Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:21     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:Which T10 school?


Brown University
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:20     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Based on your situation, you cannot afford to take loans. There is nothing wrong with state school.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:19     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t sound like you can afford the T10. Did you run the aid calculator before she applied?


not OP but I'm full pay, knew the price way ahead of time, and we still consider the pluses and minuses. what colleges think we can afford and what we're comfortable spending are not 100% in sync.

Being smart about money is how people making 200k end up w the assets that put them into the full pay bucket.

to OP - how old are you? if you work for the government, loans you take out could be forgiven in full if you work for 10 years post kids graduation. SO if you're 50 or younger, maybe this works. if you're 60, probably not.


Huh? Where are you getting loans will be forgiven. I’m a Fed.

I’m the same age as OP and don’t understand how there is so little in retirement. I have $1.6 million in my Fed TSP alone. I started contributing as soon as I started my career. My husband has his own retirement as well.


I'm not PP - but I have a friend (in 30's) who had her loans forgiven after working for the federal government fo 10 years. There's a very prescribed process for this. I think you need to apply for the program (probably as soon as you start working for the federal government) and I believe you have to pay religiously on time for the entire 10 years. I"m not sure how the loan payment freeze periods work (or if they screw your 10 years of on time payments requirement). Anyway - the friend had been paying and now the rest of the loan is forgiven.


To clarify - the friend was the STUDENT who took out loans for college and that student went to work for the federal govt after they graduated college. It was Not the parent who was a fed.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:17     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t sound like you can afford the T10. Did you run the aid calculator before she applied?


not OP but I'm full pay, knew the price way ahead of time, and we still consider the pluses and minuses. what colleges think we can afford and what we're comfortable spending are not 100% in sync.

Being smart about money is how people making 200k end up w the assets that put them into the full pay bucket.

to OP - how old are you? if you work for the government, loans you take out could be forgiven in full if you work for 10 years post kids graduation. SO if you're 50 or younger, maybe this works. if you're 60, probably not.


Huh? Where are you getting loans will be forgiven. I’m a Fed.

I’m the same age as OP and don’t understand how there is so little in retirement. I have $1.6 million in my Fed TSP alone. I started contributing as soon as I started my career. My husband has his own retirement as well.


I'm not PP - but I have a friend (in 30's) who had her loans forgiven after working for the federal government fo 10 years. There's a very prescribed process for this. I think you need to apply for the program (probably as soon as you start working for the federal government) and I believe you have to pay religiously on time for the entire 10 years. I"m not sure how the loan payment freeze periods work (or if they screw your 10 years of on time payments requirement). Anyway - the friend had been paying and now the rest of the loan is forgiven.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:12     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
DC was accepted to a T10, her dream school, but we ended up with little financial aid. We would have to pay about 60k per year. DC can go to UMD CP for at least a third of that and will likely have other lower cost options at less competitive schools. DC is in the arts but otherwise undecided. She may pursue arts or museum work down the line.

We are in our early fifties with relatively low retirement savings (300k). We have a down payment saved up for a house (about 250k). No other debt or money. We live in the DC area. We rent a small house.

HHI is now about 200k, in public service careers. It took us a while to get to this level. No inheritances or major increases in salary expected.

She is our only. We want to set her up as well as possible, especially since she is leaning towards a soft major. We want her to have the benefits of a strong degree down the line. We are struggling with whether to pay for the T10. We don’t want her taking on the debt. But we know retirement needs to be our priority.


You should have purchased the house last year. I gather your $250k down payment is sitting in a taxable account so is fair game. If that was house equity, it would not have been included and you would have received much more need-based aid.


+1. We have similar stats to your family, OP, but we own our home and have a little more in retirement. We receive more than half tuition via FA.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:11     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
DC was accepted to a T10, her dream school, but we ended up with little financial aid. We would have to pay about 60k per year. DC can go to UMD CP for at least a third of that and will likely have other lower cost options at less competitive schools. DC is in the arts but otherwise undecided. She may pursue arts or museum work down the line.

We are in our early fifties with relatively low retirement savings (300k). We have a down payment saved up for a house (about 250k). No other debt or money. We live in the DC area. We rent a small house.

HHI is now about 200k, in public service careers. It took us a while to get to this level. No inheritances or major increases in salary expected.

She is our only. We want to set her up as well as possible, especially since she is leaning towards a soft major. We want her to have the benefits of a strong degree down the line. We are struggling with whether to pay for the T10. We don’t want her taking on the debt. But we know retirement needs to be our priority.


You should have purchased the house last year. I gather your $250k down payment is sitting in a taxable account so is fair game. If that was house equity, it would not have been included and you would have received much more need-based aid.


Agree 100! Housing market was not kind to us. Interest rates and housing prices shot up.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:10     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
No way should you pay $60k a year for your kid to pursue an arts degree!
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:10     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:Which T10 school?



+1 It matters, especially in the arts. Had I not attended a T-10 Ivy, I would not have received a full merit scholarship for the PhD (T-10 school), which resulted in exceptional training and led to highly quality research then a tenured professorship. A state school would not have positioned me well for success in a challenging and highly competitive field, which unfortunately often depends heavily on both prestige and quality of training.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:09     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:Talk to her but I'd pick UMD and pay for graduate school. Where is all your money going?


We just made it to this income level after climbing for the last ten years. Got out from under student loans and saved the cash and retirement. Started late obviously. Here we are! Just in time to jump into the donut hole.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:07     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
State school. I had a similar choice (although I would have taken loans) and it was by far the best financial decision I’ve made.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:05     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Which T10 school?
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:02     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free

I hope you left out a portion of your retirement accounts in your OP, because... yikes. On no account should you take on college debt, or shunt what should be going to retirement into a fancy college.

Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 17:01     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
DC was accepted to a T10, her dream school, but we ended up with little financial aid. We would have to pay about 60k per year. DC can go to UMD CP for at least a third of that and will likely have other lower cost options at less competitive schools. DC is in the arts but otherwise undecided. She may pursue arts or museum work down the line.

We are in our early fifties with relatively low retirement savings (300k). We have a down payment saved up for a house (about 250k). No other debt or money. We live in the DC area. We rent a small house.

HHI is now about 200k, in public service careers. It took us a while to get to this level. No inheritances or major increases in salary expected.

She is our only. We want to set her up as well as possible, especially since she is leaning towards a soft major. We want her to have the benefits of a strong degree down the line. We are struggling with whether to pay for the T10. We don’t want her taking on the debt. But we know retirement needs to be our priority.


State. It matters less where she goes to undergraduate school than where she goes to graduate school.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:59     Subject: Re:Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Not sure how UMD CP for at least a third of 60k equals almost free. 20k per year is not almost free, but I'm obviously poorer than you.

Either way I'd make her chose UMD.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:59     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
UMD seems a fine choice. Is she in Honors with merit?

My friend works at the Smithsonian American History - she told me only PhDs and top management are paid anything that can support a family. So either your daughter does research, but then has to go all the way to a PhD, with the time and investment it requires, or she branches out and gets something in marketing or business.

We made the more expensive choice, but that's because we have a net worth in the 1%. I would never pay 60K a year with your income and assets.