Reply to Did you folks not do ANY saving?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Did you folks not do ANY saving?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here is the answer to your question, OP.

Our combined household income is near 200K, but this is a recent development since I finished a degree.  Prior, between reduced job hours and paying tuition, we made under 150.  My husband's job is tenured, and mine is not.  I see no reason to assume that I will always be employed when my child attends college.  My husband's job, if it is our only income, would get us close to a free ride in a top private college since we have two children.  I make less after taxes than the HYPSM tuition, so if a child gets into a top school, my salary will add absolutely nothing to the table.  My salary is 90K, but remove taxes and do your math.

We never saved a penny for college, instead paying down our mortgage and our rental property mortgage instead.  Older child is an excellent student, and may opt to convert her smarts into a free ride in college.  If she gets into a tippy top private college with minimal financial aid, we'll open a line of credit from the house and borrow cheaply.  If I lose my job or something else arises, we'll get financial aid.  Whatever happens, I recommend that the child ONLY applies to colleges that commit to meet the financial aid requirements with grants, not loans.

Why would I EVER want to open a 529 account committing us to paying college tuition when so many factors can change overnight?  I view 529 accounts as a option once all other reasonable investment avenues have been exhausted.  Prepayment of UMD tuition is more sensible, honestly.

The 4 years my older child is in college may be great for going back to school myself for a PhD (reduce our income / expected family contribution), or perhaps joining a volunteer overseas organization as a resume builder / income reducer.  Worst case scenario, the child knows that we'll pay the equivalent of UMD tuition, and she takes out loans for the rest.  Two years in consulting of some kind, while living with a roommate and us paying for her utilities and food, and she'll pay it off.  [/quote]

Many top private colleges use the CSS profile for financial aid calculations, not EFC.  CSS looks at more factors well beyond your income - such as equity in your home, amount in retirement accounts, etc.  I would not count on a full ride to any school (full ride is tuition + room and board + books, etc.), let alone a top private one, which is very hard to get into. It is actually quite rare to get a full ride. Full tuition is more common and is usually given to students who go to a school that is a tier below their capabilities. Room, board, and books still need to be paid for.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics