Reply to What is a "donut hole family"?

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Reply to "What is a "donut hole family"?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Typically a family that makes more than what qualifies for need-based aid but not enough *income* to pay tuition out of pocket without it having a huge impact on their lifestyle. Usually they don’t want to liquidate assets to make up the gap.[/quote]

Right, because it makes no sense to sell your house to send a kid to Harvard undergrad, when a mid-rank college is giving your kid a full ride merit scholarship.[/quote]

If it’s so obvious what they should choose, why are they so mad about choosing it?[/quote]

They are angry that college tuition has increased at a pace in extreme excess of inflation.  They are angry that the school that cost $8K in 1980 costs $80K today, instead of $30K (which is what it would cost had tuition increases kept pace with rather than exceeded inflation).

They want the best education possible for their kids because relative to their generation, their kids' generation is more likely to be shut out of purchasing a decent house, affording healthcare, having children, as the costs of those things have skyrocketed relative to everything else.  They want their kids to be ok and it's much much harder to position the kids now for that than it was a generation or two ago.

That's why.[/quote]

This is a good explanation for how I feel as a likely donut hole family.  I understand that private colleges are selling a product that I (or really, my DD) are not simply entitled to take part in because of her achievements - there's a cost, and they'll look at all our means to cover that cost, which includes remortgaging to get home equity or significantly withdrawing from retirement accounts. And it sucks, because setting ourselves up poorly for retirement will be a greater burden on her. And it double sucks because she likely has fewer options than I did, growing up with lower income and really high stats (and lots of aid), which is the last thing I expected. And it triple sucks because we have only one child because of these significant expenses of child care, housing, college and retirement (and no family money).

DD will be fine, because despite all that we will have options and she will be able to go to college. But I'm still gobsmacked by the cost. [/quote]

Yeah, I hear you. We will likely get some aid for one kid (under 150K - will get need at top tier and merit at mid), but #2 will not do as well on the testing w/ adhd, so may not be as competitive and further limited by finances. We'll see. And, #1 may get into a few places that become a financial stretch b/c of our home value. Can't help that my house value went up. I actually wish it hadn't -- too many Cap Hill lawyers moving in! (Apologies, Cap Hill lawyers, but en masse, it's too much).[/quote]

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