Anonymous wrote:people routinely shell out $50k+ for a SUV.

Anonymous wrote:people routinely shell out $50k+ for a SUV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny you should ask this OP.

When I hit “submit payment” and a link to deduct $42,650 from our bank account last Tuesday- for ONE SEMESTER- I had the same thought. Who in their right mind really does this?

1) those with over $20MM in the bank, 2) those with paying grandpas

Nope. HHI $230, have been saving since the children were little (started with $210/month for maxium tax benefit, as our income went up we did a little but more, plus bonus money, etc). DC 1 got merit aid, so very inexpensive, will have funds leftover for grad school. DC 2, attending am over $80k per year private, will be a stretch for us, between 529 and cash flow - there will be nothing left for grad school, they will need to pay on their own.

And, we don't go abroad for vacation, drive 10+ year old cars until they die, etc). We've made education a priority

So that your kids can take budget vacations and drive beater cars while making education a priority for their kids too?

This is harsh but really worth talking about. how is paying $80K a year for school worth it in this scenario? Are you hoping that maybe your kid will break into the next income level and not repeat this cycle? The reality is that there is no guarantee that attending a $80k school will lead to ANY better income or standard of living than a $40k school.

it's just insanity that people like have fallen victim to the $80k trap. it's honestly really depressing.

Is an 80k school better than a 40k school? Who knows. It is is true often but not all the time that the 80k school may provide more pathways. The 40k school will also provide pathways.

Harvard and Iowa State are not the same. Harvard will provide more options and pathways. But Iowa State will provide some of that as well.

Does it matter which? Sure. Can either work? Sure.

Anonymous wrote:Top 1% HHI is 650k. Approximately 1.3M Americans HHs are in the top 1% households.

Then expand it to the top 5%, which is 342k. That's, what, 6.5 million households. Let's say at any given time 5% of that 6.5 million has kids in college. That's 325,000 college-bound kids. More than enough to fill all the elite colleges and LACs.

Which is your answer. Between the wealthy, who can pay tuition out of yearly income to the merely upper middle class who can pay out of combined savings and income.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny you should ask this OP.

When I hit “submit payment” and a link to deduct $42,650 from our bank account last Tuesday- for ONE SEMESTER- I had the same thought. Who in their right mind really does this?

1) those with over $20MM in the bank, 2) those with paying grandpas

Nope. HHI $230, have been saving since the children were little (started with $210/month for maxium tax benefit, as our income went up we did a little but more, plus bonus money, etc). DC 1 got merit aid, so very inexpensive, will have funds leftover for grad school. DC 2, attending am over $80k per year private, will be a stretch for us, between 529 and cash flow - there will be nothing left for grad school, they will need to pay on their own.

And, we don't go abroad for vacation, drive 10+ year old cars until they die, etc). We've made education a priority

So that your kids can take budget vacations and drive beater cars while making education a priority for their kids too?

This is harsh but really worth talking about. how is paying $80K a year for school worth it in this scenario? Are you hoping that maybe your kid will break into the next income level and not repeat this cycle? The reality is that there is no guarantee that attending a $80k school will lead to ANY better income or standard of living than a $40k school.

it's just insanity that people like have fallen victim to the $80k trap. it's honestly really depressing.

Anonymous wrote:Top 1% HHI is 650k. Approximately 1.3M Americans HHs are in the top 1% households.

Then expand it to the top 5%, which is 342k. That's, what, 6.5 million households. Let's say at any given time 5% of that 6.5 million has kids in college. That's 325,000 college-bound kids. More than enough to fill all the elite colleges and LACs.

Which is your answer. Between the wealthy, who can pay tuition out of yearly income to the merely upper middle class who can pay out of combined savings and income.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny you should ask this OP.

When I hit “submit payment” and a link to deduct $42,650 from our bank account last Tuesday- for ONE SEMESTER- I had the same thought. Who in their right mind really does this?

1) those with over $20MM in the bank, 2) those with paying grandpas

Nope. HHI $230, have been saving since the children were little (started with $210/month for maxium tax benefit, as our income went up we did a little but more, plus bonus money, etc). DC 1 got merit aid, so very inexpensive, will have funds leftover for grad school. DC 2, attending am over $80k per year private, will be a stretch for us, between 529 and cash flow - there will be nothing left for grad school, they will need to pay on their own.

And, we don't go abroad for vacation, drive 10+ year old cars until they die, etc). We've made education a priority

So that your kids can take budget vacations and drive beater cars while making education a priority for their kids too?

This is harsh but really worth talking about. how is paying $80K a year for school worth it in this scenario? Are you hoping that maybe your kid will break into the next income level and not repeat this cycle? The reality is that there is no guarantee that attending a $80k school will lead to ANY better income or standard of living than a $40k school.

it's just insanity that people like have fallen victim to the $80k trap. it's honestly really depressing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny you should ask this OP.

