Did you folks not do ANY saving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I”m seeing a lot of threads and responses within threads. Lots of people seeking information about private schools with tons of merit aid, “full ride” schools, people frustrated about the unfair advantage of ED because you want know the full amount of merit aid that might be available (and kudos to the patient people on that thread that keep trying to explain how the Net Price Calculator works).

The conclusion I’m getting from this is... there’s a whole bunch of UMC people here who didn’t save for kids’ college.
What the @#$%!

To be 100% clear, I’m not talking about lower income families, though these posters starting the posts above almost seem to resent all the aid, Pell grants, etc. these folks will be getting.

When my kids were 5 (as soon as we didn’t have to pay for preschool anymore, just public school before and aftercare) we started investing in 529s. We’ve been putting away money every month since then.
Back then, after doing my research, my assumptions were
1. We will not qualify for financial aid (unless we are going to some really expensive private, but then we are still paying $$$)
2. While my kids are smart, I should not count on merit aid of any kind

As we get close to college age, we will have enough for them to attend an in-state school, and we are on track to take out very little—if any—in loans. Kids know they are welcome to apply to private schools, and if after all is said and done, it’s a comparable price tag, we can do that, but neither we nor our kids are going to rack up big undergraduate debt.

Yes, college costs are out of control, and there’s lots of frustrating aspects to the system, but this stuff didn’t crop up yesterday. Why didn’t you plan? Why didn’t you save?

Interesting.

You started a thread to brag about your finances & put people down.

Maybe it is the way this is written.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? All I see on here is how everyone has their 529 practically funded once that egg turns to a zygote.

Enough already- we get it, you can save! Yay you! Did you not get enough gold stars growing up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer OP's initial naive and rude question: yes, we did save. A lot. When both children were born I opened education trusts for both them back in the 1990s. Every single dollar/check that came in for the children went into the education trusts with thank you notes from the children (sometimes just tracing the palm of their hands because they couldn't yet write letters) writing thanks for each $25 check. There were no 529s then. So I get both trusts up each to at least $100K and then the 2007 great recession starts and both accounts for both children lost 1/3 of value overnight. So now we start rebuilding those accounts (yes professionally managed). Meanwhile, as parents who had their children "later in life", as in our late 30s and early 40s, we are also trying to sock away retirement money. There were a number of years where we just couldn't do that due to property taxes, mortgage, insurance, health and liability insurance, and other expenses. Then comes the prolonged illness of a parent which went on 8 years and cost 100s of thousands a year for uncovered medical care. Then came the diagnosis on one of the children of autism and subsequent uncovered medical expenses for shrinks, testing, meds, and special needs schools. My DW has to quit her lucractive career to take care of both SN children. Then the same occurred with the second child. Now we are paying for two separate SN schools, testing every 3 years, shrinks, psychs, and testers and tutoring. Fortunately, when I had written the trusts, I had specified that we could use the trusts for all educational expenses so - upon the advice of our CPA - we started to drain those trusts to pay for tutors pre-college and during college and to pay for SN special ed schools - because the trusts would hurt us when applying for financial aid. We get one child through university in five years which was extraordinary because he was autistic - but he did it with 100% financial support from us. Child no. 2 is still in college. When we went to apply for financial aid for both years ago we learned we were a donut hole family (i.e., no financial aid available) so our EFC was that we were to pay the full amount of any educational costs but we did take out the $5500 minimal loans but that meant we had to pay everything else for college (both instate) out of pocket. Then parent no. 2 goes bad and we are paying for residential care for that parent. Meanwhile, we are struggling to meet the college payments and our own mortgage and enormous property taxes. We can't afford to pay our life and disability insurance premiums so they lapse. Then Obamacare screws us. There is no ACA provider left in our zip code because all the providers pulled out so we have no healthcare options left (we are self-employed). We end up buying a corporate policy because both parents work from home at $35K a year because there are no alternatives and it is irresponsible to have no insurance, especially when the parents are on the older side and the children are young adults (one who, in the eyes of the insurance company, is impregnable). Then parent no. 3 becomes senile and needs expensive residential care. Now child no 1 has taken off academically and is going to grad school. To the extent we can afford it we will try to pay for it. He wants to do law school after that as I did. My law school is now approaching $100K a year. Meanwhile we make very good money even on D.C. scale but 40% of that is taken off the top in taxes, $29K in property taxes, another $35K in health care since we are self-employed, and then grad school tuition and the fourth parent's health care issues looming. So, like 14:07 above, we are now reduced to paying out of pocket for child no . 2's grad school and law school ALL THE WHILE unsuccessfully socking away retirement money. And before you say child no 2 should get student loans, go learn what kind of student loans are available when you are a donut hole family. The answer is zero because the lender wants to see collateral. And our children have none, of course.

