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[quote=Anonymous]DD is being admitted but not getting much aid (gpa is lower end and our HHI is around $100k). 
DD will need the connections and education that college provides (I expect she will need to be earning her own income as I don’t see her marrying into wealth or being fulfilled in a lifestyle that a salary the likes of her aunts or even myself earn).
I am coming to the conclusion that I will need to come up with a way of funding her college education. I am blessed enough to own (it does have a mortgage on it it) a home and with the recent sales in my area I think the value has gone up enough that I could pull $150k out in cash to pay for her schooling. I don’t know if that will be sufficient if it ends up taking 5 years to get a degree (something I have been told to plan for), I don’t know if the connections she makes will be of help in our city if the school she selects to attend is in some other part of the country, I don’t know if there will be an economic downturn by the time she does earn her degree and suddenly the hiring of 2nd or 3rd tier college grads freezes. I have always been a single mom with no college degree and she is an only. Is this what families do to make college a reality for their kids? Which undergraduate degree/ field of study is worth this type of investment? I would hate to sink all my money and access to money into a degree only to have her come out and get a $40k annual salary job where she needs to work for 6 years before she can reach something better paying. How do families guard against that?
FWIW I expected aid packages to be better, this is my 2nd only year earning around $100k so I expected more need to be met and then I hoped gpa would be better. I wish she had applied to more schools ... the ones she did apply to are not meeting FAFSA calculated need and not offering much merit. Her top choices at this point would be between $34k - $46k a year. Between equity and small savings I can likely gather $200k for her college and be left with very little in my own emergency funds (a 401k loan if I have the need I suppose). Is this how it is done (sans a fully funded 529 or a free ride)?[/quote]

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