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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Oh gosh, I am so sick of people making hundreds of thousands of dollars and trying to call themselves "middle class."  We earn about $150K a year (here in the DC area as well) and I hesitate to call us middle class-- I think we're upper middle class, not quite rich yet but getting there.  At $300,000 you are absolutely not middle class anymore- you're in like the top 5% richest households in the area.

Look, I get that paying for college is not easy even at $300K, but haven't you been saving?  Even if you only saved like $10K per child per year (which shouldn't be too hard at your income-- we manage it pretty easily at half your income) that should cover most or all of the costs, depending on investment returns.  [/quote].

Oh gosh, I am so sick of people making assumptions about what others can afford. We make $350+. We’ve never had any family help. We lived on one GS-11 to gradually 14 in the DMV when our kids were little and could hardly pay the mortgage, much less save for college. One of our kids has a disability that requires expenses beyond medical that you’d never begin to understand.

We have high incomes in the last few years and our expenses are high. We still have our own student loans. College for a kid with our kids disability (if that happens) is DOUBLE private college and they will need help their entire life.

So I’m so sick of people jumping in on DCUM and saying off of one sentence about income “of course you can afford it, you made lifestyle choices or didn’t save enough.”

You just don’t know the complexities of someone else’s situation.

We will not get aid and our DC will go to a great state school with merit. We are okay with that. But don’t tell me what I can afford based on my income when I’m in my 50’s and my kid is 18.[/quote]

$300,000 is rich.

Period.

It is rich here.  It is really rich an hour drive away from here.

There is no way, no how, that a $300K income is middle class... even here.[/quote]

Sure 300k comp in say Arkansas is rich, but not in this area. In this area you are getting by fine but by no means is someone making that rich, especially if they have kids. 300k in this area is solidly middle class (look at the average income in McLean for example, it's 250k, or say in 22207 it's 230k). 300k in this area (especially given high cost of housing and childcare) is very much an almost paycheck to paycheck existence.

The only way I would say that 300k is fine is if its a household where only the husband/wife works while the other takes care of childcare. Then yeah 300k is great, otherwise though (especially with super young children) dual income 300k just doesn't get you far. [/quote]

BS.

$300,000 is [b]very wealthy[/b] in this area, unless you are terrible with money.[/quote]

$330k is middle class, just look at people living in the most expensive part of the highest income county in the entire country.

“But I don’t feel rich” they say driving their $80k Tesla back to their $1.8 million house after paying the $40 toll on 66. [/quote]

Agree. It’s all very simple. If someone making $150K can send their kid to school, someone making $300K can, too. It doesn’t matter what aid the families get, it doesn’t matter how long the income has been $300k. The concept is proven. It’s possible to live on 150k. It’s possible to cover any school with the extra $150k, after taxes.

Now, is either family happy with their lot? Does either family want to sink money into education? Those are questions to explore. But the family making $300K has the upper hand. There is no package a family making $150K can be offered, that would change that statement.[/quote]

State college, yes. IF we are talking $90k/year price tag and have more than 1 kid--it is going to be rough on a $150k salary in this area without family help/trust/grandparents, etc.[/quote]

We have that income and could do it but we aren’t vacationing, crummy house, etc.  [/quote]

2 kids? $180k/year? Wow. $30k more a year than your annual income. I’m sure there are expenses other than college too: food, gas, possibly mortgage, health/life insurance …[/quote]

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