No financial aid for middle class at public college???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me see if I have this straight . . .

Last year, when you made $200,000, you had saved a total of $50,000 in 529 plans, and had just finished paying off your own education loans. At that time, you had twin 8th graders and a first grader. You also decided to buy a house at a price level that requires that "all that money [on a $200,000 salary] goes to the mortgage."

And you're asking how other families manage? They make different decisions, for a long time. But you decided to take on a long-term debt that chews up most of your income just 5 years before you have two (!!) kids going into college, without the savings required to pay for their schooling.

I'm not sure what you're looking for here, or why you are acting like this is unexpected.

But, all of the suggestions other have made are the right ones - CC, ROTC, substantial loans, schools with significant aid. Also, you need to stop taking your kids as freshman (!!) to look at schools, and tell them - now - what the situation is, and if they want to go someplace more expensive, they need to do the work to get the aid.

And don't leave your youngest out of the planning.

This. We are almost $500k HHI and still staying in our starter home so we can save heavily in two 529s for our two children. We did the math and we can’t save for retirement, 529s and pay for childcare AND a large mortgage at the same time.

We have an income slightly below the OP and we have been able to save for college, pay for our house, and save for retirement. If you make $300k MORE, you can afford a very nice "starter home".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots can change between now and application time. Encourage their academic side and continue playing with net price calculators. What state are you in? State schools are usually the cheapest route, but the state schools have very little money to give. Be aware that tuition increases every. dang. year.

We got lucky with that. Our oldst is at Pudue and they haven't raised tuition for 6 years! Many schools, like UIUC, set a tuition for all four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me see if I have this straight . . .

Last year, when you made $200,000, you had saved a total of $50,000 in 529 plans, and had just finished paying off your own education loans. At that time, you had twin 8th graders and a first grader. You also decided to buy a house at a price level that requires that "all that money [on a $200,000 salary] goes to the mortgage."

And you're asking how other families manage? They make different decisions, for a long time. But you decided to take on a long-term debt that chews up most of your income just 5 years before you have two (!!) kids going into college, without the savings required to pay for their schooling.

I'm not sure what you're looking for here, or why you are acting like this is unexpected.

But, all of the suggestions other have made are the right ones - CC, ROTC, substantial loans, schools with significant aid. Also, you need to stop taking your kids as freshman (!!) to look at schools, and tell them - now - what the situation is, and if they want to go someplace more expensive, they need to do the work to get the aid.

And don't leave your youngest out of the planning.

This. We are almost $500k HHI and still staying in our starter home so we can save heavily in two 529s for our two children. We did the math and we can’t save for retirement, 529s and pay for childcare AND a large mortgage at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have freshman twins and did our first college tour. The twins are excited to go to school together at the same school, and are willing to go wherever we can afford. They are very bright with great grades at public high school so they can likely get in many schools but we are only letting them go to public colleges that we can afford.

Even at public colleges, tuition plus expenses (room/board) will be about $25k each year at the cheapest options and we are not considering schools more than $10k tuition/year due to our finances. How can DH and I afford the $50k/year for the twins? We won't qualify for help with FAFSA. We make $200k together and and all that money goes to the mortgage that won't be paid off for another 29 years (we couldn't afford a house until we paid off our college debts). We've been saving in our 529 but will only have about $50k total, after scraping by.

We would be willing to sell our house but we have a younger child who will only be in 6th grade when they start college so we need to stay here meanwhile. Then we will sell our house and rent a small apartment to pay these debts.

How have other families managed? Did you take loans against your house? Did you rent out rooms in house when they were at college? Did you have your kids sign up for ROTC/join army? Other ideas? Did you take jobs you hated for more money? We are worried and don't know how to tell our twins that they may need to work for many years before they can go to college.

Colleges expect you to pay from past, present, and future earnings, i.e. savings, current income, and loans. If you don't have savings, you'll need to pay from current and future earnings.

How do other families manage? They save. They take out another mortgage. They send their kids to community college for a few years. They have their kids accumulate AP credits and concurrent enrollment credits in order to graduate from college early. They take out Parent PLUS loans. Their kids take out student loans.

We have the same HHI as you and have saved since our kids were babies. They are both at liberal arts schools in the Midwest with large merit scholarships. We are paying about $40k/year for each of them (DC#1's expenses started at about $36K) after the scholarships are applied, and they will graduate without debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me see if I have this straight . . .

Last year, when you made $200,000, you had saved a total of $50,000 in 529 plans, and had just finished paying off your own education loans. At that time, you had twin 8th graders and a first grader. You also decided to buy a house at a price level that requires that "all that money [on a $200,000 salary] goes to the mortgage."

And you're asking how other families manage? They make different decisions, for a long time. But you decided to take on a long-term debt that chews up most of your income just 5 years before you have two (!!) kids going into college, without the savings required to pay for their schooling.

I'm not sure what you're looking for here, or why you are acting like this is unexpected.

But, all of the suggestions other have made are the right ones - CC, ROTC, substantial loans, schools with significant aid. Also, you need to stop taking your kids as freshman (!!) to look at schools, and tell them - now - what the situation is, and if they want to go someplace more expensive, they need to do the work to get the aid.