So my answer to OP is to not judge unless they've been through the FAFSA, CSS and college application process. I wake up every morning grateful that we have wonderful in-state opportunities for education in Virginia.

And before the nasties come on this board and criticize, no we don't take nice vacations. We drive 15 year old cars. it's been so long that I've traveled anywhere that my passport expired years ago. And we've lived in the same house for 24 years.

The fact hat you think you would be paying less for health insurance without the ACA is laughable. You can thank the Republicans for not implementing all of it, sabotaging it and not making the need tweaks once it was up and running. What do you think you would have had to pay if the ACA never came into being? You are now in the age range where your costs would have been skyrocketing anyway.

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA. In fact I believe the ridiculous health insurance fees mandated by law under ObamaCare are one of the main reasons Trump got elected even by those who don't like him. My monthly health insurance bill, Blue Cross, was f $225 per month with a $500 deductible. My monthly health insurance bill now is $800 per month with a $7900 deductible. This is one of the cheaper policies under Obamacare in my state. It is a bronze policy. (Cheapest). The policies with slightly lower deductibles ran $11,000 per month or so. This is for 1 person family, me. Who would pay
$11,000 per month, yes per month, for 1 person for health insurance? I know virtually no one who pays less under ObamaCare. I pay a lot more and get a lot less.

I get no subsidies on my ObamaCare as I earn too much money. My gross pay is around $49,000 per year. In my state you only get subsidies if your gross
pay is under $46,000. This is for a family of 1 person. I don't feel like $49,000 gross pay is rich. Average income in my town is $30,000 per year so
yes I earn more than most in my town but significantly less than most on DCUM.

I know many people working two or three jobs to get by. A lot of the anger from the middle class is that the middle class is putting in the hours and working
40-60 hours per week and struggling with health insurance costs but slackers in our society get free subsidies.

If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

You go from $222-$225 in premiums per month (what I paid for years under Blue Cross individual policy) to $800 per month (cheapest policy under Obamacare) with a $7900 deductible and not qualify for any discounts because I earn $49,000 per year you can see why families are strapped for college funding.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA.

Well then you should meet more people because I am one (SB owner of 25 years). You should also do the math properly -- some of the things now mandated couldn't be purchased by individuals AT ANY PRICE, such as pre-existing conditions, pediatric dental, etc.

But you go ahead and keep white-knighting those insurance companies.

Anonymous wrote:
If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

...says the thing I just pulled out of my ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA.

Well then you should meet more people because I am one (SB owner of 25 years). You should also do the math properly -- some of the things now mandated couldn't be purchased by individuals AT ANY PRICE, such as pre-existing conditions, pediatric dental, etc.

But you go ahead and keep white-knighting those insurance companies.

Anonymous wrote:
If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

...says the thing I just pulled out of my ass.

You sound rude and crude. And I might add a bit uninformed about the details of insurance but that’s understandable because most people are.

Anyway, the ACA did in fact mandate an incredibly extensive (thus expensive) benefits package, which does of course relate to overall premium expenses. Most people can self-insure for pediatric dental and many screening tests and spend much less per year than they do now for these benefits they’re paying for and often not using under the ACA. The provider network behind ACA plans are also incredibly limited, which makes for a frustrating patient experience.

Trump and the Republicans before him were very happy to sabotage the plan, but the Democrats were incredibly naïve to assume that the networks and market place would be robust within a couple years. They also willfully ignored the serious but unpopular projections by some economists about the price of these benefits packages. There is a ton of blame to go around regarding the ACA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA.

Well then you should meet more people because I am one (SB owner of 25 years). You should also do the math properly -- some of the things now mandated couldn't be purchased by individuals AT ANY PRICE, such as pre-existing conditions, pediatric dental, etc.

But you go ahead and keep white-knighting those insurance companies.

Anonymous wrote:
If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

...says the thing I just pulled out of my ass.

