where do highly academic $ donut hole students go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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)

+1

[Anonymous]

We sucked it up. *Painful!*

[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).

Then you aren’t doughnut hole. It’s similar salary but with assets, including primary residence you can’t really sell, that make you ineligible for grants but unable to afford $85K a year.

+1

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.

A lot of pricey private schools offer merit or aid for $200k-once you get to $300k forget it.

Would love to see a list of these pricey private schools because same story here but in California. Every NPC I've run says FULL PAY M'FR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Blair magnet student (1600 SAT, 4.8 weighted GPA, nationally-recognized niche extracurricular) went to the UMD-CP Honors Program. There were a lot of students like DC there.

This is what I would say. Even 20 yrs ago when I was in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:where do highly academic $ donut hole students go?

Do they already put across the country for merit scholarships at less selective unis?

Does each "generation" have schools (like NEU?) that invest in merit discounts, climb the rankings, and then stop the discounts?

Do they go in-state?

Do they/families suck it up and pay the high prices because it's worth it even though is frustrating to pay?


It seems to me that you could fill a few Harvards worth of brilliant students who have some money but don't want to throw it all at a college?

Public universities with good honors programs/colleges (e.g., Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, the Echols Scholars Program at UVA, or the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State)

SLACs that offer lots of merit aid (e.g., Grinnell, Macalaster)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Then you aren’t doughnut hole. It’s similar salary but with assets, including primary residence you can’t really sell, that make you ineligible for grants but unable to afford $85K a year.

+1

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.

A lot of pricey private schools offer merit or aid for $200k-once you get to $300k forget it.

And agree the assets get you. Home equity, some include investment/retirement, etc. Which is why 2 families making the same $210k--one will get aid and one won't. The big spenders will get the aid and the smart and frugal that saved will get jack-sh*t.

Income is weighted more heavily than assets in determining aid. And colleges only expect you to contribute a certain % of your assets (way less than half). So despite a difference in aid level, it's much better to have those assets than not to have them.

So the trust fund parents with low salaries will get aid in that scenario--while the grinders pay more. Kind of like paying taxes... donut hole always get screwed.

In DC's private elementary school, this was the case numerous times over. One parent had trust fund, other parent didn't work at all, two kids, got FA to attend school. Or families with second/vacation homes getting FA with one wealthy parent and one stay at home. As another poster said: parents who work hard for good salaries (but not outrageous salaries) get penalized the most with college aid.

[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.

Not everyone has been making that money for 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Then you aren’t doughnut hole. It’s similar salary but with assets, including primary residence you can’t really sell, that make you ineligible for grants but unable to afford $85K a year.

+1

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.

A lot of pricey private schools offer merit or aid for $200k-once you get to $300k forget it.

And agree the assets get you. Home equity, some include investment/retirement, etc. Which is why 2 families making the same $210k--one will get aid and one won't. The big spenders will get the aid and the smart and frugal that saved will get jack-sh*t.

Income is weighted more heavily than assets in determining aid. And colleges only expect you to contribute a certain % of your assets (way less than half). So despite a difference in aid level, it's much better to have those assets than not to have them.

So the trust fund parents with low salaries will get aid in that scenario--while the grinders pay more. Kind of like paying taxes... donut hole always get screwed.

Same as it ever was. And same with admissions for prestigious schools: for the rich and for the poor, everyone else can just stay put.

[Anonymous]

As others have said, good state schools with honors programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Then you aren’t doughnut hole. It’s similar salary but with assets, including primary residence you can’t really sell, that make you ineligible for grants but unable to afford $85K a year.

+1

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.

A lot of pricey private schools offer merit or aid for $200k-once you get to $300k forget it.

And agree the assets get you. Home equity, some include investment/retirement, etc. Which is why 2 families making the same $210k--one will get aid and one won't. The big spenders will get the aid and the smart and frugal that saved will get jack-sh*t.

That’s us. And with a 1400 SAT even split between subsections score, I just hope that will be good enough for in state flagship or DS will be in the 5 year plan to study what he wants to study and is only offered at the flagship.

[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?

No I didn’t say that. We no longer save 2k a month in the 529 so that goes to paying tuition too. But we also make enough that we can cash flow the difference between what we saved and what college costs.

[Anonymous]

We have one at a selective SLAC with merit and one at a top 50 with merit.

[Anonymous]

St Andrews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what does donut whole mean?? poor?

Too rich for financial aide, but too poor to pay out of pocket.

That's not really a thing. Too rich for financial aid but not enough money for college means that you leased a BMW for 18 years instead of maxing out a 529.

[Anonymous]

Our plan is university in the EU or UK. We can cash flow that. We can’t afford top US schools. I will, however, be checking out the Midwestern SLACS mentioned that may offer merit scholarships.