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Anonymous wrote:HHI $240k, when 2nd started college this fall, and we had two attending, and the combined cost was $117k for the year (will go up in future years), we thought for sure they would receive some need based aid. l completed the FAFSA last October. NOPE. Neither of them received any need based aid

Are both kids in public university that don't require CSS?

One is in a public that does not require the CSS one is in a private that dies require it. Doesn't matter, they both got nothing. We both work and always have. The $240 is the income we have now, not what we had 20+ years ago, when the kids were born and we spent so much on day care. We started the 529s when the kids came out of daycare, but it's not enough to cover private college

Its about life choices. You choose to send your child to private and not save as much. We make less than you and made different choices and could afford a private. We saved enough for a state college and can pay out of income or savings the rest.

Usually people who say this have some benefit they’re not revealing.

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Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

NP: I personally wouldn't pay $80K for college--don't think it is worth it for 99% of colleges; however, your analysis leaves out any savings (for emergencies, etc.) and a 529 or investments/assets that could be used to pay for college. Your assumption is that the family is cashflowing the entire cost per year. I also wouldn't max out 401k for 4-5 years while 1-2 kids are in college if your 401k is already at a healthy amount.

Yes, I made the assumption that the PP stated they could pay for private college with $300HHI because they didn't state that.

If our 529 had $250K+, sure, but I don't think the PP has that much in their 529.

Like I said, we have enough for in state in our 529, but at $80/year with two kids, we'd still have to cash flow at least $300K.

And I disagree about not maxing out retirement. What is a "healthy" amount in retirement ? We aren't feds, so we have to pay for our own health insurance. I'm not planning to work until I'm 65.

You can always borrow to pay for college; can't do that for retirement.

Again, you are making life choices.. if you will not work until 65, which is what you project you'll need to, you need to change your lifestyle or accept your kids cannot go to any school you/they want.

well, duh, of course it's about life choices, but the PP thought $300K was plenty to pay for $80k/year private. My point is that it's really not unless you ONLY save for college, have one child, and don't want to go on vacations (and I'm not even talking about luxury vacations), or buy a new car, or have reasonable emergency savings, or live in a good school cluster (public not private).

We don't drive expensive cars, I drive a subaru. My spouse is from the UK, and we go see their family every couple of years. My family lives out west, so we go see them the other years. Family of four. Do you know how expensive that gets. I suppose I could prioritize college savings, and not see our elderly parents biannually.

yes, it's all about life choices. My kids have learned that. My DC now in college has learned that going to an expensive school outside of T10 is not a good deal. That spending $300K+ for four years just so you like the feel of the campus for 4 years is shortsighted. If you take out loans for those expensive four years, you'll be paying off that loan for the next 20 years.

But, those are our opinions and our choices.

It is about life choices. A Subaru is a more expensive car. And, on $300K, where is all your money going? We could comfortably pay for a private and many other things on $300K.

My subaru was $30k. My old one was 14 years old and died, so that's why I had to get a new one. The average cost of a car today is $45K.

Where does $300K go? Do you think we don't pay taxes? The HHI is gross, not net. We are also self employed, so we pay an extra 12% for self employment income. And since we are self employed, we don't have employer's contributing to our 401k. We have been having to contribute both the employer and employee portion. I'm not complaining about that. We are able to save a good amount that way. But, that extra is several thousands of dollars.

Do you think we all have great fed insurance? We buy our own, with a high deductible plan. We have no family money so we save a lot for retirement. We live in a good school cluster. Our parents live really far from us, so it costs a lot to visit them.

I just got our property tax assessment in the mail. It went up by 25%. Home insurance is up by 40%. We are in our 50s so we have even more health issues now, and as we get older, health insurance gets even more expensive.

Are you a fed? I feel like you feds live in a bubble.

I'm not complaining about my life. We have a great life. We have enough saved for in state tuition. My kid got merit aid, too.

Point being: $300K seems like a lot, and it is, but it's still not that easy to pay for $80k/year per child for college and live a good but not luxury lifestyle. And yea, I'm not willing to sacrifice vacation or a $30K car, which my kid will be getting when they graduate, to pay for $80k/year per child for college.

Life choices.

Oh, good grief. We are pretty much all the things you are (in 50s, crazy high property tax area, w/ family in Europe, had to buy a car) on half your salary. We've been saving since our kids were little and could pay 50-55k/year with some loans. I don't understand how you say you can't afford full fare. Fine if you don't want to, and it may not be easy, but you could do it with planning/saving. As I said earlier, the real problem is that people aren't convinced to save early enough.

