Has fiancial aid dropped this year?

Paying for College
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<p>Am a dad sending first of 3 children to college and definitely not sleeping lately. I am very surprised at college cost vs aid these days. My son worked hard and got accepted at many great schools (Williams, Bowdoin, Georgetown, Carleton, Berkeley and others), so I feel like I'm letting him down if I don't support him financially.</p>

<p>After aid packages, my wife and I need to come up with between $80K to $135K over 4 years for "parent contribution". Even for a UC! I'm still in shock. Federal student loans capped at $5.5K? Wow. </p>

<p>Has aid gone down dramatically recently? Could kids borrow more in the past? Seems to be a disconnect. I'm square in the middle class, and a good college in the US now seems to be the realm of the uber rich or destitute who qualify for a full ride.</p>

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<p>College costs have been leaping forward 6 - 9% every year for the past two decades but federal ais has not kept up. Not that one would want our kids taking out 80K in federal loans even if they could. The UCs jumped up 35% in a single year a couple of years ago. Financial aid at UCs is sweet for families making less than 70K (CalGrant covers 10K tuition) but families making more are caught with huge gaps between aid and costs.</p>

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<p>I agree with annika, aid hasn’t gone down, college costs have gone up dramatically.</p>

<p>A friend sent two daughters to the same school - one attended 5 years ago and the other started last fall. He complained that the price to send his second daugher have gone up 50% or about 65K over four years. </p>

<p>We also sent a son to school 5 years ago and will send another in the fall. I calculate the difference in the cost of sending the two will also be around 65K, maybe more if tuition keeps going up.</p>

<p>Colleges claim the financial aid is also going up, but I doubt it’s enough to cover the difference. These increases are being asked of families that have not typically seen similar inceases in salary, investments, real estate value, or savings. Loans are being pushed as the answer, but that inceases the already extreme cost.</p>

<p>I too stay awake worring about how much we will pay. I never dreamed the the college costs could keep increasing.</p>

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<p>Student loans haven’t kept pace with college costs for a reason. College costs have risen too much and simply increasing fed loan amounts will only mean too many kids graduating with unaffordable loans.</p>

<p>It’s too bad that you didn’t join CC awhile ago, so you could have learned and advised your son to apply to some schools where he’d get good merit scholarships for his stats so that your “family contribution” would be manageable. </p>

<p>*After aid packages, my wife and I need to come up with between $80K to $135K over 4 years for “parent contribution”. *</p>

<p>Which school is the $80k for? Williams? If so, have your son go there. If your son’s aid package doesn’t include any student loans, then he could reduce your $20k contribution by 5500. </p>

<p>With your next kids you’ll be more savvy. Encourage them to apply to a few financial safeties that will give them merit for their stats. </p>

<p>I’m square in the middle class,</p>

<p>:) No offense, but you live in Carlsbad, so I kind of doubt that you’re really “square in the middle class”. That would mean that your family’s income is like $60k per year with modest assets. I suspect that your family income is more like 6 figures with some decent assets.</p>

<p>Did your son apply to any affordable schools? Did he get merit scholarships from anyone?</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids: Thanks. My son applied & accepted to: USD, Oxy, UCI, UCD, UCB, Carleton, Bowdoin, Williams, Brandeis, Fordham, GU. Why so many? No idea what cost / aid would be. Hoped to find best aid amongst those that fit him. UCs used to be more cost effective, but no more. Almost 14K for Cal plus $15K for room and board. No aid whatsoever.</p>

<p>Public school in Ca is a total crap shoot. Want a good district so your kids can have a chance at a good education, getting into a good college, and not learn how to use a knife and sell drugs rather than calculus and you pay. Private school? Try $20K + per year.</p>

