If you consider yourself a “donut hole” family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI 180K. I quit my low paying teaching job to take care of elderly parent while our first kid was in HS. She had stats to possibly get into Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but knew we wouldn’t be able to afford them. She applied ED to to UVA and was accepted. The tuition is still steep for us, but we have been saving for years. FAFSA said we were full pay. Also, no fancy vacations, 2007 and 2004 cars, and kids went to, what many here call, a terrible high school, in a lower cost of living area. We prioritized saving what we could for college. Our second kid has been accepted to an SEC school, that has a great program for her major, and they matched in-state tuition.

It can be done, you just have to stop keeping up with the Joneses.

We're in state for UVA, and when our kids were applying to college we easily could have afforded Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt and out kids actually got into one of these schools. But we never seriously considered any of them over UVA because it makes no financial sense. You're not sacrificing anything or denying your kid anything of real value by choosing UVA over any of those schools. You're just being smart.

But—if you can make it work….I’m a UVA alum and my kids are full pay at an Ivy. Fit was much better for them. They took advantage of everything and there were many opportunities they never would have had at UVA. UVA is a great school, but much larger and has all the inherent issues that come with that.

We did pay for private HS and now college. Education is by far are biggest “luxury” expenditure, but that was something we knew from the time they were born was utmost importance for us. As a fully public school kid myself k-grad school I’d be lying if I said IB day isn’t see what a big difference: public vs private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI 180K. I quit my low paying teaching job to take care of elderly parent while our first kid was in HS. She had stats to possibly get into Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but knew we wouldn’t be able to afford them. She applied ED to to UVA and was accepted. The tuition is still steep for us, but we have been saving for years. FAFSA said we were full pay. Also, no fancy vacations, 2007 and 2004 cars, and kids went to, what many here call, a terrible high school, in a lower cost of living area. We prioritized saving what we could for college. Our second kid has been accepted to an SEC school, that has a great program for her major, and they matched in-state tuition.

It can be done, you just have to stop keeping up with the Joneses.

We're in state for UVA, and when our kids were applying to college we easily could have afforded Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt and out kids actually got into one of these schools. But we never seriously considered any of them over UVA because it makes no financial sense. You're not sacrificing anything or denying your kid anything of real value by choosing UVA over any of those schools. You're just being smart.

But—if you can make it work….I’m a UVA alum and my kids are full pay at an Ivy. Fit was much better for them. They took advantage of everything and there were many opportunities they never would have had at UVA. UVA is a great school, but much larger and has all the inherent issues that come with that.

We did pay for private HS and now college. Education is by far are biggest “luxury” expenditure, but that was something we knew from the time they were born was utmost importance for us. As a fully public school kid myself k-grad school I’d be lying if I said IB day isn’t see what a big difference: public vs private.

You seriously cannot be this dense. Georgetown, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt are great schools but not Ivies. I never said I wouldn't have sent my kid to an Ivy over UVA. I very well might have.

But who knows? Your kid hasn't graduated yet. Check back with us in ten years and let us know if all the money you've been spending made any material difference in your kid's professional development and personal happiness and well being. Chance are it won't have.

[Anonymous]

^ will do! It already has for one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI 180K. I quit my low paying teaching job to take care of elderly parent while our first kid was in HS. She had stats to possibly get into Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but knew we wouldn’t be able to afford them. She applied ED to to UVA and was accepted. The tuition is still steep for us, but we have been saving for years. FAFSA said we were full pay. Also, no fancy vacations, 2007 and 2004 cars, and kids went to, what many here call, a terrible high school, in a lower cost of living area. We prioritized saving what we could for college. Our second kid has been accepted to an SEC school, that has a great program for her major, and they matched in-state tuition.

It can be done, you just have to stop keeping up with the Joneses.

We're in state for UVA, and when our kids were applying to college we easily could have afforded Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt and out kids actually got into one of these schools. But we never seriously considered any of them over UVA because it makes no financial sense. You're not sacrificing anything or denying your kid anything of real value by choosing UVA over any of those schools. You're just being smart.

But—if you can make it work….I’m a UVA alum and my kids are full pay at an Ivy. Fit was much better for them. They took advantage of everything and there were many opportunities they never would have had at UVA. UVA is a great school, but much larger and has all the inherent issues that come with that.

We did pay for private HS and now college. Education is by far are biggest “luxury” expenditure, but that was something we knew from the time they were born was utmost importance for us. As a fully public school kid myself k-grad school I’d be lying if I said IB day isn’t see what a big difference: public vs private.

You seriously cannot be this dense. Georgetown, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt are great schools but not Ivies. I never said I wouldn't have sent my kid to an Ivy over UVA. I very well might have.

But who knows? Your kid hasn't graduated yet. Check back with us in ten years and let us know if all the money you've been spending made any material difference in your kid's professional development and personal happiness and well being. Chance are it won't have.

He/she did say they were a UVA alum.

[Anonymous]

We saved the equivalent $50k COA/yr for our two kids. So that would cover in-state public, less expense OOS and some privates with merit. Definitely not FP private. FAFSA and CSS didnt provide anything. Does that mean we are doughnut?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ will do! It already has for one.

How, exactly? I'm all ears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI 180K. I quit my low paying teaching job to take care of elderly parent while our first kid was in HS. She had stats to possibly get into Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but knew we wouldn’t be able to afford them. She applied ED to to UVA and was accepted. The tuition is still steep for us, but we have been saving for years. FAFSA said we were full pay. Also, no fancy vacations, 2007 and 2004 cars, and kids went to, what many here call, a terrible high school, in a lower cost of living area. We prioritized saving what we could for college. Our second kid has been accepted to an SEC school, that has a great program for her major, and they matched in-state tuition.

It can be done, you just have to stop keeping up with the Joneses.

We're in state for UVA, and when our kids were applying to college we easily could have afforded Georgetown, Notre Dame or Vanderbilt and out kids actually got into one of these schools. But we never seriously considered any of them over UVA because it makes no financial sense. You're not sacrificing anything or denying your kid anything of real value by choosing UVA over any of those schools. You're just being smart.

But—if you can make it work….I’m a UVA alum and my kids are full pay at an Ivy. Fit was much better for them. They took advantage of everything and there were many opportunities they never would have had at UVA. UVA is a great school, but much larger and has all the inherent issues that come with that.

We did pay for private HS and now college. Education is by far are biggest “luxury” expenditure, but that was something we knew from the time they were born was utmost importance for us. As a fully public school kid myself k-grad school I’d be lying if I said IB day isn’t see what a big difference: public vs private.

You seriously cannot be this dense. Georgetown, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt are great schools but not Ivies. I never said I wouldn't have sent my kid to an Ivy over UVA. I very well might have.

But who knows? Your kid hasn't graduated yet. Check back with us in ten years and let us know if all the money you've been spending made any material difference in your kid's professional development and personal happiness and well being. Chance are it won't have.

He/she did say they were a UVA alum.

Ha ha, yea. Not doing the school any favors with such a ridiculous response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We saved the equivalent $50k COA/yr for our two kids. So that would cover in-state public, less expense OOS and some privates with merit. Definitely not FP private. FAFSA and CSS didnt provide anything. Does that mean we are doughnut?

Yes. But fear not, there are people who haunt DCUM waiting for the opportunity to tell people like you that you have a moral obligation to send your child to the most expensive school in existence, no matter how much it charges.