Speculate please - cost of college 18 years from now

[Anonymous]

OP, go on the American funds website and run a college cost projection. You can do ions for instate, one for ivy league, etc. there is a wide variance in college costs, so make sure you run a couple. It will tell you how much you need to save monthly or a lumpsum amount today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's crazy. Our EFC is $150,000 per YEAR with a $430,000 income. That's just not right.

What's not right is that one would feel that it is some kind of hardship to live on 280K per year.

Another person who doesn't understand the high tax bracket and disallowance of exemptions issues.

Another person who needs to quit bitching about how hard it is to be rich.

That's a lot of money, but be honest, not enough to pay $150K after taxes unless all of the rest of the life is structured around cutting costs to pay for schools.

Please stop making all high income people look ridiculous. You have 18 years to save for college. If you make $430k/year, you should be able to do this easily. We give generously to our alma maters do that they can give out money to students who need it. Your children don't come close to that group, and if I found out my alma mater was giving need based awards to someone like your child, I would stop my contributions.

[Anonymous]

It does not matter really what your income is. The cost of college is too high for it's value. Even people who have high income realize that. I don't make anywhere near what the pp makes, but I can see his point. Only people who have money to throw away would say that college is a fair price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy. Our EFC is $150,000 per YEAR with a $430,000 income. That's just not right.

That seems totally right. If you make $430k/year, you should easily be able to pay for college at private schools for 2-3 children. If you can't, you are doing something wrong.

Out of earned income? We net $218,000 after taxes and maxing out our 401(k)s. $68K for all other expenses for two people for an entire year????

If I earned 430K/year I would expect to pay for college. It is a foreseeable expense and I would have saved enough to cover it. In fact, hour HHI is half yours and we have saved enough to cover it in full.

You seriously think a family with an income of almost half a million dollars a year should get financial aid?

No I don't, but my point was that no family should be expected to pay 75% of their net income in any given year for college costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's crazy. Our EFC is $150,000 per YEAR with a $430,000 income. That's just not right.

What's not right is that one would feel that it is some kind of hardship to live on 280K per year.

Another person who doesn't understand the high tax bracket and disallowance of exemptions issues.

Another person who needs to quit bitching about how hard it is to be rich.

That's a lot of money, but be honest, not enough to pay $150K after taxes unless all of the rest of the life is structured around cutting costs to pay for schools.

Please stop making all high income people look ridiculous. You have 18 years to save for college. If you make $430k/year, you should be able to do this easily. We give generously to our alma maters do that they can give out money to students who need it. Your children don't come close to that group, and if I found out my alma mater was giving need based awards to someone like your child, I would stop my contributions.

It's not like we've made this much for 18 years. At any rate, sorry to draw the ire of everyone, but it just shows how ridiculous the EFC calculation has become.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in this industry too. My guess is $100k/year, which will be 2-3x the rate of inflation over the period.

Sadly, most of the new spending goes on items not directly related to education, like new stadiums and student centers. Tour any college campus, and you can pretty much guarantee you'll find at least one new building/renovation project in progress. It never stops.

Yes, here is the reason that college costs so much now:

http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/the-25-most-amazing-campus-student-recreation-centers/

Somehow we managed to educate Nobel prize-winning scientists and great American novelists and everything in between at US universities for a century or two without lazy rivers in the student centers and luxury all-suite dorms with maid service. All the increases in tuition are NOT going to better education, since universities have cut tenure-track faculty and increased TAs and adjuncts while they've been on building sprees. The student center list above includes public, private, top-ranked, and lower-tier. The whole system is an awful mess.

[Anonymous]

Out of earned income? We net $218,000 after taxes and maxing out our 401(k)s. $68K for all other expenses for two people for an entire year????

You know, even if it is 75% of your earned income per year, it seems completely ridiculous to complain. For most people (yes, even in high cost of living areas like DC) 68K is plenty to live on per year for two adults. The EFC is based on what is left over to live a livable lifestyle, perhaps not the lifestyle you have grown accustomed to. If living at the level that is far above the level of most of the US is what is necessary to you, yes, you should have planned ahead and saved for this cost. The government is not subsidizing a luxurious lifestyle. Why should someone who earns nearly half a million dollars get financial aid when the median income in the US is 50,000? That indicates a lack of foresight and valuing of education for the past 18 years. Even if you didn't always make that much money, you probably could have saved some. Plus with the American opportunity credit, you might get an extra 1-2K, which is something.

Also, it is your choice to max out your 401K. If you planned poorly for college, you could always, you know, just meet the employer match for four years rather than maxing it out...

