No financial aid for middle class at public college???

[Anonymous]

You/they take on debt, or they take an alternative path rather than a direct four-year degree (e.g., community college and then transfer). Realistically, you're not middle class, you just live in an areas that is very expensive relative to your income, and colleges don't have a lot of sympathy for choices like paying more for housing so you can have a better commute when there are so many prospective applicants with fewer resources than you.

[Anonymous]

OP, College Confidential has a Financial Aid and Scholarships forum with a Institutions Known for Good Merit Aid thread. That would be a good place to start then verify current scholarship criteria after you have narrowed down the field.

[Anonymous]

OP which state and county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have freshman twins and did our first college tour. The twins are excited to go to school together at the same school, and are willing to go wherever we can afford. They are very bright with great grades at public high school so they can likely get in many schools but we are only letting them go to public colleges that we can afford.

Even at public colleges, tuition plus expenses (room/board) will be about $25k each year at the cheapest options and we are not considering schools more than $10k tuition/year due to our finances. How can DH and I afford the $50k/year for the twins? We won't qualify for help with FAFSA. We make $200k together and and all that money goes to the mortgage that won't be paid off for another 29 years (we couldn't afford a house until we paid off our college debts). We've been saving in our 529 but will only have about $50k total, after scraping by.

We would be willing to sell our house but we have a younger child who will only be in 6th grade when they start college so we need to stay here meanwhile. Then we will sell our house and rent a small apartment to pay these debts.

How have other families managed? Did you take loans against your house? Did you rent out rooms in house when they were at college? Did you have your kids sign up for ROTC/join army? Other ideas? Did you take jobs you hated for more money? We are worried and don't know how to tell our twins that they may need to work for many years before they can go to college.

The family’s that we know that did not save much for their children’s college have their kids to the cc to four year route OR live at hoe and go to GMU or UMD-CP, depending on which state they live. Or their children got really nice scholarships elsewhere.

College is not supposed to be a cash flow item. It is an expected expense that can be saved in advance. Your situation is not dire. You make $200k a year, cut down and put 10% away each year for the next 8 years (4 year of Hs and 4 years of college). $10k for each child. Then they will have $20k a year to spend for college. Have them work summers fro now on and save for their books and personal expenses. If they take on $5k in loans each year they can afford to go away to JMU. If they get a scholarship, then they can eliminate thee loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you defining as middle class? We are at $130-150K and save about $10K a year for college. We did the prepaid at birth and now 529. There is no excuse you don't have the money saved for college when you make $200K. We live in a tiny modest house and drive older cars. It depends on your priority. You choose to have three kids, high student loans and clearly are spending a lot/high mortgage if you cannot put much away.

But the reason that each of you are only making $30/hour is the same reason that you don't have college debt. OP clearly went to graduate school, so graduated later but had less money up front. If you had made a better choice in going to a graduate program, you would be making a lot more than $30/hour, which is basically the same as a Walmart manager.

[Anonymous]

Don't know if you are interested, but Alabama gives free tuition for out of state kids with good grades. That could be an option if they are willing to go to 'bama. Otherwise, I'd say CC to guaranteed admit at 4 yr college. Or live at home and commute to local 4 yr colleges. And those kids should be working during the summers now to earn some $$ too. They can also be expected to pay a certain percentage of the college cost (via earnings, scholarships or loans).

[Anonymous]

How much is your mortgage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have freshman twins and did our first college tour. The twins are excited to go to school together at the same school, and are willing to go wherever we can afford. They are very bright with great grades at public high school so they can likely get in many schools but we are only letting them go to public colleges that we can afford.

Even at public colleges, tuition plus expenses (room/board) will be about $25k each year at the cheapest options and we are not considering schools more than $10k tuition/year due to our finances. How can DH and I afford the $50k/year for the twins? We won't qualify for help with FAFSA. We make $200k together and and all that money goes to the mortgage that won't be paid off for another 29 years (we couldn't afford a house until we paid off our college debts). We've been saving in our 529 but will only have about $50k total, after scraping by.

