Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents for sure.

In case it's helpful to know, I have a senior with a 3.17 GPA and a mediocre ACT, and I am surprised at the number of colleges that seem to be pursuing him and offering merit aid. These are not "top schools" but they are colleges that seem like fine places to go. So I haven't entirely found it to be the case that there is absolutely no merit aid available. (We have fully funded 529s and are UMC and so would not expect any aid.)

Op here. This would be great if that happens for our DC. Currently 3.8 GPA and 31 ACT, but there are so many smart kids around here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - These are helpful responses, for the most part. We are in MD, so I'd love for both kids to go to UMD, but older one is already expressing interest for out of state somewhere. I'd like to cover their undergrad expenses and am pretty sure I can for in-state based upon what I've read on UMD's, Towson's, etc., websites. Based on what posters have said, it sounds like for out of state and private, my kids just need to apply and see what aid is offered if they're accepted, then decide if it's financial advisable. We've come into some financial challenges and I'm not sure I can continue to fund them beyond what's currently in there, and I don't expect much additional growth since they're both near maturity, i.e., 2021 and 2024 life cycle funds.

It is actually more strategic than that. If you do your homework in advance including running the Net Price Calculator for each school (see _The College Solution_), you will mostly know what each school will cost in advance of receiving offers of admission and merit scholarships. Acceptance letters should not contain anything terribly surprising.

Out of the ~22 schools my two kids applied to (between them), only one merit scholarship offer came as (an unpleasant) surprise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - These are helpful responses, for the most part. We are in MD, so I'd love for both kids to go to UMD, but older one is already expressing interest for out of state somewhere. I'd like to cover their undergrad expenses and am pretty sure I can for in-state based upon what I've read on UMD's, Towson's, etc., websites. Based on what posters have said, it sounds like for out of state and private, my kids just need to apply and see what aid is offered if they're accepted, then decide if it's financial advisable. We've come into some financial challenges and I'm not sure I can continue to fund them beyond what's currently in there, and I don't expect much additional growth since they're both near maturity, i.e., 2021 and 2024 life cycle funds.

It is actually more strategic than that. If you do your homework in advance including running the Net Price Calculator for each school (see _The College Solution_), you will mostly know what each school will cost in advance of receiving offers of admission and merit scholarships. Acceptance letters should not contain anything terribly surprising.

Out of the ~22 schools my two kids applied to (between them), only one merit scholarship offer came as (an unpleasant) surprise.

Anonymous wrote:Op here - These are helpful responses, for the most part. We are in MD, so I'd love for both kids to go to UMD, but older one is already expressing interest for out of state somewhere. I'd like to cover their undergrad expenses and am pretty sure I can for in-state based upon what I've read on UMD's, Towson's, etc., websites. Based on what posters have said, it sounds like for out of state and private, my kids just need to apply and see what aid is offered if they're accepted, then decide if it's financial advisable. We've come into some financial challenges and I'm not sure I can continue to fund them beyond what's currently in there, and I don't expect much additional growth since they're both near maturity, i.e., 2021 and 2024 life cycle funds.

Anonymous wrote:I think they: (1) don't, (2) get help from grandparents, or (3) do so at the expense of their own retirement.

We make $300K/year. We fund two 529s for our young children with the goal of paying for in-state tuition/room and board 100% for each child. When they are college age that is predicted to cost $200K each, so $400K total. It requires saving about $500 per month each from birth. That is all we are willing to do at this time.

We ask ourselves the following question: how much of our net worth at our age our children go to college should we pay for college? If at age 50 we are fortunate enough to have $3M saved for retirement, are we going to pay $500K each, $1M total, or a third of our net worth to send them to private colleges? No. I would want to have $5M net worth to pay that. So the answer is probably 10-15%, maybe 20% at most of our net worth spent on college. Depending on our own job and financial situation at the time, we will consider whether it makes sense for us to pay more, either through cash flow or other savings/investments.

We both went to expensive private colleges, major universities, including Ivy league, not liberal arts colleges. We also have advanced degrees in STEM. We value education highly. I think the cost of college, particularly private college, is becoming out of reach, or at least not sensible, for many upper middle class families.

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?

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents for sure.

In case it's helpful to know, I have a senior with a 3.17 GPA and a mediocre ACT, and I am surprised at the number of colleges that seem to be pursuing him and offering merit aid. These are not "top schools" but they are colleges that seem like fine places to go. So I haven't entirely found it to be the case that there is absolutely no merit aid available. (We have fully funded 529s and are UMC and so would not expect any aid.)

We have $50K saved for each of our middle school aged kids, and will not have the ability to save substantially more. Our kids will be living at home and going to George Mason at this rate.

Anonymous wrote:Being able to pay for college is one of the benefits of only having one child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People sending their kids to private college make more than $200k or get merit aid. To get substantial merit aid, you often have to be willing to go to a “lesser” school than your highest ranked school. Ie: you get into Duke with no merit aid, but Vandy offers a substantial scholarship.

In our neighborhood of 2 fed families or equivalent salaries, most kids go instate.

Bahaha more like Denison or American for a substantial scholarship. Nothing wrong with those schools, but you’re not getting a “substantial scholarship” from Vandy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here - These are helpful responses, for the most part. We are in MD, so I'd love for both kids to go to UMD, but older one is already expressing interest for out of state somewhere. I'd like to cover their undergrad expenses and am pretty sure I can for in-state based upon what I've read on UMD's, Towson's, etc., websites. Based on what posters have said, it sounds like for out of state and private, my kids just need to apply and see what aid is offered if they're accepted, then decide if it's financial advisable. We've come into some financial challenges and I'm not sure I can continue to fund them beyond what's currently in there, and I don't expect much additional growth since they're both near maturity, i.e., 2021 and 2024 life cycle funds.

Purdue, Clemson, Pitt would be in budget most likely, but not, say, Umich.