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

[Anonymous]

Might have considered a townhouse? My mortgage is $1200 a month. Still good schools, college savings /no loans but no impressing the UMC families. Different values

[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. Sell the house you just bought that is taking up all of your income and move back into a smaller home. That will free up a lot of cash over the next 4 years.


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]

$1200 per month sounds very reasonable for a town home
with good schools.

[Anonymous]

Lucked out what the prices—20 years ago!

[Anonymous]

I have twin girls and a son I attended college many years ago in Vietnam and when I came to the US at the age of 30, I had to do start over again. I went to NVCC to learned AutoCAD and found a job that paid enough for housing and food but not enough to save for my kids college education. We used to rent a basement at a home in Mclean so that my kids can attend Langley HS. We saved about 30K for each kids so they knew that they would have to spend two years at NVCC. The twin girls spent two years at NVCC and transferred to Yale and Emory with full scholarship due to my family finance. The boy also spent one year at NVCC and transferred to UVA through the guarantee admission program. He got quite a bit of financial aid and some merit aid so it is almost a free education at UVA.

All of them graduated a few years ago. One of the daughters is in medical school while the other one is working for Goldman Sachs. The son is working for Apple.

NVCC is a really good college. All of my kids are proud to say that they once attended NVCC as does their father.

[Anonymous]

That is awesome, PP. Reading personal histories like yours give me hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have twin girls and a son I attended college many years ago in Vietnam and when I came to the US at the age of 30, I had to do start over again. I went to NVCC to learned AutoCAD and found a job that paid enough for housing and food but not enough to save for my kids college education. We used to rent a basement at a home in Mclean so that my kids can attend Langley HS. We saved about 30K for each kids so they knew that they would have to spend two years at NVCC. The twin girls spent two years at NVCC and transferred to Yale and Emory with full scholarship due to my family finance. The boy also spent one year at NVCC and transferred to UVA through the guarantee admission program. He got quite a bit of financial aid and some merit aid so it is almost a free education at UVA.

All of them graduated a few years ago. One of the daughters is in medical school while the other one is working for Goldman Sachs. The son is working for Apple.

NVCC is a really good college. All of my kids are proud to say that they once attended NVCC as does their father.

To all the the ridiculous "real Ivy" parents, please read this post. College is college the idea is to get out, get a job and find a successful career. This is one of the best examples of how to get a good education for your DC! Granted DC has to be somewhat self motivated, but see where they ended up same place as your "real IVY".

[Anonymous]

Awesome update about CC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

You are making absurd excuses. Your house has to be at least $600K for that mortgage. Ours was under $400K and needed everything repaired. We replaced everything, everything and some still needs done. We DIY a lot. We still have money for college savings. You are not middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Community College does not offer the same quality of education as a well respected 4 year institution. If your goal is just to get a degree that is fine, but don’t kid yourself that a student is learning critical thinking or leadership skills. Both my MIL and aunt teach at different community colleges and it is a very different student body. Community College fills an extreme important niche, but don’t kid yourself on the quality of education.

MC or NVCC?
I don’t think this post is accurate

Probably not PC thing to say but I have to agree. There is no free meals in education.

Honestly I think the education you get at a community college for the courses offered are just as good as you would get at most 4 year institutions. The student body will be significantly different, but the courses taught will be similar.

Also the professors will be more devoted to the students because their focus will be on teaching and not research. Classes will be smaller. My kids have taken classes at MC during the summer and they have been very high quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You’re bringing home let’s say $9k per month. How much is your mortgage?!? You should be able to contribute $3k per month towards college.

You say that college is $50k per year for both kids

That’s $36k of your own money
$10k in loans
$4k your kids working over the summer

Not understanding why you can’t afford this?

Here’s what a budget should look like at your income level:

3k - mortgage
500 - transportation
500 - utilities
2k - living expenses
2k - savings
1k - other crap

You forgot health care! Duh. Let’s say that’s $1500 mo.

I’m assuming OP has employer provided healthcare and the $9k takehome is after retirement, taxes and healthcare. Healthcare is pretax - duh!

Big assumption! It may be right for OP, but many Americans have to pay for independent health care plans and it‘s exorbitant. Mine is $1500/mo for monthly premiums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You’re bringing home let’s say $9k per month. How much is your mortgage?!? You should be able to contribute $3k per month towards college.

You say that college is $50k per year for both kids

That’s $36k of your own money
$10k in loans
$4k your kids working over the summer

Not understanding why you can’t afford this?

Here’s what a budget should look like at your income level:

3k - mortgage
500 - transportation
500 - utilities
2k - living expenses
2k - savings
1k - other crap

You forgot health care! Duh. Let’s say that’s $1500 mo.

I’m assuming OP has employer provided healthcare and the $9k takehome is after retirement, taxes and healthcare. Healthcare is pretax - duh!

Big assumption! It may be right for OP, but many Americans have to pay for independent health care plans and it‘s exorbitant. Mine is $1500/mo for monthly premiums.

We pay $50 a month. It varies widely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Community College does not offer the same quality of education as a well respected 4 year institution. If your goal is just to get a degree that is fine, but don’t kid yourself that a student is learning critical thinking or leadership skills. Both my MIL and aunt teach at different community colleges and it is a very different student body. Community College fills an extreme important niche, but don’t kid yourself on the quality of education.

A lot of 1st year and 2nd year classes at Ivies, UVA, CMU, etc... are NOT taught by professors. Those classes are taught by TAs. Furthermore, a lot of 1st and 2nd year classes at those universities have at least 100 students per class. Some even have like 200+ students. Quite frankly, those classes do not need to be taught by professors. 1st & 2nd classes are not that difficult to begin with.

At CC, classes are actually taught my professors and the class sizes are ten times smaller than at Universities.

yes, the student body at CC is very different than Universities and there are much more "less motivated" students at CC. If your kid is motivated and self-driven, he/she will be fine. The smart kids from CC will end up @UVA, VT, UMD, Ivies. CC is just a springboard to better things.

[Anonymous]

At OP’s income, no FA in California. Not even at half that income. People are still able to pay tuition including R and B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At OP’s income, no FA in California. Not even at half that income. People are still able to pay tuition including R and B.

But they are out of state for CA and tuition is much higher. Something is off if they have 29 years on a mortgage. What is going on?