Affording College with HHI $100-$200k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are families with HHI $100-200k still considered donut hole families or are they eligible for more FA these days?

What's the most prudent plan for affording college? Instate? Merit? Other?

The most prudent plan has the numbers 5, 2 and 9 in it. And/Or the letters R, O, T, H.

Prudent parents in this income group begin saving for college when their children are babies and make up any gap with cash flow or loans.

No one who is prudent in this income group is trying to cash-flow it. Because it’s just too much if you don’t have at least a baseline of savings.

Correct. I am a single parent who began saving for my kid when she was 7. Then I could only afford $50 a month. But that grew with my salary. I am happy to say that she graduated from college last year with no debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For college,bought an individual stock for $50k. It 4x'ed in three years and is expected to 10x in 5-7 years. We have 9 years until college.
No time for 529 or applying for aid.
Surely you can do something with such high income.

You could do very well, but you could soon be the plaintiff in a suit against your broker for the broker letting you put all of your eggs in one basket.

[Anonymous]

We are lucky. We have $300K in our 529 plans for out kids who are in HS.

The $100k or so that we started to funnel into their 529 plans starting in 2008 turned out to be a great timing.

Not sure if this can be repeated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is between $140-160 each year. We have told our children they need to go to a trade school as we can’t afford tens of thousands of dollars for college. Our first is entering an apprenticeship program in plumbing, my 19 DD is entering a trade school for welding and I have one more child in high school. I have a feeling he will enter the military when he graduates. My children are happy.

However, we have lost many friends who viewed this as a “lesser” route and no longer wanted their children to associate with mine.

I don’t believe any of this: not that you took college off the table for your (U)MC children, not that your daughter is becoming a welder, and most definitely not that you lost friends over kids going to trade school. I live in an overeducated bubble in DC and I and all my friends would be delighted if our kids became skilled workers like plumbers or welders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$200k+ forget about it.

$100k you should get a lot--some places it's free right up until $100k.

$150k, still in the running.

$200k-- you are sh*t out of luck.

We got nothing.....150K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k+ forget about it.

$100k you should get a lot--some places it's free right up until $100k.

$150k, still in the running.

$200k-- you are sh*t out of luck.

We got nothing.....150K

Did your kid get a federal unsubsidized loan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k+ forget about it.

$100k you should get a lot--some places it's free right up until $100k.

$150k, still in the running.

$200k-- you are sh*t out of luck.

We got nothing.....150K

Everyone has to acknowledge that this is school dependent. FAFSA - no, nothing at 150K. Some schools, nothing as well. Others, some. Even others - and especially Ivies, a good amount. At Princeton, you will get a lot at 150K. So there simply is no way to address this question without looking at each individual case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k+ forget about it.

$100k you should get a lot--some places it's free right up until $100k.

$150k, still in the running.

$200k-- you are sh*t out of luck.

We got nothing.....150K

We didn't get anything either. Our kids didn't get into (or apply for) Ivy league/higher end privates. We gave them a budget, and looked to see what merit aid came in.

The only thing we qualified for was the $5500 Federal unsubsidized loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot depends on assets. Our income is low but assets are high and we got nothing.

In every marketing line that said, “95% of families making under 150k pay 0 in tuition”, we’d say .. we’re the 5%!

This. And in markets like DC where housing value has risen rapidly, families who have owned their home for a while will be seen as having a lot of home equity they are expected to tap for college. At higher ranked schools we got some aid but still the cost was generally $60k+. Not what we considered in budget. What did fit for us (<$40k) was in-state publics and privates below the USNWR T50 that were generous with merit aid.

Your student needs to be a superstar in order to get generous merit at T50-100. We found merit so COA ends up at $20-$23k at much lower ranked schools.

Some colleges have said they'll announce merit in December. Makes me think they're waiting for the FAFSA before making an offer.

My 26ACT/3.5UW/no APs attended a school ranked in the 80s. Got 1/3 tuition merit. Had that offer from another similarly ranked school as well. Never paid more than $40K/year. Had they had a 30+ACT would have gotten 50% tuition and would have paid $32/33K/year only.
You don't have to be "a superstar" to get decent merit.

Did you do TO?? Even for school in the 80s a 26 ACT is not merit worthy.

Nope, TO was not an option then. And yes, my kid had 2 offers with 1/3 tuition for merit, and another with 67% of tuition (ranked in the 130s). Once you exit the T40/50 merit is easy to find even for those scores. Hint: 26ACT is ~80th percentile of college bound kids. It's not like it's a 900 SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot depends on assets. Our income is low but assets are high and we got nothing.

In every marketing line that said, “95% of families making under 150k pay 0 in tuition”, we’d say .. we’re the 5%!

This. And in markets like DC where housing value has risen rapidly, families who have owned their home for a while will be seen as having a lot of home equity they are expected to tap for college. At higher ranked schools we got some aid but still the cost was generally $60k+. Not what we considered in budget. What did fit for us (<$40k) was in-state publics and privates below the USNWR T50 that were generous with merit aid.

