Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

Yes but OP has $250k in the child’s 529. If OP considers their family in the donut hole, then they are at the very, very top of it. That 529 would cover 3 years at a private college that costs $80k/yr. That is not a donut hole.

Seriously. I have less than that for my 2 (HS aged) kids combined. I would be so excited if I had that much for one!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't a donut hole, you are wealthy and can afford to pay.

No, they aren't. Or are you not familiar with housing costs, insurance, property and other taxes, medical costs, etc. The bulk of a 300K salary is eaten up pretty quickly even w/o any luxuries.

And it's gross that people seem to view college as a way to level the economic playing field. Why should 1 person pay $60K/year while another pays $15K? It's disgusting. Esp with how much these colleges have and can subsidize for ALL students.

You are making excuses. Many of us live on 1/2 that salary and manage to save just fine. $300K a year is wealthy. If you choose to buy a million dollar house, take lots of vacations and other things, then stop screaming poverty and send your kids to community college.

dp.. our gross income is $300k, but our AGI is more like $160K. I agree that if your AGI is $300K, you're in good financial shape to pay $80K/year, but I think you also have to think about the age of the person (we are in our late 50s), and how long the person has been making $300K.

I have a net worth in the 1% and that's why I allow my kids their pick of where they can get in - their best fit, regardless of price. For example, my kid got into UMD Honors, in-state price of 30K. Nice, right? He went elsewhere more than double the price.

If I wasn't privileged like this, my FIRST consideration would be cost of attendance. I do not believe that branding is worth getting into debt, or eating into my retirement, or reducing my already reasonable train of living. Kid would have gone to UMD and been happy about it!

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

Yes but OP has $250k in the child’s 529. If OP considers their family in the donut hole, then they are at the very, very top of it. That 529 would cover 3 years at a private college that costs $80k/yr. That is not a donut hole.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't a donut hole, you are wealthy and can afford to pay.

No, they aren't. Or are you not familiar with housing costs, insurance, property and other taxes, medical costs, etc. The bulk of a 300K salary is eaten up pretty quickly even w/o any luxuries.

And it's gross that people seem to view college as a way to level the economic playing field. Why should 1 person pay $60K/year while another pays $15K? It's disgusting. Esp with how much these colleges have and can subsidize for ALL students.

You are making excuses. Many of us live on 1/2 that salary and manage to save just fine. $300K a year is wealthy. If you choose to buy a million dollar house, take lots of vacations and other things, then stop screaming poverty and send your kids to community college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the '90s when I was making these choices, UVA was commonly acknowledged as a "public ivy" and incredible deal. Now it charges as much as an actual ivy, but is mentioned in the same breath as UMD? What happened? Did UMD improve or UVA decline?

UMD improved. IMO, it's due to their rise in STEM which is the hot majors today. UMD for CS is T15, and it's cheap.

To begin in the 90's many Asian-Americans came to Montgomery County (MD) because of the reputation of MCPS, as well as Virginia was seen as more racist against non-Whites. However, despite excelling in k-12 education, Asian-Americans faced the racism factor during college admission time. UMD has become a powerhouse because of Asian-American students being rejected from Ivies and top 10 colleges just because they were Asians, and then deciding to go to UMD.

The UMD students in STEM course like Engineering, Math, Physics, CS classes are usually MIT worthy academically.

Our HHI has been between 350-400 over the years that the two kids have gone to college. Both MCPS magnet school products, both Indian Americans, both chose STEM, both with excellent academic and EC profile, and both knew that the Ivies did not want them.

So, our strategy was not to visit any colleges before they got in. We do not believe in touring a college to get a feel for it. I also did not want my kids to choose a college just because their dorm was Pinterest worthy.

We used Naviance and US News ranking to search for the best colleges for the major they were interested in. UMD was not T10 for their choice, but it certainly was T15. Of course, when my kids got into T10 schools as well as UMD, we told them to visit and decide where they wanted to go. The OOS public colleges were also costing around 60K per year. UMD cost was just the cost of room and board, with the merit scholarship of full tuition.

Both my kids did double major because UMD gave them a lot of credits for the advanced magnet and AP/IB classes they took. If my kids would have chosen the OOS college, they would have been dumb. And my kids are very strategic and not at all dazzled by a name-brand college. They would have certainly taken an MIT over UMD. But, nothing else was worth it for them.

So UMD it was. What did we do with the money saved? Besides us presenting them with a new car, paying for all costs at college (because their own hard work paid for the tuition), doing their laundry in the weekends...they also got seed money of 20K from us to start investing in the stock market.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't a donut hole, you are wealthy and can afford to pay.

No, they aren't. Or are you not familiar with housing costs, insurance, property and other taxes, medical costs, etc. The bulk of a 300K salary is eaten up pretty quickly even w/o any luxuries.

And it's gross that people seem to view college as a way to level the economic playing field. Why should 1 person pay $60K/year while another pays $15K? It's disgusting. Esp with how much these colleges have and can subsidize for ALL students.

Open your own college and charge whatever you like.

Feel free to give no financial aid too, see how many people want to go to your special rich people only school.

Anonymous wrote:In the '90s when I was making these choices, UVA was commonly acknowledged as a "public ivy" and incredible deal. Now it charges as much as an actual ivy, but is mentioned in the same breath as UMD? What happened? Did UMD improve or UVA decline?

UMD improved. IMO, it's due to their rise in STEM which is the hot majors today. UMD for CS is T15, and it's cheap.

This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

We make $300k. Have $150k combined college savings for twins. But we provide financial support for FIL and DH has significant health challenges so we have a lot of medical bills. We can't afford to pay $60k/year x 2 kids.

We are encouraging them to go in state so there aren't significant loans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You aren't a donut hole, you are wealthy and can afford to pay.

No, they aren't. Or are you not familiar with housing costs, insurance, property and other taxes, medical costs, etc. The bulk of a 300K salary is eaten up pretty quickly even w/o any luxuries.

And it's gross that people seem to view college as a way to level the economic playing field. Why should 1 person pay $60K/year while another pays $15K? It's disgusting. Esp with how much these colleges have and can subsidize for ALL students.

I think that person trolls this forum from rural Oklahoma. He pipes into a lot of these threads just to lecture us on how “wealthy” we are but he has all the worldly knowledge of a 16 year old in an inexpensive area.

Anonymous wrote:You aren't a donut hole, you are wealthy and can afford to pay.

No, they aren't. Or are you not familiar with housing costs, insurance, property and other taxes, medical costs, etc. The bulk of a 300K salary is eaten up pretty quickly even w/o any luxuries.

And it's gross that people seem to view college as a way to level the economic playing field. Why should 1 person pay $60K/year while another pays $15K? It's disgusting. Esp with how much these colleges have and can subsidize for ALL students.

In the '90s when I was making these choices, UVA was commonly acknowledged as a "public ivy" and incredible deal. Now it charges as much as an actual ivy, but is mentioned in the same breath as UMD? What happened? Did UMD improve or UVA decline?

^ That is tuition plus housing and fees.