Accuracy of Net Price calculator

Paying for College
1

I’ve run some numbers on Net Price Calculator and looks like we will qualify for ZERO financial aid. How accurate is the NPC? Is it possible that a student might get some financial aid even though the NPC indicates otherwise?

I am trying to narrow down a list of colleges along with my son. I just don’t think we can pay for 4 years even though we saved some money in a 529 for him. Our household income is apparently too much for the NPC but with our comfortable but not lavish/extravagant lifestyle and obligations such as financial support for aging parents, I see no way to pay for a prestigious highly ranked private university. I feel that I have failed my son. It’s depressing.

2

You haven’t failed your son…at all. There are lots of colleges that are not $70,000 private universities where your son will get an excellent education.

The net price calculators are designed to be a very good estimate at what your costs would be.

I’m going to be a little frank, please don’t take offense.

If you are getting $0 in need based aid at colleges that guarantee to meet full need, and cost in the $70,000 a year range, your income is in the $250,000 or higher range per year and/or you have significant assets. If that is the case, your income is about five times the national average for a family of four in this country. Did you expect to get need based aid?

Colleges will not consider your support of aging parents in the calculation. That is a wonderful thing to do, but it’s viewed as a choice.

Now…what can you do?

If your son really has competitive SAT/ACT scores and GPA for those competitive and “prestigious” expensive colleges, it’s very very possible he could qualify for some merit aid elsewhere to soften the finances.

Is he a NM finalist? Is his ACT 33 or higher? Is his GPA 4.0 weighted or so?

Looking at other threads, it looks like he has perhaps a 1500 or so SAT, and a 4.0 or so GPA…is that correct?

Have you figured out what you CAN contribute towards college costs? That is an important number for you to figure out. And please…please let your kiddo know what you can pay. Sure, he can apply to many places…but he needs to understand your maximum ability to fund college per year.

Folks here are very very helpful. If you give some criteria, and provide your kiddo’s stats, I’ll bet folks can direct you to some great colleges that are within your price point.

If the stats I put above are accurate…start with these excellent schools.

  1. Pitt. Apply early for the best consideration for competitive merit scholarships.
  2. University of Alabama. Your son would get decent merit aid with these stats...guaranteed!
  3. U of New Mexico and Arizona...both have good scholarships for OOS students.
  4. What about your own flagship university? And the honors college there.
  5. Competitive, but what about University of South Carolina?
  6. University of Delaware gives decent merit aid to OOS students.
  7. Tulane...but apply early for best consideration for merit.
  8. Case Western...apply early AND show interest for best consideration for merit.

I’m sure there are TONS more…but where does he want to be? What does he want to study?

3

How much can you pay per year through your savings? How much per year can you contribute through your income in real time? Can you pare down your spending to squeeze out some more per month? Send less to your parents?

Are you willing to take on some debt? If so, how much? Are you willing to tap some of your home equity? Is your son willing to take on student loan debt (the max allowable for a student would be about $27k for all four years).

Does your spouse generate income currently? If not, can he/she go back to work?

Run all these numbers. It’s not unreasonable to pay for college 1/3 with past earnings (your savings), 1/3 with current earnings, and 1/3 with future earnings (loans).

4

@thumper1 thanks for your detailed and thoughtful reply.

I never expected any handouts but I did always imagine that putting aside modest sums of money will allow me to send my kids to great colleges. They are great kids and I’d sell my organs for them but I am just frustrated by the price tags these schools are charging. You are correct about our income range yet I struggle to make sense of the fact that a $75K yearly cost of attendance requires an entire $120K salary (before taxes) to be dedicated to just that purpose. Our $250K a year income does not really provision for that.

The kid has got 1560 SAT, 35 ACT, 800 Math II, 790 Physics, 12 APs (after senior year) mostly 5s. A good solid kid, never been in any kind of trouble, a top state level Jazz musician and a strong interest in Computer Science. Its natural that a kid like that dreams about MIT and the like. I’ve always encouraged that and if he gets in, we’ll probably make it happen, but I still don’t understand the price tags.

I’ve got near $50K saved up in his 529 and I felt that would be OK, but my goodness its not even going to cover a year.

Your advice about other great schools is well taken. Despite my display of emotion I am actually a realist and have a list of schools where he’ll get a full ride based on his stats, but its just that those schools are not what kept him motivated and working hard all these years.

5

@brantly
Thanks for your reply too. As I mentioned above I’ve got about $50K saved in a 529 but thats not even going to cover a year at of these schools. I am really hoping to not take on debt but at this point I see really no other way.

I expected to perhaps pay $30-40K per year meaning really an additional $25K/year in addition to using the 529 account. By $60K a year in addition to using the 529 is just a tough pill to swallow.

6

Yes, it is a tough pill to swallow.

