Reply to Are top private colleges mainly for poor people now?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s not clear what OP wants. For it to be free for everyone? For it to be like private k-12 where there are no truly poor students?[/quote]

For it to be free up to her personal income level.  But no higher. [/quote]

OP: Really I was just making a point.  We wouldn't qualify for aid under any scenario, assets way too high.

The core issue is that the retail price tag has just gotten soooooo high.  Much higher than it was on a relative basis a generation ago.

The practical effect of this is that the only students who can really attend are the ones who qualify for a ton of aid (because they come from very modest backgrounds) or students who come from very affluent backgrounds where full price is not an issue.  Sure, there are some UMC donut hole families who choose to take out tons of loans to make it happen, but many probably choose a cheaper option. [/quote]

OP.  Can you accept your premise might be wrong?

In real data, top schools are not being populated by the under $150K and the above $600K HHI set.   People have pointed you to the fact that 45% of the class comes from families who make between that amount.  300K families are not underrepresented at Harvard.

[/quote]

45%, if that number is right, is less thank half. [/quote]

Families who range between $150K and $300K are 19% of the population.  They are represented in the Columbia population at 45%.  Does that seem low to you?  What percentage of the student body do you think should be made up of those kids in your opinion?  [/quote]

https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/affordability

49 pct of Columbia receives $64k in average aid. Half the school is getting substantial financial aid. Other schools have higher rates up to 65 pct. [/quote]

You do understand that average aid can be $64K but that does not mean that half the school is getting “substantial aid”, right?  We are talking mean not median here.

But at any rate, this is a good number to use to further understand Columbia’s student body.  Let’s say you get no financial aid above $200K.  This means that 51% of the Columbia student body has family that makes over $200k. We also know that the 1 percenters are at 14% (which I agree is absurd).  That leaves 38% of Columbia’s student body with families who make between $200k and $600K.  Their percentage in society at large?  Something like 11%.  So these donut hole families are certainly not getting cut out of Columbia.  In fact they are over-represented compared to their share of the US population by a factor of 3.5-ish.  The UMC is well represented.  The schools know this.  Which is why they prioritize aid to lower income students.  You might not “see” this in your friend circle but it is what the data shows.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/

[/quote]

Just shows that "yes donut hole families have/can find a way to save and/or cashflow $80K/year"

They are certainly NOT underrepresented at Columbia.  I suspect this is similar at most T25 schools. [/quote]

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