<p>This conversation takes me back to something I said on the Vanderbilt thread. The highly selective colleges are for the rich or the over-the-top brilliant. The rich can afford the tutors to help with getting accepted and then pay the full bill. The over-the-top brilliant will get the very few scholarships given out and the underprivileged will get financial aid. We in the middle - - however you define it - - get shafted. We come from homes where both parents work, we pay up for our homes to be in the best public school district, we drive our kids to lessons and push them to study. But in the end, the kid with 2-3 Bs in their entire high school career and a 32-33 on their ACT ends up at their public University because of the EFC. The definition of middle class really needs to change in this country.</p>
<p>Living 61: For the past months/weeks I have been reading BC CC forum and no other post has made me reply except yours! I totally agree with your last statement. Last year my daughter applied to BC and was accepted. Boy was she happy! Unfortunately, her happiness (and ours as well) ended when we saw her financial aid package. It was not the worst but it certainly wasn’t great! She had three more that were a lot better. Problem? Her first choice was BC. What did we do? Appealed and appealed…Explained our financial situation but nothing happened. We are not rich and we both work. And my daughter is very smart but like you say not over-the-top brilliant. She ended up in one of the BC like colleges this forum has mentioned and she absolutely hates it! Not only that many in her school are BC rejects when she is not so this doesn’t help! She ended up in this school because they offered her a lot of financial aid. Now we as parents have to think what is more important… a school in which she will be happy for 4 years(now 3!) and thrive or the extra cost of this education? A very difficult question to answer! I am still in this forum because it hurts me so much to see my daughter being so unhappy about where she ended up and I feel incredibly guilty because we told her that she could only pick from the ones who offered her lots of financial aid. Like you said, my daughter wasn’t able to attend Boston College because we are middle class.</p>
<p>As a parent, I feel bad for your situation, petrea. Hopefully, your D will come to embrace her school. </p>
<p>But just to clarify your post: Villanova readily admits that it does not meet full financial need. Thus, your D must’ve received merit money from 'Nova.<br>
(To me, merit money is not financial aid, which is all need-based.)</p>
<p>fwiw: BC does meet full financial need (as they define it), but only offers a dozen merit scholarships. So most students who get into BC will receive merit money from 'Nova and (other lower-ranked schools).</p>
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<p>HYP gives need-based aid to those making up to $180k. If your family is much above that number, you are in the top 5% income earners in the country (world?).</p>
<p>Yes - we are well off compared to most Americans and very rich compared to the rest of the world. But that doesn’t mean we can afford 60k in college bills. Have I mentioned we have five children?</p>
<p>Here’s a breakdown on a hypothetical 200k income, which from my vantage seems downright middle class to me. The hypothetical monthly housing payment might seem high to you but we are in a very high property tax area of the country. That is a single family home in a safe middle class neighborhood, not a McMansion in an upscale area. Car insurance here is also a killer. And that health insurance may seem high, but we actually pay a good bit more than that each year so it’s not a ridiculous number.</p>
<p>Taxes (federal, SS/Medicare, state, local) 60,000
Mortgage (incl. insurance and prop taxes) 24,000
2 Car Costs (Gas, Insurance, Maintenance) 12,000
Retirement Savings 12,000
Health Insurance/Copays, Dental, and Prescription drug Costs 20,000
Braces for one of the kids 6000
Utilities (Gas/Electric/Water) 6000
Total 140,000</p>
<p>And there you go - if this hypothetical rich family doesn’t eat, use cell phones, buy clothes, donate money to those less fortunate, or enroll their kids in a single activity, they can pay full price for HYP without loans.</p>
<p>We actually earn more than 200k, but one of our kids is in private school - a place he very much needs to be. And another son has a private Wilson Method Tutor to help him with reading and and and… Please understand the reason we can’t afford HYP is not that we’re running around in Mercedes, jetting off to Aruba, or even doing things like eating out in restaurants on a regular basis. </p>
