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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP are you insane or just stupid? You make $400k, have $2m+ in retirement accounts, and you're stumped about how to pay for college for your kids? You've been banking on the (mistaken) assumption that your kids would get merit scholarships to Ivy League and near peer schools?

I've got to say, as a two-nonprofit household that has forgone every luxury to be able to afford the best schools that our two kids might be able to get into, people like you just blow my mind.[/quote]

OP again. I’m definitely not stupid nor am I insane, but I do appreciate your candor. We’ve programmed a great deal of discretionary spending into our budget. We have no debt with the exception of our mortgage, which is less than 20% of our base take home pay. I think we can make some significant spending cuts to make this work and augment, if necessary, with temporary cuts to our retirement contributions. Sort of feels like colleges expect parents to liquidate all savings and take out both loans and second mortgages, which is something I just didn’t see coming when we started putting money into 529 plans 16+ years ago. 
And, yes, I was definitely surprised to learn that merit-based scholarships are not available at Ivy League and comparable schools. [/quote]

Different poster here and, sorry OP but you are definitely coming across as stupid, or at best mind boggling naive. I think many of us are struggling to understand how you and your husband can make the salaries you claim and yet be so financially/socially inept. I find it particularly hard to believe that your alleged T-20 graduate husband was unaware that ivys don’t give merit aid (and haven’t for at least the last 40 years).[/quote]

NP. I think OP is sitting at a NW of some $3.2M+ in their mid-40s. I hardly think that constitutes being financially/socially inept! Maybe a little unbalanced distribution across financial instruments. Also, why would OP’s DH be aware that Ivys don’t give merit aid if he went to college as a student in financial need? Ivys DO give a ton of merit-based scholarships, but only to students that also exhibit a financial need. And no one getting a Ph.D. applies for or needs financial aid. It is all paid for out of research grants. [b]How would the DH have acquired first-hand knowledge of this nuisance?[/b][/quote]

FYI--that is not Merit aid then, it's Financial aid[/quote]

You don’t need to acquire knowledge first hand in order to have that knowledge.  In fact, most people acquire knowledge in ways  other them through personal experience. For heaven sake.[/quote]

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