<p>There are tons of private schools that offer awesome Merit $$. I heard that Grinnel one of them. Another one is Case Western which is known (I can confirm thru experience) for huge Merit awards. Case is very expensive but you might end up paying less their than at some public university.</p>
<p>Stafford (kids) and Plus loans to cover our EFC. Our first kid left high school a year early to attend a liberal arts college and conservatory. We were not prepared. This is the only year our two will overlap and they both received need-based aid from their schools. Next year I think we will be back to full pay. We have to be the only folks in the country crazy enough to do this. We both attended a big ten flagship U and felt the LAC experience would be worth the investment. The experiences and education have exceeded our expectations. We have modified our lifestyle so the loan payments are manageable. We feel very fortunate to be in a position to do this.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I think we will be back to full pay. We have to be the only folks in the country crazy enough to do this. >></p> </blockquote>
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<p>No...we did it too. Pricey privates for both kids....first one in a music conservatory within a large university. Second at a private small university.</p>
<p>Son has Aspergers, so we knew we'd have to find a small school for him. We started 529 accounts for each child as soon as they were available. They are age based but 25% of his was stil in the market, so his account has lost about 15% of its value. </p>
<p>With that said, we only looked at schools in the $35,000 per year range (which will be in the $37-$39,000 per year range once he gets there) - if they were in the $50,000 range, they didn't make the list.</p>
<p>Then he only applied at schools where he had a good chance at merit aid. The offers have ranged from $10,000 to $19,000 per year. With that, plus what is in the 529, we'll be able to pay.</p>
<p>Of course, there two other kids who still need to go to college, so we can't go beyond our budget for him, at the expense of the others.</p>
<p>Believe it or not Honors at state school where we are not paying tuition at all also by far exceeded ours and D's expectations because of awesome academics, rich social life and tons of unexpected wonderful opportunities that D is taking full advantages of.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, DD is at one of the most expensive private schools and having the best time of her life. Most of the cost are covered by need based grant money and work study (next year). </p>
<p>While we are struggling to pay the bill, it worths every penny.</p>
<p>D is at a midwestern private that is cheaper than those on the two coasts. Otherwise, we are doing it with savings and merit aid -- no loans.</p>
<p>Fortunately I doubled $30,000 to $60,000 in stock couple years back before the market crash, I had another $40,000 in CD. I then borrowed $50,000 home equity loan scheduled to pay off in 5 years, to me, that's an equivalent of buying a mid range luxury car. With $150,000, we paid off 4 years tuition, her school offered tuition pay advance program. So, that's how I did it.</p>
<p>We told our son that if he wants to go to a private school, he needed to receive merit aid. He just landed a full tuition scholarship to a small LAC, which he calls his safety school. He wants to see what else shakes out over the next few months.</p>
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I read somewhere that you should save for the equivalent of two years, plan to pay for the equivalent of one year out of your current income, and the remaining one fourth should come from work study, loans, scholarships etc.
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<p>I've never heard of that, but it kinda reflects our direction. </p>
<p>$100,000 already saved
$24,000 kid's unsub stafford (skin in the game)
$40,000 our current income
$12,000 kid's wages
$24,000 merit aid
$200,000 TOTAL</p>
<p>We're gonna have a high EFC; probably be known as "full pay." The kids' college educations will overlap for 2 years. Maybe that will help us lower the EFC.</p>
<p>S is at a small LAC in the midwest with a total COA of around $38k. Our EFC was much lower than most on CC. Between his merit aid, scholarships and what we had saved in his 529, the remainder will be paid through loans. S will graduate with loans. We cannot pay for everything.
It is actually much cheaper for him to attend the private school than it would've been to attend a state school, based on the scholarship and merit money received.</p>
<p>It's going to be a tough 8 years to get two of them through in succession. D1 has her heart set on some fancy LACs that give need-based aid only, and we probably won't qualify. Just barely, mind you, but that's where we'll fall. So we've got to suck it up. We're looking at something like:</p>
<p>$50K current savings (holding back another $50K for D2)
$10K D1's earnings
$20K D1's unsubsidized Stafford loans
$40K PLUS loans
$80K current income, probably including a second job for DW
$200K total (but this price will undoubtedly creep up a bit by the time D1, currently a HS junior, graduates)</p>
<p>We recently refinanced our house to take advantage of near record-low interest rates (we got 4.75%). That freed up another $300/month which goes straight into 529s, and will go straight to the college once D1 matriculates. But hey, every bit helps. </p>
<p>As an alternative to PLUS loans we're thinking of borrowing from our live-in Granny who's frustrated at her current inability to get any kind of return on cash she's got sitting around. If we give her 5% she'll be grateful, and it will save us a little on the interest rate. We've done enough other financial deals with her that we're all pretty comfortable with it.</p>
<p>I went back to work. No loans so far, but we'll have two tuitions next year so I imagine we'll have to finance somthing.</p>
<p>Not there yet but if we went this route, we could do it on a combination of a) registered educational savings plans (Canadian thing- the govt gives you 20% for each 2k you put in up to a certain amount and return isn't taxed), b) other various investments, c) we are in a high income category (which sucks because it means no fin aid, but we are also blessed to have the cash flow). </p>
<p>But we are pretty sure we'll avoid the whole thing and just have kids do their undergrad in Canada (as we are now located here and 'in-Canada tuition' is trivial). I strongly doubt we'd ever find good enough reasons to justify the extra cost of going back over the border.</p>
<p>D1 is at a private LAC. She gets a nice merit aid package, which we count as her "skin in the game". We have saved since she was a baby so we will use that savings for the rest of her COA. Neither she nor we will take out loans.</p>
<p>D2 will have an athletic and academic package. Not sure of final numbers but if there is a outstanding balance it will be paid from savings.</p>
<p>Paying for Kid#1 at private college ($25-30K/year) from current income--we have no savings due to career instability/multiple moves. We live modestly and college bills are a strain, but so far we've avoided borrowing. (Kid#1 is a junior) Kid pays 10-15% of costs from summer earnings and savings from high school jobs. Kid#2 has been offered a full-tuition scholarship and will probably need to take it! Hope the same goes for kid#3,4,5, 6, 7. . .</p>
<p>One addt'l thing we are hoping for (heard it here, on CC) -- is the 'pro-rated tuition payment' option that some schools have. I figure, if (hopefully) I'm working by then, our household will be able to swing some bigger, monthly payments & not get all overloaded by debt at the outset.</p>
<p>did a quick count, out of 22 posters who gave some details, my interpretation is that 11 use loan and 11 do not. </p>
<p>In other words, attending an expensive private does not always mean loans.</p>
<p>We make 10 monthly payments from July thru April--the school accepts credit cards, and we use the points for plane tickets. Although there is a small discount for paying the whole year or semester's fees at once, we wouldn't be able to to that.</p>
<p>I saved the money since birth. But we are not using it to pay for D1's college. I'm paying it with current earnings. D1's college allows me to spread the balance, using cedit card, into 10 payments. The plus side is the credit card deposits about 1.5% into D2's 529 account. It saves me the hassle to deposit the money into D2's 529 account. It's a win/win situation for me.</p>