When I hit “submit payment” and a link to deduct $42,650 from our bank account last Tuesday- for ONE SEMESTER- I had the same thought. Who in their right mind really does this?

1) those with over $20MM in the bank, 2) those with paying grandpas

Nope. HHI $230, have been saving since the children were little (started with $210/month for maxium tax benefit, as our income went up we did a little but more, plus bonus money, etc). DC 1 got merit aid, so very inexpensive, will have funds leftover for grad school. DC 2, attending am over $80k per year private, will be a stretch for us, between 529 and cash flow - there will be nothing left for grad school, they will need to pay on their own.

And, we don't go abroad for vacation, drive 10+ year old cars until they die, etc). We've made education a priority

So that your kids can take budget vacations and drive beater cars while making education a priority for their kids too?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny you should ask this OP.

When I hit “submit payment” and a link to deduct $42,650 from our bank account last Tuesday- for ONE SEMESTER- I had the same thought. Who in their right mind really does this?

1) those with over $20MM in the bank, 2) those with paying grandpas

Nope. HHI $230, have been saving since the children were little (started with $210/month for maxium tax benefit, as our income went up we did a little but more, plus bonus money, etc). DC 1 got merit aid, so very inexpensive, will have funds leftover for grad school. DC 2, attending am over $80k per year private, will be a stretch for us, between 529 and cash flow - there will be nothing left for grad school, they will need to pay on their own.

And, we don't go abroad for vacation, drive 10+ year old cars until they die, etc). We've made education a priority

Well aren’t you a martyr? You haven’t made education a priority. You’ve made buying into the education industry, with the 80k/yr price tag and luxury dining and gyms, a priority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You had 18 years to save. Plus cash flow some now. What have you been doing all this time? You knew this expense was coming.

What I’ve run across is people who assume state school will be as affordable as it was for their parents, coupled with some magical thinking that their DC will be the one to receive scholarships.

It would be better to understand sooner, but these are often households that can cash flow 30K for in state tuition.

But the flip side families spending willy nilly on private school, big houses, vacations, they do know what college costs and do tend to pay when the time comes. There’s some myth around here that these are the families posting, not IME.

If you have kids, shouldn't you know what college costs? Or do you assume you are going to be getting handouts? Most of us can not afford the latter.

I have never heard of a top school offering merit scholarships - some kids attend where they are accepted. Period. Which is fine, but don't try to tell people that they are attending because of scholarships that don't exist.

It’s crazy to me, but I think some parents really don’t know. I think it doesn’t seem important when kids are toddlers and then during school they always think “next year” they will deal with it and then time flies. In an area where so many people worry about activities and sports in preparation for college apps at such a young age, it’s hard to believe. And yet! I’ve seen parents post in my neighborhood FB group at the end of junior year asking about college tours and expressing shock at the cost of even local schools. My friend is a college counselor and she said even in Arlington / McLean / Falls Church she meets families who live in $2-3M houses who just didn’t plan or think about college at all until she gets a panicked call.

I had loans (a whopping $20k at 2% that I refinanced to nearly 0%). I think other parents of my generation may have experience the same and think “I had loans and it wasn’t so bad!”

Yes, I commented above, and this was my observation, too. (Our household is most the way through paying for college, so not explaining my own mindset.) I think the head in the sand, it will all work out approach, is more common in public schools. At least the private parents have been trained to write checks, and they know it will be bigger checks when college hits.

The kind of person who can write checks for $50k a year for two or three kids K-12 really doesn't have to worry about the cost of college or even saving for it. They'll just pay out of current income. The people who can't afford private schools, it's not so much that they are "bad at planning" but their income doesn't go anywhere near as far and it is very hard for them to save significant sums. Especially if they have been paying for day care for their kids from birth through 6th grade, which is a very significant sum that could (if we lived in a different world) have gone a long way towards saving for college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny you should ask this OP.

When I hit “submit payment” and a link to deduct $42,650 from our bank account last Tuesday- for ONE SEMESTER- I had the same thought. Who in their right mind really does this?

1) those with over $20MM in the bank, 2) those with paying grandpas

Nope. HHI $230, have been saving since the children were little (started with $210/month for maxium tax benefit, as our income went up we did a little but more, plus bonus money, etc). DC 1 got merit aid, so very inexpensive, will have funds leftover for grad school. DC 2, attending am over $80k per year private, will be a stretch for us, between 529 and cash flow - there will be nothing left for grad school, they will need to pay on their own.

And, we don't go abroad for vacation, drive 10+ year old cars until they die, etc). We've made education a priority