<p>I grew up most definitely middle class in Simi Valley Ca, so I know it when I see it and live it. In San Diego Co, lower class is Oceanside/Escondido/National City etc. Middle class is Carlsbad/San Marcos/Vista. Middle upper is Encinitas/Poway. Upper is RSF/La Jolla/Del Mar/Solana Beach. Income level vs class very much depends on where you live, and how much free income you have after basic living expenses. If you made $60K with a family and lived in a middle class neighborhood you and your family would be living in a cardboard box on the street. $60K in Des Moines/OK City/Phoenix/Henderson etc and you would be middle class. It’s all relative to where you are in the country, and how many are in your family. I can just say I haven’t had a family vacation in 4 yrs, haven’t bought new clothes in a year, don’t go out to dinner, drive an old car, etc. Retirement wiped out by 1 yr of unemployment when the economy crashed and I am sole income (only college grad in home). Assets? I wish. Middle class are an endangered species in the USA - no one cares about them in gov’t…</p>

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<p>I agree with the others. The National Merit Award pretty much covered my tuition at a private school 40 years ago. The same $2500 isn’t going to cover much at the same college this year. Books, supplies and incidentals, maybe transportation. I know every dime counts, but really, for a top award like that to be so puny is really almost insulting. Also, work study awards are in line with what we were getting, yes, 40 years ago. Loans too, but that’s not a bad thing. Something else that has changed is the federal awards. One has to have a danged low income to get PELL. I remember getting grants that a person in what was my father’s job today would not qualify for. He worked for the government so it is very easy to see what his grade would earn today and it is not a PELL eligible amount. I got BEOG and some other grant of sorts on a truly middle class income. </p>

<p>Also looking at those pay charts, I see what a GS11 would make today and what my alma mater charges today Clearly shows what costs have spiraled upwards into the stratosphere and it ain’t the government pay scales.</p>

<p>It is a shock what private colleges charge. Private pre college type schools too. My brother wanted his two little ones in private school and is reeling from the tuition rates for that. A couple grand a year isn’t going to do it for even the Catholic schools these days.</p>

<p>The way it works now is that most of us have a state school that has reasonable tuition rates that are affordable to all, through Staffords and PELLs for the lower income families, but these are not sleep away schools… Room and board is very expensive these days because the dorms and facilities are very nice, not the cinder block boxes where many of us lived with the one cafeteria that was the one and only choice with the mystery meat choices. These kids get College Bucks and food courts and all sorts of goodies. The dorms morph into apartments in upperclass years. It’s a good life, but ya gotta pay for it.</p>

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<p>the “sleep away” college experience is a luxury. </p>

<p>When I was in college (in Southern Calif), most middle class families had their kids live at home and commute to the local Cal State, UC, (or start at a CC then transfer). </p>

<p>Right now, the cost of room and board can be more than the cost of fees (tuition). Many middle class families (as you define middle class) can still afford the fees (tuition) at a local Cal State or UC if their child commutes. (BTW…what I meant was that a truly middle class person probably can’t afford to live in Carlsbad…you feel like you’re “middle class” because you’re probably paying your bills and not having a whole lot left over.)</p>

<p>“Middle class” society has moved from thinking that kids should commute to college to thinking that “going away to school” is a “given” and should be affordable (on someone else’s dime). Going away to school wasn’t affordable to most middle class families in the past, and it isn’t now, either.</p>

<p>It’s obvious that your son did well academically, hence the acceptances. Believe me, I’ve “been there” with two children with very high stats. However, working hard and doing well in school does not mean that parents have to spend money that they don’t have or can’t afford (because of younger kids). </p>

<p>*My son applied & accepted to: USD, Oxy, UCI, UCD, UCB, Carleton, Bowdoin, Williams, Brandeis, Fordham, GU. Why so many? No idea what cost / aid would be. Hoped to find best aid amongst those that fit him. *</p>

<p>Applying to a bunch of schools that don’t give people with your income great aid (exception might be Williams) was not a good strategy. Your son could have applied to 20 schools with the same result. Applying broadly means applying to some schools that you know FOR SURE will be affordable and/or you know FOR SURE will give your child big merit or big need-based aid (if you qualify). I’m telling you this so that you’ll know for the 2 younger kids. :)</p>

<p>Which school only costs YOU $20k per year??? By any chance was he a NMF?</p>

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<p>I wanted to add…</p>

<p>Do NOT be temped to take out large Plus loans out of guilt. Yes, your son worked hard, but so did thousands of other kids whose parents can’t afford some dream experience. You have younger kids to consider. If you take out Plus Loans (payable over 10 years), you will be making those monthly payments while the other kids will be going to college. You will not get FA consideration because you have Plus Loan debt from an older child’s college experience. </p>

