where do highly academic $ donut hole students go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We earn in the range mentioned above and live in a neighborhood with these kind of houses (lots of equity). Neighbor told me that "there is money out there for kids like ours" if you look at, say, Midwestern SLACs where being from the actual District of Columbia makes you special. What are these schools?

SLACS in the Midwest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some do what highly academic poor and working class students did in prior generations? Attend the schools most affordable for their families. The one difference is that these students never had the option "to suck it up and pay the high prices because it's worth it even though is frustrating to pay" because they didn't and still don't have the option to pay. What is frustrating for them is trying to pay their bills to keep the car on the road, the lights on, and them in their homes.

I was highly academic and poor and I got 75% tuition paid by my Ivy. Different problem. Granted in state would have been free but I wanted to escape from my rural backwater.

That school was probably highly affordable for your family. And are you certain instate would have been free?

Decades ago Ivies+ didn't consider student SES when making FA decisions in the way they do today. Maybe a few or more, but not across the board policies as you see at many T20 schools, top NESCACs and SLACs, etc. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in DC area--$300k-450k is a donut hole family. 2 or more kids. SFHs run you $750k-2 million. COL is very high here.

LOL no. SFHs, investments, retirement savings, and OOS college tuitions are luxuries. You have to prioritize and choose, just like all the families who make less or way less.

Agree. A family making between 300-450k is not a donut hole family. We make in that range and we’ve saved money for our kids to go to college. One is in college now and the other will be next year. We won’t have quite enough from our 529 accounts, but we are able to cash flow the rest because we make enough money to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We earn in the range mentioned above and live in a neighborhood with these kind of houses (lots of equity). Neighbor told me that "there is money out there for kids like ours" if you look at, say, Midwestern SLACs where being from the actual District of Columbia makes you special. What are these schools?

Grinnell is most selective slac that does widespread merit.
Macalester
Ohio SLACs (Oberlin, Denison, Kenyon, Wooster - I think Kenyon is probably less generous on average)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in DC area--$300k-450k is a donut hole family. 2 or more kids. SFHs run you $750k-2 million. COL is very high here.

LOL no. SFHs, investments, retirement savings, and OOS college tuitions are luxuries. You have to prioritize and choose, just like all the families who make less or way less.

Agree. A family making between 300-450k is not a donut hole family. We make in that range and we’ve saved money for our kids to go to college. One is in college now and the other will be next year. We won’t have quite enough from our 529 accounts, but we are able to cash flow the rest because we make enough money to do so.

You saved enough for $85k/year for multiple kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We earn in the range mentioned above and live in a neighborhood with these kind of houses (lots of equity). Neighbor told me that "there is money out there for kids like ours" if you look at, say, Midwestern SLACs where being from the actual District of Columbia makes you special. What are these schools?

Carleton
Denison
Grinnell
Kalamazoo
Kenyon
Lawrence
Macalester
Oberlin
St. Olaf
Wooster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in DC area--$300k-450k is a donut hole family. 2 or more kids. SFHs run you $750k-2 million. COL is very high here.

LOL no. SFHs, investments, retirement savings, and OOS college tuitions are luxuries. You have to prioritize and choose, just like all the families who make less or way less.

Agree. A family making between 300-450k is not a donut hole family. We make in that range and we’ve saved money for our kids to go to college. One is in college now and the other will be next year. We won’t have quite enough from our 529 accounts, but we are able to cash flow the rest because we make enough money to do so.

You saved enough for $85k/year for multiple kids?

Not the OP, but I guarantee they didn't save up enough. They've probably invested in non-retirement investments that have wildly appreciated. You make money to invest money to make even more money then you can make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williams for us - pay $23k with $210k income. Pretty low assets (one govt employee and one assoc prof who rented forever).

Low assets on that income makes no sense. You have a spending issue.

Wow thanks so much for your insight! I stayed home for 14 years and just went back to teaching 3 years ago. We spend zippy except for tuition and mortgage.

Dang, I should have stayed home too. Silly me that I kept working or I, too, could have gotten a big college discount.

DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in DC area--$300k-450k is a donut hole family. 2 or more kids. SFHs run you $750k-2 million. COL is very high here.

LOL no. SFHs, investments, retirement savings, and OOS college tuitions are luxuries. You have to prioritize and choose, just like all the families who make less or way less.

Agree. A family making between 300-450k is not a donut hole family. We make in that range and we’ve saved money for our kids to go to college. One is in college now and the other will be next year. We won’t have quite enough from our 529 accounts, but we are able to cash flow the rest because we make enough money to do so.

You saved enough for $85k/year for multiple kids?

We did for two kids. after investing in 529s for 18 years, they have about 200k each. We can cashflow the rest on 250k. Our goal was always to save half and figure out the other half (cash flow, loans) .. turns out we saved a bit more than half and can cash flow the rest. We have other savings too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have saved since birth and will pay for a state college and graduate school. How hard is that to get you need to save early on.

This was MIL - DH was vehemently opposed, when the time came, as he was accepted to all top schools. He never forgot it. Other factors applied, but this had a strong impact on DH. He paid her back with above market interest, to her lack of acknowledgment. Plus, I am sure she said many snarky and rude things along the way. That is when I knew I wanted to marry DH. MIL inadvertently created his attitude. LOL.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in California, and UC schools are full of these students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in DC area--$300k-450k is a donut hole family. 2 or more kids. SFHs run you $750k-2 million. COL is very high here.

LOL no. SFHs, investments, retirement savings, and OOS college tuitions are luxuries. You have to prioritize and choose, just like all the families who make less or way less.

Agree. A family making between 300-450k is not a donut hole family. We make in that range and we’ve saved money for our kids to go to college. One is in college now and the other will be next year. We won’t have quite enough from our 529 accounts, but we are able to cash flow the rest because we make enough money to do so.

You saved enough for $85k/year for multiple kids?

We did for two kids. after investing in 529s for 18 years, they have about 200k each. We can cashflow the rest on 250k. Our goal was always to save half and figure out the other half (cash flow, loans) .. turns out we saved a bit more than half and can cash flow the rest. We have other savings too.

This is our plan, too. To get to around 200k for each kid and then cashflow the rest. By the time my first goes to college, the mortgage will be fully paid off, so the rest I am not worried about.

[Anonymous]

These are the kids who go in state honors colleges.

I had friends who would attend Penn State, Rutgers and SUNY if they didn’t get into a top 10. I also knew a few guys who went to westpoint over Cornell because of money. I dated one. He said his parents said Cornell isn’t Harvard so his choices were SUNY or Westpoint.

I was not a donut hole kid. I was able to receive financial aid because my parents had no assets and low income. This country does such a disservice to its middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have saved since birth and will pay for a state college and graduate school. How hard is that to get you need to save early on.

This was MIL - DH was vehemently opposed, when the time came, as he was accepted to all top schools. He never forgot it. Other factors applied, but this had a strong impact on DH. He paid her back with above market interest, to her lack of acknowledgment. Plus, I am sure she said many snarky and rude things along the way. That is when I knew I wanted to marry DH. MIL inadvertently created his attitude. LOL.

What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are the kids who go in state honors colleges.

I had friends who would attend Penn State, Rutgers and SUNY if they didn’t get into a top 10. I also knew a few guys who went to westpoint over Cornell because of money. I dated one. He said his parents said Cornell isn’t Harvard so his choices were SUNY or Westpoint.

I was not a donut hole kid. I was able to receive financial aid because my parents had no assets and low income. This country does such a disservice to its middle class.

Really? It's not a skate for families with low incomes. Most of their children will NOT attend schools that meet full need.