How do middle class families pay for private colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS goes to Grinnell, he said most students are either poor enough to get a lot of aid, or wealthy enough to swing full-pay or close to it. There's some in the middle that I assume have saved as they only provide need based aid according to the EFC. Iowa kids get an automatic 12k per year but there's no merit aid.

Actually, as you can see on page 19 of the Common Data Set, Grinnell awarded merit aid to 38 students admitted for Fall 2016:

http://web.grinnell.edu/institutionalresearch/webdocs/GC_CDS_1617.pdf

Almost all of those are the Iowa kids who automatically get a merit scholarship plus a handful of national merit scholars that get $2000
They do award a very small number (like 1-2) merit scholarships but even those have a component of need and are not strictly "if you score X you get Y dollars"

My DS just admitted to Grinnell with $20K per year merit scholarship and he is not a national merit scholar. Still not sure if we are willing to pay the rest when he's got a great in state VA option.

I know what you mean, while 20K sounds like a lot, that still leaves you on the hook for 40K per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS goes to Grinnell, he said most students are either poor enough to get a lot of aid, or wealthy enough to swing full-pay or close to it. There's some in the middle that I assume have saved as they only provide need based aid according to the EFC. Iowa kids get an automatic 12k per year but there's no merit aid.

Actually, as you can see on page 19 of the Common Data Set, Grinnell awarded merit aid to 38 students admitted for Fall 2016:

http://web.grinnell.edu/institutionalresearch/webdocs/GC_CDS_1617.pdf

Almost all of those are the Iowa kids who automatically get a merit scholarship plus a handful of national merit scholars that get $2000
They do award a very small number (like 1-2) merit scholarships but even those have a component of need and are not strictly "if you score X you get Y dollars"

My DS just admitted to Grinnell with $20K per year merit scholarship and he is not a national merit scholar. Still not sure if we are willing to pay the rest when he's got a great in state VA option.

I know what you mean, while 20K sounds like a lot, that still leaves you on the hook for 40K per year.

My son got about $20K/year from all the private colleges he was accepted to. There seems to be something arbitrary about that amount. And for us, it really doesn't make enough of a dent to make the school affordable.

[Anonymous]

It's called discounting. Like when you go to buy a car and there is a sticker price and then what you actually pay. State schools can't discount.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's called discounting. Like when you go to buy a car and there is a sticker price and then what you actually pay. State schools can't discount.

Or very minimally- DC go $2k a year from both state school to which he applied. He recieved about $20k from the private ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's called discounting. Like when you go to buy a car and there is a sticker price and then what you actually pay. State schools can't discount.

Some VA state schools do have small merit awards. They'd be peanuts from a private but if you're taking $4-5K off of already low tuition, it makes COA ridiculously reasonable. People -- don't discount the smaller state schools, especially if you have a high-stats kid!

[Anonymous]

My brother-in-law likes to complain that his kids couldn't go to private colleges because they received no aid. He also owns 3 homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nephew is middle class and got a full free ride at Harvard. Harvard has deep pockets.

Define middle class hi for your nephew. And, how many are in that household. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially those who make just barely above the amount to qualify for any aid. Most private schools cost $50,000 a year just for tuition. It's completely unrealistic to think that the average family will have saved that kind of money beforehand. Are parents just going into debt for years and years to afford this? I have a friend who's daughter got into a top ivy, but will be going to UVA because they can't afford the tuition. This seems completely reasonable to me, but I can't help but wonder who all these families are that are paying over $50,000 for college (and not even "top" schools, just private colleges)

Our HHI has been $150k-$220k for the past ten years or so. It fluctuates based on bonuses. I don't consider us to be middle class. We are currently paying around $40k a year for our older son and will be paying around $45k a year for our younger son starting this fall. Two years of over lap. We are funding through 529 savings and extra savings we made outside of 529 and about $20k from current cash flow so we don't dip into savings too much. Basically, we saved enough to fully pay for in state college in the 529s and saved in other vehicles (eg ROTH IRA - this past year was the first year we did not qualify for ROTH and other savings) to cover other options. Our first is going to an out of state school and it look like our second will go to smaller private school and with a $25k per year scholarship- which puts the cost to us at around $45k.

Friends whose income in the $100k-$200k are going the in state college route unless their child can find scholarships to make it the same cost (eg University of South Carolina or Miami of Ohio).

You may not consider yourself midlle class, but you are. In haft, you are upper middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially those who make just barely above the amount to qualify for any aid. Most private schools cost $50,000 a year just for tuition. It's completely unrealistic to think that the average family will have saved that kind of money beforehand. Are parents just going into debt for years and years to afford this? I have a friend who's daughter got into a top ivy, but will be going to UVA because they can't afford the tuition. This seems completely reasonable to me, but I can't help but wonder who all these families are that are paying over $50,000 for college (and not even "top" schools, just private colleges)

Our HHI has been $150k-$220k for the past ten years or so. It fluctuates based on bonuses. I don't consider us to be middle class. We are currently paying around $40k a year for our older son and will be paying around $45k a year for our younger son starting this fall. Two years of over lap. We are funding through 529 savings and extra savings we made outside of 529 and about $20k from current cash flow so we don't dip into savings too much. Basically, we saved enough to fully pay for in state college in the 529s and saved in other vehicles (eg ROTH IRA - this past year was the first year we did not qualify for ROTH and other savings) to cover other options. Our first is going to an out of state school and it look like our second will go to smaller private school and with a $25k per year scholarship- which puts the cost to us at around $45k.

Friends whose income in the $100k-$200k are going the in state college route unless their child can find scholarships to make it the same cost (eg University of South Carolina or Miami of Ohio).

You may not consider yourself midlle class, but you are. In haft, you are upper middle class.

+1000 It doesn't matter what you consider middle class, it is a formula. In the DC metro area $150k is solidly middle class. Google it.

[Anonymous]

I came from what DCUM would consider a lower middle class background. Most people I know (including me) went to a community college, and then transferred to a state school, assuming that they went to college at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially those who make just barely above the amount to qualify for any aid. Most private schools cost $50,000 a year just for tuition. It's completely unrealistic to think that the average family will have saved that kind of money beforehand. Are parents just going into debt for years and years to afford this? I have a friend who's daughter got into a top ivy, but will be going to UVA because they can't afford the tuition. This seems completely reasonable to me, but I can't help but wonder who all these families are that are paying over $50,000 for college (and not even "top" schools, just private colleges)

Our HHI has been $150k-$220k for the past ten years or so. It fluctuates based on bonuses. I don't consider us to be middle class. We are currently paying around $40k a year for our older son and will be paying around $45k a year for our younger son starting this fall. Two years of over lap. We are funding through 529 savings and extra savings we made outside of 529 and about $20k from current cash flow so we don't dip into savings too much. Basically, we saved enough to fully pay for in state college in the 529s and saved in other vehicles (eg ROTH IRA - this past year was the first year we did not qualify for ROTH and other savings) to cover other options. Our first is going to an out of state school and it look like our second will go to smaller private school and with a $25k per year scholarship- which puts the cost to us at around $45k.

Friends whose income in the $100k-$200k are going the in state college route unless their child can find scholarships to make it the same cost (eg University of South Carolina or Miami of Ohio).

You may not consider yourself midlle class, but you are. In haft, you are upper middle class.

+1000 It doesn't matter what you consider middle class, it is a formula. In the DC metro area $150k is solidly middle class. Google it.

An income of $150,000 puts you at the top 23% in the DC metro area.

[Anonymous]

How? They save ahead of time. Save $1k a month per kid, cash flow a third, and loans for the rest.