Just out of curiosity … before you went on the websites and ran NPCs, you were thinking that the cost of attendance of colleges such as MIT would be about $30k-$40k per year? Or you knew it was about $70k, but were expecting to receive about $20k-$30k a year in financial aid?

With his stats, he can surely find a place that will give him merit aid of $20k-$30k.

Also, he has great stats. But MIT is still a super-duper reach because every candidate looks like him. Does he have any awards, like Intel and similar? Regardless, he will have SO MANY opportunities. For CS he does not have to go to a $70k undergrad school. What’s your state flagship?

7

How old are you and your spouse? What does your retirement funding look like at this point? Do you have disability insurance? Do you have a lot of equity in your house? How many other children do you have?

I’m not asking because I’m nosy. I’m asking because before you even think about a penny of debt beyond the federal limit, you should get a comprehensive picture of your entire financial situation. I know people with solid retirement savings who are relatively young who decide to take the money they have been contributing every year to their 401K and during the college years, they put that against tuition. I’m not recommending that- but it’s a strategy. I know people in good health, with both disability insurance and long term care insurance and they use a HELOC against their heavily appreciated home to put against tuition. I know people who have started side businesses, moonlight (with their employers permission if that’s an issue) etc. (a friend of mine who is a clinical psychologist on staff at a large institution who sees couples during arbitration/divorce proceedings. Not her professional area of interest AT ALL but it pays well, no HMO or PPO to deal with and the cash goes straight to her kids tuition).

It’s a tough pill but it might help you NOT to view this in black and white, i.e. either your kid goes to expensive school and everyone is happy and he’s a winner in life and you are a terrific parent, or your kid goes to el cheapo school nobody has ever heard of and he becomes a loser in life and you are a horrible person.

Reality is much more nuanced. There are tremendous “value” colleges; there are state flagships with comp sci programs equal or better than many of the privates, there are other ways to think about his education besides win/lose.

Where do you live?

8

@jamgolf

You have not failed your son.

Our B student went community college to state flagship. She has a good entry-level job that pays her bills and she is very happy, building a life for herself on the east coast. We have very little debt for her college education, and her job is currently making her loan payments.

Our A student with very good test scores wanted an elite prestigious U, but we forced her to take a full tuition plus scholarship at an OOS flagship. She was really disappointed and mad at us at first, but here she is a rising junior in college and she is making the most of the opportunities that come her way. We have no debt for her college education, and she has a very small loan for intersession courses she took, which we will pay off when she graduates.

There is no shame in not being able to afford 125K-250K for college. We were in a tight spot, with a much lower budget. We needed the least expensive options available.

There are many, many paths to a great life. Do not despair.

A 35 ACT is going to get your son merit aid. Rejoice in that.

9

Any chance he took the PSAT as a junior and qualify for national merit status? That opens some doors for merit aid. For example, University of Southern California offers 1/2 tuition IIRC to NM finalists. That’s a nice “discount” on an expensive school.

10

Another option which may actually add value to your son’s education is a cooperative education. MIT even has such a program. See https://www.ll.mit.edu/careers/student-opportunities/cooperative-education-program.

Many STEM schools offer these programs. Northeastern and RIT are two universities with large co-op programs. I know WPI and RPI also offer them. They usually add a year to studies, but it is not the same as pumping gas (what I did). Financial need is not required for these programs.

11

I think a lot of us get it. We told our kids “we will make it work” while they worked hard and engaged in the learning process. Meanwhile in our heads, college cost about $20-25K per year and “financial aid” and “scholarships” were a vague notion with no specific path that sounded absolutely doable because you hear about “financial aid” and “scholarships” and full rides in the media ever spring during admissions season.

Then you get to the magical jr. year and if you are smart you start looking around and digging in and you are like WTH I had NO idea some of these schools were $70K per YEAR. The first time I ever saw an EFC quick chart I was all “is that per YEAR?” :))

But you know what? Kids recover. They can adjust their sails. Once you explain it just won’t be done because you love them too much to saddle them with life changing personal loan debt and you refuse to take the Parent plus loan. Then you sit down and start strategizing and working with your options. You find schools and honors programs your kid can get excited about and then they learn and realize there are like minded kids at most every school and honors programs are a great deal.

You and your son need to start targeting programs with merit aid that can likely pull college down within your budget. Most schools have payment plans so you can spread the love and pain out over 4-6 payments. Between digging into that 529 a bit each year and cash funding and perhaps taking the minimum federal student loan every year you realize it can be done and everyone is just fine.

My ACT 34, #10 ranked kid in her class adjusted her sails just fine after we had the sit down and started strategizing. She loves her school that we can afford and she found there are tons of kids just like her in her program and she can make her world wherever she goes.

12

There is another way to look at this. Being able to afford $30-40k per year offers your son a lot of excellent choices. Rather than feeling like you have come up short you should be glad that you are able to provide him with the opportunities he will have.