And don't leave your youngest out of the planning.

This. We are almost $500k HHI and still staying in our starter home so we can save heavily in two 529s for our two children. We did the math and we can’t save for retirement, 529s and pay for childcare AND a large mortgage at the same time.

We have an income slightly below the OP and we have been able to save for college, pay for our house, and save for retirement. If you make $300k MORE, you can afford a very nice "starter home".

Pp Here. We are aggressively saving into private brokerage account and 529s. Trying to put a minimum of $5k per month in the 529 so we can meet our goal of investing $150k per child before their fifth birthday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, well-endowed privates...

[Anonymous]

Pp Here. We are aggressively saving into private brokerage account and 529s. Trying to put a minimum of $5k per month in the 529 so we can meet our goal of investing $150k per child before their fifth birthday.

Why are you posting in a thread about the "middle class" saving for college if you have an extra $60K to put in a 529 for your toddlers every year? No one is asking how the 1% save for college. I'm sure you'll manage. I don't think DH and I even made $60K between the two of us until our kids were both over 5.

[Anonymous]

OP -- a colleague once told me....with regard to college tuition...you are screwed if you are Middle Class. I also have twins -- seniors this year.

Here is the real kicker....I am with you in that our total gross HHI is also $200K...BUT it wasn't always..in fact for the majority of our careers it was closer to $100-150K COMBINED HHI. So while we currently make $200K we are still MC for the DCUM area. We might be creeping towards UMC...but I would say UMC are those that have HHI of $200K+ for the majority of their careers...not just the tail end when they are around 12-15 years away from retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP -- a colleague once told me....with regard to college tuition...you are screwed if you are Middle Class. I also have twins -- seniors this year.

Here is the real kicker....I am with you in that our total gross HHI is also $200K...BUT it wasn't always..in fact for the majority of our careers it was closer to $100-150K COMBINED HHI. So while we currently make $200K we are still MC for the DCUM area. We might be creeping towards UMC...but I would say UMC are those that have HHI of $200K+ for the majority of their careers...not just the tail end when they are around 12-15 years away from retirement.

You are not middle class at $100-200K a year. I don't get it. We have $150 saved for our 10 year old and have paid private school, activities and therapies plus helped family members and still comfortably saved that. You are overspending if you are stretched at $200K. Most people don't have $200K for the majority of their careers. You didn't have to buy an $800K house.

[Anonymous]

You are not middle class at $100-200K a year. I don't get it. We have $150 saved for our 10 year old and have paid private school, activities and therapies plus helped family members and still comfortably saved that. You are overspending if you are stretched at $200K. Most people don't have $200K for the majority of their careers. You didn't have to buy an $800K house.

We don't have an $800K house. Mortgage is $3K on a much older home....but with older home comes older problems over the years....A/C repairs every year until this year needed to replace entire thing...new gutters needed due to water coming into home...roof repairs, etc.

And then there is family overseas and making visiting in-laws a priority...so we don't take fancy vacations but kinda screwed when visiting grandparents isn't just a weekend drive or domestic flight. Then one parent ill for many years...so multiple visits a year for 8 years.

We buy average price (not luxury) new cars but drive them to the ground or until costs of repairs is unreasonable.

And...by the way....yes $100-150K/year is MC in the NOVA region....check out this calculator: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/06/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Also - this article: https://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-income-us-city-san-francisco-2018-2#washington-dc-up-to-199338-24 - -in the Washington DC region MC is considered up to $199,338

[Anonymous]

^^PP here....also...medical expenses....and debt incurred when DH on WC for 4 months....plus expenses related to kids (childcare, tutoring, sports, school events/activities, scouting, etc.)

Yes, I get it...some of these expenses are "by choice" -- so I should have said no to travel soccer all these years, I should have said no to the Philmont Trip for scouting, I should have said no to the school class trip overseas, I should have said no to the tutoring all these years, I should have said no to visiting family overseas. But there really isn't a choice in much of this.

Now...that being said...our kids understand that we work hard and that they enjoy the travel soccer, scouting, class trip, etc. and they understand that there will have to be some college loans at play in order to cover "average" public in-state tuition if they don't want to do the Community College/Guaranteed Transfer route..which we have discussed and they really don't want to do this. I suspect it has much to do with being in an affluent area and the peer pressure.

I have told kids that I will be willing to help repay college loan debt as much as possible. At least we do have some saved in 529s despite battling DH who to be honest doesn't think parents should pay for kids college. If it were up to him there wouldn't be any 529s. But that's another topic for another day.

[Anonymous]

OP, you will pay what you can. The kids and you will borrow the rest.

[Anonymous]

$200,000 is upper class by far, no way near middle class.

Much of America earns between $30,000 and $50,000.

Have your kids get jobs now and summer jobs.
2 years of community college
Transfer the last 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Are your twins 16 yet? Have them start working 1 shift a week somewhere once they turn 18. Have them work summer jobs....June thru September during high school

True middle class kids work jobs.

[Anonymous]

When kids move out freshman year sell your house and
get something much smaller....3 bedroom, 2 bath.
That is plenty enough for you, husband, and younger child.

This will free up a lot of money for tuition for twins and
younger child coming up.