Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 11:26     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have seen what UVA posts as their tuition and room/board on their website. A co-worker of mine, who is in the same donut hole that I'm in for college, said that colleges just have that as list price but no one pays list price, except for maybe foreign students. It got me thinking and I want to ask, if your son or daughter goes to UVA, and you make over $300k, do you pay list price (what UVA posts on their website) or do you pay a lesser amount?

Curious minds want to know!
$300k HHI is not “donut hole”. You have had nearly two decades to save. College tuition is not a surprise and is not meant to be cash flowed.


OP here. There are a few responses that I would like to address about a misconception that we did not save. We have 529's and they are funded with about $160k, maybe not to the satisfaction of DCUM but I think we are in decent shape. We also weren't making $300k all of our careers, which I know the judgey judgey people will bring up that we should have saved more.

I'm here, admittedly asking a dumb question in many of your minds, but I'm learning and getting myself educated. My co-worker was obviously wrong about list price vs discounted price for UVA but it sounds like there are some privates that play that "JCP and Bed Bath Beyond" game as a previous poster wrote.

For what it's worth, my kid needs to get accepted into a school like UVA which is a task unto itself so I recognize that but I'm trying to get my head around the cost of everything college related to see if we need to keep adding to the 529 or accelerate our retirement savings.


Most of us here probably are like you -- haven't been making $300,000 our whole careers and have some savings in 529s. That's my profile, although the $160,000 was spread for two kids (for one, that's more than enough for UVA).

I have a kid at UVA. No aid. Full pay, although I do have a prepaid tuition play that I locked in when she was a HS freshman, so her actual tuition and fees is about $16,000 a year. Room and board is another $15,000.

She'll graduate debt free. She got an RA job for years 3 and 4 when the Invest account hit zero.

My other is at VT. I have his four years covered but will either cashflow years 3 and 4 for room and board, make him take a small FAFSA loan to help cover it, or he can do the same thing as his sister (which he won't want to do).


OP Here. Thank you for answering this question straight up without any snark. Good on you for doing the prepaid option. We moved around some so I have 529's in Maine, Maryland and Virginia and didn't give the prepaid option any consideration. What would you have done if your child went to an out of state school or didn't get into UVA? I'm sure the prepaid plans allows for that but don't remember what it was. Anyways, congrats to you for almost being done with college and thank you again for passing on your knowledge. It's helpful for people like me who are a few years behind you.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 11:18     Subject: Re:UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:Something else to keep in mind about UVA -- the "listed" tuition varies SIGNIFICANTLY based on which college your kid will attend. School of Arts and Sciences is listed at $15,784, while College of Engineering is listed at $26,152, making it not that much less expensive than OOS engineering schools.


OP Here. This is a good little nugget about the cost differences in majors. I am beginning to understand that acceptance rates are also different too between majors. Thank you.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 11:17     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Thanks for describing my kid’s college as the equivalent of Bed Bath and Beyond or JCPenney. Really appreciate that.

The college snobbery about rankings on this board is just repulsive.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 10:56     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:Yes you’re paying list price at UVA.



Exactly. Being a public school, most people pay the $37,800 (that's everything). Your friend's comment may be applicable to privates, some of which are now over 90K. But we received nothing per FAFSA from privates so were a full-freight donut hole family.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 10:50     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have seen what UVA posts as their tuition and room/board on their website. A co-worker of mine, who is in the same donut hole that I'm in for college, said that colleges just have that as list price but no one pays list price, except for maybe foreign students. It got me thinking and I want to ask, if your son or daughter goes to UVA, and you make over $300k, do you pay list price (what UVA posts on their website) or do you pay a lesser amount?

Curious minds want to know!
$300k HHI is not “donut hole”. You have had nearly two decades to save. College tuition is not a surprise and is not meant to be cash flowed.


OP here. There are a few responses that I would like to address about a misconception that we did not save. We have 529's and they are funded with about $160k, maybe not to the satisfaction of DCUM but I think we are in decent shape. We also weren't making $300k all of our careers, which I know the judgey judgey people will bring up that we should have saved more.

I'm here, admittedly asking a dumb question in many of your minds, but I'm learning and getting myself educated. My co-worker was obviously wrong about list price vs discounted price for UVA but it sounds like there are some privates that play that "JCP and Bed Bath Beyond" game as a previous poster wrote.

