Reply to s/o Sending your child to a small liberal arts college for $50k a year is a rip-off

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "s/o Sending your child to a small liberal arts college for $50k a year is a rip-off"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Speaking as a college administrator, it seems that several posters are misinformed about financial aid, especially at the most prestigious liberal arts colleges (Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, Wellesley, Pomona, etc.). These schools have tremendous endowments that enable students who qualify for financial aid (using fairly standard financial aid formulas via FAFSA) to attend with minimal, and sometimes, no loans. In other words, if your children are able to get into these highly competitive schools and you qualify for financial aid, you may actually spend less money than sending your child to a state school under severe budget restrictions. It really pains me to see excellent students from poor families who don't even bother to apply to these schools because their parents believe that the price tag is too high. That is simply not the case.[/quote]

I wish we could get a median income for the DCUM board, but I'm confident to say most people on this board won't qualify for any financial aid. My parents made $60,000 per year and I paid $40,000 of $50,000 in tuition. Makes no sense. I'm not sure who they were offering aid to, but it didn't seem to be many people.[/quote]

Hard to speculate based upon the info you gave. First, are you talking about the very highest tier liberal arts colleges (Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams)? Most schools do not have nearly the same endowment as those top, elite schools, so they are not going to be as generous with financial aid. Also, $60K in income today should allow you to qualify for a lot of aid, but there are many other factors to consider. (BTW $60K HHI in 1990 needs to be dollar adjusted for 2012.) For example, did your parents their home outright, have other sources of income, etc.? [/quote]

I went to a school with a much larger endowment than the liberal arts colleges you mentioned. I think its top 5. I didn't go to school that long ago, but I'm the PP that was in school before the congressional investigation so things have definitely changed at my university and others. They claim now that anyone making less than $75,000 per year gets full-ride paid. I don't know if I believe it, but that's what they say.

Even if this board is representative of all incomes in DC the median income is $100,000 which is far above what my parents made and the current full tuition promises. That being said I get the feeling the average income of people here is higher than $100K per year.  [/quote]

Again, your details need to be clearer. Did you attend a university or a liberal arts college for your BA? Swarthmore, Amherst, and Williams are typically considered the top 3 liberal arts colleges in the country, with Wellesley usually 4th or 5th, each with endowments of over $1 for very small student bodies of around 2000 each. Per capita, that is a lot of money--far more per capita than at a university that serves ten times that amount.

Also, a lot of students don't know the assets of their parents. Your parents may have made only $60K/year, but if they had a lot of other assets which they haven't disclosed to you, the you would not have qualified for aid.[/quote]

I'm not going to give away lots of personal details. I did not attend a liberal arts college or Ivy, but its on the top 10 US News list every year so that probably will give it away.  My parents had no outstanding assets. We had a negative net worth if anything. Only one home with a large mortgage, two used cars, etc. My father was fired that year and starting a business. You are right that the university claimed all of his business assets (computers) as "income" and took away some financial aid. His business and he had no income. Even today his business has a negative net worth. But these geniuses in the financial aid departments find ways to make you pay more.[/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