How do you grapple with the cost of expensive colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't anyone's kids on here go into the military? Almost half of the people I work with went to college on the GI Bill. College was relatively cheap when I attended, so going to college was an easy decision. But now it's so expensive that I'm starting to question if the return on investment is really worth it.

As it's been for decades it's worth it only if you get a useful degree

Those degrees are mainly business (not marketing), and engineering/CS that's it

hard sciences are a wash. There really aren't that many jobs and most of them top out at around 150k or less

liberal arts is worthless, there are almost no jobs and the jobs that do exist barely pay anything... the only real option after liberal arts is law school and the ROI on that is debatable as well since the job market is nothing like it was 10 years ago and many people end up quitting anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't anyone's kids on here go into the military? Almost half of the people I work with went to college on the GI Bill. College was relatively cheap when I attended, so going to college was an easy decision. But now it's so expensive that I'm starting to question if the return on investment is really worth it.

Sh*t! Are you kidding me? This is DCUM, where they all think the military is for losers yet all sleep calmly in their beds at night under the very protective blanket those losers supply. I am all for a draft, even though our military doesn't want it or need it. I think there is something to be said for mixing the pot so to speak, having all classes of people from across the country serve together. It would certainly make it more difficult for our political leadership to get us involved in useless wars.

[Anonymous]

I guess we are in the "donut hole" that has been mentioned. When we started saving 16 years ago our HHI was probably about $70k. Today our gross HHI is approximately $160k. We haven't been able to save nearly what some of you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats on the full ride to UMD. Did he get into an elite school?

I am here to tell you that it happens routinely among Blair SMAC students.

There are a lot of them, as well, who do not even apply to Ivies and the like, because their parents know they cannot afford them.

We are in this latter group.

So the answer is NO, he did not get into an elite school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess we are in the "donut hole" that has been mentioned. When we started saving 16 years ago our HHI was probably about $70k. Today our gross HHI is approximately $160k. We haven't been able to save nearly what some of you have.

You should be eligible for significant need-based aid from the top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats on the full ride to UMD. Did he get into an elite school?

I am here to tell you that it happens routinely among Blair SMAC students.

There are a lot of them, as well, who do not even apply to Ivies and the like, because their parents know they cannot afford them.

We are in this latter group.

So the answer is NO, he did not get into an elite school.

PP was a different poster. My DC (the one who got a full ride from UMD) did get into more than one "elite" school. Again, mine was not from Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't anyone's kids on here go into the military? Almost half of the people I work with went to college on the GI Bill. College was relatively cheap when I attended, so going to college was an easy decision. But now it's so expensive that I'm starting to question if the return on investment is really worth it.

As it's been for decades it's worth it only if you get a useful degree

Those degrees are mainly business (not marketing), and engineering/CS that's it

hard sciences are a wash. There really aren't that many jobs and most of them top out at around 150k or less

liberal arts is worthless, there are almost no jobs and the jobs that do exist barely pay anything... the only real option after liberal arts is law school and the ROI on that is debatable as well since the job market is nothing like it was 10 years ago and many people end up quitting anyway.

The data don't support your assertions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats on the full ride to UMD. Did he get into an elite school?

I am here to tell you that it happens routinely among Blair SMAC students.

There are a lot of them, as well, who do not even apply to Ivies and the like, because their parents know they cannot afford them.

We are in this latter group.

So the answer is NO, he did not get into an elite school.

The answer is, he didn't apply to elite schools, because we cannot afford them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess we are in the "donut hole" that has been mentioned. When we started saving 16 years ago our HHI was probably about $70k. Today our gross HHI is approximately $160k. We haven't been able to save nearly what some of you have.

You should be eligible for significant need-based aid from the top schools.

With that HHI? We'll see. The online calculators say otherwise. He hasn't started applying yet and he's not a student who would likely get into a "top school".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a hard time believing that potential Ivy/Stanford admits are being counseled into UVa and UM due to cost. It does seem that earnings between about $150K and $230K are basically confiscated by the schools, because we put 3 kids through very expensive privates on a $120K income and received about 60% grant aid doing so. We also did a $220K cash-out refinancing of our mortgage to pay the bills.

Well, believe it. It is true.

Half of the Blair SMAC magnet goes to UMD-CP every year. Do you think none of those students are qualified to attend Ivies and the like? They go to Maryland because their parents are in the donut hole and cannot afford $70K/year X multiple kids, and because many of them receive a free ride at UMD.

why don't these people save ahead of time? so selfish. they spend all their money on over price shit shacks.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they do save (e.g. enough for UMD full pay), maybe they had significant student debt of their own, or were saving for retirement so they wouldn't be a financial burden on their kids later, or had medical bills or family members who needed help, or a period of unemployment or just made had significantly less income (and higher expenses --e.g. childcare) in the early years. I don't assume selfishness -- just different resources and priorities.

