Reply to Do most people pay for college out of pocket?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The people congratulating themselves for sacrificing while judging others without knowing anything about their circumstances is cracking me up. OK you love your kids more than we do because you drove the same car for 10 years.

Here's what the sanctimonious self-sacrificing crowd doesn't get. There are those of us who think that YOU'RE foolish to pay 85K per year for college. It doesn't make financial sense in most cases. You're obsessed with the &quot;best&quot; schools when most research shows that kids going to good publics do just as well. So there are those of us who think, unless you're wealthy, it's foolish to save for 85K a year when you can get the same quality for 40K per year. We're not as into prestige and we're certainly not paying for it. So just know as you're judging us, we're also looking at your values with some critical questions....

Sorry for my tone, but the judgment assuming those who haven't saved for 85K per year are just selfishly splurging.... it's so far from how many of us approach this.[/quote]

Most of us aren't &quot;congratulateing ourselves&quot; and are middle class, so, we actually get some aid.

The big issue many if us have is hearing those who didn't save complain. Totally fine for you to cashflow a 40k school, but don't complain that you should somehow get a discount at a 90k school.

We scrimp and save to afford the COA of 30k at the 90k school after FA. We could have stretched to 40k, but thank goodness got great aid.[/quote]

Fantastic but you are paying 60K less than many that also scrimped and saved.  The extra $60k is A LOT. That is what you people are missing.  We only drive Hondas, one is a 2006!  WE don't take splashy vacations or wear name brands, etc.  But--colleges have us on the hook for the full freight...even though we are scrimping and saving just as much as you.  We only had 2 kids and live frugally. WE do have lots of retirement savings and paid down our mortgage as a priority...we also were funding the 529s since birth.  AND if we only had to pay $30k like you--they would be able to attend the Ivies and SLACs that their hard work with no hooks got them into....but they are part of the donut hole class which is REAL no matter how much you people getting $60k discounts think it isn't.[/quote]
+1 lol at the ^PP who thinks they did it right by getting FA.

Excuse us, but we saved, too, and can afford $50/yr, but we are a donuthole family who gets zilch.  We can easily float in state, and maybe cheaper oos, but not the $90K/yr school that ^PP's kid is going to.    We also have more than one kid.

There aren't that many great in state options where we are, so even if we look oos, we are restricted to a small number of decent schools for $50K/year.[/quote]

Calling yourself a donut hole family is a bit of a joke as you have a comfortable salary and choose what you decided to save.  Your income has to be pretty high to save that.[/quote]

Exactly!  
As well--there are many many decent schools for $50K/year.  Outside of T50, most privates (and many OOS publics) will offer excellent merit to top/good students.  There are over 4000 universities in this country.  If you want affordable, there will be many excellent options in the T200 alone, and really in the T100.

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Well, yes, I stated as much, that DCs are and will be going to a school that's &lt; $50k/year. But, that wasn't  the point to the ^PP who said that &quot;they did everything right and can afford an expensive college because they are getting $$ in aid&quot;.

Point is, we saved, too, more than that ^PP, but we won't get any aid.

No one in their right mind would pay $200K for a T100 below school. That's a dumb use of money.  If I'm paying $200K for a degree, it should be at least a somewhat good school.

Also, you are saying that in order to get any aid, your kid has to be super high achieving.

So, we have all these caveats to &quot;your kid can still go to an expensive school&quot;.   
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newsflash: if your kid has the resume for most $85K+ schools, they will get excellent merit at most schools ranked 60+, and if you go 100+ the merit will be even better.  So your kid will not be paying $200K to attend college at a school ranked #120.  You do NOT have to be "super high stats" to get merit.

Also, my 26ACT, 3.5UW, 1 AP (which they got a D in first Semester senior year) got 35% of tuition with merit at two schools ranked ~80.  This is my "Bs are okay and Cs will get degrees ultimately" kid.   Those schools cost $40-42K/year (overall cost of $65K) (they attended one).  Also got into one ranked ~120, also $65K overall, with merit was $30K.   That's not a "high stats kid".  That's a ~75-80% kid, who got excellent merit at several schools---the #120 was where my kid was 80-85% overall, so they got great merit.  Others they were ~50% and got good merit.  They also had 2 instate schools (ranked ~100-130natinonally) that would have cost less than $20K with their merit (automatic merit).  So yes, your "non-high stats" kid can definately attend an expensive school with great merit.  Just have to find the one at the right level for them to get it.

My High stats  kid (1480, 3.98U, 8AP) got $42K/year from a T50 school (total cost was then $42-43K)  Higher stats means the good merit starts at a much higher level.  Also got $25K/year at a T35 that gives some but not a ton of merit.  But ultimately got rejected/WL at  3 T30 schools.  So obviously no merit.

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