[Anonymous]

I just keep picturing Dr. Evil from Austin Powers saying, "One million dollars."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's crazy. Our EFC is $150,000 per YEAR with a $430,000 income. That's just not right.

What's not right is that one would feel that it is some kind of hardship to live on 280K per year.

Another person who doesn't understand the high tax bracket and disallowance of exemptions issues.

Another person who needs to quit bitching about how hard it is to be rich.

That's a lot of money, but be honest, not enough to pay $150K after taxes unless all of the rest of the life is structured around cutting costs to pay for schools.

Please stop making all high income people look ridiculous. You have 18 years to save for college. If you make $430k/year, you should be able to do this easily. We give generously to our alma maters do that they can give out money to students who need it. Your children don't come close to that group, and if I found out my alma mater was giving need based awards to someone like your child, I would stop my contributions.

It's not like we've made this much for 18 years. At any rate, sorry to draw the ire of everyone, but it just shows how ridiculous the EFC calculation has become.

No, it shows how out of touch you are. Even if you haven't always made that much, my guess is that you didn't go from making $30k/year to $430k/year just as your child entered college. And if you did, well, it should be easy to find the money since you used to live on a lot less. I cannot believe you expect/think your child should get financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Out of earned income? We net $218,000 after taxes and maxing out our 401(k)s. $68K for all other expenses for two people for an entire year????

You know, even if it is 75% of your earned income per year, it seems completely ridiculous to complain. For most people (yes, even in high cost of living areas like DC) 68K is plenty to live on per year for two adults. The EFC is based on what is left over to live a livable lifestyle, perhaps not the lifestyle you have grown accustomed to. If living at the level that is far above the level of most of the US is what is necessary to you, yes, you should have planned ahead and saved for this cost. The government is not subsidizing a luxurious lifestyle. Why should someone who earns nearly half a million dollars get financial aid when the median income in the US is 50,000? That indicates a lack of foresight and valuing of education for the past 18 years. Even if you didn't always make that much money, you probably could have saved some. Plus with the American opportunity credit, you might get an extra 1-2K, which is something.

Also, it is your choice to max out your 401K. If you planned poorly for college, you could always, you know, just meet the employer match for four years rather than maxing it out...

Stop giving this guy a hard time. He can complain about the cost of college because the cost of college is out of control. It doesn't matter if you think he deserves to pay $60000 a year, the point is that colleges should not charge $60000 a year. A degree is not worth that. It is a bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in this industry too. My guess is $100k/year, which will be 2-3x the rate of inflation over the period.

Sadly, most of the new spending goes on items not directly related to education, like new stadiums and student centers. Tour any college campus, and you can pretty much guarantee you'll find at least one new building/renovation project in progress. It never stops.

Yes, here is the reason that college costs so much now:

http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/the-25-most-amazing-campus-student-recreation-centers/

Somehow we managed to educate Nobel prize-winning scientists and great American novelists and everything in between at US universities for a century or two without lazy rivers in the student centers and luxury all-suite dorms with maid service. All the increases in tuition are NOT going to better education, since universities have cut tenure-track faculty and increased TAs and adjuncts while they've been on building sprees. The student center list above includes public, private, top-ranked, and lower-tier. The whole system is an awful mess.

Say what?!?! The lazy river is just insane. There's no way you can justify that. They can't even pretend that's for student fitness. I went to an Ivy in the 90s and we were perfectly happy without any fancy "sports" facilities. We liked our musty, old looking buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy. Our EFC is $150,000 per YEAR with a $430,000 income. That's just not right.

How many tuitions is that, three?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're sending DD overseas for university -- either Canada or England (or, even better, somewhere else if she can do the language there).

No way am I subsidizing the education bubble in the U.S. And it is a bubble and a money-making business -- I work for a university here and I am privy to the conversations about how to keep getting more money from the public (next target: the growing hispanic population! Look for universities to start exploiting them heavily and getting them $100Ks in debt in the next decade).

Have you looked at colleges in England? They are not cheap for US citizens. My niece lives in Europe and is looking at colleges right now. UK is too expensive.

[Anonymous]

Cost of college in 4 years? We estimate 36k yearly state, 45k private. No make that 60k private.

[Anonymous]

I think public universities will be free for most kids. Many already are. Georgia's Hope Scholorship and Florida's Bright Futures are just two of so many examples. I have a child at UF. We don't pay a dime. And our HHI is too high for any need based help. She was awarded the highest Bright Futures Scholorship (not difficult to get at all) and received additional money from the school.

I also have two kids in other state schools. Both received scholarships from the state for decent (not outstanding) GPAs and high-ish SAT scores.

The cost of college will continue to skyrocket for privates. But state schools are awarding kids who work hard in high school.