Ugh, parents who make a million a year should pay for their kids' colleges! First, you are screwing your kids if not because they can't qualify for most of the aid that is out there! Second, that aid should be reserved for kids who otherwise couldn't afford it, not for people whose parents are making a million a year. Absurd.

Not in the million dollar range, but my stepmother was a lawyer and refused to contribute to my college tuition. I was not eligible for aid senior year because of her inciome. She and my father kept separate accounts and divorced the summer after I graduated. I had to take on a mountain of private loans to cover senior year. Fortunately, she hadn't been working much my first three years of college and only had a full salary senior year, so I was eligible for some aid the first three years. My husband, who came from a working class background had much lower debt upon graduation than I, the child of two professionals. It is difficult to have the income of step parents taken into account. I have one child. I will teach them about responsibility, but will pay. They should have a much lower debt when trying to launch their life.

I went to college on a full scholarship. I went to grad school on loans. It did not negatively impact my life at all.

OP, what is the point of your post? Just curious.

I came from a deep working class family. Received a mix of loans and grants for all four years of undergrad and two years of grad. When I was in college, FFA (or whatever the financial aid agency is called) required every family to make a minimum $500 contribution. My family had zero extra cash, so we always hit the minimum $500. If a family had to pay more depended if the college/university offered a package based on unmet need. My sister attended an Ivy which basically told her, even though FFA says your family contribution is $500 and the total bill is for $10,000, we can only offer $7,000. As if she could snap her fingers and the $2500 in unmet need would just pop up. And they did this after she had been enrolled for a year - pretty much BS. I attended a smaller liberal arts college that was more responsive.

I knew one young woman - parents were divorced and her father refused to pay a dime for her education. Wealthy lawyer. She became an emancipated minor and that allowed her to qualify for financial aid. Very tough for her. And I knew a number of classmates with parents who had remarried. While some of their stepparents did contribute to their education, not all of them did. I've never liked that aspect of the federal financial aid program. My guess is that there are many kids who fall into this category.

Anonymous wrote:No, my parents didn't pay one single dime and we had 8 kids. Nor did we qualify for a dime of aid since my dad was a lawyer. I am a lawyer and I went to a state undergrad and state law school. Paid it all myself...husband had a multi-millionaire dad who paid zero. He went to a state undergrad (where we met) and private for MBA. We only had one kid so we could pay everything for them. We didn't want our kid to go thru what we did.

I wonder if your dad was not a lawyer and your husband's father was not a millionaire if you would feel this way. "go thru what we did".

My parents did not have money so "what I went thru" was tough but I would not categorize it as something I don't want my kids to go thru.

Anonymous wrote:The taxpayers paid for my tuition.

Thank you very much!

Me too. Thank you all.

No, my parents didn't pay one single dime and we had 8 kids. Nor did we qualify for a dime of aid since my dad was a lawyer. I am a lawyer and I went to a state undergrad and state law school. Paid it all myself...husband had a multi-millionaire dad who paid zero. He went to a state undergrad (where we met) and private for MBA. We only had one kid so we could pay everything for them. We didn't want our kid to go thru what we did.

My parents did not have 1m/yr HHI, but they did have enough to pay for college for me and my siblings. It was the 1980s and college tuition was about half of what it is now. However, no, they did not pay for college for any of us. We all took student loans and worked jobs at our private Ivy colleges to pay our way. My parents did loan us money to help cover rent and living expenses when we were short, but we were required to pay it back, just like any other student loan. Happily, they did not charge interest. We each went to grad school after college, and had the same deal there. Ended with lots of student loans. Some of us had jobs that made them easy to pay back (eg, lawyers), and others had jobs that paid less, so it was harder (eg, PhDs).

I'm hoping to save enough to pay for my children's college tuition, because it sucks to have to work your way through college and scrimp on money constantly. I am teaching them responsibility with money other ways than by withholding college tuition.

The taxpayers paid for my tuition.

Thank you very much!

My parents did not pay for my IVY league undergrad and med school education. They are ambassadors and my country paid for everything including 4 trips/year visits to my homeland!

I used company tuition reimbursement for in state grad school

pp here. No, they didn't have money to may my undergrad. I think my dad thought he could use book royalties to help with college, but those ended up being tiny. But my parents also didn't do things like take out a second mortgage or stop contributing to their 401ks, both of which were suggested in the previous thread and the later of which we are doing to pay for our kid's education.

Anonymous wrote:My parents didn't support me after 18 (they let me move in and out and did give me money sometimes, but nothing substantial). I did grants and a small loan and scholarships for college while working to support myself, and I had assistantships in grad school. Got a to a ph.d with a total of 10,000 of debt. But college was a lot cheaper back then and my college was in the south so cost of living was also cheap. No way could my kids do that - it isn't as cheap as it was in the 90s. And I want more for them than a second tier state school that they got As and Bs at while rarely going to class.

And your parents filed a joint return showing income of 1 million a year ? I ask, becaus ethis thread is not for MC kids who's parents COULD NOT pay, its to see if any rich kids had parenst who refused to pay for even so much as undergrad.

I myslef got stuck by the step -father income on the joint return. No bank or state or fed grant prgram was going to give me a student loan with parents having a joint income of 1 million/year. And no grant program would accept that a parent would refuse to support a 17 year old.

Just wonderin' any of you "private school parents" really "raise yourselves"

My parents didn't support me after 18 (they let me move in and out and did give me money sometimes, but nothing substantial). I did grants and a small loan and scholarships for college while working to support myself, and I had assistantships in grad school. Got a to a ph.d with a total of 10,000 of debt. But college was a lot cheaper back then and my college was in the south so cost of living was also cheap. No way could my kids do that - it isn't as cheap as it was in the 90s. And I want more for them than a second tier state school that they got As and Bs at while rarely going to class.

This is a spin off from FA thread. Post if you are from a family where your parents had join income of 1 Mill /year, but they refused to contribute at all to your education. Meaning you had to pay for your own undergrad, housing and support from age 18 on.