How does most of America pay for these elite schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case - both sets of grandparents are also paying, we only have two kids, and we can live comfortably from the lowest salary, so we also pay as he goes for DC1's med school. We make almost 500K/year and we moved to a lower COL area, so our mortgage is low.

This is either a troll or one of the most tone deaf posts I've ever read on DCUM!

Right?!?

How is this tone deaf? I see no issues with her response.

You think PP represents “most of America” which is the topic of this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case - both sets of grandparents are also paying, we only have two kids, and we can live comfortably from the lowest salary, so we also pay as he goes for DC1's med school. We make almost 500K/year and we moved to a lower COL area, so our mortgage is low.

This is either a troll or one of the most tone deaf posts I've ever read on DCUM!

Right?!?

How is this tone deaf? I see no issues with her response.

You think PP represents “most of America” which is the topic of this thread?

Question maybe should have been how does the median household with an annual income of $67,500 pay for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case - both sets of grandparents are also paying, we only have two kids, and we can live comfortably from the lowest salary, so we also pay as he goes for DC1's med school. We make almost 500K/year and we moved to a lower COL area, so our mortgage is low.

This is either a troll or one of the most tone deaf posts I've ever read on DCUM!

Right?!?

How is this tone deaf? I see no issues with her response.

You think PP represents “most of America” which is the topic of this thread?

Question maybe should have been how does the median household with an annual income of $67,500 pay for college.

They don’t. Look at the student bodies- they draw from the top 1% and the 10% not the middle 30

[Anonymous]

This is our situation. I opened 529s the week of birth. We saved. Grandparents helped.

We drive old cars. Live in old house. We still do not have 80k/year saved.

+1 If you have multiple kids and income of $150k/year, it's really hard to get anywhere close to $80k per year no matter when you start saving. We started saving for each of our 3 kids before they were born and also increased contributions after the high day care costs ended.
It's really astonishing that colleges as rich as some of these private schools (which have been called "hedge funds with a university on the side" for a reason) charge so much and only give like 50-60% of the kids any kind of financial help. At these prices, it should be like 90% of the kids getting at least some assistance.
Sorry to vent but I get frustrated when people act like these extraordinary costs are on the same level as 20-30 years ago and it's no big deal. You can save forever but once your kid is college-age, you find that the assets count against you and any little crumbs of financial aid disappear once you add your 529 savings into the net price calculator.
The options are limited when schools like UMD get 55k applications. Thank goodness for other in-state options and merit aid at some colleges, but it'd be better for the economy and for America in general if cost wasn't the first thing most families consider when evaluating colleges.
I really think there ought to be an organized push from families and employers to make all colleges (including the uber-expensive private ones) more reasonably priced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that most people on DCUM have $80k saved per year of college and much of America (HHI under $125k) gets aid but do these two realities really cover these gigantic pools of applicants to all the top 50 schools? has the rest of America also saved $80k/year/kid? am I missing something? thinking about this tonight as friends of ours just had their daughter (one of 6 kids, first in college) commit to Carnegie Mellon. I know for a fact that they make more than $150k but I had no idea that $&0k/year was in their budget.

Responsible parents save for their kids' education.

I’m a responsible parent but I don’t make enough to save much. I’m a single parent and a teacher. I have about $5K saved with two years left before college. I make around $70K. Plenty of parents don’t make enough to save for retirement and college. I took out loans and paid them back and so will my kid. That doesn’t make me an irresponsible parent.

[Anonymous]

When you add up the number of seats in the freshman class at these schools, it isn't a lot of people compared to the population of 18 year olds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as our first son was born we started saving for college A small smoothly amount at first and increased when daycare was no longer needed. We do have 80k a year saved for him and his brothers. We do fine but have 10 year old cars. No fancy handbags, clothes, etc.

Now if we had 6 kids no way could we afford college for all six.

Good for you! It’s nice to read about responsible parents who planned ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kid got into an Ivy. We are taking out loans. We don’t feel bad about it. We wish we didn’t have to, but it is what it is. We know our child will do great things with this opportunity.

+1. We also have savings and are cutting way back on luxuries. We think it’s worth it, too.

[Anonymous]

Saving $15k per kid per year in 529 plan since birth. Income has ranged from $150k to $300k between birth of first and second kid. 10-year old already has $215k in his account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that most people on DCUM have $80k saved per year of college and much of America (HHI under $125k) gets aid but do these two realities really cover these gigantic pools of applicants to all the top 50 schools? has the rest of America also saved $80k/year/kid? am I missing something? thinking about this tonight as friends of ours just had their daughter (one of 6 kids, first in college) commit to Carnegie Mellon. I know for a fact that they make more than $150k but I had no idea that $&0k/year was in their budget.