You sound rude and crude. And I might add a bit uninformed about the details of insurance but that’s understandable because most people are.

Did you read my post? I clearly stated I was able to get things for my employees (and myself) that WERE NOT POSSIBLE AT ANY PRICE PRIOR.

Anyway, the ACA did in fact mandate an incredibly extensive (thus expensive) benefits package, which does of course relate to overall premium expenses.

Yes, like pre-existing conditions, which could affect as many as half of Americans, and which is incredibly popular with them:

https://www.kff.org/health-costs/press-release/poll-acas-pre-existing-condition-protections-remain-popular-with-public/

Odd how you didn't originally admit that people were getting more value, and things they wanted and needed, until it was pointed out. Hmmmm.....

Most people can self-insure for pediatric dental and many screening tests and spend much less per year than they do now for these benefits they’re paying for and often not using under the ACA.

I do not believe this is correct. But as I suggested, you keep white-knighting those insurance companies.

The provider network behind ACA plans are also incredibly limited, which makes for a frustrating patient experience.

So fix those. Make it better. Make it work. Unless that doesn't fit your narrative.

[Anonymous]

OP, I've got you beat. We literally started a college savings account on the day we got engaged.

[Anonymous]

COLLEGE IS NOW TOO EXPENSIVE FOR A PORTION OF THE MIDDLE CLASS!

A FEW YEARS MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO THE COST, because tuition is rising quicker than salaries.

So shame on you for criticizing, OP. We’ve saved all along, but have medical expenses and cannot keep up. Yet theoretically we are middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA.

Well then you should meet more people because I am one (SB owner of 25 years). You should also do the math properly -- some of the things now mandated couldn't be purchased by individuals AT ANY PRICE, such as pre-existing conditions, pediatric dental, etc.

But you go ahead and keep white-knighting those insurance companies.

Anonymous wrote:
If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

...says the thing I just pulled out of my ass.

You sound rude and crude. And I might add a bit uninformed about the details of insurance but that’s understandable because most people are.

Anyway, the ACA did in fact mandate an incredibly extensive (thus expensive) benefits package, which does of course relate to overall premium expenses. Most people can self-insure for pediatric dental and many screening tests and spend much less per year than they do now for these benefits they’re paying for and often not using under the ACA. The provider network behind ACA plans are also incredibly limited, which makes for a frustrating patient experience.

Trump and the Republicans before him were very happy to sabotage the plan, but the Democrats were incredibly naïve to assume that the networks and market place would be robust within a couple years. They also willfully ignored the serious but unpopular projections by some economists about the price of these benefits packages. There is a ton of blame to go around regarding the ACA.

