like us who don't have family money or want to take out massive loans happily send our kids to state schools!

PP. To clarify, total financial packages brought cost of private colleges to that $55ish mark, including loans, grants, merit aid and work study. Some of the offers are tempting, but at the end of the day the extra $30K/year wasn't enough to buy the prestige factor of the name school.

[Anonymous]

We make too much to qualify for any aid. We don't have a lot saved. We have a lot of kids so really can't save the way others do. The only way for our kids to go to an expensive school is for them to get substantial merit, otherwise it is state school. Luckily we have an outstanding state school.

[Anonymous]

A surprising number of the most elite colleges give aid to a significant percentage of families making over $200k, and that is straight aid, not loans. Helps to have a huge endowment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A surprising number of the most elite colleges give aid to a significant percentage of families making over $200k, and that is straight aid, not loans. Helps to have a huge endowment.

Not in our experience.

[Anonymous]

Scholarships and loans.

[Anonymous]

My nephew is middle class and got a full free ride at Harvard. Harvard has deep pockets.