What is a "donut hole family"?

[Anonymous]

"Donut hole families should go abroad.

More straight forward admissions, money goes longer, less woke stuff."

You don't seem to realize that the fact that higher ed is affordable is in itself "woke."

And you might want to check out how those Europeans view paid time off for workers, unions, family leave, and severance. Oh, and don't forget women's equality.

Less woke stuff in Europe. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the United States of America, where anything is possible, at least for a white person. I literally went from being raised on food stamps to big law, where I made enough money to be able to pay full freight for my kids to attend any private college in America. Those of you who chose less lucrative careers cannot complain now about your inability to pay for the most expensive colleges. You made your choice, so now you live with it.

So only rich kids get to go to the best colleges? Ok, got it.

Also, do you think it's as easy to go from food stamps to elite career as easily as it was when you went to college....how many years ago?

No, only rich kids get to go to the most expensive colleges. The most expensive colleges aren’t necessarily the best. Just because I said I was in the position to pay for the most expensive colleges does it mean my kids actually went to them. In fact I discouraged it because to me most of the most expensive colleges weren’t necessarily the best and weren’t worth the extra money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the United States of America, where anything is possible, at least for a white person. I literally went from being raised on food stamps to big law, where I made enough money to be able to pay full freight for my kids to attend any private college in America. Those of you who chose less lucrative careers cannot complain now about your inability to pay for the most expensive colleges. You made your choice, so now you live with it.

I think when people go into teaching, law enforcement, public defending, or non-profit management they know they won't be getting a beach house or fancy car out of the deal. And they're good with that. But having private colleges or out-of-state flagship schools off the table for their kids is harder to swallow. Comparing education, like healthcare, to a luxury good is distasteful to many.

There’s a difference between everyone being entitled to the best healthcare and everyone being entitled to the most expensive college education.

[Anonymous]

People who didn’t save even though they had 18 years to do so

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Donut hole families should go abroad.

More straight forward admissions, money goes longer, less woke stuff."

You don't seem to realize that the fact that higher ed is affordable is in itself "woke."

And you might want to check out how those Europeans view paid time off for workers, unions, family leave, and severance. Oh, and don't forget women's equality.

Less woke stuff in Europe. SMH.

I was thinking the same. Even conservative parties in Europe are more left of us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Donut hole families should go abroad.

More straight forward admissions, money goes longer, less woke stuff."

You don't seem to realize that the fact that higher ed is affordable is in itself "woke."

And you might want to check out how those Europeans view paid time off for workers, unions, family leave, and severance. Oh, and don't forget women's equality.

Less woke stuff in Europe. SMH.

I was thinking the same. Even conservative parties in Europe are more left of us!

Depends what you mean. The liberals in Europe are far to the right of us on race.

[Anonymous]

I guess my family would be considered a donut hols family - we make good money, live modestly, but we didn't choose to put away every extra cent we had for private college. Instead, our kids went to public schools and universities. We chose to travel to many amazing places and allowed them to participate in things like club sports and other expensive pursuits such as music, school trips, specialty sport camps and CTY camps. All 3 are are quite accomplished with 2 of the three in excellent grad schools presently. Donut holes must make choices, but you can still provide a fine foundation without eating raman and forgoing fun in (all) of your lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess my family would be considered a donut hols family - we make good money, live modestly, but we didn't choose to put away every extra cent we had for private college. Instead, our kids went to public schools and universities. We chose to travel to many amazing places and allowed them to participate in things like club sports and other expensive pursuits such as music, school trips, specialty sport camps and CTY camps. All 3 are are quite accomplished with 2 of the three in excellent grad schools presently. Donut holes must make choices, but you can still provide a fine foundation without eating raman and forgoing fun in (all) of your lives.

There’s really nothing wrong with this unless you also feel entitled to a top private school, heavily subsidized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Donut hole families should go abroad.

More straight forward admissions, money goes longer, less woke stuff."

You don't seem to realize that the fact that higher ed is affordable is in itself "woke."

And you might want to check out how those Europeans view paid time off for workers, unions, family leave, and severance. Oh, and don't forget women's equality.

