FAFSA - is middle-class waste time applying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

I'm guessing you weren't always making 300k. If you had put away half of each pay raise when your kid was born, by age 18 you would have plenty in a 529 to pay for college. No one is saying that you should pay all of college with current income. You should have saved for the last 18 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

No necessarily true! 300k sounds a lot. But after tax, medical and retirement deduction, it is lucky if could take home half of it. With other kids to support, who can afford to use 50% of take home money paying for one kid’s college expenses?

Still not middle class - you live in the DC bubble, so you think anything under $1m per year is "middle class". GMAFB.

OP, many private sector people make less than you, stop trying to play martyr.

DP. Not sure if you live in the DC area but $300K income is not wealthy here. Yes, we live comfortably but with 2 kids, we're not going on European vacations every year and we certainly can't afford paying for Princeton tuition. Hoping my kids get into UMD.

Sadly you do not realize that earning 300K and sending kids to UMD sounds like heaven to so many struggling folks in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

You can probably get merit money at a private college or state college that is "one tier down" if your kid is smart. If you go two tiers down, you can get major money. I.e. the kid who could be going to UVA or UMD instate might be able to get a close to a full ride at a place like the University of Arizona, or someplace closer to home like UMBC or JMU.

[Anonymous]

the hard pill to swallow here is the awful reality that college is a luxury item that has dramatically outpaced income increases over time, which mostly screws all the families who are anywhere above $150k but not rich rich. The families at the very top were always fine, as their earnings have dramatically increased over time (we're back to the Gilded Age in terms of income inequality) so they can stomach the increases without a dip in quality of life and those at the very bottom have seen declining wages over time, so they got aid then and are eligible for aid now. Those children might claw themselves into the lower end of the UMC with an elite education and their children will be like your children. Raised in relative comfort, and parents unable to afford full pay private tuition.

Reframe your thinking and consider college like a car purchase. You might want the Lucid or the Rivian, but you know that you cannot afford it, so you end up with the Kia. It is what it is. You wistfully watch folks roll by in the Rivian and wish you had it like that, but alas, you don't. College is the same way. Some have the cash for Yale, and while your child may have the same stats, you have the money for JMU or Towson. It feels so unfair, because we've set up this entire system to trick you into thinking that it is a meritocracy and that your children should be rewarded if they have the merit, but that is not our system. Go to Europe if you want that system. Buy the Kia and tell your kids to take care of it and drive it well, and they are on track to be able to buy the Rivian down the road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

No necessarily true! 300k sounds a lot. But after tax, medical and retirement deduction, it is lucky if could take home half of it. With other kids to support, who can afford to use 50% of take home money paying for one kid’s college expenses?

Yes, you can. It’s all about choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the hard pill to swallow here is the awful reality that college is a luxury item that has dramatically outpaced income increases over time, which mostly screws all the families who are anywhere above $150k but not rich rich. The families at the very top were always fine, as their earnings have dramatically increased over time (we're back to the Gilded Age in terms of income inequality) so they can stomach the increases without a dip in quality of life and those at the very bottom have seen declining wages over time, so they got aid then and are eligible for aid now. Those children might claw themselves into the lower end of the UMC with an elite education and their children will be like your children. Raised in relative comfort, and parents unable to afford full pay private tuition.

Reframe your thinking and consider college like a car purchase. You might want the Lucid or the Rivian, but you know that you cannot afford it, so you end up with the Kia. It is what it is. You wistfully watch folks roll by in the Rivian and wish you had it like that, but alas, you don't. College is the same way. Some have the cash for Yale, and while your child may have the same stats, you have the money for JMU or Towson. It feels so unfair, because we've set up this entire system to trick you into thinking that it is a meritocracy and that your children should be rewarded if they have the merit, but that is not our system. Go to Europe if you want that system. Buy the Kia and tell your kids to take care of it and drive it well, and they are on track to be able to buy the Rivian down the road.

You are not screwed. You save and if you don’t get aid your kid goes to the school you can afford. We’ve told our kids that. They are fine with the state school. We may be able to pull off a private at $150k but we don’t do many of the things you do like named brands, vacations, etc. The only splurge is expensive activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

Then you should have saved more. You can afford it. You’d have to make sacrifices.

[Anonymous]

I know that Pitt, UMBC, and Case Western made offers of merit aid this year without the FAFSA, for those wondering which schools require what. But I believe Case required the CSS to be filled out.

[Anonymous]

TL; DR OP, you do want to submit to FAFSA because then if denied for any financial aid or loans through FAFSA, your children will take out the unsubsidized federal loans which will give them starting $5500 a year and going up each year. My children took them out every year. two are almost paid off but DS is off doing grad work overseas so he has an American sponsored plus loan to help pay for graduate work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You probably still want to complete it just in case. What if your financial situation changed unexpectedly? Some schools only let you submit FAFSA the first year, so if something happened in year 3 you'd be unable to apply.

☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a few minutes of your time, OP, and you should fill out the CSS too.

I filled both out, and DS got a merit scholarship to go to his school of choice. Not a bad deal.

What is your HHI?

It’s complicated. Our HHI is low right now (<100K) but we have significant assets that preclude financial aid. I filled out FAFSA and CSS, to make sure we weren’t missing anything that might be tied to those.

Also… I don’t know if disclosing wealth helped at all for our situation, which is why I said it’s complicated.

But regardless of financial status, I think families should try anyway. I don’t think it hurts.

Trust fund? Inheritance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

What is your income? Because you’d have even less difficulty paying for your kid to go to an expensive private college if your income was half that.

So, if you think that someone making $150K would have no difficulty paying for college, why don’t you live as if you were only making $150K? You’d have zero difficulty too with what’s left over from that extra $150K after tax.

I think their point way that at 150k you will get gobs of need based aid and at 350k you'll get nothing .

Guessing many people would take the extra 200K in HHI and not even bat an eye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI $240k, when 2nd started college this fall, and we had two attending, and the combined cost was $117k for the year (will go up in future years), we thought for sure they would receive some need based aid. l completed the FAFSA last October. NOPE. Neither of them received any need based aid

Are both kids in public university that don't require CSS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI $240k, when 2nd started college this fall, and we had two attending, and the combined cost was $117k for the year (will go up in future years), we thought for sure they would receive some need based aid. l completed the FAFSA last October. NOPE. Neither of them received any need based aid

Are both kids in public university that don't require CSS?

One is in a public that does not require the CSS one is in a private that dies require it. Doesn't matter, they both got nothing. We both work and always have. The $240 is the income we have now, not what we had 20+ years ago, when the kids were born and we spent so much on day care. We started the 529s when the kids came out of daycare, but it's not enough to cover private college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

What is your income? Because you’d have even less difficulty paying for your kid to go to an expensive private college if your income was half that.

So, if you think that someone making $150K would have no difficulty paying for college, why don’t you live as if you were only making $150K? You’d have zero difficulty too with what’s left over from that extra $150K after tax.

I think their point way that at 150k you will get gobs of need based aid and at 350k you'll get nothing .

Guessing many people would take the extra 200K in HHI and not even bat an eye.

You can comfortably save $50-150K between retirement and college. You are very wealthy on $300, even $200. If you choose an expensive house, cars, travel and other luxuries, stop screaming poverty already.