Anonymous wrote:Most people don't.

This. I went to an Ivy and a lot of grandparents paid for boarding school and college. I had a large scholarship and some loans, H was full pay and his dad paid 100% of the tuition when it was due (no 529). We save in 529, my FIL will cover some and we'll pay cash for the rest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost no one pays sticker price to colleges. Many more people get FA than you think.

Op here, our HHS is $200K, so I'm not counting on FA. Do people get merit aid? I want my children to have choices, but boy I'd really like them to go in-state.

LOL. No FA @200k. This is where decision gets hard oP. Every parent wants to give their kids choices but, in many cases, the options are not very realistic. Now you are beginning to understand why for families like yours, options are not real options. As for your question on merit aid, yes, a lot of privates give "token" merit aid (discount disguised as a merit aid), usually 15k-25k or so. Helpful but still not enough for many families.

There are schools that give $40k+/yr in merit aid and opportunities for full tuition scholarships

Well, yes. Out of more than 4000 colleges, I am sure there are.

I'm not sure I understand the question.

When my kids were born, I assumed private college would be around 350-400k all in for each of them.

So we figured out the monthly contribution plus a little extra from investing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost no one pays sticker price to colleges. Many more people get FA than you think.

Op here, our HHS is $200K, so I'm not counting on FA. Do people get merit aid? I want my children to have choices, but boy I'd really like them to go in-state.

LOL. No FA @200k. This is where decision gets hard oP. Every parent wants to give their kids choices but, in many cases, the options are not very realistic. Now you are beginning to understand why for families like yours, options are not real options. As for your question on merit aid, yes, a lot of privates give "token" merit aid (discount disguised as a merit aid), usually 15k-25k or so. Helpful but still not enough for many families.

There are schools that give $40k+/yr in merit aid and opportunities for full tuition scholarships

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 girls in HS and a total of $250K saved for college, and yet this only fully funds them for an in-state school. If either goes out of state to public or private, the costs are prohibitive. Even within the confines of the DCUMer, how do people fully fund their child's undergraduate education. Second, do most colleges provide some form of merit aid for strong students, such that that actual costs are less than what I'm seeing on college websites?

1-They don’t
2-They take out loans like most kids have to
3-they go in-state
4-they’re rich

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 girls in HS and a total of $250K saved for college, and yet this only fully funds them for an in-state school. If either goes out of state to public or private, the costs are prohibitive. Even within the confines of the DCUMer, how do people fully fund their child's undergraduate education. Second, do most colleges provide some form of merit aid for strong students, such that that actual costs are less than what I'm seeing on college websites?

$125k/kid is enough to go to some oos Publics is privates with merit aid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this wasn't your question, but how about doing what my dad did and telling them that they can go in state and have it fully paid for or go out of state/private and be responsible for the loans?

I didn't love the message at the time, but I am forever grateful that I chose a state school and graduated without loans. College is a good time to teach the life lesson that you need to make choices that are based on living within your means.

Plus, having a fully funded option anywhere is a luxury that most kids don't get so don't be apologetic that that's all you have saved!

This was the option I got too. My brother went to a service academy, and parents gifted him the amount that would have been his college money.

I plan to give the same options to my child. The cost is becoming prohibitive, also state universities worked very well for my spouse and I, and the service academy for my brother (plus, he was ahead with funds to use for a home down payment.)

I agree somewhat, but I am not gifting funds to a kid that uses a service academy or choose to join the military. I was in the military and used it to fund my college degrees. I don't have a hand out to my parents expecting some payment for saving them money.

I will pay for a 4 year state college. If kid 1 costs 20k per year, that's what I pay. If kid 2 costs 10k per year, because they received merit aid, I'm not giving handouts for the difference. Obviously I am a middle class parent and not rolling in dough. I also have retirement and my own expenses to maintain so that I'm not a burden to my kids later in life.

Anonymous wrote:I know this wasn't your question, but how about doing what my dad did and telling them that they can go in state and have it fully paid for or go out of state/private and be responsible for the loans?

