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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What do you consider donut hole? It’s something of a subjective term, even if it’s not meant to be. Our HHI is currently $375k, we have about $380k in 529s, and another $600k in regular brokerage. We have $3M saved for retirement. We live below our means, so that $375k leaves plenty for savings. We can clearly afford to pay for our 2 kids to attend college without any aid. By that definition, we are not a donut hole family.

For the record, I agree we are not a donut hole family. But when you look at the situation subjectively, you would consider where our kids end up - in state or at a private paying full freight? And I know that it’s likely our income will drop significantly before the kids finish college. We’d also like to retire early, be able to help the kids get started professionally, and continue to take care of an aging parent. I think a lot of families in a similar situation may *feel* like a donut hole family, even though objectively they are not. [/quote]

I'm the OP and I don't really believe in the concept of donut hole.  I mean, I absolutely believe that there are families who decide that some schools are out of reach, and factor costs heavily into their decision making.  But the term donut hole seems to imply that people with less means who get financial aid, are not also finding some schools out of reach, and factoring costs heavily into their decision making.   The difference is that lower income families may find that different options are affordable than higher income families, and that lower income families aren't choosing between college and retiring early, or college or helping their kid get started professionally.  Those things aren't accessible to them regardless of whether their kid goes to college at all.

I am running NPC's with all kinds of numbers, because of my complicated situation, and I am surprised that I can put in numbers that feel really rich to me.  I put in all my stats and added $1 Million dollars in assets (so exactly what you have, except I don't have equity in a home, or retirement, and my income is about half of yours) and was shocked when NPC's came back with large amounts of aid at some schools.  I had heard so many people saying that regular middle class families can't get aid, so those results surprised me.  [/quote]

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