Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make in that range. We get some aid - but not a lot. Have friends with a lot more money - bigger houses - nice vacations....but also have friends in the same bracket. Nobody cares. Someone in admissions once told me that 25% are on aid, 25% have grandparents help etc. and 50% write the check without even thinking about it.

Thank you! I guess I never thought we might be eligible for financial aid. Will look into that.

you are well into the top 5% of incomes in America and want aid????

170k is really not that much in this area especially if one is contributing to retirement appropriately, and 40k/year is a large expense.

Meanwhile Amazon gets aid left and right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We made twice this and had to pull our two kids out of private because it just wasn't doable on that income. We bought our house a long time ago, so also have a low mortgage and no other debt.

If you make twice the income and couldn't do privates, something is wrong and no, you didn't have a low mortgage or something is terrible off.

It just depends on how much of a priority private is. PP clearly could afford private on an HHI of $300-350k if it was a priority. But tuition for two kids could be $80k and that takes a serious bite out of an income, even in that range. You wouldn't have to have a particularly extravagant lifestyle to be tight if you take $80k post-tax right off the top, particularly if you want to make sure you are saving a healthy amount. I assume PP wasn't willing to make major sacrifices on house, savings, vacations, etc to make private work -- and that's ok -- just as it is ok for the people who do make it a priority.

I make those sacrificies and I still struggle!!! PITI is around 4K.

And, that is why. You bought an expensive house. Our mortgage is $2. You are not making the sacrifices you think you are.

Anonymous wrote:When you talk about HHI, are your referring to gross HHI or after taxes HHI?

Gross.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We made twice this and had to pull our two kids out of private because it just wasn't doable on that income. We bought our house a long time ago, so also have a low mortgage and no other debt.

If you make twice the income and couldn't do privates, something is wrong and no, you didn't have a low mortgage or something is terrible off.

It just depends on how much of a priority private is. PP clearly could afford private on an HHI of $300-350k if it was a priority. But tuition for two kids could be $80k and that takes a serious bite out of an income, even in that range. You wouldn't have to have a particularly extravagant lifestyle to be tight if you take $80k post-tax right off the top, particularly if you want to make sure you are saving a healthy amount. I assume PP wasn't willing to make major sacrifices on house, savings, vacations, etc to make private work -- and that's ok -- just as it is ok for the people who do make it a priority.

I make those sacrificies and I still struggle!!! PITI is around 4K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We made twice this and had to pull our two kids out of private because it just wasn't doable on that income. We bought our house a long time ago, so also have a low mortgage and no other debt.

If you make twice the income and couldn't do privates, something is wrong and no, you didn't have a low mortgage or something is terrible off.

It just depends on how much of a priority private is. PP clearly could afford private on an HHI of $300-350k if it was a priority. But tuition for two kids could be $80k and that takes a serious bite out of an income, even in that range. You wouldn't have to have a particularly extravagant lifestyle to be tight if you take $80k post-tax right off the top, particularly if you want to make sure you are saving a healthy amount. I assume PP wasn't willing to make major sacrifices on house, savings, vacations, etc to make private work -- and that's ok -- just as it is ok for the people who do make it a priority.

When you talk about HHI, are your referring to gross HHI or after taxes HHI?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We made twice this and had to pull our two kids out of private because it just wasn't doable on that income. We bought our house a long time ago, so also have a low mortgage and no other debt.

If you make twice the income and couldn't do privates, something is wrong and no, you didn't have a low mortgage or something is terrible off.

Same thing here. Tuition costs are crazy. Plus after school, plus some help at home as we both have to work crazy hours and travel. We barely can make it.

Anonymous wrote:We made twice this and had to pull our two kids out of private because it just wasn't doable on that income. We bought our house a long time ago, so also have a low mortgage and no other debt.

If you make twice the income and couldn't do privates, something is wrong and no, you didn't have a low mortgage or something is terrible off.

We made twice this and had to pull our two kids out of private because it just wasn't doable on that income. We bought our house a long time ago, so also have a low mortgage and no other debt.

Anonymous wrote:$140k in Baltimore which is probably like $180k in DC. Some FA, small cheap house, one car, one kid, generally frugal lifestyle, it’s all good. Kid knows that classmates have bigger houses and more things, but also knows that we have everything we need and more than most people.

We lived for years on a double grad student stipend of under <$30k so honestly we feel like we’re rolling in it these days, even with tuition! Plus we max out one of our retirements (can’t afford to do both, but once kid is out of college we will).

Definitely doable in Baltimore. It helps that housing costs are also much lower.

$140k in Baltimore which is probably like $180k in DC. Some FA, small cheap house, one car, one kid, generally frugal lifestyle, it’s all good. Kid knows that classmates have bigger houses and more things, but also knows that we have everything we need and more than most people.

We lived for years on a double grad student stipend of under <$30k so honestly we feel like we’re rolling in it these days, even with tuition! Plus we max out one of our retirements (can’t afford to do both, but once kid is out of college we will).

YMMV

Less than that actually, and yes we do.

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is considerably higher and we struggle. We have two kids in an expensive private. Does that do not feel the strain, how do you do it? Do you have a low mortage payment?

Yes, we have a tiny house zoned to poor-performing schools except for HS, so PITI is only $2300. We only have one car and only other debt is a $300/mo student loan payment. We have two kids but do get aid, so basically it works out to $40K total. (We are at $180K HHI now, though, so a bit more than OP was asking about.)

Not to say I wouldn't like to spend that money on other things (like a bigger house!), but it is doable without feeling especially strained (and while still meeting other savings goals). We value the education our kids are getting, and in our particular area, we would pay about what we pay for mortgage + tuition to live somewhere with stronger public schools. It really comes down to individual choices around how to balance competing priorities for your family, and that's different for everyone. As our kids get older (currently elementary) we may well make different decisions. (Even with small kids, a single bathroom sometimes feels pretty tight!)

^^^Sorry, *those