Read their post. They aren't willing to make any sacrifices.... their vacations are a priority, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

NP: I personally wouldn't pay $80K for college--don't think it is worth it for 99% of colleges; however, your analysis leaves out any savings (for emergencies, etc.) and a 529 or investments/assets that could be used to pay for college. Your assumption is that the family is cashflowing the entire cost per year. I also wouldn't max out 401k for 4-5 years while 1-2 kids are in college if your 401k is already at a healthy amount.

Yes, I made the assumption that the PP stated they could pay for private college with $300HHI because they didn't state that.

If our 529 had $250K+, sure, but I don't think the PP has that much in their 529.

Like I said, we have enough for in state in our 529, but at $80/year with two kids, we'd still have to cash flow at least $300K.

And I disagree about not maxing out retirement. What is a "healthy" amount in retirement ? We aren't feds, so we have to pay for our own health insurance. I'm not planning to work until I'm 65.

You can always borrow to pay for college; can't do that for retirement.

Again, you are making life choices.. if you will not work until 65, which is what you project you'll need to, you need to change your lifestyle or accept your kids cannot go to any school you/they want.

well, duh, of course it's about life choices, but the PP thought $300K was plenty to pay for $80k/year private. My point is that it's really not unless you ONLY save for college, have one child, and don't want to go on vacations (and I'm not even talking about luxury vacations), or buy a new car, or have reasonable emergency savings, or live in a good school cluster (public not private).

We don't drive expensive cars, I drive a subaru. My spouse is from the UK, and we go see their family every couple of years. My family lives out west, so we go see them the other years. Family of four. Do you know how expensive that gets. I suppose I could prioritize college savings, and not see our elderly parents biannually.

yes, it's all about life choices. My kids have learned that. My DC now in college has learned that going to an expensive school outside of T10 is not a good deal. That spending $300K+ for four years just so you like the feel of the campus for 4 years is shortsighted. If you take out loans for those expensive four years, you'll be paying off that loan for the next 20 years.

But, those are our opinions and our choices.

It is about life choices. A Subaru is a more expensive car. And, on $300K, where is all your money going? We could comfortably pay for a private and many other things on $300K.

My subaru was $30k. My old one was 14 years old and died, so that's why I had to get a new one. The average cost of a car today is $45K.

Where does $300K go? Do you think we don't pay taxes? The HHI is gross, not net. We are also self employed, so we pay an extra 12% for self employment income. And since we are self employed, we don't have employer's contributing to our 401k. We have been having to contribute both the employer and employee portion. I'm not complaining about that. We are able to save a good amount that way. But, that extra is several thousands of dollars.

Do you think we all have great fed insurance? We buy our own, with a high deductible plan. We have no family money so we save a lot for retirement. We live in a good school cluster. Our parents live really far from us, so it costs a lot to visit them.

I just got our property tax assessment in the mail. It went up by 25%. Home insurance is up by 40%. We are in our 50s so we have even more health issues now, and as we get older, health insurance gets even more expensive.

Are you a fed? I feel like you feds live in a bubble.

I'm not complaining about my life. We have a great life. We have enough saved for in state tuition. My kid got merit aid, too.

Point being: $300K seems like a lot, and it is, but it's still not that easy to pay for $80k/year per child for college and live a good but not luxury lifestyle. And yea, I'm not willing to sacrifice vacation or a $30K car, which my kid will be getting when they graduate, to pay for $80k/year per child for college.

Life choices.

Oh, good grief. We are pretty much all the things you are (in 50s, crazy high property tax area, w/ family in Europe, had to buy a car) on half your salary. We've been saving since our kids were little and could pay 50-55k/year with some loans. I don't understand how you say you can't afford full fare. Fine if you don't want to, and it may not be easy, but you could do it with planning/saving. As I said earlier, the real problem is that people aren't convinced to save early enough.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

NP: I personally wouldn't pay $80K for college--don't think it is worth it for 99% of colleges; however, your analysis leaves out any savings (for emergencies, etc.) and a 529 or investments/assets that could be used to pay for college. Your assumption is that the family is cashflowing the entire cost per year. I also wouldn't max out 401k for 4-5 years while 1-2 kids are in college if your 401k is already at a healthy amount.

