Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight , the kids at top privates are there primarily because mom and dad can pony up, not because they are particularly more intelligent than anyone else?

No, not the top ones. They are need blind and offer the best financial aid. We're truly middle class and under 150k and have 2 at T10s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:also, my real question is what type of income level is eligible for financial aid? I have been googling this and can't get a clear answer....

That’s because there is no clear answer to the question of how much college costs or what type of aid you may get for all four years.

I know someone who went their kid to Syracuse University for @ $4k on a $40k income, family of five. For sophomore year, Syracuse magically expects them to come up with $9k.

That’s work-study plus a student loan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k with twins entering this year and got no FA. We have about 85k per kid saved which limited them instate options. We will take loans/bank roll the rest (total will be about 120k per kid for all 4 years.)

Which schools?
We are well over 300K with twins and got aid/scholarship from ND and Northeastern.
Paying little less than 40K for ND and little over 40K for Northeastern.
They are are juniors.

Mason - tuition+room/board is about 30k/year.

The financial aid itself is a clue about where the admissions people think your kid belongs.

Normal aid at a good private school below the tippy top will get a donut hole family will get the kid to within a few thousand dollars of the in-state cost of an expensive state school.

No aid at a private school that has some aid means that the school thinks your cheapskate jerks who should pay up, or that your kid would be fine at the public equivalent.

Great aid at a good private means the school thinks your kid would be better off at the private, or that the school is dying to get your kid.

Anonymous wrote:also, my real question is what type of income level is eligible for financial aid? I have been googling this and can't get a clear answer....

That’s because there is no clear answer to the question of how much college costs or what type of aid you may get for all four years.

I know someone who went their kid to Syracuse University for @ $4k on a $40k income, family of five. For sophomore year, Syracuse magically expects them to come up with $9k.

OP, if you want to see how much aid is available at various income (and asset!) levels, use college Net Price Calculators. You can play around with them, use different numbers, compare results. It's all anonymous.

Anonymous wrote:It's actually closer to $100,000 per year at some privates. Times two kids in most families. So, $800,000.

It's ridiculous.

What we told our kids is you have duel citizenship with Canada. So there's that option. You are a resident of this state and we can swing the cost of the flagship. And if you don't like those options, here's a list of the schools that meet all financial need. Go for it.

The catch is that all the schools that will meet all financial need are the extremely selective high endowment schools like Princeton, Rice, Yale, Amherst, Duke, Bowdoin, Stanford etc. Most of these schools are offering aid to families even with $250k in annual income. You just need to get in.

Otherwise, it's merit at lower ranked schools. Or hello State U.

You’re missing something big. Those selective schools determine your need. Not you. It’s not a given that you get aid just because you live in a HCoL area.

Anonymous wrote:we saved about 50k over 18 years and that is now 150k in our 529.

if you have a kid who is 10-18 years old, the market has been pretty darn good for you.

Just over 1 year at a top school pushing $90K to $100k yesrly. So state schools only? Is that your solution?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k with twins entering this year and got no FA. We have about 85k per kid saved which limited them instate options. We will take loans/bank roll the rest (total will be about 120k per kid for all 4 years.)

Which schools?
We are well over 300K with twins and got aid/scholarship from ND and Northeastern.
Paying little less than 40K for ND and little over 40K for Northeastern.
They are are juniors.

Mason - tuition+room/board is about 30k/year.

Right you don't get the benefit from publics.
Mason is perfectly fine, but you could have had more options with privates.

Both kids applied to some privates. Got very very little money from the bigger ones. They got more from the smaller privates, but they were still closer to 40-45k/year when all was said and done. 10-15k more per year x 2 made a HUGE difference to us. Hence Mason.

Sure it varies by family to family, but 40-45K for good privates are great deals in general.
Those are similar to what my kids got 38K-42K from ND and Northeastern two years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k with twins entering this year and got no FA. We have about 85k per kid saved which limited them instate options. We will take loans/bank roll the rest (total will be about 120k per kid for all 4 years.)

Which schools?
We are well over 300K with twins and got aid/scholarship from ND and Northeastern.
Paying little less than 40K for ND and little over 40K for Northeastern.
They are are juniors.

Mason - tuition+room/board is about 30k/year.

Right you don't get the benefit from publics.
Mason is perfectly fine, but you could have had more options with privates.

Both kids applied to some privates. Got very very little money from the bigger ones. They got more from the smaller privates, but they were still closer to 40-45k/year when all was said and done. 10-15k more per year x 2 made a HUGE difference to us. Hence Mason.

Anonymous wrote:Op, yes they do!
Many privates and OOS offered financial aid even the ED one. We were pleased they offered $17K FA per year. Another OOS public offered him $22K which made it around just a little over what in-state would have been.