<p>I’m not complaining - both my husband and I grew up very poor (by American standards). I’ve eaten government cheese. I’ve had lousy teeth that screamed poor. I’ve gone to bed cold and hungry. I’ve had cardboard in the soles of my shoes to keep pebbles from coming in through the holes. These days, in comparison, I feel quite rich. I know we have it good and I know how much my children have benefitted from our comfort. I know how blessed we are not to be worrying about where the next month’s mortgage or meals are coming from. But I’m dealing with our reality, which is that we can’t afford Ivy League (or BC) tuition, no matter how rich we might be compared to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>There are excellent public schools (like UNC-Chapel Hill and College of William and Mary) that may fit into your tight budget.</p>
<p>Onthecollegehunt, I feel your pain. I could itemize something similar. We drive a 7- and 10-year old car, buy clothes at TJMaxx and go to Home Depot for a cheap Christmas tree. The list goes on. I fund my family’s health care, my own retirement account, pay my crazy California mortgage, send Child #1 to a mid - tier private college where he was awarded am amazing scholarship, yet he still had to take out the Stafford loans. Dinner Friday night is Costco pizza. I’m not sure who came up with $180K for HYP or the much lower income number for FAFSA, but the financial aid system in this country needs to be seriously overhauled.</p>
<p>In the spirit of getting back to the O.P.: Just throwing out some other schools within your budget that may interest your D.:
- Tulane: N.O., but good school. Private, good vibe, and gives tons of money to 2000+ SAT and 3.8 unweighted.</p>
<p>2) U. of Miami: ACC; Private; great vibe; many people from N.E.; quality education in fantastic cit, but enclosed campus; very B.C. like feel (except the whole N.E. thing); give out tons of $ to 2000+ SAT and 3.8 unweighted.</p>
<p>3)UVM: Burlington is one of the best college cities in the USA. Great dance opportunities; Public, but EVERYONE who goes there loves it; Quality Honors College; Gives away a lot of $ to attract higher stat. students.</p>
<p>Funny you should mention UVM - when we went to tour St. Joe’s, the other family there had an older son who had wanted to go to BC but ended up at UVM Honors College because of the money situation. The dad was telling me how happy the son is there.</p>
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<p>Harvard did, about 4 years ago. H raised their definition of “need”, and of course, Y & P weren’t about to lose cross-admits to H, so they quickly raised their own definitions of ‘need’.
Stanford has long capped the portion of home equity that get used in Profile calculations of assets. (It’s the treatment of home equity as an asset that really hits hard to “middle” income earners.)</p>
<p>btw: one thing that makes BC, BC, is its Jesuit influence/direction. Thus, I’m not sure I would concur with Miami or Tulane.</p>
<p>For sure. The Jesuit experience should be unique, and completely worthwhile. However, they are both ACC schools. Therefore, athletics are very similar. Moreover, I have spent ~ 3 days visiting each school. I have discovered that the people at both schools are very similar (i.e. predominantly white, rich and from the N.E.). Sure there are more Jewish princesses and latinos at Miami, and more catholics and preppies at B.C., but you’d be surprised how much these groups have in common, and how well these groups get along. In fact, I have applied to both schools (and UVM) E.A. I would be happy to attend any of the three; however, B.C. is my number 1. After all, I am catholic, athletic and I love cold weather. However, although my parents would pay for any school I choose, it may be tough to turn down $30k/yr., which could be spent on grad. school. There is sooo much to consider, and it is best to keep all options open.
Tulane, I have no idea about, but I know that people like it there, and they hand out tons of money to the able student.</p>
<p>Notre Dame and Holy Cross probably offer the better financial aid packages due to their larger endowments(per student measurement)…</p>
<p>Bluebayou wrote:</p>
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<p>This is so true, more than we (as parents), our son, and many of his friends ever realized.</p>
<p>Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it again, I’d reach deeper into my pockets so my D/S could get BC’s Jesuit experience.</p>
<p>Notre Dame does not offer a better financial aid pkg than BC. (Dunno about HC.)</p>
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<p>IMO, my D’s education at BC was ‘better’ than that of my S who attended one the Ancient Eight, which cost a whole lot less due to its generous fin aid policy</p>