Yes, I made the assumption that the PP stated they could pay for private college with $300HHI because they didn't state that.

If our 529 had $250K+, sure, but I don't think the PP has that much in their 529.

Like I said, we have enough for in state in our 529, but at $80/year with two kids, we'd still have to cash flow at least $300K.

And I disagree about not maxing out retirement. What is a "healthy" amount in retirement ? We aren't feds, so we have to pay for our own health insurance. I'm not planning to work until I'm 65.

You can always borrow to pay for college; can't do that for retirement.

Again, you are making life choices.. if you will not work until 65, which is what you project you'll need to, you need to change your lifestyle or accept your kids cannot go to any school you/they want.

well, duh, of course it's about life choices, but the PP thought $300K was plenty to pay for $80k/year private. My point is that it's really not unless you ONLY save for college, have one child, and don't want to go on vacations (and I'm not even talking about luxury vacations), or buy a new car, or have reasonable emergency savings, or live in a good school cluster (public not private).

We don't drive expensive cars, I drive a subaru. My spouse is from the UK, and we go see their family every couple of years. My family lives out west, so we go see them the other years. Family of four. Do you know how expensive that gets. I suppose I could prioritize college savings, and not see our elderly parents biannually.

yes, it's all about life choices. My kids have learned that. My DC now in college has learned that going to an expensive school outside of T10 is not a good deal. That spending $300K+ for four years just so you like the feel of the campus for 4 years is shortsighted. If you take out loans for those expensive four years, you'll be paying off that loan for the next 20 years.

But, those are our opinions and our choices.

It is about life choices. A Subaru is a more expensive car. And, on $300K, where is all your money going? We could comfortably pay for a private and many other things on $300K.

My subaru was $30k. My old one was 14 years old and died, so that's why I had to get a new one. The average cost of a car today is $45K.

Where does $300K go? Do you think we don't pay taxes? The HHI is gross, not net. We are also self employed, so we pay an extra 12% for self employment income. And since we are self employed, we don't have employer's contributing to our 401k. We have been having to contribute both the employer and employee portion. I'm not complaining about that. We are able to save a good amount that way. But, that extra is several thousands of dollars.

Do you think we all have great fed insurance? We buy our own, with a high deductible plan. We have no family money so we save a lot for retirement. We live in a good school cluster. Our parents live really far from us, so it costs a lot to visit them.

I just got our property tax assessment in the mail. It went up by 25%. Home insurance is up by 40%. We are in our 50s so we have even more health issues now, and as we get older, health insurance gets even more expensive.

Are you a fed? I feel like you feds live in a bubble.

I'm not complaining about my life. We have a great life. We have enough saved for in state tuition. My kid got merit aid, too.

Point being: $300K seems like a lot, and it is, but it's still not that easy to pay for $80k/year per child for college and live a good but not luxury lifestyle. And yea, I'm not willing to sacrifice vacation or a $30K car, which my kid will be getting when they graduate, to pay for $80k/year per child for college.

Life choices.

Again, all lifestyle choices. It is a lot. It's far more than many of us make and we aren't complaining and somehow manage. No, I'm not a fed. You are in a bubble. You are overspending and you cannot afford your lifestyle. If you aren't willing to make sacrifices, stop complaining. We make it work by not taking vacations or doing other things you choose to do.

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Anonymous wrote:Some non-need-based awards and scholarships required FAFSA on file.

Yes. I am 100% sure we will not qualify for financial aid, however multiple school have stated you need to fill out the FAFSA in order to eligible for merit aid.

Curious: what are these schools? My kid was going to apply to 20 schools and none required the FAFSA or CSS for merit aid. He wound up getting in ED so didn’t wind up submitting all those apps. But he got merit aid at his ED and another school, and we didn’t file the forms. I’m not saying there aren’t schools for which you have to fill out the forms to get merit aid, but like many PPs, it seems relatively rare in my observation.

These schools participate with CSS.
https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx

These schools require CSS for *need-based* aid. That’s not what I, or this thread, was talking about.

Anonymous wrote:Also- why is the end all be all, the ability to pay 80k for college. Maybe someone only thinks the value is there if it comes with merit. That is the bucket that we fall into. We could pay for an 80k per year college l, we are just not sure it’s worth it.

for the most part, it isn't. The ROI is not there.

Anonymous wrote:Now, if kid gets into a private college with annual expenses 70k+, how middle class manages to pay for it without any aids or scholarships?