For what it's worth, my kid needs to get accepted into a school like UVA which is a task unto itself so I recognize that but I'm trying to get my head around the cost of everything college related to see if we need to keep adding to the 529 or accelerate our retirement savings.
You have saved enough for excellent options for your child. Just don’t say you are a donut hole family. Why do you feel that your child needs to be accepted to UVA? There are plenty of other excellent in state options.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 10:20     Subject: Re:UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
The MSRP vs. actual price game is only played by non-selective privates. No school in the top 100 does this.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 09:09     Subject: Re:UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Co-worker is full of sh@t. My husband heard that and fully believed it and even our HS counselor laughed at him and said “good luck”.

Top schools you are paying full freight. My kid tried to bargain at Pomona and another T20 and they got the FSAF and CSS and were like “nada”. There are too many others willing to pay full freight.

We are paying full freight at an Ivy.

In-state—ha! Even less chance for aid.

If you go to lower ranked schools you will be able to bargain—but not the top ranked schools.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:55     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have an HHI a bit under $200k but our house has gone up in value from $600k when we bought it to nearly $1M, so we are donut hole and very much unlikely to get aid in a couple years, and W&M is one that DC is currently quite interested in (in 10th, so things could change). It’s a little scary, honestly.


Didn’t you save for your DC’s college? I don’t get posts like this! W&M shouldn’t be a stretch for someone making almost $200,000, even if you have to cash flow part of it.

Most people with high school aged kids preparing for college didn’t make their current salaries their whole lives.

Many people who have kids in their early or late 20s are just now getting to their money making years.

But I agree, with 200k, you should be able to cash flow one kid at WM. Two gets tricky.


I understand the salary would not have been this high in their 20s. However, you still SHOULD have saved since year 1 if you were planning on college for your kids. If you have saved monthly for your 16 year old kid, even if a small monthly amount, you should now be able to cash flow the remaining costs on $200k HHI. If you didn’t save at all, then I have no sympathy. Sorry. Take out loans or something.

I agree people make mistakes with their saving habits at a young age. It’s like many of our aging population who haven’t saved for retirement… too bad. Those numbers are crazy.

But I also think it’s fair to recognize the enormous costs compared to my college tuition costs and understand that the struggle is real given housing costs in areas that allow for a salary like 200k. College costs have quadrupled since I graduated. CPI data is clear on this and other markers that make this cost even when planned for reasonably, a difficult ask.

Now my sympathy stops at just that. It is what it is. Don’t go to college if you can’t afford it. Don’t go in debt expecting forgiveness. There are ways to save money and work the system even if it means forgoing the ‘traditional’ college experience.

Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:38     Subject: Re:UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Something else to keep in mind about UVA -- the "listed" tuition varies SIGNIFICANTLY based on which college your kid will attend. School of Arts and Sciences is listed at $15,784, while College of Engineering is listed at $26,152, making it not that much less expensive than OOS engineering schools.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:32     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have an HHI a bit under $200k but our house has gone up in value from $600k when we bought it to nearly $1M, so we are donut hole and very much unlikely to get aid in a couple years, and W&M is one that DC is currently quite interested in (in 10th, so things could change). It’s a little scary, honestly.


Didn’t you save for your DC’s college? I don’t get posts like this! W&M shouldn’t be a stretch for someone making almost $200,000, even if you have to cash flow part of it.

Most people with high school aged kids preparing for college didn’t make their current salaries their whole lives.

Many people who have kids in their early or late 20s are just now getting to their money making years.

But I agree, with 200k, you should be able to cash flow one kid at WM. Two gets tricky.


I understand the salary would not have been this high in their 20s. However, you still SHOULD have saved since year 1 if you were planning on college for your kids. If you have saved monthly for your 16 year old kid, even if a small monthly amount, you should now be able to cash flow the remaining costs on $200k HHI. If you didn’t save at all, then I have no sympathy. Sorry. Take out loans or something.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:26     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have an HHI a bit under $200k but our house has gone up in value from $600k when we bought it to nearly $1M, so we are donut hole and very much unlikely to get aid in a couple years, and W&M is one that DC is currently quite interested in (in 10th, so things could change). It’s a little scary, honestly.


Didn’t you save for your DC’s college? I don’t get posts like this! W&M shouldn’t be a stretch for someone making almost $200,000, even if you have to cash flow part of it.

Most people with high school aged kids preparing for college didn’t make their current salaries their whole lives.

Many people who have kids in their early or late 20s are just now getting to their money making years.

