Reply to "free tuition for people making under $x" is problematic

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We make around 140k and when I hear about these policies I feel encouraged simply because we have a very academic, ambitious kid and it gives me hope that she will have more options for college than whatever in state school we can afford. We save diligently for college because she's very clearly college bound, but it's hard and we have to budget very carefully. We also will be fortunate to have 150k total by the time she is college age, even though we've been saving since she was born. So we will hopefully be able to swing in-state tuition. But she's a really smart kid with big dreams, and she works very hard. If she is able to get into an elite college, it is a relief to me to know that they will work with us to find a way for her to afford to go, since we will never be able to afford a school that charges 80-100k a year.

It is wild to me how resentful some of you are about this. Are your kids even getting into these schools? I feel like if you are wealthy enough to be able to pay these sticker prices, AND you have a kid with the stats to get in, you are in a good situation no matter what and there is little to complain about here. I don't get it.[/quote]

Nobody’s launching a crusade. People are grumbling because colleges said something was free and then said “whoops but not for you because you were foolish enough to save.” Looks like you’ll be in exactly the same situation in a few years: feeling fortunate that your kid can go to college at all, but laughing ruefully at elite colleges that say they want to make college “affordable for everyone”  or “enroll the best and the brightest,” but then, because you saved, make it clear that your kid won’t be able to attend. And then when people tell your kid that she’s actually not as good as she wants to believe because she didn’t go to the elite school you couldn’t afford … you’re not going to start a revolution. But you might be right here grumbling on DCUM. [/quote]

PP here. I think you are misinformed. I assume all the money in my kid's 529 will wind up going to whatever college she attends. But if she gets into a college that charges more than that, I also think that if they guarantee tuition for kids whose families make less than 150k or 200k, that they will give her the balance. If I'm wrong, then yeah, that seems unfair. But I don't think I'm wrong.

We're talking about very selective colleges. If my kid gets into Princeton or Brown, I really do not think they will look at our finances and say "well you can pay a third of our tuition but we won't give you the difference because... reasons." That makes no sense. I think they will offer us financial aid at that point because if they've bothered to admit her to the school, my guess is they want her to attend and will help us find a way for it to happen.

I think the situation you are talking about is a situation where a family has way more assets than just some money in a 529. Like lots of savings, a rental property, lots of investments. And the school might look at that and say "ok you can afford to pay 90k per year." And some of these parents are like "no I don't want to, you should give me aid like that family over there who only had 150k in a 529 and some modest retirement savings." But that's idiotic. This family CAN afford to be full pay. They just don't want to. We can't afford full pay. The money simply is not there. So they will give us aid. Why should we be treated the same as a family with WAY more money and assets? That's silly. We are not the same.[/quote]
NP. Find out how much aid they will give you by using Net Price Calculators.[/quote]

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