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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Very few schools are completely need blind.  [/quote]

Also, ED is not an option for those who need merit aid to attend, i.e. those who neither qualify for need-based aid nor can pay full freight.[/quote]

Merit aid families often have the money to pay, at least for a state school but the parents choose to spend their money in other ways expecting help for college.  It's pretty shocking ot see families making $250+ having such high expectations for aid.  Schools should base it on need.[/quote]

Agreed.  If you have been making 250K for a few years, you likely had the means to save.  The fact you chose to spend elsewhere is not someone else's issue.  We started saving as soon as kids were born, as we knew we would never get any need based aid (2 engineers).  We saved rather than taking fancy vacations, we made coffee at home rather than getting Starbucks....saving an extra $100-200/month easily with just the coffee and eating out.  Put it to work for 15-18 years along with additional targeted savings and we are well positioned.

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We're a donut hole family (about 200k hhi) and saved about 150 per kid until HHI jumped when the kids were in late ES/MS and we upped it to 1,000 per month per kid. That will fund less than 1 year of a SLAC and about 2 years of an instate school depending on the school. Unless we get merit, the kids will take out stafford loans because there is no way we can pay the difference in ECF and savings during the years when they are both in school [/quote]

Since you did not save enough, then your kid/you will need loans and/or to find a school that offers more merit.  However [b]we were a family only making $150K when our first was born and living in SF (expensive!!!), and we managed to start saving ~$1000/month immediately. Any raises we got went at least 50% into the 529. We made sacrifices at that point to save as much as we could.  If we hadn't we would be chasing the merit at this point.  [/b]
Also, your kid can work part=time while in school and over summer and all breaks.  They can bring in $7-8K each year.  Yes, you might have some loans, but if you search for schools with merit you might not need much. [/quote]

You must be a much better person than people whose kids need merit money.  I bow before you.[/quote]

Life is all about choices. Someone making $200K+ most likely had the opportunity to make different choices that would allow them to afford full pay at Harvard, if that was what they really want/desire for their kids (not everyone, but the majority would).  So yes, if you make different choices, then you get to live with the consequences.  Which really are not that dire----attending a T80 school is not the end of the world (Except in DCUM world)---your kid's life wont differ that much in all reality if they go to university, work hard, and aspire to be the best they can be.

I don't go around demanding people let me have a BMW for 50% off (give me merit), instead I buy a Honda that I can afford.  If you value education and really want your kid to attend a T10 university, then you have to plan and save.  If you have not done that, then you plan for your kid to go to a school that's affordable.  There are many great ones.  If the kid has stats to apply to T20 schools then there will be literally multiple schools that would be a fit for them that will give extensive merit---assuming you can get over the extreme need to attend an "elite" school and search for the right fit (academically, socially and financially).  They will get an amazing education---and isn't that the point of college?  The obsession of being entitled to a T20 college experience is bizarre.  Majority of people you know and work with did not attend a T20 school, yet somehow they are successful member of society, making decent wages.

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