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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That’s not donut hole.  That’s a comfortable family. The rest of our kids go to state schools. [/quote]

This. If you have sticker shock, but the ability to pay you aren't really a donut hole. [/quote]

Ability to pay is often at the cost of liquidating retirement funds, home equity, life style and nursing home savings.[/quote]

Shouldn't be. The top schools have excellent need based FA. Many who would be a fafsa doughnut hole would get FA. To be paying full price means, you are well off in earnings and non-retirement assets. Even home equity is often capped (not 2nd or 3rd home of course).

The real problem is failing to save. No one should expect to cashflow college. We started saving when kids in elementary and thought we were late to the game. [/quote]

Bullsh. First of all, by the time you get to college aged kids, you may be making the most salary you've made. But almost no one makes that their entire career. We saved and save a LOT. We have old cars. No second home. No generational wealth. We have good retirement. Those are the things we've funded: college and retirement.

But all of those things are counted against us, as if we can cashflow $50-90k/year. We can't. And we aren't getting aid. We've made our peace with the schools are high stats kid can go (based on finances) and have had to forego much better schools b/c of money. It should not be this way.

I get that those of you not as well off like to dump on higher earners (UMC) to make yourselves feel better. But we've done everything right. Both coming from just above poverty line upbringings. The "American Dream" of work hard and good things flow from that is a bunch of horse sh-- when it comes to college admissions and sending your kids to the best school. The very wealthy get that opportunity. The poor get that opportunity. No one else. [/quote]

Bs back atcha. We made a lot less (like less than 70k) early on and saved what we could. It didn't count that much against us. Home equity didn't count against us -- we focused on schools that capped or didn't include hone equity.  Even a few that did had good NPC numbers. We are middle class, not poor. We have good 529 savings. We also got decent aid at several schools.  We focused on private schools where we'd be eligible based on NPCs and targeted state schools that would be more affordable.

My whole point is that no one should expect to cash flow college. You either didn't plan the savings or the college app choices well enough. There are lots of options with different price tags if you make over 300k and didn't save. Barring medical costs or unforeseen financial crises (and those can be included in Fa apps/appeals), I just don't get the rage on this. If we had the means to save 100k per kid going from 70k to 140k over the years, why can't people who make more save more? Even savings of 200k per kid plus loans and some cashflow would cover most schools. [/quote]

What schools don't count home equity that offer such generous financial aid?[/quote]

Most top tier schools either don't count it, or they cap it (eg 1.5 or 2 times income). Try the net price calculator with different home equity amounts to confirm. Also,  we were surprised hiw some factor it. I did not think Smith would be as generous as NPC figure, since they do consider at unlimited or 2-3x income. I can't remember which. [/quote]

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