<p>in MO a lot of the state schools have automatic scholarships regardless of income. MOS&T is fairly cheap and has great job placement for their grads. Something a middle class family can afford and still get something really good out of it. </p>
<p>My thoughts as well @Ctesiphon. I saw a post earlier in the thread saying it would be great to have merit aid for middle class families. Those scholarships are available. Look at the Full Tuition Scholarship thread. Hit the numbers and get a scholarship. It doesn’t matter what your family income is.</p>
<p>Halfempty…
Look, I’m not going to continue to list out every penny we spent. The point is…we were able to do it. Only one kid had orthodontia, and that was done LONG before that kid went to college. It was a non-issue by the time the college bills came.</p>
<p>One thing we also did, which we found helpful…we did a monthly payment plan for college payments. It was much easier to manage our cash flow with a ten month payment plan than by paying for the full semester. Remember, we were using current earnings…so we needed to earn that money to pay the bills. </p>
<p>But back to the topic of the thread. We expected to be paying for college costs. Our income was more than double the national average of $56000 a year. If we hadn’t been able to pay for a $60,000 a year college, our kids would have been told so, and they would have gone to a place within our price point.</p>
<p>We did not expect them to receive scholarships that had a need component. We also knew that the best scholarships for THEM would be merit awards from the schools themselves. We didn’t hope some foundation would set up full scholarships for kids from families with our annual income.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7:
The main advantage GTown (at least McDonough) has over GWU is a stronger network on Wall St. In DC, GWU has a strong network as well, so no advantage there. Is that worth 60K more? Judgement call. Personally, I think it’s worth only 15K/year more, but I don’t have an 8 figure net worth.</p>
<p>And that $15K/year ($60K total) premium is really only worth it if your kid has his/her eyes set on Wall Street. If they’re not gunning for Wall Street (or VC or founding a startup), a lot of tuition premiums don’t make sense. II’d be willing to go to full-pay for only a handful of them anyway.</p>
<p>@halfemptypockets seems thumper1 is is saying they used a second income for the tuition payments, they didn’t up the lifestyle to be equivalent to the income</p>
<p>@"Erin’s Dad" This thread isn’t about general merit aid and getting full tutor on from meeting individual school requirements. It’s more so about specific scholarship programs you apply to or get nominated to join that have no income requirements. This thread kinda took on a life of its own when it began shifting to how families pay for school. I think that is really besides the point. </p>
<p>It seems as if there are no scholarship programs with no income requirements.</p>
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<p>I totally get that. And I’m glad they were able to do it. I do object to the notion that any family earning 140k who can’t swing 35k in tuition is somehow necessarily living high on the hog. This attitude:</p>
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<p>Not every family can do it. Even if they’re not shopping at Whole Foods or carrying car payments. I know I couldn’t. And I’m a cheapskate. That’s what I’m saying. </p>
<p>I’m not entirely too sure about what you’re asking. Are you only asking about scholarships programs (ie. QuestBridge, or in MO we have something called A+), or guaranteed scholarships for having certain stats (ie. University of Alabama)</p>
<p>I think it depends more on the state you live in. For middle class families of a fairly high-achieving student that make a modest enough income so that they wouldn’t qualify for any special grants or significant need-based aid, they would be better off in a state with less expensive state schools, or ones where their stats would be well above the 75% percentile.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon I am ONLY asking about scholarship programs like Questbridge. I am NOT at all referring to merit scholarships at individual colleges and universities. </p>
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<p>I think that your definition of “scholarship program” is way too narrow. There are hundreds of programs that provide funds for higher education that have requirements not involving financial need.</p>
<p>Clarification. I never said ANY family could pay north of $35,000 a year out of current earnings. I was saying it is POSSIBLE. </p>
<p>Every family’s financial situation is different, and we all know that. And also, different families have other financial commitments as well. We had a low mortgage, no consumer debt, and two incomes from professional jobs that also provided health insurance benefits. I totally realize that other families aren’t in my position.</p>
<p>In addition, some families have higher mortgages, property taxes, consumer debt (and sometimes for very good reason…like a loss of income or reduction of income for a period of time). Some provide assistance to extended family members. Others have kids with certain needs that require either private schooling or extensive medical interventions. Some families have been through divorces or illnesses which gobbled up money as well.</p>
<p>But at the end of the day, there is an affordable college for most students who have family incomes in the $140,000 range. </p>
<p>Sure, there are many $60,000 colleges out there. And many are the top schools as viewed by many. But there are less expensive ways to get a bachelors degree. And there is NOTHING wrong with merit awards from the colleges themselves, even if it does restrict the student’s college choices a bit.</p>
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<p>Of course, the student must have the grades/scores/talent to qualify for whatever merit award is being sought. Maybe that fact is driving some of the discussion here.</p>
<p>Middkidd…if it’s a merit award from an outside organization, there will be grades/scores talent considerations as well. </p>
<p>@thumper1 Geesh, I never said there is anything wrong with it. No one said there was anything wrong with it. I was asking if there are any programs available.</p>
<p>I don’t know why I keep reading these discussions which seem to say the same thing over and over. I think they get started because new people come along who haven’t heard the discussion.</p>
<p>There are many ways to accomplish a college education. Not every family will follow the same path. $300K is a high income, and it is unlikely that there will be an organization that will feel compelled to fund a more expensive college choice for someone with that income. In my locale, anyone who is a taxpayer in the city/county can attend community college for 2 years for free. That’s an option. Some like Thumper are very frugal and can fund out of current income. Others save in advance. Others decide that in state schools are a good option and don’t feel compelled to buy the highest priced education. It may be that the highest priced education offers advantages over more economical choices, but not everyone can afford those. Some people have kids who get great scholarships.</p>
<p>My situation is a blend of several of these choices. I’m in the sandwich generation, with a spouse with health issues. When we started down this road, my spouse had a high paying job, which was lost due both to economy and health reasons. My income has gone up and down through the years. I could have a house that cost less, but when we bought it, we’d paid the prior home down to zero and were able to sock a lot of equity into it, our income was higher, and it has made a great difference in our lives, especially since it has become the gathering place for all big family events (note the reference to being in the sandwich generation). One kid didn’t get a scholarship and one got a very good scholarship. We did save money for college, and while it hurts to cash those bonds to pay tuition, that’s what it’s for. We have a fairly substantial amount (not enormous) in IRA and 401k that we can’t access right now without penalties. We owe more on consumer debt than I’d like, due to some medical bills, but we’re not in default on anything, we’re paying the bills, including college, as they come, and we’ll survive.</p>
<p>And my kids will survive going to an in state flagship.</p>
<p>And our income is under $100K per year at this point, but I wouldn’t expect anyone to give us “need” scholarships. I will admit that I was disappointed that when my kid got a composite 34 with 2 36s, 1 35 and a 32 on the ACT that it didn’t garner her more.</p>
<p>@moneymom:</p>
<p>Well, that 34 ACT does get her free tuition at several schools. Also, with an income of <$100K, you should get some fin aid at the full-need schools.</p>
<p>Oh, she got full tuition, plus money toward room and board, etc. I’m grateful for that.</p>
<p>I’ll clarify. She got a great scholarship, which leaves about 1/2 of the actual costs to be paid by us. Tuition is such a small part of the equation.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan,
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<p>McDonough is the Gtown’s business school. We’re talking undergrad, not gradulate-level education. Another reason to not to subject oneself to fullpay undergrad is to conserve money for the cost of professional school (i.e. MBA, JD, MD, etc). </p>