https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/your-money/fafsa-financial-aid-student-loans.html
This article also assumes that parents don’t realize that their kids might go to college when they are born, and either plan accordingly financially, have a way to pay out of current income, or choose less costly options.
I just shake my head at articles like this. If you don’t have the savings to cover your EFC shortfall, don’t pick a 55K/year out of state school and cry unfair. I’m sure there were much more affordable options for their daughter out there.
And then there is this …
This is the part that always gets me. These type articles often say this in such a way that assumes each of the subject family’s expenses is reasonable. Paying $500/month for a car (to choose one usual culprit) is not reasonable if a family can’t then afford to save money.
Accounted for in what way? Could better financial planning over the years have helped insure this family didn’t spend every “solidly middle-class” dollar they earned?
Don’t choose a mortgage at the top of your range. Don’t choose to pay two large auto payents every month. Even better, don’t pay any large auto payment. Best, carry no auto debt.
It’s great to be able to enjoy expensive comforts. It’s not wise to buy expensive comforts when one does not have an expensive income to match.
Some great points already made.
Also, people that are shocked by the EFC can’t / shouldn’t assume that they would get a generous aid package if the EFC were much lower. If the EFC were much lower, it would be much lower for many families, and there simply wouldn’t be enough aid money for everyone.
I don’t really understand why people would rely on a government form to tell them what they might be expected to pay for college, especially a private one. The government doesn’t set costs, and a quick read of the FAFSA website makes it pretty clear the feds aren’t handing out grants of $40k+/year to individual students.
If a college costs $55k, why not start with the assumption that it will actually cost $55k? Who do they think should cover the $41k/year gap for them? A $164k grant would be a great gift, but common sense should tell them that not many people get them.
I do think that the FAFSA EFC is a misnomer. They should call it a Pell Eligibility Index or something so people have a better idea about what its purpose is, but families should be doing their due diligence too. If they read the FAFSA website, researched each college’s financial aid website, then ran the NPCs I don’t see how their net cost came as such a surprise.
I agree. It should not be called Expected Family Contribution. Many families aren’t as savvy as the posters on CC and why wouldn’t they think it means something like what it’s called - what they are expected to pay! Seems like an easy fix.
I think first time college applicant parents are not aware that their debt/spending choices are NOT included in the calculation as to what they can pay, only their income.
More education around that information much earlier on, would be helpful in taking care of the sticker shock.
@homerdog - EFC is commonly referred to as “Every Friggin’ Cent” (and some substitute a different middle word)
A friend of mine sent her daughter to an OOS flagship that was very pricey…even with merit. Her younger D was also entering an expensive OOS flagship, and my friend insisted that she would be paying what her fafsa EFC indicated for 2 in school. She didn’t believe me when I told her she would be full pay for the younger one (unless she received some merit).
Surprise!!!
I’m sorry, what?
We don’t have a mortgage, and when we did, we sent the bank every extra penny right away. We have had discipline to always pay cash for our vehicles. Same for vacations, and other purchases. Our credit cards are for earning airline miles, not for carrying balance.
And yet, I see people in the NYT article in a much less harsh light than other posters. I think the article reflects the legitimate shock that “the richest country on Earth,” through mindless (or corrupt) policies allowed the affordable education to become so unaffordable, creating a system which, when seen from any other country, seems such an incredible rip-off, and a rather damning reflection of our value system.
Residential college is a luxury. If families don’t have a cc or 4-year school within commuting distance then I understand the challenge. But it seems like plenty of people turn their noses up at the commuter options then get bent out of shape when their favorite colleges don’t make the residential options affordable. How many states truly have unworkable options (either due to expense or distance) for their residents?
Don’t choose a Mercedes if every cent is allocated to other expenses. Don’t assume the EFC is the end of your research. What made them think Mass College of Art would fund their full need? I often think people spend more time analyzing car costs than college, which is a lot more.
Their wording, “The Office of Student Financial Assistance at Massachusetts College of Art and Design is committed to helping students and their families get the resources needed to fund each student’s education,” is same as the old Boston U phrasing. Yeah, we’ll help you get the resources. NOT, “We will make it affordable out of our own resources.”
Sorry, but Caveat Emptor.
Notice, not a word in the article about the Net Price Calculators.
There are state unis where tuition is 12K or less for instate students. Why is this narrative always focused expensive OOS or private schools? It is time for the media stories to start separating R&B from tuition. How many families expect to send their kids to boarding school for near nothing?
Agree…most often these articles focus on tuition only. That’s fine if one is within commuting distance.
And really…in most cases, the net price calculator is your friend.
Why did this family pick a college that was marginally affordable at enrollment but way not affordable for the subsequent terms? That’s like having the down payment for a car or house, and not being able to meet the monthly payments. The car would be repossessed, and the house would be foreclosed upon if payments couldn’t be made.
If the family doesn’t have a way to fund college for the four years…it’s not affordable.
Many or most states have regions which have poor commuting access to public universities – typically rural areas (ask @HeartofDixie ). Also, some regions may have commuting access only to highly selective public universities that most potential commuter students cannot get admitted to (e.g. northern Santa Barbara County and southern San Luis Obispo County in California).
Some majors may also be commuting-inaccessable to much of the state (e.g. much of Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh cannot reasonably commute to study engineering majors at public universities).
Residential college is a luxury for most, but not everyone has doable commute options to their in state public universities. In states with strong-for-transfer-prep community colleges, that can help some students commute for two years before having to go residential for two, but not all states have good community colleges for this purpose.
They’re digging into their full savings to pay now. Looking at adding private loans later.
Nothing learned? Nada? Unable to say no? And one disabled parent.
That’s what’s sad. The lifelong burdens. They had other options.
This family continues to make mistakes by draining their accounts and planning on loans to fund an art school. Animation is big in California, but the studios are known to employ people from Community colleges who have 2 year degrees in animation.
ROI does not sound too swift on the part of the family.
Not to nitpick, but . . . . . . they included adding $6K in loan expenses for their son’s future braces. Who takes out a full loan for braces?
My kids went through the braces stage. We had prepared with some savings “just in case” and we did investigate when the need arose:
With the first child, we learned that we could take advantage of a partial “share of cost” for braces with paying a bit more in the premium of the insurance through my husband’s company.
When the second child came along with the need for braces, we were prepared and raised the amount of the premium to cover more costs. Third child didn’t need braces.
Also, my kids had different orthodontists but we never paid in full, until the braces were off. The charges were divided over the life of the braces.
I didn’t realize braces had increased in cost to $6K. We paid less than $2K for the first child and around $2K+ for the second child. That’s the total of the costs with the premium insurance covering about 60%.
@“aunt bea” " Who takes out a full loan for braces?" People who are trying to care for their kids and have one wage earner due to disability, as the article states. Few people plan to go on disability when their kid is born. The father is taking a second job, not because he loves to drive a limousine, but b/c the specialized school that the daughter will attend is overcharging the family, relative to their financial situation. The lack of empathy on this site for hardship cases, coupled with ongoing support for highly profitable institutions, continues to amaze me.
The post high school education industry is bloated with administrative costs and money hoarding that comes under the term “endowment”. The amount of money some of these schools have to that they could disperse to families that need it, but choose instead to spend on unnecessary facilities upgrades, is astounding to me. Those who defend the current practice enable the system to remain broken.