You are perhaps asking the wrong question...the reality is that most of the Top 20 private schools (I think at least 15) are all grant / no loan schools. CMU may be an interesting example, because not sure if they made the same pledge. So, a parent with 6 kids and $150k is getting much of college covered by grants, with some minimal parental contribution.

It is when you move outside this group that college actually gets more unaffordable. Think OOS for a top state flagship like Berkeley or a Bennington College in VT (as just random examples).

Right, according to their FA formulas. If you can't pay what they say you can pay, then you take out loans for your kid to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most high stats kids from donuts hole families give up on elite schools and go to the in state flagship

+1

[Anonymous]

I'm a millennial. My parents saved nothing for my college. Zip. We had a HHI of around $200k so I qualified for no need based aid. My dad was legitimately confused when I told him I couldn't make enough at a summer job to pay my own tuition and room and board, like he had. He thought I was just being lazy.

It worked out that our state university didn't offer merit aid and my father refused to take out parent loans, so that wasn't an option. We were in a state without a reasonable community college option. I ended up getting into a T20, but attending a very low ranked school on a significant merit scholarship, plus a large external scholarship, plus student loans, plus three part time jobs.

My kids had fully funded college savings accounts before they turned 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is our situation. I opened 529s the week of birth. We saved. Grandparents helped.

We drive old cars. Live in old house. We still do not have 80k/year saved.

+1 If you have multiple kids and income of $150k/year, it's really hard to get anywhere close to $80k per year no matter when you start saving. We started saving for each of our 3 kids before they were born and also increased contributions after the high day care costs ended.
It's really astonishing that colleges as rich as some of these private schools (which have been called "hedge funds with a university on the side" for a reason) charge so much and only give like 50-60% of the kids any kind of financial help. At these prices, it should be like 90% of the kids getting at least some assistance.
Sorry to vent but I get frustrated when people act like these extraordinary costs are on the same level as 20-30 years ago and it's no big deal. You can save forever but once your kid is college-age, you find that the assets count against you and any little crumbs of financial aid disappear once you add your 529 savings into the net price calculator.
The options are limited when schools like UMD get 55k applications. Thank goodness for other in-state options and merit aid at some colleges, but it'd be better for the economy and for America in general if cost wasn't the first thing most families consider when evaluating colleges.
I really think there ought to be an organized push from families and employers to make all colleges (including the uber-expensive private ones) more reasonably priced.

+1

People write, "that's what responsible parents do," as if the task at hand were totally doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As soon as our first son was born we started saving for college A small smoothly amount at first and increased when daycare was no longer needed. We do have 80k a year saved for him and his brothers. We do fine but have 10 year old cars. No fancy handbags, clothes, etc.

Now if we had 6 kids no way could we afford college for all six.

This doesn't really answer OP's question, but please do go off with the smugness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We saved like crazy. We didn't buy into the DMV mentality that says you have to have a posh house, 3 expensive vacations per year, and the highest-end purse/car/electronics. I didn't put my own high-cost education (paid for by my parents' second mortgage and lots of my own borrowing for grad school) to good use rather than getting caught up in the SAHM culture. No family money whatsoever - my parents sacrificed a lot so that I could get a great education and I'm thrilled that I can do the same for my own kids.

So your parents sacrificed so you could get a great education, you have now sacrificed so your kids can get the same. Presumably they are expected to do the same for your grandkids. Personally, a nicer house and some vacations plus state schools seems like a better idea than focusing your life around making sure your kid can spend 4 years at the right school.

I was thinking this too. I know so many Ivy grads who need financial aid so they can send their kids to Ivy schools, and so on. The cycle of debt continues but I honestly think everyone is just hoping for massive loan forgiveness asap.

No cycle of debt here, just a deep and abiding believe in the transformative value of education. My DH is an immigrant who worked his way through lower-tier state schools and prestigious grad schools. My grad school loans were paid off long ago. Our education sent both of us onto trajectories that would not have been remotely imaginable for either of our families. We have a comfortable life by normal standards, but we'd rather save for college than drive a Range Rover or live in a McMansion. YMMV but if you really believe that these are foolish priorities, I don't particularly want to know you.