Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:57
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:You should have planned better and not had 4 kids. Or, if saving is your first priority and private school is your second priority, then you should have bought a tiny older house in PWC or somewhere for cheap, in order to afford your first two priorities.
That's irrational. Financial aid offices don't punitively reject applicants to penalize their parents for bad choices.
Think about it, if a family with $65k HHI and 4 kids applies for aid, they will likely get a full grant, even though you can make the same moral arguments to their parents. By the same token, a family on $400k HHI with 4 kids could easily get a small grant where they are asked to pay $110k instead of $130k. This really isn't that controversial.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:56
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:So that family won't send their kids to private. See how easy that is? You act as though private school is a right and the school needs to accommodate everyone. It is really bizarre.
Actually, I think we see eye to eye then. We agree that this family could not afford private without some modest amount of aid. My stance is that privates should endeavor so that every applicant has the ability to attend if they are willing to make an appropriate economic sacrifice.
Your financial logic doesn't make sense. If a family with $400k should save $100k first and then allocate the remainder to private school and every other living expense, and a family making only $300k should save $75k first before paying for private school, who is making an appropriate economic sacrifice? The one with a cheaper house? The one with more or less savings? What about the family down the street subsisting on $250k? Should they get large scholarships or tuition discounts? Or smaller ones?
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:53
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:So that family won't send their kids to private. See how easy that is? You act as though private school is a right and the school needs to accommodate everyone. It is really bizarre.
Actually, I think we see eye to eye then. We agree that this family could not afford private without some modest amount of aid. My stance is that privates should endeavor so that every applicant has the ability to attend if they are willing to make an appropriate economic sacrifice.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:50
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school can do what they want. I will think you are a moron if you make $400k and are broke, whether that's because you are choosing to put 2 or 4 children through an expensive private school (they're not all $30k, even in this area), or saving too much, or not enough, or buying too much house, or too many cars, or whatever. At $400k, if you're broke, you're a financial moron.
I completely agree - if you make $400k HHI, you have no excuse not be saving a good chunk of it each year. Personally, I'd put the bar at $100k, but I'm sure many families in that income range save less.
So by your own logic, you would be a moron to pay for 4 kids to attend private at a full freight cost on that income level. If the only way to afford private is to make a financial decision that only a moron would make, that illustrates perfectly why some level of financial aid would be appropriate if you think every family should have a chance to afford private without making an irrational decision.
Who thinks everyone is entitled to private school?
Generally, the policy of financial aid offices is that every family should have an opportunity to attend private school without having to make a financially irresponsible decision. It's fine if you think private school should only be for the very rich and poor, but I'm operating under the premise that no family should be strictly barred for financial reasons, which seems to be your position.
Okay, but why would a $400k be a strict bar for financial reasons? It's not. Pay it or don't, but stop complaining about being broke.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:48
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school can do what they want. I will think you are a moron if you make $400k and are broke, whether that's because you are choosing to put 2 or 4 children through an expensive private school (they're not all $30k, even in this area), or saving too much, or not enough, or buying too much house, or too many cars, or whatever. At $400k, if you're broke, you're a financial moron.
I completely agree - if you make $400k HHI, you have no excuse not be saving a good chunk of it each year. Personally, I'd put the bar at $100k, but I'm sure many families in that income range save less.
So by your own logic, you would be a moron to pay for 4 kids to attend private at a full freight cost on that income level. If the only way to afford private is to make a financial decision that only a moron would make, that illustrates perfectly why some level of financial aid would be appropriate if you think every family should have a chance to afford private without making an irrational decision.
You should have planned better and not had 4 kids. Or, if saving is your first priority and private school is your second priority, then you should have bought a tiny older house in PWC or somewhere for cheap, in order to afford your first two priorities.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:48
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school can do what they want. I will think you are a moron if you make $400k and are broke, whether that's because you are choosing to put 2 or 4 children through an expensive private school (they're not all $30k, even in this area), or saving too much, or not enough, or buying too much house, or too many cars, or whatever. At $400k, if you're broke, you're a financial moron.
I completely agree - if you make $400k HHI, you have no excuse not be saving a good chunk of it each year. Personally, I'd put the bar at $100k, but I'm sure many families in that income range save less.
So by your own logic, you would be a moron to pay for 4 kids to attend private at a full freight cost on that income level. If the only way to afford private is to make a financial decision that only a moron would make, that illustrates perfectly why some level of financial aid would be appropriate if you think every family should have a chance to afford private without making an irrational decision.
Who thinks everyone is entitled to private school?
Generally, the policy of financial aid offices is that every family should have an opportunity to attend private school without having to make a financially irresponsible decision. It's fine if you think private school should only be for the very rich and poor, but I'm operating under the premise that no family should be strictly barred for financial reasons, which seems to be your position.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:44
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what your point is about our tax system. I think a progressive tax system is fair and appropriate.
The point is that a $400k HHI puts you in the 33% marginal rate for your last dollar. If no distinction should be made between a $400k and $1M HHI because they're both gushing with disposable income, it's curious why the 35% and 39.6% marginal rates aren't applied to the $400k family.
Well, there is your subsidy. Use to pay for private school.
By that logic, the family on $65k doesn't need financial aid either because most of their income is taxed at 15-25% and they should "use their subsidy".
I can understand why you are broke on $400k.
Who said they were broke on $400k?
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:43
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school can do what they want. I will think you are a moron if you make $400k and are broke, whether that's because you are choosing to put 2 or 4 children through an expensive private school (they're not all $30k, even in this area), or saving too much, or not enough, or buying too much house, or too many cars, or whatever. At $400k, if you're broke, you're a financial moron.