<p>So, not only will you have less “ready cash” to help pay for your younger children’s college costs (because of loan payments) you won’t want to heap on bigger loans for them. Sadly, some parents borrow for Child #1, and then find that they have to tell younger kids that THEY have to go to a local state school because too much money is going for Child #1’s college debt. </p>

<p>How much can you contribute each year for college out of your current income?</p>

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<p>Surely the colleges need to become more rational about what they charge and stop increasing tuition every year. </p>

<p>The 50-65k increase in the past 5 years in the cost of a college education is putting it out of the reach of more and more families.</p>

<p>I can’t help but believe that the schools will see a change in the student mix, as the the OP suggests, because only the very rich, or very strechted can afford the tuition. Even those who qualify for a full ride are starting balk at attending many schools because the FA package often includes loans.</p>

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<p>The big question I ask when folks complain about college costs is, “Who do you think should be paying for your kid’s room and board, away expenses and private tuition?”. Certainly not the government/taxpayers. That puts things into perspective. </p>

<p>I say "shame, shame, on those states that have high state school tuitions. That is where the money should go. And I really feel that the govt, both state and federal should pull the rug on giving private colleges money. I’d like to see all state schools to be tuition free and the flagships be the top schools in the country.</p>

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<p>RE: state school alternative. Everyone on CC, it seems, loves talk about how state schools are (can be) just as good as privates. In many cases they are, but I don’t think one should limit their choices because of money. It is possible with high stat students to end up at a private for just about the same, a little more or even less than a state school.</p>

<p>And depending on the state, the system can be quite inadequate. For example, I know of girl who applied to several of our state schools (which have great reputations) plus privates. She was set to go to one of the state colleges until she found out that in the subject she wanted to study, a professor who taught half of the courses in that major left the college and was not being replaced! That meant that it would be impossible to major in that subject or even really study it. So she had no choice and ended up at a private.</p>

<p>State schools are having budget crisis of their own and instead of upping the tuition, etc. they just elect to get rid of classes, cut back on services, etc. Where does it end?</p>

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<p>It’s starting to look like our decision to participate in our state’s Prepaid Tuition Plan was a good one. (We haven’t always made the best financial decisions…so i will take a victory when I can.)</p>

<p>Of course, now my children are limited to going to State schools…but with a few good options, I think they will be fine. Of course, this only holds true as long as our state doesn’t go bankrupt.</p>

<p>Visiting this forum had me dreaming of sending my kids to highly regarded schools outside of the state…but I am now resigned (and grateful) for the opportunity to send my kids to an in-state school with tuition prepaid.</p>

<p>Good luck to you and your family.</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids: actually, the lowest cost options were not the state schools. Bowdoin offered the best aid, followed by Carleton. Williams was in the middle. They did away with their no loan policy and have cut back on aid. I went to a Cal State (Northridge), and lived at home. Not a great memorable experience to be sure. I also worked throughout school. The fact is you will not get the same quality education from a CSUN, San Marcos, or any other state school you will from a LAC or many other high quality national universities. The UCs are in serious trouble now, and funding / profs / research cuts / campus closings are all looming. Is it safe to bet 4 years for your kid on a UC with that uncertainty? Safe schools economically I thought were the UCs. </p>

<p>My son, with a 4.3GPA, tons of APs, speech and debate, orchestra, 2100 on the SAT, got turned down by our home UC (San Diego). He got into Berkeley and Davis. Sleep at home is a non-starter. I’ve heard from E Coast high $$$ private high school admissions UCs are on a tear to convince their kids to come to Ca and pay full fare. Who gets hurt? My son who gets rejected by the local UC. So then, state schools are $30K plus with no aid. Private schools are actually cheaper. In this case, why am I supporting state schools with my taxes while my state school turns down my son to take E Coast kids and foreign kids at full price? I think we should cut state spending for UCs, they are taking advantage of Ca residents.</p>

