<p>I’m pretty sure that the fact FASFA factors in what’s expected to be saved wouldn’t change ANYONE’S decision on saving money for college or not.
I think it would still be the same.
If families have money to save, they’ll save.
If they don’t have money to save, they can’t save.
I think most people don’t even know that FAFSA factors in the amount parents are expected to save.
But that’s just my personal opinion on the matter.</p>
<p>PS- Thanks for the help hollylove! I’m gonna reply to your email sometime…</p>
<p>I never said that people would change their savings based on FAFSA. What
I said was that if people choose (or just don’t) save for college then the formula will NOT give them extra aid and basically reward them for not saving. </p>
<p>If there is no savings but a middle class income then unless you are willing to take a gap year or ruin your future with loans you need to to to a less expensive school. Especially with the economy the way it is today.</p>
<p>As Thumper said, many families, including my own, don’t have significant college savings for many reasons, but usually the colleges don’t care. The bottom line is what you are making now and how they meet need. I know many students that had fully funded college funds and they went to college on full or almost full scholarships because of merit and the parents thought of it like a financial windfall. Others went to college on full athletic scholarships (but some of those were lost due to injury, etc.) and again, money was saved or diverted. Many families lost money the last few years and have to re-group. Again, what you have now is what they use, but it’s not always “fair”.
State schools can be cheaper but not always…ours is almost 20.000 a year and with aid, some private colleges beat that. You never know.</p>
<p>Life is full of choices; if families did not put college savings on their priorty list, it might not be the responsibility of those who did save, those who pay lots of taxes and those who pay full tuition to pay for your college education as well. </p>
<p>I’m tired of hearing “we spent the money on: other family members, a vacation home, a bigger houses, an RV/snowmobile etc etc etc, so now someone else needs to pay for our entitled private college education.”</p>
<p>Your family made its choices; now live with the outcome.</p>
<p>toadstool, yes life is full of choices, but EFC only reflects your current income, it does not reflect what you made 4 years ago or that you might have been unemployed or that you were supporting an elderly parent. It does not care that you made very liitle money and were unable to save over the years.
I don’t think people want a free ride, but some help is always welcomed and quite honestly, tuition is ridiculous no matter where you go. State is still a reach for many in their pockets.</p>
<p>That’s true milkandsugar, my income for many years was much lower than it is now (although it’s not “high” now by any means) and my husband’s only went up after a long awaited promotion. Most of our married life, our income was much lower when saving was essential. I know many familes that live check to check, they could never save enough to send multiple children to college.
I can’t have sympathy for new homes, boats, etc. but I do for families like ours that never took a real vacation, never had a new car, and did have things happen along the way that took a chunk out of savings.
My sister, never went to college, went to school at night for years and made very little, stayed home with her children to save money on daycare (only $$$daycare was available that was any good) and worked weekends. She finally got her degree and became a nurse, and her income was raised quite a bit. Her EFC was based on almost 40,000 more than she made most her life…she wouldn’t give that up but if she had the original combined income, her children probably would have went on pure grants. They told her it’s now that matters, not then.
Life is full of choices, but many people just can’t save and they aren’t squandering it doing other things.</p>
<h2>I’m tired of hearing “we spent the money on: other family members, a vacation home, a bigger houses, an RV/snowmobile etc etc etc, so now someone else needs to pay for our entitled private college education.”</h2>
<p>I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t think most people think this.
And this certainly isn’t the case with my family.
Spending money on other family members is not a bad thing, like the other things you listed.
We are the most privleged out of all my mom’s siblings.
They all live in a 3rd world country, with low paying jobs, and some don’t even have a job at all.
Over the years, a lot of our extra cash has gone to them, because they need it more.
Of course that’s our top priority.
If you would’ve read my other threads, you would’ve read that I said that I now understand that private school may be out of reach for me.
I feel really offended that you would compare me to other people who spend money on pointless things, then be expected to get a free ride to college.
God, I’m so OFFENDED that you would say that.
