Is there a calculator or benchmark for how much college we can afford?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why haven't you saved more? We make less than you and saved for four years of state school.

Can we just call out this poster for being a total a$$ hole?

[Anonymous]

This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

NP. I mean, does anybody here really think you should qualify for financial aid if your HHI is $350K?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

NP. I mean, does anybody here really think you should qualify for financial aid if your HHI is $350K?

Of course they should not. If they want to pay less they can focus on public schools in-state or the many schools that offer good merit aid. If you want to buy the prestige brand name, you'll need to pay full price. Those colleges will expect you can do it through cash flow or tap home equity.

Our HH income is upper $200s and we decided what was affordable for us, with DH close to retirement, was up to $40k per year. One kid is well under that at VT. Current senior is likely to end up either at W&M ($37k) or one of several LACs on her list that give merit and are likely to cost less than W&M.

[Anonymous]

OP- Without more information (other savings, your age, etc) If I were you, I would plan to pay whatever you were saving per year, plus another $12K a year. It seems to me it is usually possible to trim from our budgets to come up with 1K a month when you are at 6 figures (eat out less, stop buying clothes, skip vacay, cancel subscriptions, etc). So if you were putting in $4K into the 529, I would plan on contributing 16K and taking 20K out of the 529 a year. So I'd keep expenses at $36K a year. If she goes to private, then the rest you can pay for with loans.

Now if you have a non-retirement brokerage accounts or savings bonds (no taxes on interest when used for college), I would dip into that to keep your kid from taking out loans.

I'd also consider asking grandparents and any childless aunts and uncles for help to avoid loans if they can afford it.

Finally, your kid should plan to work full-time this summer (or even a part-time job now) to save to cover pocket money and books. That way they have skin in the game and can start thinking about being frugal. Any other savings they have (bday money, etc) should go to books and pocket money too. That way you aren't also having to come up with money all the time to cover your kid's social life in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

NP. I mean, does anybody here really think you should qualify for financial aid if your HHI is $350K?

Education should be free for all. The better schools should be reserved for the students that worked harder to get there. Full stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

NP. I mean, does anybody here really think you should qualify for financial aid if your HHI is $350K?

Education should be free for all. The better schools should be reserved for the students that worked harder to get there. Full stop.

Cute. College is not an entitlement. You don't have to go. What's next, free grad school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

NP. I mean, does anybody here really think you should qualify for financial aid if your HHI is $350K?

Education should be free for all. The better schools should be reserved for the students that worked harder to get there. Full stop.

? Okay. But it’s not. and those making 350k can afford it, even though that means reducing their standard of living - they’ll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a topic that really torques me off, OP. Colleges absolutely expect parents to bend over backwards to provide any and all EFC amounts through cash flow. Go through some net price calculators, zero out all savings and home equity, and you’ll still discover that an above average HHI has your EFC skyrocketing very quickly. In other words, colleges DON’T expect you to save for the majority of expenses. Rather, they expect you to reduce your standard of living while your kids are in school to that of the unofficial HHI cutoff values. These are typically around $75K - $150K.

For example, a family with an HHI of $150K or less might receive a very comfortable financial aid package. Whatever you make above this, universities will expect you to pay out. Make $350K HHI? That’s $200K more resources you have vs. the $150K family (maybe $120K after taxes). So University X will figure you can slash your living expenses by up to $120K per year, if necessary, which easily covers tuition/room/board…so therefore you receive NO financial aid.

NP. I mean, does anybody here really think you should qualify for financial aid if your HHI is $350K?

Education should be free for all. The better schools should be reserved for the students that worked harder to get there. Full stop.

Wrong. That’s not how education works in the US. Better K-12 schools are not reserved for students that work harder. They are for the kids of parents that can afford to live in those school zones. Similarly, better colleges are filled with students whose parents are willing to pay for them to attend. Sure, there are some students getting good financial aid packages but the majority are filled with kids from the top 1% of household incomes.
There are inexpensive colleges but parents and students are entitled and think just because they want to, they should be able to attend without sacrificing their lifestyle. Sorry, no. Go to CC for 2 years then transfer. Full Stop.

[Anonymous]

Colleges and universities count on us to pay for the people who can't afford college. So they don't give any breaks and have an unrealistic idea of what people can afford -- we have two in college next year and we are not getting any breaks for this, they are still expecting us to pay full load even though we will have two in college. Yeah, no problem, even in-state that's going to come out to about $40-50K for one year.

It's back breaking.

[Anonymous]

How much should someone save if they want to pay full freight at a SLAC for all four years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much should someone save if they want to pay full freight at a SLAC for all four years?

Right now there are SLACs that cost nearly $80k per year so you are looking at $320,000 + inflation for 4 years. But, if you want a SLAC experience there are also ones that give substantial merit aid to bring the cost down to the $30k-$50k range.

[Anonymous]

I am a stay at home mom and plan to go to work full time when my DD goes to college. I have a degree in a field that's easily employable. I will work and my paycheck will all go towards her schooling. I haven't heard of this plan elsewhere, so it doesn't really work with calculators. We do have some 529 saved and hopefully she will get some scholarships or financial aid as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a stay at home mom and plan to go to work full time when my DD goes to college. I have a degree in a field that's easily employable. I will work and my paycheck will all go towards her schooling. I haven't heard of this plan elsewhere, so it doesn't really work with calculators. We do have some 529 saved and hopefully she will get some scholarships or financial aid as well.

Lots of women do this - I see it in my neighborhood all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why haven't you saved more? We make less than you and saved for four years of state school.

Can we just call out this poster for being a total a$$ hole?

Can we just ignore the person or is the pile on necessary ?