Based on Yale’s letter, families earning between 65k and 200k contribute on a sliding scale that begin at 1% and moves towards 20%. Is the 260k income still qualify for anything?
Seriously?? If your income is that high, your EFC is probably as high as the cost of attendance for Yale. Have you calculated your EFC?
I would think that, barring extraordinary circumstances (expensive medical, very recent positive change in income, a half dozen kids in college, etc.), you won’t be getting any financial aid. Fwiw, as a full-pay parent, it’s been the best money I’ve ever spent; ROI is through the roof. Suck it up and write the check if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity. Good luck.
You are affluent. You will have to pay full price. If you refuse to, you kid is out of luck.
You may have to tone down your lifestyle a bit.
Sometimes, I do not think the Ivy school worth that price tag if the student can get a full-scholarship at a lower tier school. Major is also important. I know some students from Northwestern University cannot find job majoring in history or political science.
I think going to Ivy paying full tuition is like buying a brand new car. Going to a next tier but remaining competitive school with good scholarship is like buying a two years old used car. The latter choice perhaps has better value.
There is a study showing that among the two group of students. Both groups have excellent credentials.One group is from Ivy and another group is from excellent state or other non-ivy schools.The group going to Ivy does not show significant better success over the other group.
@TomSrOfBoston , How do you get away with your posts telling someone to tone down their lifestyle. Are you friends with other super moderators? I’m genuinely curious. I agree that some people spend beyond their means but it seems that the poster has a legitimate question. Some parents drive the best cars, live in expensive homes and chose to send their kids to state schools, for whatever reason. It is their choice. I wouldn’t do it because I’m not them and everyone values things and people differently.
The system is not really fair I think to the segment of families who are too rich for scholarship and too poor for full-tuition (excluding top 1% income). I did a fee calculator on Yale. If the student become married, no matter how what the income the parent, the student pays nothing provided the married is also a student. So, find a high school sweat heart before going to college. That way, they can save half a million all together. That is how the system works.
I’ll ask my son if he could find anyone to marry before he goes off to college.
@1Tiger21, @TomSrOfBoston might have been responding to another thread of OP’s, in which he described the “scam” of Ivy tuitions and the subsidy paid by hardworking upper-middle earners to support the tuitions of those less well-off, and questioned the actual value of the education provided. Or, perhaps he didn’t. :).
I, myself, didn’t see the other post by OP until after I posted. I would not want Yale to offer even more generous FA than it does, because that would be me supporting OP, and it is my opinion that $260k, barring something extraordinary, should be enough to pay tuition at Yale. Or, if OP prefers, not to. There are many merit scholarships available at excellent, but lower ranked, colleges.
Btw, let’s not forget that, AFAIK, this is all speculation, since OP’s daughter hasn’t been accepted (or applied) yet.
No problem with the marital tail wagging the tuition dog.
What could possibly go wrong? :))
Hey, half a million in savings ain’t bad, even if they end up in divorce as long as they do so after college. 
A lot of divorce is due to money issue. If a married couple has half a million in debt, they are more likely to separate than not having the debt.
There is a survey showing that in Yale etc, there are more students from top 1% (i.e. annual income > $630k) family than those from bottom 60% (i.e. family income < $65k). I think Ivy school also got a lot of money from government’s student assistance (grant, not loan) program. Private donation cannot cover such extensive need based financial aid.
@ParentofA_student , since Yale seems to not meet your needs, what other schools are you and your daughter considering? Have you discussed this with your daughter? I’m not suggesting that this is your situation, but I find it heart-breaking when I hear of kids who, against the odds, are accepted at highly ranked schools and are then surprised and disappointed that their parents won’t pay the bill. It’s a valid decision, but it shouldn’t be a surprise.
@ParentofA_student As the system exists today, with the income level you are discussing there will not be any need based financial aid. Pretty much anywhere. You can argue whether is should be that way. Has to be that way. Or whatever. Or that schools have become big businesses that are tax exempt. But none of that will change the fact that you will be a full pay family at top ranked schools.
So the question comes down to (assuming you are able to pay full freight – and that is a whole another discussion that has been had many times on this site – but the reality is some people who make a full freight income do not have the cashflow to pay full freight – and we have gone round and round here about all the should have, would have and could haves involved in that – but its a reality for many) whether its worth it to you/your family/kid to pay full freight at any given school (assuming your kid gets in). And there are a lot of factors that go into that. Different people have different goals, views, priorities, etc. Some people think you should go to the highest ranked school you get into no matter what your life goals. Other people look more at a value proposition. And many people fall somewhere in between. None of those decisions is right or wrong. Just different.
And no matter what you decide, you will have plenty of company. I see a growing number of families opting away from the full freight/pay schools. From everything I have seen, those kids are doing fine. And there are still plenty of folks willing to pay full freight (percentage of full freight families at top schools remains high). Its why there are many different flavors of ice cream.
As you have probably noticed, there is a lot of arrogance and judgment on this site. I think “suck it up and write the check” is a great example of that. Comes with the territory here. Some don’t really seem to mean anything by it but others seem to wear it as a badge of honor. If you get past all of that, there is a lot of very good info here. I have suggested this site to several friends who have visited a couple times and then never come back because of all the garbage that comes with it. Others come back but pick their spots. After a while, you can pretty much predict where the judgment/arrogance will be found and avoid it if you so decide.
Best of luck to you.
@saillakeerie , the full quote was “suck it up and write the check if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity,” which I think very much changes the tone of the statement. Signing up for a quarter of a million, give or take, of full pay does take some sucking it up, as it’s a daunting amount. I have been clear that I think, in our case, it has been worth it, but that it’s an Individual decision.
Am I arrogant and judgmental? I guess to you I am.
[quote]
I did a fee calculator on Yale. If the student become married, no matter how what the income the parent, the student pays nothing provided the married is also a student. [/quote/
Is this for real? People have always participated in sham marriages for citizenship, which is a crime, but this isn’t even illegal. I don’t understand why more Yale students aren’t agreeing to platonic marriages with this kind of money on the line.
@lxnayBob ,That is a tough thing to do. Anyway we are also applying for schools such as University or Notre Dame, University of southern California, university of north Carolina at Chapel Hill etc.
@IxnayBob We don’t necessarily know people here well enough to label them as anything. We have the limited window of posts made here. Which is why I referred to arrogance and judgment rather than arrogant and judgmental people.
@ParentofA_student Good chance you will be full pay at ND as well. Southern Cal provides some merit scholarships I believe. Don’t know enough about North Carolina. There are a lot of people who refer to colleges as being Big Macs. Schools that offer large merit aid scholarships. There are lists of them floating around here in a number of threads. For full pay families, those are often options that are considered.