I don’t know how long you have been making that salary, what other expenses you have, if/when you purchase property but without getting into all the class warfare here is the truth

1. One child - that’s the difference between 70k+ per year * 4 vs 70K *8 or 70K *12
2. Inheritance or family money (grandparents helping) - not saying this is common but it’s also not uncommon - believe it or not I have heard more than one story of grandparents keeping houses/real estate in the area and using that for college for grandchildren
3. Saving plus very savvy investments whether that is in real estate (people that kept the starter townhouse, condo from the pre property boom and rented it out) or stocks/ mutual funds. Let’s get real, just saving money in a basic bank account getting 1-2% interest that is less than rate of inflation isn’t going to cut it to get to 560K plus for 2 kids. Any investment holds a level of risk and there is a certain rate of return needed to really make the numbers work and not everyone is a great investor.
4. Not necessarily recommend but parent PlLUS loans, home equity loans, reducing retirement savings etc. that money that plus what has been saved already for college plus cash flow from current earnings WITH with the student taking loans and contributing money from summer and campus job probably could get you there. This would directly impact retirement and could have you end up being a financial burden to kids if you don’t adequately plan for retirement.

For people that don’t have/want to go down the paths above, it’s typically state school or a place with enough merit aid.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some non-need-based awards and scholarships required FAFSA on file.

Yes. I am 100% sure we will not qualify for financial aid, however multiple school have stated you need to fill out the FAFSA in order to eligible for merit aid.

Curious: what are these schools? My kid was going to apply to 20 schools and none required the FAFSA or CSS for merit aid. He wound up getting in ED so didn’t wind up submitting all those apps. But he got merit aid at his ED and another school, and we didn’t file the forms. I’m not saying there aren’t schools for which you have to fill out the forms to get merit aid, but like many PPs, it seems relatively rare in my observation.

If you are so sure, don’t fill it out.

VT requires FAFSA for merit (at least they did last year). We still didn’t complete it since their merit awards are so low, especially for in-state.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some non-need-based awards and scholarships required FAFSA on file.

Yes. I am 100% sure we will not qualify for financial aid, however multiple school have stated you need to fill out the FAFSA in order to eligible for merit aid.

Curious: what are these schools? My kid was going to apply to 20 schools and none required the FAFSA or CSS for merit aid. He wound up getting in ED so didn’t wind up submitting all those apps. But he got merit aid at his ED and another school, and we didn’t file the forms. I’m not saying there aren’t schools for which you have to fill out the forms to get merit aid, but like many PPs, it seems relatively rare in my observation.

These schools participate with CSS.
https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some non-need-based awards and scholarships required FAFSA on file.

Yes. I am 100% sure we will not qualify for financial aid, however multiple school have stated you need to fill out the FAFSA in order to eligible for merit aid.

Curious: what are these schools? My kid was going to apply to 20 schools and none required the FAFSA or CSS for merit aid. He wound up getting in ED so didn’t wind up submitting all those apps. But he got merit aid at his ED and another school, and we didn’t file the forms. I’m not saying there aren’t schools for which you have to fill out the forms to get merit aid, but like many PPs, it seems relatively rare in my observation.

Also- why is the end all be all, the ability to pay 80k for college. Maybe someone only thinks the value is there if it comes with merit. That is the bucket that we fall into. We could pay for an 80k per year college l, we are just not sure it’s worth it.

Anonymous wrote:Some non-need-based awards and scholarships required FAFSA on file.

Yes. I am 100% sure we will not qualify for financial aid, however multiple school have stated you need to fill out the FAFSA in order to eligible for merit aid.

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Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

I'm guessing you weren't always making 300k. If you had put away half of each pay raise when your kid was born, by age 18 you would have plenty in a 529 to pay for college. No one is saying that you should pay all of college with current income. You should have saved for the last 18 years

Most people haven't been making $300k for 20 years. We are self employed, so there are no raises.

Then, as your income goes up, you don't change your lifestyle and put that money away.

As your income goes up, your taxes also go up. Our lifestyle hasn't changed much. We are not the jetsetting, luxury vacation, name brand clothing, type people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my income was $300k I would have zero problems being able to pay for my kid to go to an expensive, private college. You need a dose of reality

$300k puts you in a 30% combined tax bracket if you live in MD, about 27% in VA. Don't forget, SALT deductions are limited, so you will probably take the standard deduction.

