Anonymous wrote:Not to beat a dead horse but I had no car in high school. Suburban MA where you could really use one. Got rides from parents and bummed off of friends. Was annoying as hell. Parents saved and sacrificed - never went on vacation except to grandparents- and paid for me to go to private high school and Duke with no FA on 100k HHI. It’s a matter of choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: We are a blended family that combined assets 5 years ago. As blended families go, we purchased a home and a lot of things that we needed to fill that home, repairs, emergencies etc- I'm currently dealing with a failed sump pump and flooded basement.

We've been spending A LOT just due to where we are in life and the juncture at which we met. In terms of equity, maybe 80-100k?

We would like to save more $$, but it's very difficult at the moment and there isn't much wiggle room in terms of lifestyle.

In 4 years we will be in a much better position debt to income ratio wise and will have more to cash-flow.

Our 1st student will likely attend community college or a regional. Other parent has a healthy 529 and we can generally afford his options as he will likely be a commuter.

Our 2nd student is where it gets tricky. They are very talented academically and will likely submit to Ivy's as target/reaches. They will be in the running for a lot of merit aid. We're more concerned about the price tag of their education because it's unknown if the other parent has anything to contribute and/or would participate.

So in 4 years, we will have 1 in college at either a community college or regional university that is 70-100% paid for. And unknown on kid #2.

OK, so I don't think it is as dire as it sounded originally, then. One kid is probably taken care of by the other parent based on what you are saying.

Kid #2 can aim for Ivies if they wish, but also should apply to some schools where it is cheaper/they might get great merit aid. Start saving when you can into whatever vehicle works for you - 529, savings accounts, etc.

Like you said, by that point, you hopefully will be in a better financial position. You can possibly cash flow some of it, have the kid take out some the loans they are eligible for and you can also do parent loans if needed. It isn't unheard of for parents to take on an extra job when both kids are out of house to help pay college.

Do you have a financial advisor? They might be able to help walk you through some of this.

My child just found out she is getting offered a spot at her "dream school" (her dreams don't involve Ivies-not even close) Of course, we have to take a look at what the financial offer is. I have a bad feeling it will wind up being too expensive and she will either wind up at one of our state schools or a private that is throwing a ton of money at her to make it even cheaper than the state school. I'm not going into debt when she has other more reasonable options.

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: We are a blended family that combined assets 5 years ago. As blended families go, we purchased a home and a lot of things that we needed to fill that home, repairs, emergencies etc- I'm currently dealing with a failed sump pump and flooded basement.

We've been spending A LOT just due to where we are in life and the juncture at which we met. In terms of equity, maybe 80-100k?

We would like to save more $$, but it's very difficult at the moment and there isn't much wiggle room in terms of lifestyle.

In 4 years we will be in a much better position debt to income ratio wise and will have more to cash-flow.

Our 1st student will likely attend community college or a regional. Other parent has a healthy 529 and we can generally afford his options as he will likely be a commuter.

Our 2nd student is where it gets tricky. They are very talented academically and will likely submit to Ivy's as target/reaches. They will be in the running for a lot of merit aid. We're more concerned about the price tag of their education because it's unknown if the other parent has anything to contribute and/or would participate.

So in 4 years, we will have 1 in college at either a community college or regional university that is 70-100% paid for. And unknown on kid #2.

OK, so I don't think it is as dire as it sounded originally, then. One kid is probably taken care of by the other parent based on what you are saying.

Kid #2 can aim for Ivies if they wish, but also should apply to some schools where it is cheaper/they might get great merit aid. Start saving when you can into whatever vehicle works for you - 529, savings accounts, etc.

Like you said, by that point, you hopefully will be in a better financial position. You can possibly cash flow some of it, have the kid take out some the loans they are eligible for and you can also do parent loans if needed. It isn't unheard of for parents to take on an extra job when both kids are out of house to help pay college.

Do you have a financial advisor? They might be able to help walk you through some of this.

My child just found out she is getting offered a spot at her "dream school" (her dreams don't involve Ivies-not even close) Of course, we have to take a look at what the financial offer is. I have a bad feeling it will wind up being too expensive and she will either wind up at one of our state schools or a private that is throwing a ton of money at her to make it even cheaper than the state school. I'm not going into debt when she has other more reasonable options.

Thank you. This is great perspective. I didn't think about a second job, but you're right, I would have a lot more time and wouldn't mind it if it came down to avoiding predatory loans. I'm also not loan averse.

Honestly, we do have a financial advisor but I feel so behind that I'm embarrassed to ask/ don't want to know the hard truth.

I just want to be able to set expectations for student #2 before he throws himself into high school and starts setting his own expectations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: We are a blended family that combined assets 5 years ago. As blended families go, we purchased a home and a lot of things that we needed to fill that home, repairs, emergencies etc- I'm currently dealing with a failed sump pump and flooded basement.

We've been spending A LOT just due to where we are in life and the juncture at which we met. In terms of equity, maybe 80-100k?

We would like to save more $$, but it's very difficult at the moment and there isn't much wiggle room in terms of lifestyle.

In 4 years we will be in a much better position debt to income ratio wise and will have more to cash-flow.

Our 1st student will likely attend community college or a regional. Other parent has a healthy 529 and we can generally afford his options as he will likely be a commuter.

Our 2nd student is where it gets tricky. They are very talented academically and will likely submit to Ivy's as target/reaches. They will be in the running for a lot of merit aid. We're more concerned about the price tag of their education because it's unknown if the other parent has anything to contribute and/or would participate.