Your student needs to be a superstar in order to get generous merit at T50-100. We found merit so COA ends up at $20-$23k at much lower ranked schools.

Some colleges have said they'll announce merit in December. Makes me think they're waiting for the FAFSA before making an offer.

My 26ACT/3.5UW/no APs attended a school ranked in the 80s. Got 1/3 tuition merit. Had that offer from another similarly ranked school as well. Never paid more than $40K/year. Had they had a 30+ACT would have gotten 50% tuition and would have paid $32/33K/year only.
You don't have to be "a superstar" to get decent merit.

Would love to hear what schools these were and if this was a recent experience.

Marquette and Gonzaga . Got 70% of tuition in merit at Seton Hall and Creighton, so cost would have been $30K for us at both. This was 2019 and all of those schools still offer excellent merit. Now my kid had well rounded ECs---and good volunteering, so that type of stuff really appeals to Jesuit universities. most kids get some merit at all of these schools---nobody pays full price.

+1 my daughter had a generous offer from Scranton, another Jesuit college. Well-rounded, volunteer, 3.7, a few AP, part time job, sports.

So for those saying "26 Act is nothing"--- it is something, it's 80th percentile and outside of the T25-50 schools, it's average or above average. And the Jesuit schools truly look at the whole package. All I know is my kid attended an excellent university (and had opportunity to attend several others) for less than $40K/year and it didn't have to be a state U with 30K+ undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k+ forget about it.

$100k you should get a lot--some places it's free right up until $100k.

$150k, still in the running.

$200k-- you are sh*t out of luck.

We got nothing.....150K

Everyone has to acknowledge that this is school dependent. FAFSA - no, nothing at 150K. Some schools, nothing as well. Others, some. Even others - and especially Ivies, a good amount. At Princeton, you will get a lot at 150K. So there simply is no way to address this question without looking at each individual case.

Yes, DD applied early to a similar school because we know FA would be doable (we're also around 150k), but it's not just the Ivies tgat do this. My older kid was accepted to several Ivies and T10, and Wesleyan actually offered the best FA. So, with this income level, I would not write LACs off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s a big range OP 100k-150k will qualify for some aid. Above that the aid decreases and at 200k you’re at the start of the donut hole. Your strategy will depend also on how much money you already have saved, how many kids you have and how old they are. Also if they are stellar with top scores and grades. I would figure out how much money you can afford for college and then create a strategy from there

These rules are changing. FAFSA is no longer taking number of children into account when factoring eligibility for financial aid.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/08/28/fafsa-heres-whats-new-about-the-college-financial-aid-application.html

FAFSA is of no help to anyone but the poorest. The financial aid that middle class families get is the money from the colleges themselves, and they are not bound by FAFSA rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s a big range OP 100k-150k will qualify for some aid. Above that the aid decreases and at 200k you’re at the start of the donut hole. Your strategy will depend also on how much money you already have saved, how many kids you have and how old they are. Also if they are stellar with top scores and grades. I would figure out how much money you can afford for college and then create a strategy from there

These rules are changing. FAFSA is no longer taking number of children into account when factoring eligibility for financial aid.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/08/28/fafsa-heres-whats-new-about-the-college-financial-aid-application.html

FAFSA is of no help to anyone but the poorest. The financial aid that middle class families get is the money from the colleges themselves, and they are not bound by FAFSA rules.

Call the school if you have multiple kids in college at the same time. They have the ability to make changes based on individual circumstances that aren’t captured or considered via the fafsa form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s a big range OP 100k-150k will qualify for some aid. Above that the aid decreases and at 200k you’re at the start of the donut hole. Your strategy will depend also on how much money you already have saved, how many kids you have and how old they are. Also if they are stellar with top scores and grades. I would figure out how much money you can afford for college and then create a strategy from there

These rules are changing. FAFSA is no longer taking number of children into account when factoring eligibility for financial aid.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/08/28/fafsa-heres-whats-new-about-the-college-financial-aid-application.html

FAFSA is of no help to anyone but the poorest. The financial aid that middle class families get is the money from the colleges themselves, and they are not bound by FAFSA rules.

And even for low income students all they can get in federal aid is Pell grant (at the most $7k/year), and to not pay interest on federal loans while in school. Other need-based comes from the schools, if they have the money to give. I work with low income/first gen students on college applications and, other than extraordinary students who are competitive for very selective/need-aid-generous schools, the most common path is the local college, living at home. Or they/their parents take loans to go to another public U.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$200k+ forget about it.

$100k you should get a lot--some places it's free right up until $100k.

$150k, still in the running.

$200k-- you are sh*t out of luck.

We didn't get a lot with 100k. Our EFC was 32-34k depending on year and we got max loans and work/study offers before any grant aid.