<p>cptofthehouse: Why do I think the state gov’t should help educate my kids? Because I pay taxes for the UC system and have paid for 25 years. I get fleeced on state taxes, and then the UCs bump qualified in state kids in favor of full price out of state kids and foreign kids. I have a right to expect some help from in state schools. I pay for it. The way the state schools are going, we shouldn’t continue to fund them with tax payers money. Seems funny I get a better deal from “private” schools than from in state. Those that praise state schools so much obviously are living in the past and haven’t kept up with the times…</p>

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<p>“I feel like I’m letting him down if I don’t support him financially.”</p>

<p>Welcome to the club. All of us had that kind of feeling at one point or another. Most of us had more time to get over it before out kids headed off to college than you do. Right now you need to put your emotions aside, and look at the numbers. If what you can truly afford is a CCC, then that is the way it is. Accept that. Tell your kid that. And then stamp down hard on the guilt-monster whenever it raises its ugly head.</p>

<p>Your kid has options. He can start out commuting to a CCC and then transfer within the California public system, or possibly even to a 4-year private or OOS public. He can take a Gap Year, and reapply next year to a broader list of institutions that includes some where he has a reasonable expectation of merit-based aid. He can enlist in the military, serve his tour, and go to college on Uncle Sam’s dime. He can throughly consider other non-college routes to careers that interest him, such as a formal apprenticeship in a skilled trade. </p>

<p>Yes it’s sad, and yes it’s frustrating, and yes I’ve worked my way through enough boxes of tissues to know for a fact that Puffs Plus is the softest and kindest on the nose. So here is my advice: buy a few boxes of Puffs Plus. Whenever you find that you can’t stamp the guilt-monster into unconsciousness, pull one of those boxes out and have that good cry. But when the box is empty, go wash your face and get on with your life. You and your family have better futures waiting for you!</p>

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<p>If he goes for the GAP year option, with his GPA and SAT scores, there could be merit money from one of the institutions on this list: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>The question was not who should be paying to educate your kids, but paying for their “sleep away” experience. You really thing government should be paying for room and board, books and sundries? Nope. They don’t pay for room and board even with a full ROTC scholarship, sir. Of course you are responsible for their bed, bath and beyond. Who else should pay for it? There are some colleges that will IF they think your kid is worth it.</p>

<p>My son is going to an OOS public that was his first choice out of about 15 schools to which he applied and 40 schools he visited and considered. So, that a school is a state school doesn’t put it out of the picture. Some kids love state schools. Also my son’s choice has a scholarship that would probably pay the whole freight for your kid. Your son just didn’t want that as a choice. So, really, it comes down to finding what will pay for you and what will not. I have no doubt your son with his stellar stats could find a school that would pay him to come and it might have been my son’s school. But he was too good for that. I’m supposed to be sympathetic? </p>

<p>And, yes, I am, because I have and am paying for the top cost schools. Kids picked them and we had to work it out cuz whe had the money. I know exactly how you feel. But when your kids went to K-12, did you expect someone else to pay for private school? Or for their room and board at a boarding school? How would you feel about paying for those families who decide they want their k-12 kids at a private boarding school and want tax dollars paying for it? Basically, most of us have a local state school that will give a college education for an affordable cost with federal loans available to the student if some help is needed (Staffords). Just like you have a public school in your district that is free of tution paid by your tax dollars and those others who live in the area whether they have kids or not. Why should anyone pay for your kid to go away to sleep away college with all the bells and whistles of an amusement park? Local college with the courses is what most everyone can get. And there are many LACs, by the way, who would pay for your son to come. You just picked the ones who won’t. </p>

<p>Want a free ride? I know a young man from a family who is getting one at the type school your son covets. Check out my thread.</p>

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<p>Can you pay 10 months of the year for your son’s choice? Most schools offer this through Tuition Managment Systems or through school’s own website, with CashNet Software or similiar setup. There is a small enrollment fee, like $60.00 or so. </p>

<p>We have paid 10 months out of the year for all four of our children and it has worked out very well for us. So, for example, $20,000/year divided by 10 months = $2,000/month. </p>

<p>One year I put down a few thousand and then paid the rest through Tuition Managment Systems. </p>

<p>Some schools will offer 8, 10, 12 payment program options, just depends on the school. </p>