If you are 50+, you want to max out your 401k contribution and add the catch up extra $7500, which brings it to like $30K per person.

So, your income will look something like this:

1. 60K 401k (assuming both are 50+ and contributing the max, which you should at that income level)
2. taxes around $60K to $65K

That leaves you with 300K - 120k = $180k.

Let's say your annual expenses is something like $100K/yr in just expenses. You would have $80k left. But that just pays for room and board. Travel and other costs will rack up more. That's just one kid. Many of us have more than one kid who will be in college at the same time.

You will also not have any wiggle room for large emergency expenses or even vacation. If your car breaks down (like ours just did), you'd have to get a loan at 6% to 7%.

My DC is at the state flagship with some merit aid. We told this DC, who had super high stats, to not do ED at the expensive colleges. We cannot afford it, yes, even with $300K per year. It would leave us with so little wiggle room, that we'd be eating hand to mouth for the next 7 years -- we have two kids, and DH is 60. We have enough in the 529s for in state. That would barely cover 2 years of private.

I think you are the one who needs a dose of reality.

NP: I personally wouldn't pay $80K for college--don't think it is worth it for 99% of colleges; however, your analysis leaves out any savings (for emergencies, etc.) and a 529 or investments/assets that could be used to pay for college. Your assumption is that the family is cashflowing the entire cost per year. I also wouldn't max out 401k for 4-5 years while 1-2 kids are in college if your 401k is already at a healthy amount.

Yes, I made the assumption that the PP stated they could pay for private college with $300HHI because they didn't state that.

If our 529 had $250K+, sure, but I don't think the PP has that much in their 529.

Like I said, we have enough for in state in our 529, but at $80/year with two kids, we'd still have to cash flow at least $300K.

And I disagree about not maxing out retirement. What is a "healthy" amount in retirement ? We aren't feds, so we have to pay for our own health insurance. I'm not planning to work until I'm 65.

You can always borrow to pay for college; can't do that for retirement.

Again, you are making life choices.. if you will not work until 65, which is what you project you'll need to, you need to change your lifestyle or accept your kids cannot go to any school you/they want.

well, duh, of course it's about life choices, but the PP thought $300K was plenty to pay for $80k/year private. My point is that it's really not unless you ONLY save for college, have one child, and don't want to go on vacations (and I'm not even talking about luxury vacations), or buy a new car, or have reasonable emergency savings, or live in a good school cluster (public not private).

We don't drive expensive cars, I drive a subaru. My spouse is from the UK, and we go see their family every couple of years. My family lives out west, so we go see them the other years. Family of four. Do you know how expensive that gets. I suppose I could prioritize college savings, and not see our elderly parents biannually.

yes, it's all about life choices. My kids have learned that. My DC now in college has learned that going to an expensive school outside of T10 is not a good deal. That spending $300K+ for four years just so you like the feel of the campus for 4 years is shortsighted. If you take out loans for those expensive four years, you'll be paying off that loan for the next 20 years.

But, those are our opinions and our choices.

It is about life choices. A Subaru is a more expensive car. And, on $300K, where is all your money going? We could comfortably pay for a private and many other things on $300K.

My subaru was $30k. My old one was 14 years old and died, so that's why I had to get a new one. The average cost of a car today is $45K.

Where does $300K go? Do you think we don't pay taxes? The HHI is gross, not net. We are also self employed, so we pay an extra 12% for self employment income. And since we are self employed, we don't have employer's contributing to our 401k. We have been having to contribute both the employer and employee portion. I'm not complaining about that. We are able to save a good amount that way. But, that extra is several thousands of dollars.

Do you think we all have great fed insurance? We buy our own, with a high deductible plan. We have no family money so we save a lot for retirement. We live in a good school cluster. Our parents live really far from us, so it costs a lot to visit them.

I just got our property tax assessment in the mail. It went up by 25%. Home insurance is up by 40%. We are in our 50s so we have even more health issues now, and as we get older, health insurance gets even more expensive.

Are you a fed? I feel like you feds live in a bubble.

I'm not complaining about my life. We have a great life. We have enough saved for in state tuition. My kid got merit aid, too.

Point being: $300K seems like a lot, and it is, but it's still not that easy to pay for $80k/year per child for college and live a good but not luxury lifestyle. And yea, I'm not willing to sacrifice vacation or a $30K car, which my kid will be getting when they graduate, to pay for $80k/year per child for college.

Life choices.