I think there are two brackets of kids - those whose grandparents or the parents have saved enough for private school, and those who haven't. At that income, you've had 18 years to budget for college or move to VA or MD and pray for public, or assume your child will have to take out loans. Choices.

Anonymous wrote:We live in NW DC and make $250K-400K as do all of our friends and neighbors. We're all 2 income families in well-paying but not elite-paying DC area jobs (no law partners or senior lobbyists--we're mostly two fed households). We own expensive, old, small houses and pay way too much for childcare, etc. Otherwise we live pretty simple day-to-day lives: public school, Old Navy, etc You know the story. Some of our neighborhood friends' kids are starting to graduate from Wilson and I'm noticing a trend. They get into very good colleges (top 50) but these schools are full freight. Most end up going to second or third tier schools (public or private) that offer aid.

Is this pretty much how it goes for people like us? (i.e. high income earners regardless of our daily housing/etc expenses). I can think of about a dozen NW DC kids who got into schools like Smith or Swarthmore or Cornell and half ended up attending (full pay) and half ended up going elsewhere (public or private) because the second or third school offered significant money.
Do the "top" schools offer merit aid to students like ours? Or is our only way to get a kid to Smith to be able to pay $65K/year?

(disclaimer--i have no idea how my elementary aged kids will fair in the admissions game or if top-50 schools will even be on their radar).

Yes.

Highly-ranked schools don't give merit aid, for the most part, because they don't have to.

Our HHI is $250K and we can pay up to about $40/year for college, because we have saved aggressively. We will not allow our children to incur student debt, and certainly not to the tune of tens of thousands per year. Therefore our son, who is qualified to attend a "better" school, is at a SLAC in the Midwest, with a big merit aid package. Our bill this year is about $35K for everything.

That's how it goes for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone that pays full freight for a bachelors degree is doing it wrong.

Or they're rich and the kid is going to an ivy? Which means they must be doing something right

Not necessarily.

? What does this mean?

Anonymous wrote:We live in NW DC and make $250K-400K as do all of our friends and neighbors. We're all 2 income families in well-paying but not elite-paying DC area jobs (no law partners or senior lobbyists--we're mostly two fed households). We own expensive, old, small houses and pay way too much for childcare, etc. Otherwise we live pretty simple day-to-day lives: public school, Old Navy, etc You know the story. Some of our neighborhood friends' kids are starting to graduate from Wilson and I'm noticing a trend. They get into very good colleges (top 50) but these schools are full freight. Most end up going to second or third tier schools (public or private) that offer aid.

Is this pretty much how it goes for people like us? (i.e. high income earners regardless of our daily housing/etc expenses). I can think of about a dozen NW DC kids who got into schools like Smith or Swarthmore or Cornell and half ended up attending (full pay) and half ended up going elsewhere (public or private) because the second or third school offered significant money.
Do the "top" schools offer merit aid to students like ours? Or is our only way to get a kid to Smith to be able to pay $65K/year?

(disclaimer--i have no idea how my elementary aged kids will fair in the admissions game or if top-50 schools will even be on their radar).

Is your DD HYP material? Then she might get aid to go to Smith. But it's not going to cover $65k a year. Know that up front. You'll be extremely luck if it covers half to 2/3. If she's not HYP material and Smith (a really good school, mind you, I'm not saying it's not) is the best she can do, then yes the only way she'll be going is if you can pay full freight. Lots of people can.

OP, this is no different than it's ever been. I had acceptances from Princeton and Dartmouth (mid-90s) and went to a teens-ranked school instead with a bunch of merit aid. It was a dream experience for me AND my family came out financially ahead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone that pays full freight for a bachelors degree is doing it wrong.

Or they're rich and the kid is going to an ivy? Which means they must be doing something right

Not necessarily.

Anonymous wrote:
Why haven't you been saving all along for this?! You knew this huge expense would be coming up.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Anyone that pays full freight for a bachelors degree is doing it wrong.

Or they're rich and the kid is going to an ivy? Which means they must be doing something right

What are you really asking here? You honestly think you deserve financial aid at 250-400k? And no, unless your kid is spectacular you're not going to get merit aid at the top schools. The ivies don't give any merit aid at all. Now if you're kid is ivy material and chooses a bottom top tier school, he/she might get some aid but not enough to cover 60-70k a year.

Why haven't you been saving all along for this?! You knew this huge expense would be coming up.