<p>There are other alternatives to coughing up two huge semester payments which can be a lot to handle.</p>

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<p>actually, the lowest cost options were not the state schools.</p>

<p>They would have been if he had applied to a CSU he could have commuted to. It’s really a shame that UCSD didn’t accept him. They’re supposed to give a priority to students who live in the area…for commuting purposes. For the local UC to reject while Cal accepted is just crazy! </p>

<p>And, even going away to a better Cal State or Cal Poly SLO would be rather inexpensive. </p>

<p>Bowdoin offered the best aid, followed by Carleton. Williams was in the middle. They did away with their no loan policy and have cut back on aid. </p>

<p>Then can you afford Bowdoin???</p>

<p>Safe schools economically I thought were the UCs.</p>

<p>Didn’t you know that the COA is $30k? If that wasn’t affordable, why would it have been your safe school economically?</p>

<p>*Why do I think the state gov’t should help educate my kids? Because I pay taxes for the UC system and have paid for 25 years. *</p>

<p>But the state is helping educate a child at a UC. Fees (tuition) is about $12k per year. You certainly KNOW that it costs more than that to educate a UC student. You just said that private K-12 is $20k, so wouldn’t you think that a UC costs more than $12k to educate a student? </p>

<p>With a 2100 SAT, your son could have gotten very generous merit scholarships at various schools. However, it looks like he mostly applied to top/top schools where his stats are average or to schools that don’t give merit. </p>

<p>he might consider a gap year (don’t take classes!!!) and reapply next year to schools that will give him merit for his stats.</p>

<p>Or, go to Bowdoin. How much can you pay each year?</p>

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<p>If we live in Ca and my son got into Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, you are saying he didn’t want to or try to get into “state” schools? That he want’s some super luxury sleep away school? RThey offer scholarships? Really? Fact check time. </p>

<p>No scholarship money, not a penny offered from any state school.</p>

<p>Turned down by the local state school (UCSD), but accepted by the same system at the top ranked public university in the country (Berkeley). Is sleep away then an option? How, I need to hear the advice as I can use it. Room and board is close to $15K/yr plus there. Over $30K (today, without 10~20% tuition increase the next year).</p>

<p>By the way, I went to a Cal State (did you)? If you think you can really get a good education and compete with someone coming from a UC or a higher end private you have lived a sheltered life. That is simply not reality for 99% of the kids. </p>

<p>Why should I pay taxes to support a state school where your child (or anyone elses) from out of state can come in and my child with the same or better test scores and grades can’t get in? Why am I subsidizing your child’s education (yes, because your tuition would be even higher without my tax money) when my child can’t get into the same school (because yours is willing to pay more). In this case, haven’t state schools taken on the behavior of private schools? If so, why am I paying tax money to support private schools?</p>

<p>The Ca state school system is broken. Even if you have an incredible GPA and test scores, you likely cannot get into your local state school (UC) since they are busy taking out of state kids at full price and foreign kids at full price. How do you suggest you have kids live at home and commute 500 miles to the state school they will get accepted into? By the way, the same school just happens to have room and board higher than the cost of the tuition while having a lower acceptance rate. It is a coincidence my child gets steered to another state school where I must pay room and board? Maybe…</p>

<p>Perhaps reality in Ca is a little different that elsewhere in the country… perhaps where you are luck enough to live…</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids: I thought the UC’s were safe, as was sure he would get into UCSD (his stats are way above average for there). Used to be easy to get in there. I know a lot of SD kids like my son that got rejected by UCSD. They seem to dislike local kids, and again appears to be because they want you to pay that room and board which is higher than tuition. Seems UCs have highest R&B in the country. If we had known they did this, we certainly wouldn’t have planned on it. Also, you have no idea what kind of aid schools offer until after acceptance, so how does one plan for that?</p>

<p>Anyway, enough on this. I do however think the state school system (like much of Ca gov’t) is completely broken. If my industry weren’t virtually 100% based here, I’d migrate to greener pastures in another state (even give up the Ca weather:-)).</p>

<p>We will make Bowdoin or Carleton work somehow. Thanks for all the advice. The bright side is we know what to expect when our next gets ready for college.</p>

<p>Cheers…</p>