I didn't love the message at the time, but I am forever grateful that I chose a state school and graduated without loans. College is a good time to teach the life lesson that you need to make choices that are based on living within your means.

Plus, having a fully funded option anywhere is a luxury that most kids don't get so don't be apologetic that that's all you have saved!

This was the option I got too. My brother went to a service academy, and parents gifted him the amount that would have been his college money.

I plan to give the same options to my child. The cost is becoming prohibitive, also state universities worked very well for my spouse and I, and the service academy for my brother (plus, he was ahead with funds to use for a home down payment.)

On every college website, there is a link for the Net Price Calculator (NPC) where you can input your financials and you can see IF you would receive financial aid. Income is one factor, but assets can count too, depending on the school. You didn’t say how close in age your children are, but often 2 kids in college at the same time might receive some aid. Beware that lots of Financial aid comes in as a loan. You could very well be in the dreaded DONUT HOLE. This means you make too much money for financial aid, but not enough to fund a private.

Another site that is rarely mentioned here is called The College Solution. Very informative.

It sounds like each kid gets over $100k. What a gift! This is a great opportunity to talk with your kids about their life goals and teach important lessons about money. My parents took out a second mortgage on their house to send me to Middlebury where I majored in history with a B average because I didn’t get their sacrifice. They should have sent me to a state school, made me work part time for my beer money, and then if I worked hard and got into a good grad school paid for that.

OP's kids are already in HS. S/he is fine with 250k if the kids attend state school, or receive merit aid for private or out of state.

I simply told my son that XX college wasn't worth the cost, even though he was accepted.

1. Submit FASFA and realize your EFC is insane, and that you do not get any FA.
2. Apply to desired schools
3. Get acceptances
4. Wait for merit aid/cost of attendance letters
5. Narrow down acceptances by what you have saved/can afford to pay and what is out of reach based on finances.

Avoid parent plus loans at all costs.

With Covid, schools are losing a lot of money. Don't rely on merit aid or FA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this wasn't your question, but how about doing what my dad did and telling them that they can go in state and have it fully paid for or go out of state/private and be responsible for the loans?

I didn't love the message at the time, but I am forever grateful that I chose a state school and graduated without loans. College is a good time to teach the life lesson that you need to make choices that are based on living within your means.

Plus, having a fully funded option anywhere is a luxury that most kids don't get so don't be apologetic that that's all you have saved!

fully paid in state is still is still over 100k per kid. not insurmountable, but starting a 529 early is still going to be a necessity

Yes, fully funded in state costs is a huge gift to a child. The $100K per kid may inflate to $200K in 18 years. This requires $500/month from birth, so starting early is important if this is one's goal. And yes, this is impossible for most families in America.

There are different levels of fully-funded:
1. fully fund for in-state tuition
2. #1 + room & board
3. fully fund for out-of-state tuition
4. #3 + room & board
5. fully fund for private
6. #5 + room & board
7. fully fund for in-state undergrad + grad school
8. fully fund for OOS undergrad + grad school
9. fully fund for private undergrad + grad school
10. put in the maximum amount allowed by the plan ($350k-500k, depending), to be used for any schooling with the remainder as a wealth-transfer device

OP you're already at 1 or 2, so I'd consider that fully-funded, unless you promised your kid they could go to the moon and now you have to walk that back. I'm aiming for 6 or 7, but will be glad to have anything on this list handled.

9 or 10 are usually a function of family money.

Anonymous wrote:I know this wasn't your question, but how about doing what my dad did and telling them that they can go in state and have it fully paid for or go out of state/private and be responsible for the loans?

I didn't love the message at the time, but I am forever grateful that I chose a state school and graduated without loans. College is a good time to teach the life lesson that you need to make choices that are based on living within your means.

Plus, having a fully funded option anywhere is a luxury that most kids don't get so don't be apologetic that that's all you have saved!

fully paid in state is still is still over 100k per kid. not insurmountable, but starting a 529 early is still going to be a necessity