What kind of income receives financial aid?

[Anonymous]

While I think the PP is very rude to accuse the "ivy league professor" of lying, I do wonder about one thing: the nearest ivy is, I guess, Princeton. It would be an awfully long commute from the DC area to Princeton. So, why are you on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe the convenient..."I teach at an Ivy"...that's b.s. There is a huge difference between the public school and private school kids coming into the Ivies. The private school kids are used to the workload and the public school kids are not (unless they happened to go to the best magnet in the US -- TJ in VA). I'm calling your bluff you Ivy League poseur.

NP, my DD was a private school kid and now a freshmen at an Ivy, she noticed immediately that her classmates from suburban public schools had no problems keeping up with the workload. She also realized that because they arrived with more AP credits in a variety of subjects their high school academic experience was a lot more diverse and less traditional than her prep school education.

[Anonymous]

My lord pp what private school did your kid go to -- Bullis or something? An AP at a public school is just like a regular classz at an elite private. You wasted your money if your kid thinks that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I think the PP is very rude to accuse the "ivy league professor" of lying, I do wonder about one thing: the nearest ivy is, I guess, Princeton. It would be an awfully long commute from the DC area to Princeton. So, why are you on DCUM?

Penn is closer...

[Anonymous]

I guess a commute from DC to Philadelphia would only be 3 hours each way by car when the traffic is good. The train, I guess, would be longer.

[Anonymous]

I agree. Having attended an Ivy at both the undergrad and graduate level, I found very little difference among my classmates between those that went to private and those that went to public school.

[Anonymous]

Of course, there are a number of Ivy faculty in DC for a variety of reasons - top jobs in the government for example.

[Anonymous]

I posted, long ago, the sampling bias comment, but I take issue with the idea that the "ivy league professor" is lying. I went to an Ivy League school from a middling public, and what I experienced was that the public school students who ended up there were equal to the work and in many cases clearly better prepared than some private school students. That said they are not representative of the pool of all public school students, but my experience squares with what the professor said (including the sang froid part). In the end the courses you take in high school have only a little to do with getting in and doing well at a top college: internal motivation and drive matter so much more.

If private school students were so much better prepared than public schools students, you would expect that schools like Yale and Harvard would be filling their classes with a greater percentage of them over time; in fact the trend has been going the opposite way.

[Anonymous]

PP with comment about sampling bias -- I agree with all of what you have said. Could I ask what your occupation/field of work is?

[Anonymous]

Answers to various questions:

Original poster -- why are you so sure that it was your home equity that kept you from qualifying? I think it's more likely because you have a low mortgage payment and an OK income and only one kid. Yes, a lot of equity is considered to be able to be tapped, but those other factors weigh in as well.

Stay at home moms -- the school where I work calculates a salary for the mom if all kids are in school. Moms could work PT if they still need to pick up young ones at school, but if they don't work PT, they get a salary calculated for them.

Single mom -- remember that unless the father has nothing to do with the child and has signed away all rights, he will be expected to submit FA forms as well and his assets will be considered in the formula.

Generally it's all a magic formula between how much you make, how many kids you have and have to pay for and might have to pay for in the future (so takes somewhat into account an older kid in public high school but poised to start college). Make sure you don't go buy a nice new car right before you do your application. Even if you need the car (like you're a real estate agent and you need a decent car to drive around clients) it's not going to look good.

Anyway, it stinks when you work your behind of at a private school that you would never be able to afford for your own kids and families you know are on FA (because you are in a position that divulges that info, not because everyone knows) drive a car that costs your yearly salary. FA is not always fair, though every effort is made to keep it that way. Thank goodness for tuition breaks for faculty members.

