How do most middle to UMC families pay for college?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are a lower middle class family. We rent in a good school district. I never went to college and my wife works at a daycare. We don't have any debt. We have been putting $50/month over the years for our only child. He is a Senior. He only has $20k in his 529. He gave me a list of schools he would like to attend to. I have been googling them. Some of them include Duke, UCLA, Georgia Tech etc. we can't afford any of these schools. Thankfully he is aware and he says he can go to community college. He is a good kid. He works hard, makes his own money. I hope he gets some scholarship but from my understanding it's hard. He took calculus this year and finished with an 80% average. I thought it was good but apparently not. He also took the SAT and he obtained 1400 but he plan to take it again next year. He wants to study chemical engineering.

go to a small less elite private, like T80 and below. They give more merit aid.

80% on calc is low, but it's still a B. Colleges won't know if it was an 89% or 80%.

My kid is interested in Chem and got a C in AP Chem, in part because of a LD that we had not realized until they had finished the first semester. This was their hardest class, and it showed. They dropped it second semester. That will probably hurt DC's chances in some colleges. But, they did get a 1440 SAT (with extended time after the LD diagnosis).

You did good not having any debt. That can be crushing for LMC people. My parents are immigrants, and they started out as low class, moved onto lmc. I went to a no name regional state u and worked my way through college. It was tough. But, I picked a major that enabled me to make good money, and I started to earn six figures when I was 30, and this was in 2000.

Your son's and your work ethic will help him get far. It can be discouraging, and at times, your kid may want to give up. But, don't let him. Make sure he keeps his on his goal. He can do it.

Good luck to you guys.


Unfortunately for admissions purposes it's true. It's unfortunate because when I was a Teaching Assistant nearly all students who failed or had the lowest grade in calculus 1 were the kids who graduated with honors but never took calculus in HS. On the other hand the kids who easily passed calculus 1 were the ones who took calculus in HS and a handful had grades in the 80 range. I know this before I took a survey of the kids at the start of the class.

Some colleges do weigh your grades in harder classes. They are not going to punish a kid who challenged themselves with harder classes and got B versus the kid who took regular classes.


The problem is not all schools offer calc or beyond.


Also, it's ok to struggle through a class. Kid just has to understand that there are resources for help.


Sometimes. The teacher at our school barely taught. We were lucky and got an affordable tutor online but self teaching was too hard.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are a lower middle class family. We rent in a good school district. I never went to college and my wife works at a daycare. We don't have any debt. We have been putting $50/month over the years for our only child. He is a Senior. He only has $20k in his 529. He gave me a list of schools he would like to attend to. I have been googling them. Some of them include Duke, UCLA, Georgia Tech etc. we can't afford any of these schools. Thankfully he is aware and he says he can go to community college. He is a good kid. He works hard, makes his own money. I hope he gets some scholarship but from my understanding it's hard. He took calculus this year and finished with an 80% average. I thought it was good but apparently not. He also took the SAT and he obtained 1400 but he plan to take it again next year. He wants to study chemical engineering.

go to a small less elite private, like T80 and below. They give more merit aid.

80% on calc is low, but it's still a B. Colleges won't know if it was an 89% or 80%.

My kid is interested in Chem and got a C in AP Chem, in part because of a LD that we had not realized until they had finished the first semester. This was their hardest class, and it showed. They dropped it second semester. That will probably hurt DC's chances in some colleges. But, they did get a 1440 SAT (with extended time after the LD diagnosis).

You did good not having any debt. That can be crushing for LMC people. My parents are immigrants, and they started out as low class, moved onto lmc. I went to a no name regional state u and worked my way through college. It was tough. But, I picked a major that enabled me to make good money, and I started to earn six figures when I was 30, and this was in 2000.

Your son's and your work ethic will help him get far. It can be discouraging, and at times, your kid may want to give up. But, don't let him. Make sure he keeps his on his goal. He can do it.

Good luck to you guys.


Unfortunately for admissions purposes it's true. It's unfortunate because when I was a Teaching Assistant nearly all students who failed or had the lowest grade in calculus 1 were the kids who graduated with honors but never took calculus in HS. On the other hand the kids who easily passed calculus 1 were the ones who took calculus in HS and a handful had grades in the 80 range. I know this before I took a survey of the kids at the start of the class.

Some colleges do weigh your grades in harder classes. They are not going to punish a kid who challenged themselves with harder classes and got B versus the kid who took regular classes.


The problem is not all schools offer calc or beyond.