I completely agree - if you make $400k HHI, you have no excuse not be saving a good chunk of it each year. Personally, I'd put the bar at $100k, but I'm sure many families in that income range save less.
So by your own logic, you would be a moron to pay for 4 kids to attend private at a full freight cost on that income level. If the only way to afford private is to make a financial decision that only a moron would make, that illustrates perfectly why some level of financial aid would be appropriate if you think every family should have a chance to afford private without making an irrational decision.
Who thinks everyone is entitled to private school?
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:42
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:The school can do what they want. I will think you are a moron if you make $400k and are broke, whether that's because you are choosing to put 2 or 4 children through an expensive private school (they're not all $30k, even in this area), or saving too much, or not enough, or buying too much house, or too many cars, or whatever. At $400k, if you're broke, you're a financial moron.
I completely agree - if you make $400k HHI, you have no excuse not be saving a good chunk of it each year. Personally, I'd put the bar at $100k, but I'm sure many families in that income range save less.
So by your own logic, you would be a moron to pay for 4 kids to attend private at a full freight cost on that income level. If the only way to afford private is to make a financial decision that only a moron would make, that illustrates perfectly why some level of financial aid would be appropriate if you think every family should have a chance to afford private without making an irrational decision.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:40
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what your point is about our tax system. I think a progressive tax system is fair and appropriate.
The point is that a $400k HHI puts you in the 33% marginal rate for your last dollar. If no distinction should be made between a $400k and $1M HHI because they're both gushing with disposable income, it's curious why the 35% and 39.6% marginal rates aren't applied to the $400k family.
Well, there is your subsidy. Use to pay for private school.
By that logic, the family on $65k doesn't need financial aid either because most of their income is taxed at 15-25% and they should "use their subsidy".
I can understand why you are broke on $400k.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:39
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Who's mandating the 100k savings? Look, I paid 36k per year in childcare costs making much less than 400k. We had to cut back savings to do that. Choices. You don't get to save that much and tell the school to work with the remainder. This is bizarre.
I don't think there's any dispute about paying $36k, even on much less than $400k.
Let's take the other extreme - four kids on $400k for a family with no wealth. Do you really think any rational person would pay full freight x 4 at that income level? It would be a choice between ending up with no savings at all (even assuming a frugal lifestyle) - possibly not even 401k funding - or saving $100k+. Financial aid policies are generally set so that every family can make a rational decision to attend, which would not be the case in that example. If a school in that circmstance says "we're going to ask you to pay $80k so you can save $20k," you really find that offensive?
Right. So that family won't send their kids to private. See how easy that is? You act as though private school is a right and the school needs to accommodate everyone. It is really bizarre.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:39
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what your point is about our tax system. I think a progressive tax system is fair and appropriate.
The point is that a $400k HHI puts you in the 33% marginal rate for your last dollar. If no distinction should be made between a $400k and $1M HHI because they're both gushing with disposable income, it's curious why the 35% and 39.6% marginal rates aren't applied to the $400k family.
Well, there is your subsidy. Use to pay for private school.
By that logic, the family on $65k doesn't need financial aid either because most of their income is taxed at 15-25% and they should "use their subsidy".
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:36
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Who's mandating the 100k savings? Look, I paid 36k per year in childcare costs making much less than 400k. We had to cut back savings to do that. Choices. You don't get to save that much and tell the school to work with the remainder. This is bizarre.
I don't think there's any dispute about paying $36k, even on much less than $400k.
Let's take the other extreme - four kids on $400k for a family with no wealth. Do you really think any rational person would pay full freight x 4 at that income level? It would be a choice between ending up with no savings at all (even assuming a frugal lifestyle) - possibly not even 401k funding - or saving $100k+. Financial aid policies are generally set so that every family can make a rational decision to attend, which would not be the case in that example. If a school in that circmstance says "we're going to ask you to pay $80k so you can save $20k," you really find that offensive?
The school can do what they want. I will think you are a moron if you make $400k and are broke, whether that's because you are choosing to put 2 or 4 children through an expensive private school (they're not all $30k, even in this area), or saving too much, or not enough, or buying too much house, or too many cars, or whatever. At $400k, if you're broke, you're a financial moron.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:35
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what your point is about our tax system. I think a progressive tax system is fair and appropriate.
The point is that a $400k HHI puts you in the 33% marginal rate for your last dollar. If no distinction should be made between a $400k and $1M HHI because they're both gushing with disposable income, it's curious why the 35% and 39.6% marginal rates aren't applied to the $400k family.
And we have section 8 housing, SNAP and lots of other subsidies for people with lower incomes. And yet not for people who make $400k or $2m per year. Curious why we treat them the same and don't subsidize the $400k family. Maybe you should start lobbying Congress.
I'm not one arguing in favor of a regressive tax code or financial aid system for people between $400k and $1M, so it's a silly question to pose. The tax code is progressive all the way through, as it should be.
Anonymous
09/16/2014 11:33
Subject: Do you make $400,000 a year but feel broke?
Anonymous wrote:Who's mandating the 100k savings? Look, I paid 36k per year in childcare costs making much less than 400k. We had to cut back savings to do that. Choices. You don't get to save that much and tell the school to work with the remainder. This is bizarre.
I don't think there's any dispute about paying $36k, even on much less than $400k.
Let's take the other extreme - four kids on $400k for a family with no wealth. Do you really think any rational person would pay full freight x 4 at that income level? It would be a choice between ending up with no savings at all (even assuming a frugal lifestyle) - possibly not even 401k funding - or saving $100k+. Financial aid policies are generally set so that every family can make a rational decision to attend, which would not be the case in that example. If a school in that circmstance says "we're going to ask you to pay $80k so you can save $20k," you really find that offensive?