Reply to Alabama for free or a more elite school that is less than free-ride?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, you are making what I strongly suspect are multiple socio-demographic assumptions that are informing your choice.  And you are making a severe mistake that will do a generation's worth of damage.  An undergraduate degree from UA is of effectively no value, and earning it will impart no breadth, compared to a degree from a top-20.  If you complete the forms and make a convincing case, you can easily receive a nearly-free ride if your son is admitted to Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia or Penn.  Your comment to the effect that you just don't believe it reveals what seem to be other priorities and assumptions on your part.  Please don't damage your child.  
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You clearh care about OP's child future more than she does. And it was already explained, multiple times, that financial aid at "need based" only schools is essentially nill for middle class families. [/quote]

A student from a family of 4, with 1 in college, making the median family income for MD ($105,000) would be given a grant of $46,775 a year at Harvard, according to their netprice calculator.  That's pretty far from "nil"
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You probably have no savings.[/quote]

I didn't enter in my own numbers.  I entered the average numbers for income and savings for MD, because that's where I live.  I initially entered $5,000 because it was closest to the national average household savings of $3,800, but the grant didn't actually change until I got over $100,000.

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Many families with older children have over $100k in retirement savings. Maybe that's not technically middle class but it sure feels that way in this area.[/quote]

Retirement savings are not included in financial aid calculations.

The reality is that if a family is making the kind of income that qualifies them for no financial aid ($225,000 or above for a family of 4) at Harvard, then either they've been making that amount for a while, in which case they had the option of putting away significant amounts for college, or they just started making it recently, in which case they should be able to choose to put the extra towards tuition.  That isn't to say that they should, or that it isn't a totally valid choice to buy a fancy house, or send your kids to private high school, or take them on nice vacations instead of savings for college.  But families with incomes above $225,000 can afford college, barring something like a medical expense.  They have choices available to them.  Again, there's nothing wrong with deciding to spend your money on something else, and telling your child to go to 'Bama or in state or somewhere with merit aid, but acknowledge that it's a choice. [/quote]

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