<p>I’m not saying my parents haven’t made mistakes- they have. But you are in no position to judge my parents and whether their financial decisions are “poor” or not. If they chose to provide for close family members who are desperately in need, and had to forgo saving a bit for my education, then I understand. You have no place to judge their decisions, which obviously both of you are. </p>
<p>Just because my parents may not have made financial decisions that you all deem acceptable doesn’t mean that they were “poor” decisions, and doesn’t invalidate my argument that the financial aid system is flawed. I am not the only middle class person who is unable to afford many colleges, even colleges that are designed to be affordable( I.e. state schools.) The middle class has often been referred to as too poor to pay for college but too rich for financial aid. If this applies to a large quantity of people, then obviously something is wrong. Just because you believe that my situation doesn’t warrant “sympathy”(and I do not desire it to, as I HAVE STATED BEFORE) doesn’t mean that my argument is invalid.</p>
You still have not really said how you would work the system differently. Either there needs to be MORE money put in so that a higher level of income still gets you aid, or the money needs to be redistributed differently, so that you get aid and some student poorer than you does not. Got any other suggestions?</p>
<p>Then what would you consider me? And middle class is not black and white as you pointed out- cpt you said that if you lived in a different place your expenses would be different. Middle class is subjective and at a take home income of around 90,000 a year, I would qualify as middle class. And the system needs to be reworked so that schools that are meant to be affordable stay affordable, by either putting more funding in for state schools, or decreasing the cost of them. I have no comment on private schools, since they are not necessary.</p>
<p>College itself is a luxury but for many professions, you need a college degree.</p>
<p>Jazmine, your family earns more than 88% of all families in the United States. By definition, that is nowhere remotely in the “middle class” bracket.</p>
<p>Median household income in the US is right around $50,000.</p>
<p>We often don’t realize how privileged we are. We grow up with what we have, thinking that it’s normal and average. It’s not, not even close.</p>
<p>If you can scrape up the money for one year’s rm/bd, then you can get free rm/bd the other 3 as an RA. During summers you can work to earn money for books/misc. expenses. Surely your parents can find a way to help you with the first year rm/bd.</p>
<p>Think, you scored one of NEU’s coveted and few university scholar spots with 3.7 UW GPA and 2130 superscore SAT. They must see something in you that they like a lot. I think they will find a way to give you this job if it is the only way you can attend.</p>
<p>Median household income in the US is irrelevant, because statistics are just that - statistics - and you can make them ‘say’ whatever you want. And $130K is definitely middle class in many areas of the country (NY, NJ, CT). It all depends on where you live. If you live in an area were property taxes are $8K plus a year (for an acre or less of land) and a small 3 bedroom house is $350K and up - then $130K is definitely no more than middle class. You may say - well move to a cheaper area of the country then - but then the income would reduce (for the same type of job with same qualifications) too and the $130K would only be $50-$60K. You cannot just look at the income without knowing the cost of living - and the pay level is usually tied to the area.</p>
<p>No, it is not. $130,000 is not middle-class anywhere in the United States.</p>
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<p>No, it does not. Living in a high-cost-of-living area is a choice. Someone who makes $250,000 and lives in Bel Air is not somehow “middle class” because their neighbors make $1 million.</p>
<p>There is no exactly-equivalent job in America where the salary in one place is $50,000 and in another, $130,000. Nowhere does the cost of living differential remotely approach 2.8x.</p>
<p>And if you think you can hand-wave away longstanding and well-researched economic statistics with a flippant turn of phrase, it is blindingly obvious that you have never taken a college-level course in statistical analysis or economics. On what basis do you claim that these statistics are invalid? What research supports your assertion that they are meaningless? Have you undertaken studies of class structure in the United States or income demography and distribution?</p>
<p>I think of “middle class” as at least as much of a socially-based concept as a statistically-based concept, and there are also various layers within “middle class”.</p>
<p>Besides that, though, reading all of these recent FA and income-related posts has been seriously depressing me. The subject definitely brings out the judgmental and accusatory side of people. :(((</p>
<p>With all due respect, I don’t think anyone’s “attacking” anyone. Speaking for myself, I’m challenging assumptions and beliefs about wealth, income and inequality in America that simply aren’t correct, and that contribute to the unbalanced perspective expressed here with regards to collegiate financial aid.</p>
<p>The real reason there is so much upset about financial aid is because the cost of a college education in some states has outstripped what a middle class family can reasonably afford, or even someone whose family makes 130K. </p>
<p>The problem is people make the mistake of thinking the argument is between classes, as if that has one thing to do with it. But, the argument is that education is too expensive, not “hey! too bad about your family! suck it up!”</p>
<p>Honestly? </p>
<p>The choices made by her parents were not made by her. And she is one person, and she is suffering, right now, but we say, “Hey, too bad for you.”</p>
<p>Anybody who takes that perspective with a high school student isn’t challenging anything but a high school student who wants to go to college and can’t afford it.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m being too hard on the kid, I guess. Probably lives down the street from me, ha, ha. Lots of them in my area getting awards to private schools, great public options for a lot less, but they feel terribly deprived that they are not getting more. That’s why I started that private college thread.</p>
<p>I think this kid, in particular, actually can’t afford her state school. And I know we all feel badly about that.</p>
<p>That’s fine Bob Wallace, but here is the problem, imho: this is a kid who had no control over how her family spent their money. There’s nothing that can be done about it, but when we were going to school, we could put ourselves through school with a part time job.</p>
<p>A kid is tied to their family errors until they are 24. And, yet, they are not children. So, we say, “Act like an adult about the fact that we want to treat you like a child.”</p>
<p>I think this kid can’t afford her first choice private school just like the Emory and GW kids that were crying about the process. I smell entitlement here. Believe me. I live in the middle of this sort of thing.</p>
<p>But they can afford a college, poetgrl. It just may not be “the college of their dreams.”</p>
<p>Anyone whose family makes $130,000 has enough money to pay for an in-state public university. It may not be “the” state university. It may not be a fancy name that will impress the neighbors. It may be the commuter school down the block. But it will provide a worthwhile college education, which is a whole lot more than a lot of very-much-less-fortunate students have access to.</p>
<p>The number of schools that provide huge-dollar aid to poor students is tiny. The vast majority of such students do not get full rides at Harvard or Emory or UNC. They go to community college, and then Stephen F. Austin or Idaho State or Indiana University of Pennsylvania or CSU-Dominguez Hills. Or maybe they don’t even have the money for that.</p>
<p>On CC, we far too often talk about the full-need schools as if they were the rule for aspiring low-income college students, rather than the lottery-number exception that they are.</p>