So in 4 years, we will have 1 in college at either a community college or regional university that is 70-100% paid for. And unknown on kid #2.

OK, so I don't think it is as dire as it sounded originally, then. One kid is probably taken care of by the other parent based on what you are saying.

Kid #2 can aim for Ivies if they wish, but also should apply to some schools where it is cheaper/they might get great merit aid. Start saving when you can into whatever vehicle works for you - 529, savings accounts, etc.

Like you said, by that point, you hopefully will be in a better financial position. You can possibly cash flow some of it, have the kid take out some the loans they are eligible for and you can also do parent loans if needed. It isn't unheard of for parents to take on an extra job when both kids are out of house to help pay college.

Do you have a financial advisor? They might be able to help walk you through some of this.

My child just found out she is getting offered a spot at her "dream school" (her dreams don't involve Ivies-not even close) Of course, we have to take a look at what the financial offer is. I have a bad feeling it will wind up being too expensive and she will either wind up at one of our state schools or a private that is throwing a ton of money at her to make it even cheaper than the state school. I'm not going into debt when she has other more reasonable options.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: We are a blended family that combined assets 5 years ago. As blended families go, we purchased a home and a lot of things that we needed to fill that home, repairs, emergencies etc- I'm currently dealing with a failed sump pump and flooded basement.

We've been spending A LOT just due to where we are in life and the juncture at which we met. In terms of equity, maybe 80-100k?

We would like to save more $$, but it's very difficult at the moment and there isn't much wiggle room in terms of lifestyle.

In 4 years we will be in a much better position debt to income ratio wise and will have more to cash-flow.

Our 1st student will likely attend community college or a regional. Other parent has a healthy 529 and we can generally afford his options as he will likely be a commuter.

Our 2nd student is where it gets tricky. They are very talented academically and will likely submit to Ivy's as target/reaches. They will be in the running for a lot of merit aid. We're more concerned about the price tag of their education because it's unknown if the other parent has anything to contribute and/or would participate.

So in 4 years, we will have 1 in college at either a community college or regional university that is 70-100% paid for. And unknown on kid #2.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This I don’t get. Why should schools subsidize at all for rich people with large assets just cause they are in certain pots?

I am not rich income wise. But I have a 1.8 million dollar house and 2.5 million in my 401ks. I am over 59.5 so can tap the 402k with no penalty and mortgage free so can tap home equity. I could cry poverty based on income but is that right?

Let’s say I had same assets and lived in apartment and had no 401k and had 4.4 million in bank how is that different?

I've always thought this. I think FA is largely classist. I know dentists who make 600k for years and then, the year before the year before, lower their salary to 100k for 4 years. They have millions in retirement, millions in home equity, million in their business .. and they get FA. Net worth 8mm.

An über driver who makes 30k, has 100k in credit card debt, has 100k in student loans, rent is too damn high and no stocks. But she wins 2mm in lottery - she's full pay. Net worth, under 2mm

The dentists are lying or send their kids to public universities that don’t use the CSS profile. There is no way to hide home equity and business assets using the profile which is used by the majority of private universities and publics such as UVA.

plenty of privates dont' factor in home equity or value of small business if under 100 employees. dentists and other professionals, often buy down leased equipment or buy out partnerships to sink money into business.

Very few privates don’t consider home equity. Please name a few besides:

Stanford
USC
Occidental
Bard College
CalTech
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Chicago
Whitman

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

DP. Then you should have something saved and should be able to afford much more than 10k/yr.
I would examine your expenses. At 210k, you should be able to contribute more than that, especially with 529 savings. Eating out, cars, subscriptions, travel -- all that can add up.

I’m not OP-I was the poster who said we started saving in 529s when we were living on $100k. Someone suggested living like we were still making $100k, which just didn’t work for our circumstances. We have been upping our contributions to certain accounts over time, but expenses have also gone up. This year with my eldest driving has been a bit painful - the extra insurance, extra gas, extra vehicle (sadly, we now have 2 car payments when we thought we’d only have one in the next few years)

I’m really just wondering why the OP hadn’t put anything away for education

You did not need to buy your child a car, you choose to.

We didn’t buy her a car, but due to a school transportation issue, she needed a vehicle. My husband bought a vehicle for himself, then one of the original 2 vehicles died unexpectedly. Crap happens.

You could share or drive her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This I don’t get. Why should schools subsidize at all for rich people with large assets just cause they are in certain pots?

I am not rich income wise. But I have a 1.8 million dollar house and 2.5 million in my 401ks. I am over 59.5 so can tap the 402k with no penalty and mortgage free so can tap home equity. I could cry poverty based on income but is that right?

Let’s say I had same assets and lived in apartment and had no 401k and had 4.4 million in bank how is that different?

I've always thought this. I think FA is largely classist. I know dentists who make 600k for years and then, the year before the year before, lower their salary to 100k for 4 years. They have millions in retirement, millions in home equity, million in their business .. and they get FA. Net worth 8mm.

An über driver who makes 30k, has 100k in credit card debt, has 100k in student loans, rent is too damn high and no stocks. But she wins 2mm in lottery - she's full pay. Net worth, under 2mm

The dentists are lying or send their kids to public universities that don’t use the CSS profile. There is no way to hide home equity and business assets using the profile which is used by the majority of private universities and publics such as UVA.

plenty of privates dont' factor in home equity or value of small business if under 100 employees. dentists and other professionals, often buy down leased equipment or buy out partnerships to sink money into business.