Paying for college costs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

We are also in Maryland in the same financial boat with a kid who is a good student (4.0/3.7) but won't get into Maryland. He didn't like Salisbury (small town) or UMBC (seems like a commuter school) so it feels anticlimactic that he will only apply to Towson (which he likes well enough.) I would love for him to have other options in our price range.

WVU or New Mexico might work.

[Anonymous]

i don't think any DMV families are "limited" to in state schools to keep costs <50k a year. Look at smaller, less hyper competitive regional schools. Privates at that level give out significant merit aid; if your DC would not thrive in a big school environment, there are comparatively affordable OOS/Private options. You just have to look outside the T50 range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

It's not just private schools that give merit aid. We are in VA and son is at VT but he got merit awards from University of Delaware and Miami University (Ohio) which made those both about $40k per year. He also has friends at UWV and U of South Carolina with merit.

DD wanted a small LAC and got merit from state schools -- SMCM (out of state) and Mary Washington (in-state), as well as all the private LACs she applied to since she only applied to schools where we could see they had the potential to fit our budget. Almost all the schools came in around $30k/yr except UMW at $17k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

We are also in Maryland in the same financial boat with a kid who is a good student (4.0/3.7) but won't get into Maryland. He didn't like Salisbury (small town) or UMBC (seems like a commuter school) so it feels anticlimactic that he will only apply to Towson (which he likes well enough.) I would love for him to have other options in our price range.

Search privates in the 80+ rankings, and find ones that do give merit. Be at the 90%+ for your kid and you can get great merit, might even bring cost below cost of towson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have “well-funded” 529s started when they were babies. But not sure that we even have enough in the eldest’s for next year! He’s a junior. The costs are outrageous. But I admit we haven’t considered u of Maryland. I’m old ( went to college in the 70s) and a snob. Go ahead flame me

You're their grandparent or parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are only looking instate because we have twins and have about $125k total saved for college (most was gifted to us.) It looks like even instate tuition, room, and board is 30k/year so that gets us about half way with each kid. We only have a year to go and just had MAJOR house repairs that ate up any ability to dump money into accounts.

We make 300k so we won't qualify for financial aid, despite this income level being relatively new to us.

You should be able to pay the rest out of cash flow on your current income.

Or if you really need to, get a HELOC to pay for some college costs but pay it back quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have “well-funded” 529s started when they were babies. But not sure that we even have enough in the eldest’s for next year! He’s a junior. The costs are outrageous. But I admit we haven’t considered u of Maryland. I’m old ( went to college in the 70s) and a snob. Go ahead flame me

You're their grandparent or parent?

Ok I’ll flame. Because it’s just too easy on this one. Come back when your legacy snowflake doesn’t get into your snob 70s school. In case you haven’t been paying attention, YOU would not make it into your snob school if you were applying now, and despite your student’s qualifications the odds are simply against it for your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

No need to go in blind when applying. Use the Net Price Calculator to get a good idea of whether your DC might qualify for sufficient merit. If the NPC shows not nearly enough merit aid after you plug in the numbers/stats, don't waste the application fee on that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

No need to go in blind when applying. Use the Net Price Calculator to get a good idea of whether your DC might qualify for sufficient merit. If the NPC shows not nearly enough merit aid after you plug in the numbers/stats, don't waste the application fee on that school.

Thank you all. Good suggestions here. Are the net price calculators on each school website? Or is there a consolidated app available?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

Is there a reliable resource to understand which schools traditionally give merit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

No need to go in blind when applying. Use the Net Price Calculator to get a good idea of whether your DC might qualify for sufficient merit. If the NPC shows not nearly enough merit aid after you plug in the numbers/stats, don't waste the application fee on that school.

Thank you all. Good suggestions here. Are the net price calculators on each school website? Or is there a consolidated app available?

No, you will have to access the NPC for each school via their website. I'd also note that there are a few NPCs which provide bare bones information on merit aid possibilities that isn't all that helpful. But many others do indeed give a good picture of what's available for your kid based on their stats. FYI, we found that the merit aid packages our DC received when accepted to different schools closely matched what the NPC for those schools indicated. If anything, the NPC might overestimate what you kid could receive in merit as schools don't want to scare off potential applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

Is there a reliable resource to understand which schools traditionally give merit?

One good resource is the "Buyers and Sellers" list associated with the book "The Price You Pay For College" by Ron Lieber, which should be required reading for anyone with a high school student. Basically, it shows what colleges are "buyers", i.e. need to offer merit to buy higher stat students, vs. "sellers" who have a brand name to sell that people will pay big $$ for. https://ronlieber.com/books/the-price-you-pay-for-college/

IME, many NPCs did not ask for gpa/test scores which means they aren't considering merit. For those, it's more cumbersome, but looking at their Common Data Set shows how many students w/out need got an award and the average amount. So, you can see if the class had 500 students and 3 got non-need money vs. 400 got non-need money.

There's also a long, ongoing discussion on College Confidential about colleges that give good merit awards. https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/colleges-that-are-generous-with-merit-based-scholarships/2105224

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

Is there a reliable resource to understand which schools traditionally give merit?

One good resource is the "Buyers and Sellers" list associated with the book "The Price You Pay For College" by Ron Lieber, which should be required reading for anyone with a high school student. Basically, it shows what colleges are "buyers", i.e. need to offer merit to buy higher stat students, vs. "sellers" who have a brand name to sell that people will pay big $$ for. https://ronlieber.com/books/the-price-you-pay-for-college/

IME, many NPCs did not ask for gpa/test scores which means they aren't considering merit. For those, it's more cumbersome, but looking at their Common Data Set shows how many students w/out need got an award and the average amount. So, you can see if the class had 500 students and 3 got non-need money vs. 400 got non-need money.

There's also a long, ongoing discussion on College Confidential about colleges that give good merit awards.

Correction - this is the comprehensive discussion on College Confidential: https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/schools-known-for-good-merit-aid/51057

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.

We are in the same boat - limiting our kids to $40k/year. I was assuming we are limited to in-state schools - I feel we have limited in options in Maryland though and have my doubts whether my kids will get into UMD. Are there even any out of state options in this price range? It seems like you would have to applu to a well endowed private school and just hope that you reveive some merit. We wont qualify for need-based aid.

Private schools that give merit are definately an option. Case Western gives good merit to many. My own kid got $40K/year, bringing cost down to ~$40K total/year. Go to schools ranked 50-100 and many will give good merit to bring costs ~$40K. But you wont know until you apply. So plan to use $1-1.5K in application fees, and apply to 15 schools, with at least 5-6 being safeties that traditionally give merit. Then 5+ Targets that often give merit. You can find affordable schools using that path

No need to go in blind when applying. Use the Net Price Calculator to get a good idea of whether your DC might qualify for sufficient merit. If the NPC shows not nearly enough merit aid after you plug in the numbers/stats, don't waste the application fee on that school.

Most NPC are for Financial Aide, not Merit Aide.
You have to apply and wait to see what merit you will get. But many private schools offer significant aid---who gets it depends upon the Admissions officer, it's not a specific formula. My kid got the $40K at CWRU despite never having visited, only did one "online visit", did NOT do an interview, no extra online sessions---however, despite CWRU placing high value on demonstrated interest, my kid somehow got in and got the top merit award.