<p>Where did you get this figure? I’m not disputing your general point; I agree that the cost of college has far outstripped the rate of inflation. Further, the median (unfortunately) household income has really fallen over the past five years (see <a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf</a>, page 5). And like all the other income levels, $200,000 just doesn’t buy as much as it did 5 or 10 years ago.</p>
<p>From ACS (S1901, INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (IN 2012 INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS), the median family income for 2012 (it’s too early to know 2013 figures) by region:
Northeast - $72,284
Midwest - $62,746
South - $57,712
West - $64,485</p>
<p>But the mean family income is
Northeast - $96,259
Midwest - $79,544
South - $77,441
West - $85,770</p>
<p>So, there are some really high income families affecting the curve here. Note that these numbers don’t say anything about cost of living. </p>
<p>In any case, $200,000 is more than double the mean or median family income in 2012. I’m not saying that people who make $200,000 should <em>easily</em> be able to pay tuition but the higher income families have more options and there are probably more ways for them to cut costs than the families who earn closer to the actual medians. </p>
<p>Our EFC is about $30,000 per year, yet we only can spring $3,000 for a two-week vacation every other year so disposable cash is not that much.</p>
<p>The only way we can pay is takin out 401K loans. Either you have decent 401Ks by the time your children are college age, or you don’t. To us, it is the difference between CC and a four-year university for our son.</p>
As discussed in posts above, the median salary in the northeast is well below $100k. I grew up an a suburb of the northeast. In my area, teachers and firefighters do not make anything near $100k. In my district, the majority of HS teachers currently make under $60k. The maximum is $74k. The average firefighter salary in my district is $43k, the max is $70k. Salary.com lists very similar numbers to my area, with a median HS teacher salary of ~$55k and median firefighter salary of $43k. Neither occupation has any $100k salaries within the normal dist graphs. It’s not uncommon to reach $100k in some types of nursing positions. However, many of these same higher salary nursing groups have seen notable increases in salary in recent years. For example, salary.com mentions nurse practitioners had a 90th percentile salary of $101k in 2010 and $110k in 2013. That’s a faster rate of increase than inflation. The average private college tuition is also well below $44,000. $44k is in the upper 5% for tuition (tuition, not net cost). I’m not disputing that tuition increased faster than inflation, just that your numbers are not accurate.
The graph you linked to is an inflation adjusted graph. The median did not decrease over the past 5 years. It just didn’t keep up with inflation. The higher income groups increased to a greater degree than the lower and middle income groups, which might have contributed to the discussed policy changes with reduced tuition for median income families at many colleges during this period (after adjusted for inflation), balanced by higher tuition for upper income families.</p>
<p>I think you and SlackermomMD are saying the same thing.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, here’s where it gets confusing: You continually correct other posters when they use the term “median income” to mean families earning $100k a year. Yet, even in your own graphs you clearly infer that families earning between $100-150k represent some sort of “middle”:
</p>
<p>Perhaps, you meant just in terms of families who attend Harvard and Stanford? </p>
<p>Just because the chart lists a lot of income levels of $100,000 does not mean that numbers above are median income numbers; they just show how cost varies for families in the higher income ranges. Those in the middle or low income range ($65,000 or lower) all have $0 family contribution at Stanford and the like (although non-zero student contribution), so listing many income levels in that range adds nothing to the table.</p>
I believe there has been only 1 post that claimed a median income of $100k. As ucbalumnus mentioned, the middle line in a table is not equivalent to median unless you have an equal number of persons in the categories listed on the upper and lower half of the table:</p>
<p>For the record, in this thread we have listed several types of medians and it sounds like you may be confusing some of them. A summary is below:
-Median individual income in US – $34k
-Median household income in US – $51k
-Median family income in US – $62k
-Median income of families of students attending highly selective private colleges – Much higher than the median US income, Harvard freshman survey suggests low 6 figures</p>
<p>So (for the record), once we get beyond the level of Pell Grant recipients - which figures are readily available from their CDS - we have no idea how the bulk of FA at Stanford and Harvard actually gets distributed as between various income groups. Also, correct?</p>
<ul>
<li>% with financial aid</li>
<li>% with Pell grants</li>
<li>average amount of financial aid</li>
<li>net price calculator estimates</li>
</ul>
<p>However, these won’t be exact enough to give a complete distribution of family finances of students at these schools, despite the hints that they may give.</p>
Some colleges publish information about how FA gets distributed between various income groups. For example, Yale’s website at <a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid-prospective-students”>http://admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid-prospective-students</a> lists the following numbers of FA applicants among Yale families who applied for FA in the 2011-2012 year. Note that this is not the number of students in each income group. The totals include only the 60% of student body that applied for FA. The bulk of the remaining 40% is probably in the >$200k group, however, some would also not apply for various other reasons besides having too high an income to qualify such as not realizing that they could get substantial aid, not wanting the student to be required to work at a campus job during the school year (work study is required for FA grants), receiving large external scholarships, unique financial circumstances, etc.</p>
<p>Under $65k – 790 + 108* (average parental cost = $0*)
$65k to $100k – 567 (average parental cost = $3k)
$100k to $150k – 745 (average parental cost = $11k)
$150k to $200k – 505 (average parental cost = $22.5k)
More than $200k – 491? (estimation based on CDS total - table totals)
*Yale does not include 108 families who had >$0 cost in their table listing</p>
<p>Thanks, data10!