All ACA providers have pulled out of our zip code. Families like us have no option but to "go naked" (ins. terminology for taking the risk of going without insurance at all) or, if self-employed, setting up an employer plan, which we do at a cost of $30K a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer OP's initial naive and rude question: yes, we did save. A lot. When both children were born I opened education trusts for both them back in the 1990s. Every single dollar/check that came in for the children went into the education trusts with thank you notes from the children (sometimes just tracing the palm of their hands because they couldn't yet write letters) writing thanks for each $25 check. There were no 529s then. So I get both trusts up each to at least $100K and then the 2007 great recession starts and both accounts for both children lost 1/3 of value overnight. So now we start rebuilding those accounts (yes professionally managed). Meanwhile, as parents who had their children "later in life", as in our late 30s and early 40s, we are also trying to sock away retirement money. There were a number of years where we just couldn't do that due to property taxes, mortgage, insurance, health and liability insurance, and other expenses. Then comes the prolonged illness of a parent which went on 8 years and cost 100s of thousands a year for uncovered medical care. Then came the diagnosis on one of the children of autism and subsequent uncovered medical expenses for shrinks, testing, meds, and special needs schools. My DW has to quit her lucractive career to take care of both SN children. Then the same occurred with the second child. Now we are paying for two separate SN schools, testing every 3 years, shrinks, psychs, and testers and tutoring. Fortunately, when I had written the trusts, I had specified that we could use the trusts for all educational expenses so - upon the advice of our CPA - we started to drain those trusts to pay for tutors pre-college and during college and to pay for SN special ed schools - because the trusts would hurt us when applying for financial aid. We get one child through university in five years which was extraordinary because he was autistic - but he did it with 100% financial support from us. Child no. 2 is still in college. When we went to apply for financial aid for both years ago we learned we were a donut hole family (i.e., no financial aid available) so our EFC was that we were to pay the full amount of any educational costs but we did take out the $5500 minimal loans but that meant we had to pay everything else for college (both instate) out of pocket. Then parent no. 2 goes bad and we are paying for residential care for that parent. Meanwhile, we are struggling to meet the college payments and our own mortgage and enormous property taxes. We can't afford to pay our life and disability insurance premiums so they lapse. Then Obamacare screws us. There is no ACA provider left in our zip code because all the providers pulled out so we have no healthcare options left (we are self-employed). We end up buying a corporate policy because both parents work from home at $35K a year because there are no alternatives and it is irresponsible to have no insurance, especially when the parents are on the older side and the children are young adults (one who, in the eyes of the insurance company, is impregnable). Then parent no. 3 becomes senile and needs expensive residential care. Now child no 1 has taken off academically and is going to grad school. To the extent we can afford it we will try to pay for it. He wants to do law school after that as I did. My law school is now approaching $100K a year. Meanwhile we make very good money even on D.C. scale but 40% of that is taken off the top in taxes, $29K in property taxes, another $35K in health care since we are self-employed, and then grad school tuition and the fourth parent's health care issues looming. So, like 14:07 above, we are now reduced to paying out of pocket for child no . 2's grad school and law school ALL THE WHILE unsuccessfully socking away retirement money. And before you say child no 2 should get student loans, go learn what kind of student loans are available when you are a donut hole family. The answer is zero because the lender wants to see collateral. And our children have none, of course.

So my answer to OP is to not judge unless they've been through the FAFSA, CSS and college application process. I wake up every morning grateful that we have wonderful in-state opportunities for education in Virginia.

And before the nasties come on this board and criticize, no we don't take nice vacations. We drive 15 year old cars. it's been so long that I've traveled anywhere that my passport expired years ago. And we've lived in the same house for 24 years.

The fact hat you think you would be paying less for health insurance without the ACA is laughable. You can thank the Republicans for not implementing all of it, sabotaging it and not making the need tweaks once it was up and running. What do you think you would have had to pay if the ACA never came into being? You are now in the age range where your costs would have been skyrocketing anyway.

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA. In fact I believe the ridiculous health insurance fees mandated by law under ObamaCare are one of the main reasons Trump got elected even by those who don't like him. My monthly health insurance bill, Blue Cross, was f $225 per month with a $500 deductible. My monthly health insurance bill now is $800 per month with a $7900 deductible. This is one of the cheaper policies under Obamacare in my state. It is a bronze policy. (Cheapest). The policies with slightly lower deductibles ran $11,000 per month or so. This is for 1 person family, me. Who would pay
$11,000 per month, yes per month, for 1 person for health insurance? I know virtually no one who pays less under ObamaCare. I pay a lot more and get a lot less.

I get no subsidies on my ObamaCare as I earn too much money. My gross pay is around $49,000 per year. In my state you only get subsidies if your gross
pay is under $46,000. This is for a family of 1 person. I don't feel like $49,000 gross pay is rich. Average income in my town is $30,000 per year so
yes I earn more than most in my town but significantly less than most on DCUM.

I know many people working two or three jobs to get by. A lot of the anger from the middle class is that the middle class is putting in the hours and working
40-60 hours per week and struggling with health insurance costs but slackers in our society get free subsidies.

If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

You go from $222-$225 in premiums per month (what I paid for years under Blue Cross individual policy) to $800 per month (cheapest policy under Obamacare) with a $7900 deductible and not qualify for any discounts because I earn $49,000 per year you can see why families are strapped for college funding.