I’m sorry, I have more to say, but I just am so angry that I can’t type it out right now.</p>
<p>cheriella, take heart. We all know there are some very insensitive and entitled peole around. You don’t owe them any explanations. I always have said, some of people on cc rather eat their yourng than teach them.</p>
<p>cheri, ultimately it is your choice to go to that private university that costs triple what a public U costs. Just because you cannot afford it, does mean that others should have to pay for your decision to go to an expensive U. Your family is making the choice to send money to family rather than send you to an expensive private school. Personally, I fully support that decision, as I too am the child of an immigrant. However, it is a personal choice that others should not have to pay for. Aid money should not be taken away from students whose parents make a fraction of what your parents do. </p>
<p>Is it fair? Probably not, but there has to be some kind of formula as millions of kids go to college each year and it would be impossible to assess everyone of them on a one-on-one basis. Instead, you have to make sacrifices. I really wanted to go to a small private school, but it costs more than double what my parents make each year, and I had to make the choice to go to a public U where I could get more aid rather than put my family into enormous debt. That will be the same choice you have to make.</p>
<p>Cherielia, don’t let it get you down, forums can be just as hurtful as words in person, but it doesn’t matter. YOU know who you are, your parents are and what they are like, not someone reading one post. I don’t know anyone in my neighborhood that isn’t living check to check, we all sacrifice and do the best we can. There is a group that will always fall between the cracks, they can’t quite save a lot but aren’t under a certain amount and they aren’t “comfortable”.
My sister’s D wanted so much to go to a Catholic college, she went to Catholic school on aid for 8 years and a public high school. They did get aid with 100,00 income, some generous, but none of them really enough. Holy Cross was the best, Fordham and Villanova the worst. Her fault was not really listening to her GC, she was taken back at first that some colleges on the list, Manhattan and Emmanual, and other lower tier schools, were so below her stats. Well, they might have been more eager to give her money and some of them were rated well for her major. Maybe she wouldn’t have been happy, but she didn’t even look into them. Maybe that will be something for you to check out, lower tier doesn’t always mean the college isn’t putting out smart, job-ready grads.
Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Life is about choices. I understand that your family has had their necessary priorities helping family and such but I question the money spent on private K - 12 schools. That was money that your family decided would be best used in that way. Depending upon numbers, that could be between $30,000 - $60,000 available for your college education. Likewise with your sister and any other siblings that you have. I know of plenty of families that stretched their budget with private K - 12 schools and then wonder where the money is for college. The good news is that assuming that you have been producing the grades, you will end up with a wonderful education. It may just not be the private institution that you crave.</p>
<p>smoda61, I’m the only one that they put through private school.
I go to the cheapest catholic high school in my city, and it was my first choice.
My sister wanted to go to a more expensive catholic high school, but it was out of the question, and she went to public school.
All through my catholic school life, more than half of my tuition was covered by financial aid.
So it really wouldn’t have made much difference if I went to public school.
The total amount of money saved wouldn’t have been significant enough to put a dent in private university tuition.
And in all honesty, I think that all the money that we saved would have probably STILL gone to my parents’ family.</p>
<p>Anyway. I’m starting to look into schools w/ good aid.
But all the ones w/ really good aid tend to be a bit more competitive.
I’ve already told my parents that I’d go to my state’s flagship school if it was absolutely necessary.
The thing is, my state’s flagship is A LOT harder to get into than the private schools I hope to apply to.
I’m pretty confident i can get into all the catholic schools I wanted to apply to, (gonzaga, u san diego, loyola marymount, & santa clara).
But none of these schools are really amazing w/ aid.
And my state’s flagship is getting super exclusive, I’m not sure I can get in.</p>
<p>So yeah, thanks for the support guys. Really. It’s a lot of help.</p>
<p>WA Community Colleges: save $ for 2 years, then go to Catholic college for 2 years. BCC (soon to be Bellevue College ) is the 3rd biggest state school behind UW and WSU. Has lots going on, and some 4-year degree programs in Applied Science. Skagit Valley+others have dorms if you want to live away from home…</p>
<p>If you are the 1-2% of students who could use UW as a safety, then you might get admitted and receive a better financial package from one of the high endowment schools (or a full tuition scholarship from UW). If you are in the other 98% of students, don’t rely on UW as your financial safety because you might not get in.</p>
<p>Oh totally.
I stated in my last post that i can’t use my state flagship[UW] as my safety.
My private schools = easy to get into, but difficult to pay for.
UW = hard to get into, but easy to pay for.</p>