Reply to How do you grapple with the cost of expensive colleges?

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[quote=Anonymous]For those of us earning north of $200k/year among the top 5-10% of earners, how much sympathy do we deserve from the 90% of people who earn less than we do and the 98% of students who can't get into the elite colleges? It is infinitely harder for a super smart first generation college  goer to navigate higher ed than it is for families like ours.

College costs are predictable. Given our personal histories, spouse and I always expected our child to also attend college. We also sent DC to a $40k/year independent school for 14 years. That gave us 18 years to save up the $30k/year difference between PK-12 and college. If DC turned out to be academically average, the state schools would be good, appropriate fits and we wouldn't need to use savings.  By luck, DC turned into an academic high flyer who will go to a $70k/year college.

The difference between what we've been paying out of pocket every year for private school and college is just $5-6k/year over 22 years - less than 2% of income, even less  when you include investment earnings from the 529. If you subtract out $5k in DC's earnings while in college, it seems even less onerous.

I would have gladly spent all this money on a nicer house, fancier cars, more lux vacations, but our child's education is a priority for us. While I would understand paying an even higher sticker price/donating to boost the number of low-income and first generation students, I am far less sympathetic to do that for the children of relatively high earners.

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