What stands out for me here is that there are only 505 families out of the 5,000 sending kids to Yale who earn between $150 and $200k a year (understanding this may not include all the ones who might not permit their kid to do work/study chores like arranging files in the admissions office?) I’d love to see the long-term figures for that. </p>
<p>From the US Census the median income for a family of 4 (since we are talking about families with children going to college) in NJ, MD, CT and Mass ranges from about $103K-$105K. The overall median is not as applicable because it includes everyone ranging from a kid with their first job to a retired worker who are not facing the cost of sending a kid to college. </p>
<p>Not worth arguing over statistics because there are numbers that can be used to make every point. </p>
<p>Again, my point is simply that not every family that earns $200K is wealthy or earning it from a job that would be in the category where wages have risen over the past five years. Not saying that this is a level that should get Financial Aid, but refuting the claims:
College costs have not gone up faster than inflation (check the difference between tuition in 1984 and 2013 - much higher now than inflation would account for)
Any family with a full-pay EFC is wealthy and has no business complaining about the cost of college
Any family with a full-pay EFC has increased their wealth by the same rate that college costs have risen in the last few years
Since financial aid has gone up substantially along with COA, increased cost is not a real issue as the average COA is the same
We all should have known 16 years ago (or more for those with older kids) that college COA would be close to $60K in 2013 and planned accordingly (while saving for retirement since we no longer have a pension and our companies stopped matching 401K contributions during the recession)</p>
<p>It is not a right to go to a private college, just like it is not a right to go to a private high school. I, however, think it is a problem that these schools are pricing out a lot of families. If tuition were lower and FA lower as well, this could work for everyone. </p>
<p>I think that median income is relevant to area where someone lives. In the town over , the median family income is $173,000 and the median house price is $642,000. Groceries (family of four) average about $320 a week.
My cousin earned $89,000 as a third grade teacher two years ago and her fire-fighter husband earned $72,000. They saved from when their children were small and sent their college age students to SUNY schools bc private schools seemed costly. </p>
<p>Two years ago they moved to NC and now the family income is only $95,000 (same 2 jobs) and the house they purchased is $300,000 less. The money they saved from sending their children to state schools will come in handy. Their oldest D is attending Yale (graduate) in the Fall. </p>
<p>My cousin hated sites where everyone claimed her family was “wealthy”. They were definitely comfortable but different areas of the country have very different statistics. As a STEM teacher, I often receive “recruitment” letters from schools and colleges around the country. Offers have ranged from $21,800 to $143,000. Same job basically.</p>
<p>Another factoid from the Yale FA figures: If we include what we know about their Pell Grant numbers, nearly half of all students coming from families earning <$100k a year (1,450) consist of students whose families earn less than $30k a year (or, what it takes to qualify for a Pell.) That’s a fairly large cohort group nesting within what most people think of as the traditional middle class and there is a great deal of room for it to grow. What are the implications for the future? Will future growth of Harvard, Yale and Stanford’s Pell grant numbers (which so far aren’t nearly as high as their small college counterparts) come at the expense of those families earning median incomes?</p>
<p>Sorry Erin’s Dad, but true. Offered a position as math teacher (including BC Calc) at a small school in Vermont in August.(22,000) Then I was offered very similar position also teaching 5 courses, including BC Calc, at small girl’s school in CT in October (teacher left) for 143,000. The Math/Sci. teachers I work with on the East Coast are constantly getting letters from across the country (including colleges) about interviewing for positions. There were four other offers this year (all someone between those values.) A lot of the positions are VERY similar. The differences are the school’s/state and type of school(private/boarding/public). One offer this year was as professor (obviously not full) at an out-of-state college. Pay was only 68,000 but child/ren can attend free. I have two former colleagues who took pay cuts to teach at colleges and get the free tuition. </p>
<p>Like most professions, salary very dependent on location.</p>