NPCs often do not predict merit aid and as you’ve learned your income does pretty much eliminate FA as an option at most schools. The challenge of financing a college education is a challenge for nearly everyone but the wealthiest. The money to do so comes either from you in the form of savings, current income or money you are willing to borrow or your son in the form of his savings, income, Stafford loans, merit scholarships or grants. The challenge presents itself at all income brackets. Someone who makes $60k per year will have a much lower EFC but that will in no way ensure they will be able to afford many of the schools that will be affordable options for you. It MIGHT make certain elite schools affordable, however, they are so selective that the likelihood of them being an option is negligible.

It should be easy for you to find a safety financially as there are many fine schools that you should find affordable. Many schools will be academic matches and safeties that you may need to wait to find out if he gets the merit scholarships necessary to attend but I think you will find many options. The elite schools that only offer need based aid may not be affordable options, however, they are extremely selective anyway and in my opinion not worth going into $100-120k of debt for.

Good luck. I feel confident your son will find an excellent school.

13

Sincere thanks to everyone for the helpful responses.

Honestly, I did not expect to get any need-based aid, but always thought I’d be able to easily afford to send my kids to any college of their choice, with their 529s plus our comfortable salaries. It seems ridiculous that two working parents with professional degrees and decent salaries with some modest savings, we still are having to think about how in the world can we do this. It is what it is and the same for everyone - so we will deal with it like everyone else, but these price tags are stupid.

I went to college and got a masters in EE about 20 years ago from a plain old state university. At that time I picked the cheapest school because even though I also got accepted into two schools that happen to be in a higher tier of quality/prestige but the difference between $5K and $10K a year was quite meaningful to my wife and I (both of us were getting the same degree at the same time). So, we went to the cheapest school and got our masters degrees then entered the workforce. So, we totally understand that going to accredited state universities is a bargain, without question.

Getting into any of the top schools for computer science is a reach for all kids, and we understand that.applies to my son. So, his list is going to consist of 5 of the top computer science schools (REACH), 2 in-state schools where he will get either full ride or full-tuition (SAFETY) and 6 other excellent schools between his reaches and safeties where he might have a shot at a merit scholarship.

I think we have a solid plan.I still feel frustrated when I think about the small chance that he gets into a top/dream school. Other than that I feel a lot better and confident in the list/plan my son and I have come up with.

Thanks, everyone!

14

So what are you going to do if he gets into his dream school?

15

Actually, for those families with a parent income substantially less than $250,000 (that would be most families), the situation is not nearly as good as yours. Those other families have far fewer options.

16

Ehh, prestigious private schools are overrated. In fact, I can’t see any degree worth spending $250,000 on unless it says M.D. next to it. Even an out of state public would be half of that cost. There are quite a lot that are amazing schools. Also, prestige really doesn’t matter in this day in age. Most tech employers are small to midsize companies that generally like to hire locally and regionally. It’s easier to recruit from a local flagship school than go through the trouble of traveling to MIT, if you need an entry-level Java programmer.

17

@carachel2

There are 2 schools that are really his dream and perhaps worth the lofty price tag, that I will pay for though any means - loans, downsizing our home, going on a super lean lifestyle etc. I am not willing to pay for every so-called dream school.

18

@jamgolf

The collective wisdom says START with firming up your four year budget, including all those “additional expenses” like health insurance, travel, inflation, etc. Run those NPCs with the most accurate numbers you can muster.

Then, find schools for the application list --reach, match, safety-- where all schools fall within the budget.

Speaking from experience, our D was insistent on throwing an application at her #1 pick. I didn’t believe it was going to be affordable, and even if it was possible without selling an organ, she was going to have full tuition and full tuition plus offers on the table. Why would we stretch and risk and suffer to pay for that #1 school?

Both D & her GC countered with “Just apply and see what happens” – which IMO is a very strong narrative out there. I did not veto the application, figuring the school would do the dirty work and deny her application.

Nope! She got in! And yep! It was completely off-the-table unaffordable! Five students at my D’s HS were accepted to this school – big hearty congratulations all around – and of those five students, D was the only one who did not matriculate.

It was a lot of anger, resentment, frustration, disappointment on all sides. We could have avoided a world of hurt if I had just stepped in and vetoed putting in the application.

A word of caution!

19

@coolguy40

Right, employers don’t go to MIT (or a similar school) to hire entry-level Java programmers. That would be ridiculous. My son was better than an entry-level Java programmer in 10th grade. If that was the goal, he would not have to go to college at all.

Also, computer programming and computer science are not the same things. People think they are, but obviously, that is not correct.

Generally speaking, I do agree with your opinion i.e. “private schools are overrated”. But personally, I consider a couple of schools to be exceptions to that rule. That’s just my opinion.

20

@Midwest67

Thanks very much for sharing that. Considered me cautioned. Thankyou!