Do families earning $49k even have to pay for college? At almost all private colleges I know the amount of parent contribution at this income is practically nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer OP's initial naive and rude question: yes, we did save. A lot. When both children were born I opened education trusts for both them back in the 1990s. Every single dollar/check that came in for the children went into the education trusts with thank you notes from the children (sometimes just tracing the palm of their hands because they couldn't yet write letters) writing thanks for each $25 check. There were no 529s then. So I get both trusts up each to at least $100K and then the 2007 great recession starts and both accounts for both children lost 1/3 of value overnight. So now we start rebuilding those accounts (yes professionally managed). Meanwhile, as parents who had their children "later in life", as in our late 30s and early 40s, we are also trying to sock away retirement money. There were a number of years where we just couldn't do that due to property taxes, mortgage, insurance, health and liability insurance, and other expenses. Then comes the prolonged illness of a parent which went on 8 years and cost 100s of thousands a year for uncovered medical care. Then came the diagnosis on one of the children of autism and subsequent uncovered medical expenses for shrinks, testing, meds, and special needs schools. My DW has to quit her lucractive career to take care of both SN children. Then the same occurred with the second child. Now we are paying for two separate SN schools, testing every 3 years, shrinks, psychs, and testers and tutoring. Fortunately, when I had written the trusts, I had specified that we could use the trusts for all educational expenses so - upon the advice of our CPA - we started to drain those trusts to pay for tutors pre-college and during college and to pay for SN special ed schools - because the trusts would hurt us when applying for financial aid. We get one child through university in five years which was extraordinary because he was autistic - but he did it with 100% financial support from us. Child no. 2 is still in college. When we went to apply for financial aid for both years ago we learned we were a donut hole family (i.e., no financial aid available) so our EFC was that we were to pay the full amount of any educational costs but we did take out the $5500 minimal loans but that meant we had to pay everything else for college (both instate) out of pocket. Then parent no. 2 goes bad and we are paying for residential care for that parent. Meanwhile, we are struggling to meet the college payments and our own mortgage and enormous property taxes. We can't afford to pay our life and disability insurance premiums so they lapse. Then Obamacare screws us. There is no ACA provider left in our zip code because all the providers pulled out so we have no healthcare options left (we are self-employed). We end up buying a corporate policy because both parents work from home at $35K a year because there are no alternatives and it is irresponsible to have no insurance, especially when the parents are on the older side and the children are young adults (one who, in the eyes of the insurance company, is impregnable). Then parent no. 3 becomes senile and needs expensive residential care. Now child no 1 has taken off academically and is going to grad school. To the extent we can afford it we will try to pay for it. He wants to do law school after that as I did. My law school is now approaching $100K a year. Meanwhile we make very good money even on D.C. scale but 40% of that is taken off the top in taxes, $29K in property taxes, another $35K in health care since we are self-employed, and then grad school tuition and the fourth parent's health care issues looming. So, like 14:07 above, we are now reduced to paying out of pocket for child no . 2's grad school and law school ALL THE WHILE unsuccessfully socking away retirement money. And before you say child no 2 should get student loans, go learn what kind of student loans are available when you are a donut hole family. The answer is zero because the lender wants to see collateral. And our children have none, of course.

So my answer to OP is to not judge unless they've been through the FAFSA, CSS and college application process. I wake up every morning grateful that we have wonderful in-state opportunities for education in Virginia.

And before the nasties come on this board and criticize, no we don't take nice vacations. We drive 15 year old cars. it's been so long that I've traveled anywhere that my passport expired years ago. And we've lived in the same house for 24 years.

The fact hat you think you would be paying less for health insurance without the ACA is laughable. You can thank the Republicans for not implementing all of it, sabotaging it and not making the need tweaks once it was up and running. What do you think you would have had to pay if the ACA never came into being? You are now in the age range where your costs would have been skyrocketing anyway.

NP here. I don't know anyone who owns a business or has individual policies that pays less under Obamacare ACA. In fact I believe the ridiculous health insurance fees mandated by law under ObamaCare are one of the main reasons Trump got elected even by those who don't like him. My monthly health insurance bill, Blue Cross, was f $225 per month with a $500 deductible. My monthly health insurance bill now is $800 per month with a $7900 deductible. This is one of the cheaper policies under Obamacare in my state. It is a bronze policy. (Cheapest). The policies with slightly lower deductibles ran $11,000 per month or so. This is for 1 person family, me. Who would pay
$11,000 per month, yes per month, for 1 person for health insurance? I know virtually no one who pays less under ObamaCare. I pay a lot more and get a lot less.

I get no subsidies on my ObamaCare as I earn too much money. My gross pay is around $49,000 per year. In my state you only get subsidies if your gross
pay is under $46,000. This is for a family of 1 person. I don't feel like $49,000 gross pay is rich. Average income in my town is $30,000 per year so
yes I earn more than most in my town but significantly less than most on DCUM.