[Anonymous]

I went to a small liberal arts college, and I found the kids from private school to be better prepared for college. They wrote better, thought math and science classes were easy and had better study habits. And they were more likely to have placed out of early courses due to AP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I've researched this topic extensively, not because I wanted financial aid but because there are so many teacher/staff kids attending my children's schools that should/would not have been admitted if their parent didn't work at the school or should be "not invited back". In the eighteen years I've sent my children to private schools I've found the kids who cause the most problems and require the most energy from the teachers are the teacher/staff kids. The teachers kids are favored and there is a different set of rules that apply to them. I know why they are admitted so, my question was "how can these families afford the tuition". To my dismay, I've found the majority of financial aid goes to teacher and staff kids leaving very little for the deserving families. I've talked to financial aid administrators and they have said "there is always a way to favor the staff". Although schools always have some sort of tuition remision for teachers and staff, it doesn't cover everything. The rest is from financial aid. The schools tax returns are on-line as proof. I forget the pointer but I know it now costs $1000 a year to access them so I quit looking at them.

I am an independent school teacher and I have found the exact opposite to be true at all three schools where I've taught in the DC Metro Area. The faculty/staff children tend to be the kindest, most respectful, most grounded, most well-rounded children. My children attend the school where I teach and we receive zero financial aid. We scrimp and sacrifice like many other families out there to give our children the best education possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I've researched this topic extensively, not because I wanted financial aid but because there are so many teacher/staff kids attending my children's schools that should/would not have been admitted if their parent didn't work at the school or should be "not invited back". In the eighteen years I've sent my children to private schools I've found the kids who cause the most problems and require the most energy from the teachers are the teacher/staff kids. The teachers kids are favored and there is a different set of rules that apply to them. I know why they are admitted so, my question was "how can these families afford the tuition". To my dismay, I've found the majority of financial aid goes to teacher and staff kids leaving very little for the deserving families. I've talked to financial aid administrators and they have said "there is always a way to favor the staff". Although schools always have some sort of tuition remision for teachers and staff, it doesn't cover everything. The rest is from financial aid. The schools tax returns are on-line as proof. I forget the pointer but I know it now costs $1000 a year to access them so I quit looking at them.

I disagree. The kids with behavior issues at my DD's school are on the board, big donors etc...As for whether teachers deserve FA, I think you could be a little more generous. After all, you chose a private school over public presumably for the better teacher: student ratio , the quality of the education. That is all provided by the teachers. Schools need to retain strong teachers and a little tuition help and a space for their kid keeps everyone in place.Why isn't a school justified favoring them over someone who will just pass through in a few years and the parents might not even volunteer or donate to the school( in other words: give nothing back)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$100,000 gross income = what, $80K after taxes? How on earth could someone pay $28K in tuition and still support a family in this area?

If that is a combined income or a single parent income you would get at least 50% FA, provided DC was accepted. That means your payments would be about $1,500 a month for the 8 months of the payment plan( what most FA families use)How can you afford it after that:

get a housemate
sell your car ( ditching your car payment and your insurance)
eliminate the following: new clothes/shoes for self ever ,haircut/highlights, mai/pedi,eating out, entertainment that costs money, you get the picture
watch very carefully what you buy at grocery store and plan meals
get rid of cable
no iPhone for you
use your library card instead of buying books
claim exempt once you have contributed enough federal tax for the year raising your take home
itemize every deduction you can
save all the money during those 4 months you don't have to pay tuition and live off of it all year
get a second job
keep your CC balance at zero, but keep the cards in case you ever need to put a tuition payment on one.

totally workable and worth it IMHO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$100,000 gross income = what, $80K after taxes? How on earth could someone pay $28K in tuition and still support a family in this area?

If that is a combined income or a single parent income you would get at least 50% FA, provided DC was accepted. That means your payments would be about $1,500 a month for the 8 months of the payment plan( what most FA families use)How can you afford it after that:

get a housemate
sell your car ( ditching your car payment and your insurance)
eliminate the following: new clothes/shoes for self ever ,haircut/highlights, mai/pedi,eating out, entertainment that costs money, you get the picture
watch very carefully what you buy at grocery store and plan meals
get rid of cable
no iPhone for you
use your library card instead of buying books
claim exempt once you have contributed enough federal tax for the year raising your take home
itemize every deduction you can
save all the money during those 4 months you don't have to pay tuition and live off of it all year (BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR CAMP THEN WHICH IS ALMOST AS MUCH!)
get a second job
keep your CC balance at zero, but keep the cards in case you ever need to put a tuition payment on one.

totally workable and worth it IMHO