If a family is full pay at a school they meets full need for all…and costs in the $75,000 a year range…that family has a VERY high income…like in the over $250,000 a year range, and likely significant assets as well.
No one NEEDS to attend a college that costs $75,000 a year of more…and especially if their family really doesn’t have the cash flow to make these types of payments for four years of attendance.
There are plenty of colleges that cost far less where a student can get an excellent college education and are affordable for the family.
Re: discretionary spending like eating out and the like…the student needs a job in the summer…and a job during the school year…and they need to learn to manage their discretionary spending money.
With regard to your comment about “students earn money to fund the gap”…if that is the case and the student has nothing left for discretionary spending…perhaps the college is not affordable for the family.
This is a case of want vs need. The kid might want to attend a full pay $75,000 or more year school…but they don’t NEED to.
Is this the OP looking at a friend and thinking they need orthodontia? Is it cosmetic and just your opinion? OP starts a lot of threads like this - kinda provocative, kinda vague, and with a HS student’s perspective.
That doesn’t justify paying 81k at the same time you claim you’re unable to pay for necessities. OP didn’t describe an unexpected crisis. It was their own choices that took the oxygen out.
Even to pose the thread question is odd. Kid can’t transfer?
@AboutTheSame: “Maybe the family made a bad decision, but the fact is that a kid is probably feeling pretty bad because she cannot afford to do things that her peers can.”
The kid did not get to decide and was forced by parents to attend the $81K school? Then yes, I feel bad for the kid. If the kid made the choice him/herself, then I don’t understand sympathy. You lay on the bed you made.
It’s not just full pay kids’ family!! Many people can’t afford to pay what even the most generous colleges consider their institutional EFC and have to dig deep and painfully to come up with that amount.
Who here didn’t have to scramble a bit to pay some college expense or other? Unless in a super wealth category, or have it all well within budget, and are lucky that no dire financial event occurs, it can hurt financially
I don’t understand where you think the money should come from. The avenues to pay for college expenses are pretty straightforward. If the college doesn’t give any aid the family pays (out of past or current income) and/or they borrow. There are outside grants, but usually they aren’t much. If the school is truly unaffordable, the student can transfer to a less expensive school.
I know you like to say kids pay for college. In most cases they don’t, the parents do. That’s why the EFC is based on parent income, not just the student’s.
Except for the braces, these are “nonessential expenses,” and most kids just do without. Many families do without the braces too. If your friend’s kid feels that leaving college with an elite degree is “empty handed” because they couldn’t buy nice clothes, take trips with friend, or eat out, they may want to consider transferring to a less expensive school.
In short, yes, $300K+ is a lot of money to most people.
You could spend it all on an undergraduate degree
You could get a different undergraduate degree + multiple trips abroad to exotic locales + study-abroad + eat out + trips with friends + fancy clothes + a down payment for a house + a fancy elite grad degree + extra certifications + extra money that you can invest or feed in to retirement accounts or to help start a business.
I consider any of us who are in the circumstances to be able to make such a choice to be in a fortunate position.
Time for OP to explain why this thread. There’ve been plenty of others on the topic of high income woes.
My fav was the old one that claimed after the maids, private schools, tutors, sports, , expensive business attire, lunches, parking, vacations, enrichment programs, landscapers, and on and on, who could “get by” on 250k?
Well, there was this article and spreadsheet in The Wall Street Journal about whether you have enough to retire with your spending habits. Included as spending categories were “country club / golf memberships”, “spa services”, and “cruise”. The example spreadsheet had $15,600 spending at restaurants and $20,800 for groceries per year, not including $2,600 for “food vices” and $5,200 for alcohol. Perhaps the “too rich for FA but no money for kids’ college” families have spending habits like the example?
This is the college he wanted to attend but parents can only scrap 70% of the payments . He covers the difference and extra expenses with work and loans. He is getting a great education and opportunities so still very grateful but struggles are tough and real.
Well, this thread is why the first question in response to any college search question is: what can you/your parents afford? And while it’s a positive that he’s getting a great education/opportunities, but so much of the college experience is outside the classroom. It’s a huge negative that he’s so financially strapped that he can’t go out with friends. And while other stuff…e.g. ortho. Is it simply cosmetic? Or is it recommended by his dentist for medical reasons? Or both?
This sounds like a very challenging and difficult college experience. Best wishes to the student has he works through this for the next three years.
It was just consultation and a broken retainer or something but I used as an example of how he has to manage every dollar and cent. He goes out with friends, just can’t spend his income like his friends with financial aid can.
Ok, but I’ll admit that I’m confused by the math; college costs 81K/yr, and parents pay 70%-that’s $56,700, so he’s paying $24,300/yr. Since he’s not on FA, he’s getting his own loans; who is lending him the money? And how much is he earning during the school year? Most, if not all, college part-time jobs pay at or near minimum wage.
This sounds like a very tough college experience.
Is this your son, a nephew, friend’s son? I can tell you that my siblings and I all got full ride scholarships to top schools. Yes, we had some money limitations that the wealthier kids there did not have, but none of us felt marginalized about it. Our parents didn’t have much money to give us.
My kids were fortunate in that they did not have to scramble for scholarships. But they too had friends and activities at college they could not afford to indulge. They also knew kids who were having trouble each term with the Bursars office about tuition and other payments left unpaid. Kids who had to work for any spending money. Though my kids worked too, and somehow they all made a lot more than the usual college kid. But they had the security of knowing that their direct bill expenses and any real needs were covered.
You really have to choose a school you can afford. Just like buying a house, the bank will tell you you’re qualified for way more than you should actually spend. He had tons of great cheaper options out there.
“He goes out with friends, just can’t spend his income like his friends with financial aid can.”
It’s easy to get fin aid (though you have to plan beforehand). Just reduce assets and income.
Then he could have spending money like his friends on fin aid, right?