But I agree, with 200k, you should be able to cash flow one kid at WM. Two gets tricky.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:17     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have seen what UVA posts as their tuition and room/board on their website. A co-worker of mine, who is in the same donut hole that I'm in for college, said that colleges just have that as list price but no one pays list price, except for maybe foreign students. It got me thinking and I want to ask, if your son or daughter goes to UVA, and you make over $300k, do you pay list price (what UVA posts on their website) or do you pay a lesser amount?

Curious minds want to know!
$300k HHI is not “donut hole”. You have had nearly two decades to save. College tuition is not a surprise and is not meant to be cash flowed.


OP here. There are a few responses that I would like to address about a misconception that we did not save. We have 529's and they are funded with about $160k, maybe not to the satisfaction of DCUM but I think we are in decent shape. We also weren't making $300k all of our careers, which I know the judgey judgey people will bring up that we should have saved more.

I'm here, admittedly asking a dumb question in many of your minds, but I'm learning and getting myself educated. My co-worker was obviously wrong about list price vs discounted price for UVA but it sounds like there are some privates that play that "JCP and Bed Bath Beyond" game as a previous poster wrote.

For what it's worth, my kid needs to get accepted into a school like UVA which is a task unto itself so I recognize that but I'm trying to get my head around the cost of everything college related to see if we need to keep adding to the 529 or accelerate our retirement savings.


Most of us here probably are like you -- haven't been making $300,000 our whole careers and have some savings in 529s. That's my profile, although the $160,000 was spread for two kids (for one, that's more than enough for UVA).

I have a kid at UVA. No aid. Full pay, although I do have a prepaid tuition play that I locked in when she was a HS freshman, so her actual tuition and fees is about $16,000 a year. Room and board is another $15,000.

She'll graduate debt free. She got an RA job for years 3 and 4 when the Invest account hit zero.

My other is at VT. I have his four years covered but will either cashflow years 3 and 4 for room and board, make him take a small FAFSA loan to help cover it, or he can do the same thing as his sister (which he won't want to do).
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:11     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:I am in instate and about 300K HHI and yes we pay what is listed for tuition. That being said, they also list travel expenses, books and other things that we generally do not have to budget for. So the tuition is a hard yes, that is what it is, but everything else after first year at least is not necessarily. My kid will be living in a house next year that costs $550/room, so he will be paying less than is estimated for room & board. Others pay ver $1000 per month for a room, so there are areas you can reduce the costs, but the tuition is the tuition.


OP here. Thank you for this thoughtful response! I found your answer to be helpful and appreciate it!
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 08:10     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have seen what UVA posts as their tuition and room/board on their website. A co-worker of mine, who is in the same donut hole that I'm in for college, said that colleges just have that as list price but no one pays list price, except for maybe foreign students. It got me thinking and I want to ask, if your son or daughter goes to UVA, and you make over $300k, do you pay list price (what UVA posts on their website) or do you pay a lesser amount?

Curious minds want to know!
$300k HHI is not “donut hole”. You have had nearly two decades to save. College tuition is not a surprise and is not meant to be cash flowed.


OP here. There are a few responses that I would like to address about a misconception that we did not save. We have 529's and they are funded with about $160k, maybe not to the satisfaction of DCUM but I think we are in decent shape. We also weren't making $300k all of our careers, which I know the judgey judgey people will bring up that we should have saved more.

I'm here, admittedly asking a dumb question in many of your minds, but I'm learning and getting myself educated. My co-worker was obviously wrong about list price vs discounted price for UVA but it sounds like there are some privates that play that "JCP and Bed Bath Beyond" game as a previous poster wrote.

For what it's worth, my kid needs to get accepted into a school like UVA which is a task unto itself so I recognize that but I'm trying to get my head around the cost of everything college related to see if we need to keep adding to the 529 or accelerate our retirement savings.
Anonymous
Post 05/31/2024 07:59     Subject: UVA - Actual amount paid for in state?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have seen what UVA posts as their tuition and room/board on their website. A co-worker of mine, who is in the same donut hole that I'm in for college, said that colleges just have that as list price but no one pays list price, except for maybe foreign students. It got me thinking and I want to ask, if your son or daughter goes to UVA, and you make over $300k, do you pay list price (what UVA posts on their website) or do you pay a lesser amount?

Curious minds want to know!


The business of showing a 'fake' list price and offering a discount to get you a 'real' price is something only private colleges that pretend to be selective do. Publics do not have the bandwidth or necessity to do that. At that income level, you are paying list price.


OP here. Thank you for your response about the differences in list vs real price between private and public schools. This is a helpful answer to me as I'm obviously not educated on this topic.