“the microsegment of the top 4 to 5 percent (earning $222,400 to $251,100) fares the absolute worst at t20 admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how do all these elite needs-blind schools know our salaries ????

They claim they don’t get that info.

They know the poverty level at your high school and the average income of your zip code and they can make decisions based on that.

Oh Great . My husband just announced this morning that the AVERAGE SFH home price in our entire zip code is $1.4 million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/college-acceptance-rates-ivy-league-schools-wealth.html

This is probably the most DCUM-y percentile of any slice of the income ladder

Schools REALLY don’t want dcum kids if they can help it.

Dcum kids are the least liked and least desired all other factors being relatively equal

Thank goodness we make more than this. In the clear, and we'll be admitted to the T20 where we belong!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even though we declined full payment top 10 colleges and went with lower ranking colleges with half tuition merit, it still squeezed our finances so bad it hurts. My DH needs to work 10 year extra, which is only possible if he stays healthy and employed.

For state school, take out a loan for half. IMO, a person shouldn't need to work to the bone to pay for college. And think about how you will live in your retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even though we declined full payment top 10 colleges and went with lower ranking colleges with half tuition merit, it still squeezed our finances so bad it hurts. My DH needs to work 10 year extra, which is only possible if he stays healthy and employed.

For state school, take out a loan for half. IMO, a person shouldn't need to work to the bone to pay for college. And think about how you will live in your retirement.

+1

Take out as many federal loans as you can. They are likely to be forgiven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even though we declined full payment top 10 colleges and went with lower ranking colleges with half tuition merit, it still squeezed our finances so bad it hurts. My DH needs to work 10 year extra, which is only possible if he stays healthy and employed.

For state school, take out a loan for half. IMO, a person shouldn't need to work to the bone to pay for college. And think about how you will live in your retirement.

+1

Take out as many federal loans as you can. They are likely to be forgiven.

Lol true, also one of the dumbest policy decisions attempted, let's forgive the loans (or portion of it) of those that got college degrees rather than you know, actually helping those that need the help (those with actual low incomes). The push for that and the extremely extended student loan payment pause (which likely exacerbated the inflation problem) were some of the dumbest policies pushed by the current admin (this is coming from someone who identifies as a Democrat).

[Anonymous]

We moved out of the DMV to another non coastal area. Almost everyone we have met here - doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. went to a state school - either in Arizona or a state w the tuition reciprocity program. We’ve messaged to our kids they are going to go to state school and that’s going to be more than enough and a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even though we declined full payment top 10 colleges and went with lower ranking colleges with half tuition merit, it still squeezed our finances so bad it hurts. My DH needs to work 10 year extra, which is only possible if he stays healthy and employed.

Are you working? My spouse and I both work.

Sounds like she just wants to crack the whip on hubby while she continues a life of leisure- yoga and lunch with the girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kids in households earning $450-500k do well?

Better than $250 but not as well as wealthy kids. Unless they are URM, an athlete, or play a unique instrument, they will mostly likely end up at a state school honors college.

Are you kidding? $450k is certainly able to go full pay at a private LAC if they want.

Spoken like someone who has one kid and always made a lot of money.

+1 our hhi is about $280k. We could pay for expensive private for 2 kids but it would seriously impact our retirement and qol. For the most part, expensive colleges aren't worth it unless you are talking about T10 for non STEM majors.

Same here our HHI (gross) is around there as well and I cant imagine affording to pay for kids private school or college with current income. Hell I am afraid of even having kids right now (we are 31 and 30) as not sure how we could afford all the expenses associated with them (daycare/nanny especially) plus putting aside money for their college, without significantly negatively affecting our qol (being able to occasionally go out, go on a vacation once/twice a year).

An income of say 300k here is very different than 300k in say Texas, the 300k just doesn't go that far at all given how expensive the DMV area is.

Huh? What are you talking about? You make way more than 95%+ of DC area families (many many many of whom are raising kids) and you don't think you can find room in your $300K+ budget for daycare? You should have tons of disposable income at that income level, so I'm not sure why spending $15k-$25K a year on daycare plus $10K-$15K on college savings would be that hard. What even is there to spend that much money on without kids? Housing? (But even that shouldn't cost you more than like $50K a year tops, right? We spend less than $25K a year on the 15-year mortgage for our 4 bedroom home, but I know some people have more expensive houses than us, but I don't know how it would be more than double, especially if you don't have kids.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kids in households earning $450-500k do well?

Better than $250 but not as well as wealthy kids. Unless they are URM, an athlete, or play a unique instrument, they will mostly likely end up at a state school honors college.

Are you kidding? $450k is certainly able to go full pay at a private LAC if they want.

Spoken like someone who has one kid and always made a lot of money.

+1 our hhi is about $280k. We could pay for expensive private for 2 kids but it would seriously impact our retirement and qol. For the most part, expensive colleges aren't worth it unless you are talking about T10 for non STEM majors.

Same here our HHI (gross) is around there as well and I cant imagine affording to pay for kids private school or college with current income. Hell I am afraid of even having kids right now (we are 31 and 30) as not sure how we could afford all the expenses associated with them (daycare/nanny especially) plus putting aside money for their college, without significantly negatively affecting our qol (being able to occasionally go out, go on a vacation once/twice a year).

An income of say 300k here is very different than 300k in say Texas, the 300k just doesn't go that far at all given how expensive the DMV area is.

Huh? What are you talking about? [b]You make way more than 95%+ of DC area families [b](many many many of whom are raising kids) and you don't think you can find room in your $300K+ budget for daycare? You should have tons of disposable income at that income level, so I'm not sure why spending $15k-$25K a year on daycare plus $10K-$15K on college savings would be that hard. What even is there to spend that much money on without kids? Housing? (But even that shouldn't cost you more than like $50K a year tops, right? We spend less than $25K a year on the 15-year mortgage for our 4 bedroom home, but I know some people have more expensive houses than us, but I don't know how it would be more than double, especially if you don't have kids.)

Do you have a cite that? Because if that’s true, I don’t understand why housing is so expensive. Only 5% can afford a DMV mortgage???