But the bigger picture is, in some sense, because it doesn't matter for undergrad. If a kid could have gone to HYPS for college but gets a free ride to UMD instead and graduates at the top of the class, that kid will have access to most everything a Harvard AB would have access to. And be in a much better position to afford grad or professional school than s/he would have been had s/he gone to Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a hard time believing that potential Ivy/Stanford admits are being counseled into UVa and UM due to cost. It does seem that earnings between about $150K and $230K are basically confiscated by the schools, because we put 3 kids through very expensive privates on a $120K income and received about 60% grant aid doing so. We also did a $220K cash-out refinancing of our mortgage to pay the bills.

Well, believe it. It is true.

Half of the Blair SMAC magnet goes to UMD-CP every year. Do you think none of those students are qualified to attend Ivies and the like? They go to Maryland because their parents are in the donut hole and cannot afford $70K/year X multiple kids, and because many of them receive a free ride at UMD.

why don't these people save ahead of time? so selfish. they spend all their money on over price shit shacks.

You are out of touch. They do save. They save a lot.

$50K/year X multiple kids still doesn't cover it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a hard time believing that potential Ivy/Stanford admits are being counseled into UVa and UM due to cost. It does seem that earnings between about $150K and $230K are basically confiscated by the schools, because we put 3 kids through very expensive privates on a $120K income and received about 60% grant aid doing so. We also did a $220K cash-out refinancing of our mortgage to pay the bills.

Well, believe it. It is true.

Half of the Blair SMAC magnet goes to UMD-CP every year. Do you think none of those students are qualified to attend Ivies and the like? They go to Maryland because their parents are in the donut hole and cannot afford $70K/year X multiple kids, and because many of them receive a free ride at UMD.

why don't these people save ahead of time? so selfish. they spend all their money on over price shit shacks.

You are out of touch. They do save. They save a lot.

$50K/year X multiple kids still doesn't cover it.

Math is actually 60-70k/year x 4 years x # of kids for full pay kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a hard time believing that potential Ivy/Stanford admits are being counseled into UVa and UM due to cost. It does seem that earnings between about $150K and $230K are basically confiscated by the schools, because we put 3 kids through very expensive privates on a $120K income and received about 60% grant aid doing so. We also did a $220K cash-out refinancing of our mortgage to pay the bills.

Well, believe it. It is true.

Half of the Blair SMAC magnet goes to UMD-CP every year. Do you think none of those students are qualified to attend Ivies and the like? They go to Maryland because their parents are in the donut hole and cannot afford $70K/year X multiple kids, and because many of them receive a free ride at UMD.

why don't these people save ahead of time? so selfish. they spend all their money on over price shit shacks.

You are out of touch. They do save. They save a lot.

$50K/year X multiple kids still doesn't cover it.

Math is actually 60-70k/year x 4 years x # of kids for full pay kids

Exactly! I am 41 years old, and have been saving for retirement and maxing for almost 21 years. And I now have around $650,000 saved. That would cover full pay tuition at a private school for three kids.

But it took me 20 years to save that, at a rate of ~$15K or so a year, pre-tax, with an employer match.

For all but the richest folks across the country, saving $1k/month from birth - age 18 PER KID, on top of maxing retirement, is simply not possible. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a hard time believing that potential Ivy/Stanford admits are being counseled into UVa and UM due to cost. It does seem that earnings between about $150K and $230K are basically confiscated by the schools, because we put 3 kids through very expensive privates on a $120K income and received about 60% grant aid doing so. We also did a $220K cash-out refinancing of our mortgage to pay the bills.

Well, believe it. It is true.

Half of the Blair SMAC magnet goes to UMD-CP every year. Do you think none of those students are qualified to attend Ivies and the like? They go to Maryland because their parents are in the donut hole and cannot afford $70K/year X multiple kids, and because many of them receive a free ride at UMD.

why don't these people save ahead of time? so selfish. they spend all their money on over price shit shacks.

You are out of touch. They do save. They save a lot.

$50K/year X multiple kids still doesn't cover it.

What I intended to convey is that we have saved $50K/year per kid ($400K total) and that still doesn't cover full pay at privates.

Given that our HHI was <$100K when they were born and is now $220K, I would say that we have saved aggressively. The savings still don't enable us to send our kids to the schools of their choices.

Math is actually 60-70k/year x 4 years x # of kids for full pay kids