college savings were less than i thought.

[Anonymous]

OP, your kids should be able to afford any college where COA is about $60,000.

That's a LOT of colleges.

[Anonymous]

So many options…

[Anonymous]

WTF - you have $135/kid and don't think that's enough?????

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t dc give you money for college? I thought there was some reciprocity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WTF - you have $135/kid and don't think that's enough?????

Well, it isn't enough to pay for $80,000/year COA private schools, especially for twins, and don't expect any financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh DCUM. OP-I don’t even know what to say.

+1. And imagine if you were OP's DH -- but that's for another forum.

Yep. HER low income job is totally fine but his higher income job is not good enough!

Yeah. That's how pushy, White women roll. You have a problem with that?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We have savings of $405k plus cash flow of $50K yearly based on current school expenditure plus maybe an additional $50K if we trim down life to survival or "graduate student" level (no extras at all).

Well, your twins are in 10th grade now, so trim down halfway to "survival" level and sock away just $25,000 this year and next.

[Anonymous]

OMG

[Anonymous]

The “please be kind” kills me. How about taking some responsibility?

[Anonymous]

Check out schools with twin deals. I think GW has one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, if the kids were truly having problems in public school, that justifies the private school spending. Letting your kids go to bell is a bad way to economize.

Second, the real solution is just to tell your kids now that you hope to be able to pay $55,000 per year for them for college, and that they might have have to come up with the rest through work, loans, etc.

If you can pay $55,000 per year, and they get TAG, that means they can attend any public college in the world, and any private school that really likes them and offers merit aid.

If they’re ordinary bright kids, that should be fine.

Avoid paying for high-end test prep are admissions consulting. If your kids want high-end help, they should earn the money to pay for it.

If your kids really are rocket scientists, and both tenth graders get into any of the kinds of no-merit private colleges that are very clearly better than the University of Maryland or Indiana University (example: HYPSM, or Cal Tech) without special admissions help, then work should get them up to $65,000 per year, moderately frugal living should get them up to $75,000, and maybe your kids could qualify for loans and get up to $82,000, or you could swallow hard, be very frugal and get the total to $80,000.

If you get twins into HYPSM, without help from fancy consultants, maybe that would be a reason to talk to relatives and see if they could help with getting the kids up to $80,000, from $75,000.

Also, if you get wonderful twins into HYPSM, maybe you could get the financial aid offices to help with loans and capping total costs at $80,000 per year per kid.

My kid is really bright and used his brains to accept a full ride to Michigan rather than accept his offer at Stanford. I told him I will invest in a investment property for him with the money or invest in a business.

[Anonymous]

Wait, your HHI is $100k and you’re pouring $50k of that into private school tuition? I must be missing something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, your HHI is $100k and you’re pouring $50k of that into private school tuition? I must be missing something.

And if this is the case, where exactly did you think the “extra” that you think your husband should have saved would come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to Virginia and use in-state options.

No no no
At this point in time no college students should be applying in VA til parents know VA will be safe.

VA is coming for contraception and Youngkin will kill schools so yeah no.

OMG the crazy YOungkin person again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not look back because that is not productive. Just start where you are today. I do not think the immediate situation is as bleak as you think, but you say nothing about your expectations, the kids' dreams or talents, and you have yet to fill out the FAFSA, which will determine the amount schools think you can pay (expected family contribution). You do not need to pay full freight for the best school in the land (however you define that). Here are a few points to remember:

Many schools offer financial aid, whether scholarships or loans. Any chance one or more of your three could get an academic/merit scholarship or aid for a sport or talent?

Many kids work at least part-time to pay their college costs. Some teens works summers and even part-time during the school year to save a bit for college.

Not every school costs 80k per year for everything. Have you planned to cast the net widely in terms of public institutions? Smaller privates that might really seek out your kid?

Some argue that their best plan is to have kid attend community college for two years to save money, then transfer for the baccalaureate.

Are you asking kids what career paths they are considering? Are you touring schools? There's a lot to unpack, and I realize you just got distressing news. But you can work hard now to determine the path forward as a family.

Good luck!!

No, OP will not qualify for financial aid per FAFSA. They will be 100% EFC as are most DCUM types reading this.