<p>Just make sure your kiddo applies somewhere that is financially affordable for you and you will manage. Most public are just under $35,000 per year or quite a bit under in the lower cost states. Doesn’t sound like you’ll have any overlap years with two in college. The four years goes fast. But yes, at your higher income level that EFC sounds about right - rule of thumb is 20-30% of income with normal assets (retirement accounts no income producing property or qualifying business etc.)</p>
<p>Sorry, Sylvan. You are absolutely right that a family can pay or not pay for college or anything, any way that family chooses. The FAFSA EFC and other expected college costs do have an expectation that there are past, present and future options, as they do not expect a family to suddenly pay out a third or more of income which is what the expected contribution can come out to be. There is that savings expectation based on income amounts that is not spelled out, and there are loan opportunities. </p>
<p>It is a shock factor to most families when they get the expected amounts. There is too much out there assuring us that there is financial aid, scholarships, without spelling it out as to what that exactly is. Also when we get to this point, we often have certain schools in mind, or the student might, and those schools may not be the ones that have the options one reads so much about. It’s a natural reaction for a family to get a house and increase ones standard of living to wages, and if college costs have not been inconsideration while one does this, it’s easy to be caught short in a web of obligations. It’s not that easy to give up the house, the neighborhood, the schools, the commute, the comfort level all of the sudden. I tell my DH all of the time, that I wish we did blow more money on vacations and shopping and going out, because one can just cold turkey stop those things. Not so easy or quick to lower housing costs,or get out of certain long term obligations and life styles. Some cuts in the budget hurt more and are difficult to carve out. </p>
<p>But OP is doing fine in that s/he likely afford an in state away option and with some stretch, maybe even a private or OOS option with fin aid and merit money. There will be an array of choices if the student picks a well balanced list with schools that are likely to come up with money. </p>
<p>My cousin has a son in college and they make about half what the OP does with about the same savings. The choices came down to State U with some merit money, Private Us with fin aid, local colleges with the low sticker price and some merit in the pictures. They are living on a strict budget while the young man is in school, and he does work part time and in the summers to cover his discretionary expenses. They also borrow, but try to keep that amount as low as they can as parent loan rates are no bargains. He’ll come out owing the Student Direct Loan standard maximums and the parents will owe about that too.</p>
<p>A COA of about $65K is not unusual. This is from Columbia University’s website:</p>
<p>Tuition</p>
<p>$46,846</p>
<p>Mandatory Fees</p>
<p>$ 2,292</p>
<p>Average Room and Board Cost</p>
<p>$11,978</p>
<p>Books and Personal Expenses</p>
<p>$ 3,028</p>
<p>Travel</p>
<p>varies</p>
<p>Total</p>
<p>$64,144 + Travel
<a href=“Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University”>Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University;
<p>* It’s a natural reaction for a family to get a house and increase ones standard of living to wages*</p>
<p>That seems like a luxury reserved for very few.
When we started our family 32 yrs ago, we were all too aware that employment was cyclical, and we would need to weather periods of underemployment & unemployment.
It pays to have modest tastes!
;)</p>
<p>Or, as your family income increases, you can stay in the same house and save more. It’s what my family did.</p>
<p>It’s sometimes better tod stay in the same house or apartment and save the money, and sometimes better to move into a safer, better neighborhood, with a better school district and opportunities, more convenient to necessities and amenities. My cousin’s life improved ever so much when they bought their house. They were crammed in a small apartment, in a not great school district with few extras, the neighborhood had issues, and it was not close to work or family. They paid more than they could easily afford for that house, but I think overall in the next few years when they retire, they will be so much better off and have been other than having a higher mortgage. Close to grandparents so more interaction and help both ways, savings in commute, a much better neighborhood, a school with some great programs for the kids, more college bound kids which helped the kids step it up a bit. I personally think they made the right choice. Taxes will be not that much more than had they bought some of their other less pricey choices in some neighborhoods that really have issues now. They are pretty well set for retirement. But, yes, the college years are tighter in terms of saved money and money to spend. College is not the be all to end all.</p>
<p>I do admit it was a little * cozy*, but now we don’t have to downsize!
