Reply to How many kids really decline acceptances to Top 10-15 uni's for State U?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]Financially responsible families who fall in the doughnut-hole will do this.[/b]  Better off going to the Honors College of a strong state U and saving the money for grad school.

Also depends so much on what your child wants to do.  My best friend's son went to an Ivy and she really struggled with the decision to spend so much but his goal is to work on Wall St. so the Ivy offered a clear benefit and for that field probably is worth the investmnet.  In contrast, my sister turned down U of Penn for a state U -- she wanted to be a nurse and Pen offered no aid.  Hospitals don't care where you went to college as long as it's an accredited program so it would have been stupid to go into debt for a nursing degree.  [/quote]

There is no “donut hole” if one is financially responsible.  That is kind of the point. [/quote]

So speaks the poster who has no clue what the real world is like.

Pray, tell, what are the donut hole families supposed to do? Sacrifice all their retirement savings just for a fancy college? Or take on a second mortgage? There's a thing called life and it's damn expensive and that's not even figuring in college. Being financially responsible is making sure you have enough retirement savings and paying down your mortgage and providing your family with a safe and decent place to live and ensuring there's food on the table. A fancy college is strictly a privilege, not a right. And guess what, a fancy college does virtually nothing in terms of advancement compared to a good state school for a highly capable student. [/quote]

I agree that an honors program in a good state school is a great option, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with my statement.

The top 10-15 schools have their own way of figuring financial need.  They are more liberal than the FAFSA calculations.  There is no donut hole in financially responsible families because they have saved enough without sacrificing their retirement (and they get dinged more than the financially irresponsible because they have saved more).  We live in the DC area- well within the beltway.  Our HHI has been in the $150-$200k range for the past 10 years,before that it was closer to $100k. ($150-$200k is often referred to as the “donut hole”)  We were able to save enough for our two children’s colleges (wherever they would have gone) and for our retirement. We are paying down a mortgage on a house in a safe decent place and ensured that there is/was food on the table. Our children are currently in college now and their costs are around $45k each per year; however, we had budgeted to allow each to go to a more expensive school.  While we would have liked for them to go to one of our state’s in state schools for the financial $, they each chose a school that was better for each of them all around.

In the end,  it is a choice on the parents to spend their money as they wish when they wish. Own that - don’t blame “the donut hole”  for your choices.  [/quote]

I wouldn't say the top schools are more generous than the Fafsa would have you believe. I have a friend whose son got into Columbia. They didn't receive a dime. I'm guessing that their HHI is $250.000 max and they have three kids.  I don't know how Columbia thinks they can spend $70,000 a year on college. My friend doesn't even earn $70,000 a year![/quote]

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