Reply to Ever disappointed when you look at lists of where kids are going to college?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can't speak to the motivations of parents who can afford Big 3 tuition, but I know that for many public school families in wealthy areas perceive the cost of top schools (which typically offer ONLY financial aid) to be prohibitive.

We are an upper middle class family living in a close-in, wealthy suburb of DC. We are a federal government employee and a county government employee. We live in a <2000 square foot house, drive 6- and 8-year-old cars, and take most of our vacations within driving distance of DC. We save diligently for retirement. We are comfortable but hardly living high on the hog. Our FAFSA-generated expected financial contribution is $45,000 per year. Although we have saved steadily for college, we won't have anywhere near this amount saved. Rather, we project we can afford about $30k per year for college. Since virtually all of the top colleges will certainly charge us much more than that, they are all off our DC's list. Instead, DC will be applying (a) to state schools, both in-state and in other states with costs of attendance ~$30-$35k, or to lower-tier schools that give merit aid to an excellent student like DC. IOW, they are all sub-25 in the rankings. That may disappoint some people, but it won't disappoint my bank account.[/quote]

Got goosebumps reading this - this is us and we will be lucky to manage $25-$30K per year so it looks like UMD for ds.  Nothing wrong with that but I don't quite know how to tell him, not to bother applying to the more prestigious schools his friends will be applying to because they don't offer merit aid.[/quote]Ironically, while Maryland residents definitely have an edge in UMD admission, it's still competitive.  With that said, I hear that the UMD honors program is nationally recognized and top notch.[/quote]

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