;)</p>
<p>To reply to some of the questions asked:
Mom2collegekids: Yes my child applied to several safeties and we can afford to send him to on eof the state schools. Did we use the NPC last year? Yes but my husband this year is making a lot more per hour in one of his three jobs due to a change in his arrangement with the employer (in part in return for working for probably below min wage for 4 yrs). My husband’s income increased significantly this year for this reason, and this significantly increased our EFC, hence my shock. What are his stats? Major? Good enough to be admitted to most ivies, and Engineering.<br>
Cptofthehouse: My other son is at one of the military academies, and so is not counted as a dependent nor as a second college student.
Sylvan8798 and Romanigypsyeyes: My husband has worked three jobs averaging 14 hour days for three years with two weekends off each year. I only work 60 hrs/wk. I would hardly say we need an attitude adjustment about hard work. We haven’t had a vacation in 7 years! The issue is that this is killing us. We are worn out and it is discouraging to find that now we might have been better off to have taken it easier.<br>
Emeraldkity4: I don’t follow your math. No one with gross income of $143K has all of that to spend. Here is the math for us: $143k gross – income taxes of $21k – FICA of $9.5k – self-employment tax of $3.5k – real estate tax of $4k - state tax of $9k. That leaves $96 – EFC of $35.5k = $60.5k which is a bit more than ½ of the $108k you stated as avail for living expenses. However, that gross amt was for one peak year. Over past 10 years we have averaged 40% of that.</p>
<p>If your son has the stats to be a competitive admit to most Ivies, he would qualify for merit aid at any number of colleges. Did he apply to any schools with guaranteed merit aid? For example, with Ivy level stats, and engineering as a major, he would have qualified for a huge scholarship from Alabama. There is a thread at the top of this forum that talks to guaranteed and competitive merit awards. </p>
<p>If finances are an issue once the acceptances and awards come in, your son might take a gap year and apply to schools with guaranteed merit aid for his stats for NEXT year.</p>
<p>It may be a news flash to those with six figure earnings, but those who make less have taxes too, but we still managed to pay our EFC.</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>ipursuit -</p>
<p>You write that the current work schedules for yourself and your husband have become burdensome. Sit down with your husband, look at those multiple jobs, and think long and hard about who long you want to keep it up. Maybe you are ready to cut back now. Maybe you can slug it out for the four years your child will be in college. Only you two can decide this.</p>
<p>Then, have a nice long talk about how much you truly are ready, willing, and able to pay for college, and work through the financial strategies that will permit you to come up with that amount of money each year. That number is the figure you need to make certain that your child understands. Anything more expensive than that will be off the table once the aid packages roll in.</p>
<p>Yes, your child will not have some of the options that he would have if your finances were different, but that is life. He surely has some options now that would not have been there had your family income been lower. Almost every parent who posts here has had to come to terms with the money issue. The difference between you and me is that I found out a lot of this stuff several years ago. You can bet I had a more than a few very sad days about this myself.</p>
<p>As others have posted above, if your son has Ivy-type stats, there are a number of places that would toss merit aid his way. So do go look at those threads at the top of this forum, and read about merit-based aid. Also, if you can be pretty certain that this year’s income is higher than it would be likely to be in the future (especially if the current work schedule is something that needs to be cut back to save your health and sanity), talk the option of a gap year over with your son. Pushing the start of freshman year back to fall 2015 would mean that the aid packages would be based on your 2014 income.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>^^^^but you pay less in taxes. In 2010, I only worked 6 months, so earned 1/2 my yearly salary. Using the standard deduction and 2 exemptions, I paid about $2000 in taxes. The next year I earned twice as much, it was very nice, but I paid 10X as much in federal taxes, plus state. Every dollar you earn over about $70k is taxed much heavier, plus you start to lose all your tax credits especially if you are single. No child credit, no tuition credits.</p>
<p>My EFC is about 4x what it would be if I made half as much as I do. I just save all I can and steered my kids toward less expensive colleges.</p>