Less woke stuff in Europe. SMH.

I was thinking the same. Even conservative parties in Europe are more left of us!

Depends what you mean. The liberals in Europe are far to the right of us on race.

Yeah, I was thinking socialized aspects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my family would be considered a donut hols family - we make good money, live modestly, but we didn't choose to put away every extra cent we had for private college. Instead, our kids went to public schools and universities. We chose to travel to many amazing places and allowed them to participate in things like club sports and other expensive pursuits such as music, school trips, specialty sport camps and CTY camps. All 3 are are quite accomplished with 2 of the three in excellent grad schools presently. Donut holes must make choices, but you can still provide a fine foundation without eating raman and forgoing fun in (all) of your lives.

There’s really nothing wrong with this unless you also feel entitled to a top private school, heavily subsidized.

Most people I know are in this sort of financial boat and are not freaking out because they can't send their kid to Tulane or Bates or Tufts or whatever. It's not a big deal - expensive colleges are off the table and there are still plenty to choose from. Your kid being smart doesn't make you rich....it's just life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess my family would be considered a donut hols family - we make good money, live modestly, but we didn't choose to put away every extra cent we had for private college. Instead, our kids went to public schools and universities. We chose to travel to many amazing places and allowed them to participate in things like club sports and other expensive pursuits such as music, school trips, specialty sport camps and CTY camps. All 3 are are quite accomplished with 2 of the three in excellent grad schools presently. Donut holes must make choices, but you can still provide a fine foundation without eating raman and forgoing fun in (all) of your lives.

Nice brag and you don't get it. Since you are wealthy I hope you are paying for graduate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my family would be considered a donut hols family - we make good money, live modestly, but we didn't choose to put away every extra cent we had for private college. Instead, our kids went to public schools and universities. We chose to travel to many amazing places and allowed them to participate in things like club sports and other expensive pursuits such as music, school trips, specialty sport camps and CTY camps. All 3 are are quite accomplished with 2 of the three in excellent grad schools presently. Donut holes must make choices, but you can still provide a fine foundation without eating raman and forgoing fun in (all) of your lives.

There’s really nothing wrong with this unless you also feel entitled to a top private school, heavily subsidized.

Most people I know are in this sort of financial boat and are not freaking out because they can't send their kid to Tulane or Bates or Tufts or whatever. It's not a big deal - expensive colleges are off the table and there are still plenty to choose from. Your kid being smart doesn't make you rich....it's just life.

Seems like the freakout is a side effect of a kind of downward mobility. Maybe they don’t actually make less than their parents adjusted for inflation but because of rising income inequality they rank lower on the spectrum and can’t afford the same bubble their parents could. These are people who went to Tufts or Penn themselves and feel blindsided by not being able to have everything their parents did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the United States of America, where anything is possible, at least for a white person. I literally went from being raised on food stamps to big law, where I made enough money to be able to pay full freight for my kids to attend any private college in America. Those of you who chose less lucrative careers cannot complain now about your inability to pay for the most expensive colleges. You made your choice, so now you live with it.

So only rich kids get to go to the best colleges? Ok, got it.

Also, do you think it's as easy to go from food stamps to elite career as easily as it was when you went to college....how many years ago?

Nope the best colleges are free for middle class kids. It’s just a middler middle than DCUM is used to.

Most students are not admitted to the "best colleges."

How long ago did you graduate from college?

[Anonymous]

It’s a ton of whining about not having enough privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We could also go about this the other way and build up the many wonderful public colleges and universities. So the top 25 aren’t always expensive private colleges and universities.

This is already true with many of the UCs, Michigan, UVA, UNC Chapel Hill … but it would be nice to add more to the list of the “best universities.” Then again, maybe the rankings are part of the problem.

This can and is being done at the hiring level. I work in an elite program in my field. Our hiring practice is to absolutely prioritize graduates from public universities over Ivies. Even more eye-catching on resumes is when the applicant received an academic or merit scholarship to that public, or otherwise distinguished themselves.