For UMC families.. how much did you end up paying OOP for college?
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Anonymous
I get that but I want to hear what is the norm. If we put our finances into several calculators we are showing no aid at all. I probably would be more encouraging if public schools if this is the case just not to get DC’s hopes up! |
Anonymous
| We are in the same situation. I think OOS is probably an easier pill to swallow if you are middle income and the cost for in and out of state is similar. We loved U Del for example but is it worth 100k more? |
Anonymous
+1. PP is unfamiliar with how generous need-based aid is at HYPSM. |
Anonymous
|
1) yes, aid is great IF you gain admission to HYP
2) OP, have you done the Net Price Calculators at various schools? State flagship, OOS and private. This will give you an idea if you will receive any $$. 3) If your kid has a high GPA and stats, some schools offer generous merit. You haven't given us much to go on.Are your children not old enough to have taken the SAT or even in high school? Basically, if you have an average student and a high income, you will be to paying full freight. If you don't want to pay that much, you need to tell your child that your finances are not endless. |
Anonymous
No loans. We are at a school that doesn't include loans in the package. |
Anonymous
Calculators don’t give merit aid numbers. |
Anonymous
Some schools (UDEL) do give merit aid numbers. |
Anonymous
This is what you do. I kid applied to some reaches, that in the end could likely have been out if the running due to $$ (especially when we stood them up against offers from second tiers). You might be surprised. My DC fell in love with one of her supposed safeties, and chose it over better ranked schools. That is not a bad thing. She got about half price merit aid, which means I can afford at least 3 years of attendance with our 529 savings. Since I continue to make deposits into that, we should have almost full coverage when all is said and done. Just be aware, certain expenses are not that obvious when you are making these calculations: like books and lab supplies (which add up for science majors--like $300 a book!), study abroad expenses and the annual tuition increases! |
Anonymous
Retirement savings do not count against you. |
Anonymous
The offer package often includes loans in their calculation, but you don't have to take them. That is what we did. Only accepted the merit aid (and my child was not a superstar... so don't panic). But you might have to loosen your grip on the USNWR ranking dream. |
Anonymous
True, but offers that don't include loans are the better bottom line. Since loans are paid after attendance, they are not part of the cost of attendance considerations. If the school's package includes loans, and you don't take them, the annual out of pocket will be that much higher. |
Anonymous
| UMC with investments in non-liquid NQ assets. We did not apply for financial aide. Offered merit at lower ranked schools but accepted at a high ranked school which has faculty and career counseling advantages for DC's academic strength. Paid full freight of about $80k/year including travel costs, abroad programs, internship lodging expenses and EC donations. While the internships were well compensated, it wasn't enough to make a dent; instead, we elected that DC retain "his" monies. Goal being to obtain early decision making experience with personal financial management Way back when, we thought we had put aside enough for both college and grad school. The forecast when we started was a max of $50k/year. It all worked out though because it provided the luxury of having room to pivot. |
Anonymous
No, you are wrong. The Department of ED provides the loans. When someone says they "got nothing from FAFSA or the schools" what they are saying is that their EFC was 100 percent so the only benefit they received from either the fed government or the schools was the $5500 unsubsidized Stafford loans which come from the federal government. As early as possible (now Dept of Ed allows filing before senior year) the parents should file with FAFSA, which is a program in the Office of Postsecondary Education at the Department of Ed. This wiki explains it clearly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAFSA. Most colleges and universities will not begin talking to you about financial aid or student aid without filling it out the FAFSA (or some schools use the CSS Profile instead). The FAFSA determines your family's EFC (Expected Family Contribution). The OP is asking what Upper Middle Class families are receiving from colleges and paying, so the EFC is determinative. Many UMC and MC families are now receiving 100% for EFC meaning they are expected to pick up the entire bill for their children's education even if they pick a school at $84K a year (plus the $5500 unsubsidized loans from the feds, which students should take out because they have to sign the paperwork so it gives them some teeth in the game). The $5500 BTW increases a bit all four years. The EFC is sent to ten colleges of your choice. The financial aid office at the college looks at the EFC of the accepted student and knows immediately if the fed. government is providing this student with a Pell Grant, a FSEOG, a Stafford Loan, a Federal Work-Study Program, unsubsidized Stafford, etc. Then the school decides if it can add to that amount via financial aid out of the school's own pockets (this is different from merit aid). Then the school might tack on its own work-study program, and finally the school might offer some merit aid to get the package up to the difference between the EFC and the tuition, room and board costs of that school. So, for example, taking a recent example here on DCum, if a parent fills out the FAFSA and gets a EFC of $67,000, then the difference between the $84K a year and $67K falls to the parent to pay (minus the $5500 unsubsidized Stafford loan. A college might see that and offer some financial aid to fill the gap or it may not. Colleges are finding themselves increasingly strapped to meet the needs of students coming in with low EFCs which is why you are starting to see smaller, less prestigious colleges shut down. Or a parent may get an EFC of $100K so all of college is paid by the UMC parent (minus the $5500 loan). Some parents in those situations find themselves financially strapped because the cost of a higher education has outpaced inflation, so savings doesn'tcover the difference, or the parents have other financial problems, like taking care of SN kids or elderly parents. In those situations, parents wisely say the child has to go in-state, or community college, or the family has to refinance a house or take out high interest loans to make ends meet. This is why it is important to do the NPC (net price calculators) on the school's websites and the FAFSA as early as possible so they know exactly what their EFC may be so they can plan. It's not fair to the student to dangle a $80K slac in front of them when the family simply can't afford it. Finally, as to merit scholarships, schools' resources are going to fill in the difference between the EFC and actual cost of attendance. Since resources are diverted to financial aid, merit aid is drying up at the more "elite" schools because, quite simply, those schools don't have to offer merit aid to fill their classes with the type of student they want. They would rather divert those resources to financial aid. While some are saying on here that HYP offers great merit aid, those are capped at certain HHIs which is lower than most people posting on this board. This is clearly spelled out on the school's websites. For the rest of the applicants, they wiill receive no merit and no financial aid if the EFC is at 100%. The rare instance of merit scholarships will happen when a school wants to trade merit for something unusual that your child has. So, if you drop to second or third tier schools, and your child has outstanding test scores or a particular instrument, or special URM status, then the school may offer merit because your student offers something statistically that that particular school needs in order to boost statistics when reporting to USN&WR. For example, some small schools in the south contacted my DS outside of the application process because they had purchased the "males with ACTS over 35" list and were contacting those and offering $25,000 off cost of tuition in order to get his high ACT. However, in those situations, often in-state flagship is still cheaper even after subtracting the $25K. This will happen with extremely high SATs and SAT II scores. The result of the foregoing is that many UMC and MC parents find themselves surprised at the junior and senior year of high school to learn just how expensive universities have become, that their EFC is very high, their college savings are inadequate and that it is unlikely that they can afford to send Jr. to a SLAC or HYP because they don't have $360K in after tax dollars lying about. Add to this problem is the fact that many schools now take 5 or 6 years to finish (that's why you will see percentages given for 4th, 5th and 6th year graduation rates), you are talking $500K per child. |
Anonymous
| For most UMC families state colleges are the way to go. |
Anonymous
+1. That's what we did. |