Yes you've got it right. No merit aid at the very top colleges. You either pay or go elsewhere. Our oldest got into Cornell and Brown and we sent to VA instate. We have 4 more kids in the pipeline and no way to pay that much for each so that was that. DC offers tuition credit for state schools to make up a bit of the difference. There were also a number of private schools that offered merit aid to be similar to the $30k/yr that we pay so lots of choices at that price point if the grades and scores are good. Just the way it is.

Anonymous wrote:We live in NW DC and make $250K-400K as do all of our friends and neighbors. We're all 2 income families in well-paying but not elite-paying DC area jobs (no law partners or senior lobbyists--we're mostly two fed households). We own expensive, old, small houses and pay way too much for childcare, etc. Otherwise we live pretty simple day-to-day lives: public school, Old Navy, etc You know the story. Some of our neighborhood friends' kids are starting to graduate from Wilson and I'm noticing a trend. They get into very good colleges (top 50) but these schools are full freight. Most end up going to second or third tier schools (public or private) that offer aid.

Is this pretty much how it goes for people like us? (i.e. high income earners regardless of our daily housing/etc expenses). I can think of about a dozen NW DC kids who got into schools like Smith or Swarthmore or Cornell and half ended up attending (full pay) and half ended up going elsewhere (public or private) because the second or third school offered significant money.
Do the "top" schools offer merit aid to students like ours? Or is our only way to get a kid to Smith to be able to pay $65K/year?

(disclaimer--i have no idea how my elementary aged kids will fair in the admissions game or if top-50 schools will even be on their radar).

Re merit aid -- with that level of income, you are expected to pay for your child's education, unless your child is a NMSF or similarly outstanding.

You or your child can also borrow money to pay for school to make up the difference if Smith or something similar.

You could also choose to downsize your home, move to a condo or something EOTP once they enter 9th and use your home equity toward college.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone that pays full freight for a bachelors degree is doing it wrong.

Anonymous wrote:We live in NW DC and make $250K-400K as do all of our friends and neighbors. We're all 2 income families in well-paying but not elite-paying DC area jobs (no law partners or senior lobbyists--we're mostly two fed households). We own expensive, old, small houses and pay way too much for childcare, etc. Otherwise we live pretty simple day-to-day lives: public school, Old Navy, etc You know the story. Some of our neighborhood friends' kids are starting to graduate from Wilson and I'm noticing a trend. They get into very good colleges (top 50) but these schools are full freight. Most end up going to second or third tier schools (public or private) that offer aid.

Is this pretty much how it goes for people like us? (i.e. high income earners regardless of our daily housing/etc expenses). I can think of about a dozen NW DC kids who got into schools like Smith or Swarthmore or Cornell and half ended up attending (full pay) and half ended up going elsewhere (public or private) because the second or third school offered significant money.
Do the "top" schools offer merit aid to students like ours? Or is our only way to get a kid to Smith to be able to pay $65K/year?

(disclaimer--i have no idea how my elementary aged kids will fair in the admissions game or if top-50 schools will even be on their radar).

It is the same story over here in Northern Virginia. We tend to hover around $200k HHI and have saved enough to pay full freight if we must. Our youngest is a senior in HS this year, so we will know more in the spring. Our oldest is at a state university out of state- he gets nothing for need. With two in college next year we may get "something", but friends say it is all loans at that level- so we are back to paying full freight since we would like for them to graduate without any loans.

Anyone that pays full freight for a bachelors degree is doing it wrong.

We live in NW DC and make $250K-400K as do all of our friends and neighbors. We're all 2 income families in well-paying but not elite-paying DC area jobs (no law partners or senior lobbyists--we're mostly two fed households). We own expensive, old, small houses and pay way too much for childcare, etc. Otherwise we live pretty simple day-to-day lives: public school, Old Navy, etc You know the story. Some of our neighborhood friends' kids are starting to graduate from Wilson and I'm noticing a trend. They get into very good colleges (top 50) but these schools are full freight. Most end up going to second or third tier schools (public or private) that offer aid.

Is this pretty much how it goes for people like us? (i.e. high income earners regardless of our daily housing/etc expenses). I can think of about a dozen NW DC kids who got into schools like Smith or Swarthmore or Cornell and half ended up attending (full pay) and half ended up going elsewhere (public or private) because the second or third school offered significant money.
Do the "top" schools offer merit aid to students like ours? Or is our only way to get a kid to Smith to be able to pay $65K/year?

(disclaimer--i have no idea how my elementary aged kids will fair in the admissions game or if top-50 schools will even be on their radar).