<p>There are situations when earning more money can result in expenses that make the net amount negligible or you lose money. My brother is going through this right now as he is going back into the work force after a hiatus. Kids have to be put into childcare which is very expensive. Transportation costs are high. With his income being taxed at the marginal rate since his wife is the primary wage earner, he is shocked at how little he will be netting. On top of that he had to make some sizeable expenditures to join the work force. He’ll be working at a loss this first month, and he’s now looking at child care options for the summer which is daunting. THis is before one takes into account other residual costs of working. </p>
<p>So, if he had a kid in college, the income increase would certainly knock the family out of financial aid consideration, and yet, he isn’t really netting much of anything, certainly not as much as the hit he would be getting on the financial aid formula.</p>
<p>Thank you happymomof1 for your thoughtful comments. I hadn’t thought of a gap year but I will definitely discuss that with DS as an option. Not sure who mentioned Alabama, but yes, he is accepted there with a lot of aid. Guess it’s just the sadness of having to give up one of the ivies that he has dreamed of going to for years. </p>
<p>Twoinanddone, I think it was the realization of how heavy that progressive penalty is, when you combine the EFC with taxes, that caused my dismay and initial posting. Live and learn. Life goes on. Thank you to you other posters for validating the amt of our EFC.</p>
<p>Run some NPCs for some of the schools you have in mind and see what comes up. Depending on your student’s list there might be some merit awards too. </p>
<p>We had a limit of $35K for our son, and we did get a couple of surprise contenders that gave him enough money to make it a go. You have a limit of about $25K. If your student will take out Direct loans and work summers and school years, you take a bit in loans and tighten the old belt for the next four years, you might be able to make it work. Not comfortablly, most likely, I 'll admit, as we’ve been doing this for the last 15 years, and it’s getting old, but 4 years, I know I would have done gladly.</p>
<p>OP I feel your pain. I have paid enough income taxes in the last few years. I could have paid for college for a few years. The upper middle class gets the squeeze and the shaft when it comes to paying for college. We pay the most taxes but get none of the benefits.</p>
<p>I mentioned Alabama! They have a terrific engineering program and wonderful facilities. Your son has that as a great option. The scholarships they offer are very very good!</p>
<p>Your S is not giving up a dream of the ivies … he can always go for grad school down the road! By then, of course, he may have realized it’s not all that important in the scheme of things.</p>
<p>
You missed the point. For some reason everyone seems to want to get lots of financial aid, or to somehow get assistance to be able to pay for the most expensive universities on earth. It’s CHARITY. Personally, I’m glad to be far enough ahead of the curve that no one thinks I need charity, even though I could not reasonably pay for Harvard either (our EFC this year was over $80K). </p>
<p>You and your H made a substantial amount of money - more than most people in this country did last year. That’s never a negative. It can add more to your Social Security if you are paying in to that. More to your retirement accounts. Better health insurance. No college accounts your EFC dollar for dollar of your income. More is always better. Are you bummed that you don’t qualify for food stamps? Surely your life would be easier if you quit all your jobs and laid around the yard in wife-beaters drinking beer and collecting your government checks, eh?</p>
<p>Not sure who mentioned Alabama, but yes, he is accepted there with a lot of aid. Guess it’s just the sadness of having to give up one of the ivies that he has dreamed of going to for years.</p>
<p>Well, have you visited? If not, please do so. Bama has a brand new mega-sized state-of the art 900,000 sq ft Science and Eng’g Complex. When Senator Shelby pushed thru the earmarks for that complex his goal was for it to have what MIT has.</p>
<p>Alabama has a lot of kids who are in the same boat. High stats and unaffordable EFCs. There are MANY in eng’g. How do I know that…lol…well I’ve recruited a whole bunch of them over the last 5+ years. </p>
<p>Since you’ve probably have already “done the math”, you’ve likely determined that with Bama’s free tuition plus $2500 per year from eng’g (or more if he’s a NMF…is he???), then remaining costs would be VERY low.</p>
<p>I went thru this with both of my high stats sons. Both went to Bama on huge merit. Did it hurt them? Not at all. My older son got accepted to every PhD program he applied to. My younger son completed only 6 med school apps (he doesn’t listen that well…lol), but he was accepted to 3 med schools…all with merit offers as well. </p>
<p>My younger son majored in Chemical Eng’g. However, if he hadn’t gone to med school, he would have waltzed into jobs paying $85k per year …cuz that’s what his classmates did.</p>
<p>So, for practically NOTHING, both of my kids went thru undergrad. The PhD program offers were fully funded, and the med school (which we’re paying for) is reduced because of merit. </p>
<p>So, don’t fret about “not going to an ivy”. Heck, as an eng’g major, going to an ivy in eng’g is such a total waste of money…total waste…if you’re paying. Seriously.</p>