PP here. That's why eventually realized. In my country calculus is a standard course offered at every HS in the country. I found it shocking that kids were starting an science program without having taken calculus in HS.


Our science is super basic. No labs, no ap.
Anonymous
We’re not worried about it. 529s and in-state schools unless they get a scholarship that brings down the price to in-state. We’re not paying 4x more just to step across state lines.
Anonymous
Isn't the goal of some politicians to redirect kids away from college and straight to the job market or a short duration trade school? And it's not limited to politic as as well. A lot of tech bros don't want kids going to college as well.

It's all about paying workers less.

Their kids of course will go to college.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Isn't the goal of some politicians to redirect kids away from college and straight to the job market or a short duration trade school? And it's not limited to politic as as well. A lot of tech bros don't want kids going to college as well.

It's all about paying workers less.

Their kids of course will go to college.


I think this is true to a certain extent. I’m seeing it in the state I live in. Community colleges, for example, are working to align with employers. High schools are as well. It’s disquieting.

However, I am reminded by people who work with this particular student body that they are not interested in a four year degree. Full stop. And I’m being unrealistic. So, instead, the goal is to get them something that could be meaningful and allow them to use their talents on their terms. They aren’t preventing anyone from going through a traditional high ed route but offering options to those that don’t want that.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We make high 200s in NYC and our 4 year old has $130k across 529 and brokerage. I’m really strategic with how I use my money and front loaded with $80k during the first year. Then I’m gonna let that ride until college and see where we net out.

As to “how”, we only have one kid. Also rent was under $3k for a long time. Travel hack for international trips every year no problem. No cars because we wouldn’t use them in the city.

We were together for around 5 years before baby and during that time savings stacked up without even trying. To me, that’s the key. Setting money the aside before the kids come.


As a fellow New Yorker I’m fascinated to hear how you’re raising a kid while saving for retirement and college with two working parents on a high 200s income. It’s SO expensive here.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Isn't the goal of some politicians to redirect kids away from college and straight to the job market or a short duration trade school? And it's not limited to politic as as well. A lot of tech bros don't want kids going to college as well.

It's all about paying workers less.

Their kids of course will go to college.


As someone who pays a boiler technician 600 dollars or a plumber 350 for them to just walk into my house and diagnose a problem, perhaps there is value in the trades.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We make high 200s in NYC and our 4 year old has $130k across 529 and brokerage. I’m really strategic with how I use my money and front loaded with $80k during the first year. Then I’m gonna let that ride until college and see where we net out.

As to “how”, we only have one kid. Also rent was under $3k for a long time. Travel hack for international trips every year no problem. No cars because we wouldn’t use them in the city.

We were together for around 5 years before baby and during that time savings stacked up without even trying. To me, that’s the key. Setting money the aside before the kids come.


As a fellow New Yorker I’m fascinated to hear how you’re raising a kid while saving for retirement and college with two working parents on a high 200s income. It’s SO expensive here.


You move a bit further out.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Isn't the goal of some politicians to redirect kids away from college and straight to the job market or a short duration trade school? And it's not limited to politic as as well. A lot of tech bros don't want kids going to college as well.

It's all about paying workers less.

Their kids of course will go to college.


As someone who pays a boiler technician 600 dollars or a plumber 350 for them to just walk into my house and diagnose a problem, perhaps there is value in the trades.


You are getting ripped off.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We make high 200s in NYC and our 4 year old has $130k across 529 and brokerage. I’m really strategic with how I use my money and front loaded with $80k during the first year. Then I’m gonna let that ride until college and see where we net out.

As to “how”, we only have one kid. Also rent was under $3k for a long time. Travel hack for international trips every year no problem. No cars because we wouldn’t use them in the city.

We were together for around 5 years before baby and during that time savings stacked up without even trying. To me, that’s the key. Setting money the aside before the kids come.


As a fellow New Yorker I’m fascinated to hear how you’re raising a kid while saving for retirement and college with two working parents on a high 200s income. It’s SO expensive here.


You move a bit further out.


We live in Park Slope. One key factor is we were not paying more than $3k on housing monthly for over a decade. Many people in our income bracket would be paying $5k+. That's a huge difference. Also, after you get through the first 3 years of childcare costs we have free 3k and 4k.

You really need to question what's a need and what's a want here. For example, many of my parent peers have cars, and they don't even have family that lives close by. To me, that's a nice to have, not a need. I also would never consider needing to live in an elevator building because of a baby. I carried mine up 2 flights of stairs and left the stroller in the first floor landing.
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