We would be willing to sell our house but we have a younger child who will only be in 6th grade when they start college so we need to stay here meanwhile. Then we will sell our house and rent a small apartment to pay these debts.

How have other families managed? Did you take loans against your house? Did you rent out rooms in house when they were at college? Did you have your kids sign up for ROTC/join army? Other ideas? Did you take jobs you hated for more money? We are worried and don't know how to tell our twins that they may need to work for many years before they can go to college.

You were supposed to save long before you get to this point. We saved, saved, and saved for our kids. They will pay for your mistakes.

Obviously the OP had been saving for a long time to buy a house -- I've been saving for 20 years and I still don't have the $300k that is the minimum down payment with good schools. Any OP also was paying college debt then. Just because OP had $200k now doesn't mean that they had $200k for the past 15 years. It sounds like they were scraping by.

[Anonymous]

300K minimum down payment? Are you buying the white house?

Lower your expectations, try to get your home loan from a credit union.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't know if you are interested, but Alabama gives free tuition for out of state kids with good grades. That could be an option if they are willing to go to 'bama. Otherwise, I'd say CC to guaranteed admit at 4 yr college. Or live at home and commute to local 4 yr colleges. And those kids should be working during the summers now to earn some $$ too. They can also be expected to pay a certain percentage of the college cost (via earnings, scholarships or loans).

I don’t think the full scholarships are available OOS. Although the merit is quite good.

https://www.uab.edu/students/paying-for-college/scholarships/act-gpa-based-scholarships-out-of-state

And you would have to be willing to go to Alabama.

Also agree—those kids should be working. My 14-year-old made $1600 this summer. A few years of that and some during the rest of the year and I would think they could have $10k saved for school.

[Anonymous]

How much is your mortgage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have freshman twins and did our first college tour. The twins are excited to go to school together at the same school, and are willing to go wherever we can afford. They are very bright with great grades at public high school so they can likely get in many schools but we are only letting them go to public colleges that we can afford.

Even at public colleges, tuition plus expenses (room/board) will be about $25k each year at the cheapest options and we are not considering schools more than $10k tuition/year due to our finances. How can DH and I afford the $50k/year for the twins? We won't qualify for help with FAFSA. We make $200k together and and all that money goes to the mortgage that won't be paid off for another 29 years (we couldn't afford a house until we paid off our college debts). We've been saving in our 529 but will only have about $50k total, after scraping by.

We would be willing to sell our house but we have a younger child who will only be in 6th grade when they start college so we need to stay here meanwhile. Then we will sell our house and rent a small apartment to pay these debts.

How have other families managed? Did you take loans against your house? Did you rent out rooms in house when they were at college? Did you have your kids sign up for ROTC/join army? Other ideas? Did you take jobs you hated for more money? We are worried and don't know how to tell our twins that they may need to work for many years before they can go to college.

You were supposed to save long before you get to this point. We saved, saved, and saved for our kids. They will pay for your mistakes.

Obviously the OP had been saving for a long time to buy a house -- I've been saving for 20 years and I still don't have the $300k that is the minimum down payment with good schools. Any OP also was paying college debt then. Just because OP had $200k now doesn't mean that they had $200k for the past 15 years. It sounds like they were scraping by.

You do not need a $300k down payment to buy a house in an area with good schools.

[Anonymous]

We make that and paid $68k per year for OOS public. We had no savings, just paid out of pocket. Sure it was painful, but very doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make that and paid $68k per year for OOS public. We had no savings, just paid out of pocket. Sure it was painful, but very doable.

Sucker.

[Anonymous]

If your kids are good test takers, I recommend that they prep for the junior year PSAT to be in the running for Nat Merit Finalists. I also recommend looking at the out-of-state publics known for good merit aid. That and the CC route or commute from home route. I understand that $50/year is painful.