Coming to Terms with Full Pay
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Anonymous
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We’ve come to terms with full pay as well. You have to cut out the noise of the instagram senior pages, college counseling b.s and even this forum. Your child can be happy and successful graduating from a state school. Your financial health long term is worth it.
What strikes me as strange is that many advocate and virtue signal by sending their children to public schools that there is no reason to pay for private, but when it comes to colleges, suddenly an in-state public option is horrifying. Full pay has broken down to around 35-38k/year for a private SLAC in Pa for my oldest child and will be around the same for my youngest who chose a SUNY school for ED (and was admitted, yay!). We have 3 kids and are dual fed family too. Right now, I’m thankful we are being paid at all after the last year. We consider ourselves a donut family but one who has saved what we can to make a dent in the college costs. |
Anonymous
You have a clone then |
Anonymous
This is a wise post. 2 fed family and we were in DCPS and then kids moved to a $55K private for high school with some grandparent help. First one is now in college. Private school classmates are all paying $95K for Boston College, USC, Cornell and Vanderbilt without a second thought. Like, money was NOT a consideration when choosing a school. Former public school classmates with 2 fed parents or similar (HHI $300-450K) are all going to Wisconsin, UNC, Michigan, second tier liberal arts colleges with aid. They just don't have the $400K cash for college. Paying $50K to even 70K (for Michigan which is more expensive than some other state schools) for these schools may not seem like much savings over the privates but the buck has to stop somewhere and a savings of $25-45K/year is significant when you're making $300K. The harsh reality is that the bubble class of the DMV doesn't have the $400K/kid for college and their kids don't attend these schools. |
Anonymous
Yep |
Anonymous
I don’t understand this math. GS 14s don’t make 220k |
Anonymous
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I have a kid at School Without Walls and Wisconsin, Michigan and Maryland are popular destinations for full pay kids. There are lots of Questbridge and Posse scholars going to great schools, and a very small handful of full pay going to the likes of Tufts, Dartmouth, etc.
I’m still amazed though when you raise the systemic problem that so many top schools are only for the very wealthy and the poor today that you’re labeled a whiner. How is that good for those institutions and for society? |
Anonymous
That’s us and we were full pay HS ($35k) and Ivies ($90k) for 2 kids, no family help. Husband left Feds to consult and was $350-400k a few years. I’m one of those $220k Feds. So our income varied between $300-500k the past 30 years. We were able to fund 529s and own two homes in DC. One is a rental that paid off the mortgage. We live well, but don’t drive luxury cars. We were very, very good about saving. But- we missed the memo that our rental would work so much against us. Looking back, we should have sold both homes and bought a more expensive home to tie our $$$ up. Everyone we know that did that is getting aid, even the ones that make our income or more with 2+ kids in college at the same time. Many schools still consider that- even if the fasfa form doesn’t. But, as someone put out there “Fed” salaries vary by education, experience and the particular agency. It’s not unheard of for 1 person to be making $200k+ by the time their kids hit college age- so with 2 you have a $400k+ household. But, yeah, even if my spouse quit his job we still wouldn’t qualify on 1 Fed salary. |
Anonymous
Do you hear yourself? |
Anonymous
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With two incomes it is very hard to get financial aid. Merit is possible. Just have to have a plan before beginning the application process.
We were lucky with our first kid. Got into our state school and is very happy. With our second kid, not sure where he will land. May not be so lucky? But we do have a plan, sort of, applying to a lot of regional public schools. Some OOS are still a viable option. |
Anonymous
The delulu on this thread is epic. |
Anonymous
I do. Base pay $195k as GS-14, Step 10. We get quarterly bonuses based on production. Another 15-20k for hardest work. |
Anonymous
Fed attorneys make that as well. |
Anonymous
+100 people think of gs-9-11 at clerical level. You have PhD-attorneys and so many 30 year veterans. |
Anonymous
So many Fed families in our very expensive neighborhood. DOGE hit it hard. |
Anonymous
Hear myself state an objective fact with zero commentary? |