I know many people working two or three jobs to get by. A lot of the anger from the middle class is that the middle class is putting in the hours and working
40-60 hours per week and struggling with health insurance costs but slackers in our society get free subsidies.

If folks are struggling to put enough money away for college clearly ridiculous insurance premiums under Obamacare are one of the reasons.

You go from $222-$225 in premiums per month (what I paid for years under Blue Cross individual policy) to $800 per month (cheapest policy under Obamacare) with a $7900 deductible and not qualify for any discounts because I earn $49,000 per year you can see why families are strapped for college funding.

Do families earning $49k even have to pay for college? At almost all private colleges I know the amount of parent contribution at this income is practically nothing.

It depends on the FAFSA calculation. I imagine families like that would have an EC of almost zero. Depends on number of other children in the household, debt, savings, businesses, other children at college-age, etc. Run the EFC calculator on the school's websites and do the FAFSA filing as soon as you can senior year.

[Anonymous]

^^ Also look to see if you qualify for the Questbridge program. https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/student-resource-center/paying-for-college/financial-aid-overview

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, how much have people been saving? Coming from a middle class background, Half of my colllege tuition was grants and loans going to a top 10 liberal arts college. My wife went to school overseas and doesn’t think saving is important. I have been putting 2500$ a year into a Maryland 529 making 13% return for 10 years. That is the max that has tax benefits in Maryland. I know I need to open up another fund in my wife’s name and enter another 2500$ per year.

The world has changed. However you financed college 20 or more years ago has no relevance to how to handle it today.

It's practically impossible to save too much for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, how much have people been saving? Coming from a middle class background, Half of my colllege tuition was grants and loans going to a top 10 liberal arts college. My wife went to school overseas and doesn’t think saving is important. I have been putting 2500$ a year into a Maryland 529 making 13% return for 10 years. That is the max that has tax benefits in Maryland. I know I need to open up another fund in my wife’s name and enter another 2500$ per year.

The world has changed. However you financed college 20 or more years ago has no relevance to how to handle it today.

It's practically impossible to save too much for college.

So true. My LAC was $1816 a quarter when I attended, for a grand total of less than $6K a year (that included room and board). I also received a number of scholarships that no longer exist like the National Presbyterian Scholarship and the California High Performing Student scholarship (that wasn't the name but it was scholarship money given to the best students in the state) and my college gave me a Beinecke scholarship as well. That tuition in today's rate would be $26,352 a year. Instead, my LAC is charging $75K a year. Go figure. Oh, and most of its graduates now take five years to graduate because the LAC figured ouut that if it can ship most of its students overseas for a year, it could run five classes instead of four through the campus at any one time. So the kids come back from being overseas and can't get the courses they need to graduate or can't get their theses done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get it, op. I’m also a planner and have followed the same savings plan as you. I’m putting $800 each month into the kids 529s because I want them to avoid the debt I carried into my 30s.

However, you aren’t going to get any answers that satisfy your curiosity. I was ‘lucky’ to only have $120k in loans so I was able to dig myself out. Lots of people who are looking for full rides for their kids are probably doing so because they are still paying for their own loans.

Or -
They are bad savers/planners
They had to support other family members
They love to live in the moment
They think kids should pay for college just like they did, but are now realizing costs are as high as people claim
Grandma isn’t paying, like she always claimed she would
Parent burned out at the big firm and their salary decreased 50% but they want to stay in the high mortgage house so the kids can keep their schools and friends
They had a medical emergency that wiped out their savings
They paid for their own loans until 42 and are now trying to build up their retirement
...

All these things, and many more, can be the reason why a UMC family hasn’t saved for college.

I think events like this happen far more often than most people realize. It's a major issue in the U.S., and the reason for the battle on how to revamp our healthcare system. No person should have such a negative economic impact socially and individually because of the marked up costs of basic prescriptions, procedures, and facility use. Most of the cost covers overhead for things like malpractice insurance that is built into these crazy costs and expenses. A solid middle class family, before ACA, that was pregnant (the most common operation is for a c-section in the us) would get dropped from insurance. Medicaid/medicare is expensive because of disability expenses. You can't put your head into the sand over things like this, and also expect a 100% medical and economic recovery. It's tough, but it is the struggle for a lot of Americans.