The private college he decided offered $21K per year making it around $70K per year.

We were done saving for in-state, but now have to pump additional funds to the 529 the next four years.

Our in-state kid did not get any aid, but we saved just enough for the four years, so your coworker might be speaking the truth.

Saving early, compound interest and # of years make a big difference! If you put away $300 per month for 18 years with 8% return, you are looking at $134K in 18 years. That should be enough for in-state.

You can use this calculator to see how much you need to put away to get to the amount you need.

https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator

HA. In state now (tuition/room/board) is about $120k for all 4 years. I find it hard to believe that this will only increase 10% in the next 18y.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k with twins entering this year and got no FA. We have about 85k per kid saved which limited them instate options. We will take loans/bank roll the rest (total will be about 120k per kid for all 4 years.)

Which schools?
We are well over 300K with twins and got aid/scholarship from ND and Northeastern.
Paying little less than 40K for ND and little over 40K for Northeastern.
They are are juniors.

Mason - tuition+room/board is about 30k/year.

Right you don't get the benefit from publics.
Mason is perfectly fine, but you could have had more options with privates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k with twins entering this year and got no FA. We have about 85k per kid saved which limited them instate options. We will take loans/bank roll the rest (total will be about 120k per kid for all 4 years.)

Which schools?
We are well over 300K with twins and got aid/scholarship from ND and Northeastern.
Paying little less than 40K for ND and little over 40K for Northeastern.
They are are juniors.

Mason - tuition+room/board is about 30k/year.

Op, yes they do!
Many privates and OOS offered financial aid even the ED one. We were pleased they offered $17K FA per year. Another OOS public offered him $22K which made it around just a little over what in-state would have been.

The private college he decided offered $21K per year making it around $70K per year.

We were done saving for in-state, but now have to pump additional funds to the 529 the next four years.

Our in-state kid did not get any aid, but we saved just enough for the four years, so your coworker might be speaking the truth.

Saving early, compound interest and # of years make a big difference! If you put away $300 per month for 18 years with 8% return, you are looking at $134K in 18 years. That should be enough for in-state.

You can use this calculator to see how much you need to put away to get to the amount you need.

https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator

Anonymous wrote:

I went to an Ivy league school and my network here is largely people who went there and are very very advantaged. But many chose not-the-highest-paying careers b/c they were passionate about health, the environment, etc. So I am just trying to see how people make it work....(cue the Ivy haters)....and to get opinions outside of my biased privileged circle. I have been surprised that so many of my friends are sending their kids to top name schools and don't know how they afford it, particularly since all have at least two kids. My husband has always said MC-->UMD is what the path should be or perhaps his home country which has a decent university system.

It’s probably very hard if you have multiple kids.

A strategy for others:

- Be generous with what you have and can do. Don’t favor having a Porsche or extra cash over tuition if your kid gets a chance to major in Classical at Princeton and you’re too rich to get any aid.

- Be honest with your kid about finances from the time they have a piggy bank. Don’t tell your kid money for college is no object if it will be an object.

- You figure, modest saving every year (say, 18 years times $3,000) can pay for half a year of private college.

- Loans for the kid and you can pay half a year.

- The kid’s work can pay half a year. If the kid can’t earn and safe that much during high school and college, maybe spending a lot of money on college for that kid isn’t that smart.

- Shifting what you spend on your kid now to college can probably pay for most of a year.

- Tightening your belt can probably pay for about half a year of college.

This probably adds up to close to three years of college.

For the rest:

- Look for schools where your kid could graduate half a semester early.

- Take out some home equity loans.

- ROTC.

- Aim for private schools that love your kid and provide at least $50,000 in grant or discount aid over four years. Aid is a sign they love your kid. Complete lack of grant aid for a kid with $250K in annual income is a sign the school isn’t that rich or doesn’t especially like your kid.

- Focus on public universities and non-U.S. schools that have a full net cost under $75,000.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Sorry people have been rude. You ask a good question. With what feels like a lot of schools costing $70k+, it feels crippling. I know I have saved a little but our income didn't grow enough to save more until the kids were teens. And earlier I was trying to squirrel away money for my retirement.

With kids that are 14 and 16, it feels like this mountain in my future.

It's not a good question. It was quite possibly one of the stupidest questions ever posted on DCUM.

It actually was a fair question. But you are quite possibly one of the most trash people on DCUM.

It was an idiotic question and you know this, too, since all you can come up with is an empty platitude and an ad hominem. Maybe DCUM isn't a place for you.

You call someone’s question one of the stupidest on DCUM and then complain when you get clapped back. Maybe DCUM isn’t for you, either (or anywhere with human interaction).