Reply to What is a "donut hole family"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I live in a neighborhood full of true donut hole families. I would say household incomes are 100k - 150k. 
Kids in my neighborhood are driving themselves to GMU. 
Very few are going OOS, and those that are are going to schools that are highly undesirable here on DCUM. [/quote]

These are the families that actually qualify for financial aid at private colleges.  There are many places that are seeking out strong students with need, so the elite colleges that are the subject of this thread are actually more affordable to them than to families with incomes of $250K.[/quote]

You’re assuming that all kids are “strong students”. No one is giving aid to kids with a 3.0. [/quote]

Not the PP, but when people complain about being in a "donut hole" and implying that they have it worse off than middle income families, they are only talking about a small set of elite schools that guarantee to meet full need.  For kids who have a chance at those schools there are plenty of other schools that will give them merit aid.  [b]For kids who don't have a chance at those schools, the "donut hole" kids are definitely better off than the lower income kids, because they can go to a lower status LAC which offers merit aid to everyone, or a state school where the tuition will be affordable to them, but likely still out of reach for the lower income kid, since those schools don't meet full need.[/b]

I'm not sure I believe the "donut hole" problem at all (not saying I don't believe that there are UMC families who want schools they can't afford, of course there are, I just don't think that this is a separate problem from there being families in every group but very rich who can't meet their EFC), but if it exists at all, it only applies to high stats kids.    [/quote]

This. I never felt all this handwringing about not being able to pay so much for college. We are well able to pay in the $35-$45k range per year and my kids aren't competitive for elite schools. So I have no problem with our state U options and mid tier schools that give merit and offer something the kids want that the state options don't. One kid is at VT. The other's best in-state option was UMW but she found a better fit at at OOS private w/ merit and that's fine.

At the same time I work with low income kids and I see how limited their options are and know we are very lucky. Sure, the low income kid who gets into Harvard gets a free ride but very, very, very few achieve that. Most of the kids I work with go do Nova-->GMU. A few stronger students get into UVA or W&M, both of which "meet need" so those can work out with loans (meeting need and meeting need without loans are not the same thing).[/quote]

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