@fzehigh How many kids are you sending through. Again I have said many times that it can be done with careful planning. FOUR kids is ALOT to have to spend 40k a year on for any family. And we have absolutely no idea this family’s circumstances. You were able to spend 200k for one. Could you spend 800k for four kids without it affecting your retirement?
@billcsho I will have 3 in college next year and our EFC only dropped by $300 between what they estimated for the first and the third. It’s ridiculous what they think people can afford.
@gearmom My second (and last) will start college apps next year. Again, everyone’s situation is different. What I meant was that with careful planning and discipline it is hard but doable not just flat impossible for middle class families. I personally believe, kids’ education (if family can afford) is an investment which will help them throughout their life. I fully agree every family’s circumstances are different.
Who is “they”?
@4togo4 If they do not overlap in college, you would not expect a change in EFC on each. After all, EFC is just the minimum you need to pay at most schools unless you receive large merit scholarships. Nevertheless, the EFC is calculated more or less in a proportional scale. If you do not plan for children education ahead of time, you will be running short. Do you think someone making $70k per year to save $10k is easier than someone making $175k and save $35k?
82 it's quite possible you mean " upper middle class" (ie., 150k+ income).
For middle-middle class families it is impossible (50-75k income).
Wow, wow, wow,@MassDad68…guess all those state schools or non-elite dream schools are filled with a bunch of cretins. Wouldn’t want these high stat kids to have to sully their superior brains frolicking in the primordial ooze!
And just because your EFC goes down…well…simply put…that only makes a difference at the colleges that meet full need for all.
Our first kid went to Boston University. The COA when he was a freshman in 2003 was bout $38,000 a year. Our EFC per FAFSA was $44,000 a year. Our incomes at the time totaled about $120,000 a year. We didn’t expect to get need based aid…and we didn’t. Luckily the kid got a $10,000 merit award which was large at the time.
Second kid entered college when kid one was a senior…so we submitted the Profile…again…for kid one because that clearly was a change in financial circumstances. Kid one FAFSA EFC was about $22,000…income unchanged really. Well…our need based aid didn’t go up a dime. He didn’t even get any subsidized Direct Loans. But…they gave him an additional $250 in merit money. Every penny counts.
Oh…and for kid one…we had to submit the FAFSA every year…and we were selected for verification every year…despite not receiving a penny of need based aid.
We made it all work. We planned ahead so we didn’t have big monthly bills like a mortgage. No car payments. We were able to pay using my current earnings…all of my current earnings for seven years.
This would not have been possible if we had still had a mortgage on our house, car payments or other significant debt.
@thumper1 Great post. Shows that details are important.
So many want to jump to the conclusion that someone has/doesn’t have a lot of money based on income alone. Some folks live in high rent areas. They cannot move easily. Others live in areas where a house costs $150K. Big difference.
@Happytimes2001 Exactly. Cost of living is an important factor.
We live in CT. Cost of living is high. It took some real long term planning to pay off our mortgage BEFORE our kids went to college. Ditto other debts.
@thumper1 That is true and you didn’t have four kids. That could mean that only one parent was able to work for years due to the high cost of daycare. They might not have been able to gain ground when you did with only two. Four is definitely more expensive. The amount of food for four teenage boys is no small thing.
The cost of raising four kids is a LOT.
We spent a fortune on good day care. We often quipped that it was preparing us for college costs down the road.
@gearmom you are correct…and one of the reasons we have two kids and not more. The costs of raising kids is very high…and when you add college costs to that…well…it’s REALLY high.
We did not save specifically for college, other than throwing some money in their savings account sometimes, and paying for their vehicles, etc. so they could bank almost all the money from jobs. For the first half of their childhoods, we didn’t make a lot and it has improved the last several years.
DD’17 chose a community college and a program that will be completed there, not a degree that you transfer to a 4 year school. I recently asked her if money wasn’t an issue, what would she have chosen and she said she would have done the same thing.
DD’19 is hunting merit. We’ve found smaller public universities from $9000-$15,000 a year after automatic merit. (I think many schools in the Midwest are cheaper than other areas too.) We will pitch in some from income, she will have some in savings and work, and if necessary, small loans. DD is happy with at least some of the options 
So that is how our middle class family is affording it.
They have friends going to private colleges that have to be in at least the same financial boat as us or worse. Even some of our in-state publics are not that much cheaper. Some have told us the merit awards received, and I’m really afraid there’s going to be a lot of loans in the end. We’re just not going to do that.
My family income is also under 200k but over 150, in upstate NY, but 3 kids.
My parents made it very apparent the amount they could pay per year and made me apply to an in-state option that would have satisfied that, also SUNY Bing.
I only attend Northeastern because I received generous merit & financial aid that made the cost the same price as SUNY Bing.
The best way for middle class families to afford college is to apply for schools with guaranteed and/or generous merit, if aiming for private schools, as well as an affordable in-state option that you’d be happy with (that’s the key part.) Further, while not feasible for all, being an RA has taken a huge load off my parents financially. We pay ~6k per academic semester (and nothing while I am not in classes, working a full time co-op/internship.)
@billcsho They do overlap–I will have 3 in college next year. Two freshmen and one junior. I have no idea about your math question, lol, but of course we have saved and we started when they were born. We have a good income and live modestly (i.e. save a lot) but my 4 kids are all very close in age and we will have 3 in college at the same time for 4 years. I think it would be very difficult for anyone to save that kind of money. Yes, @thumper1 long term planning is the only way to manage if you have more than one kid and/or kids overlap in college.
@thumper1 During all that time, were you also saving for retirement? I think that is the dilemma many face. So many people lost jobs and savings during the recession. Hardly anyone has a pension anymore. Its a daunting proposition to try to plan for college, current expenses and the future.
@BelknapPoint Sorry I wasn’t clear. I will have 3 children in college next year (2 freshman and 1 junior) and filled out a FAFSA for each. The EFC for the first child whose form I submitted was “x”, the second was “x - $200” and the third was “x- $300”. So basically FAFSA did not take our simultaneous tuitions into account as much as we thought they would.
Retirement was our number one priority. Both my husband and I contributed the maximum allowable amounts to our 401k or 403 B accounts. The max. We started this when we were about 33 years old. We figured the worse case…we would have a nice nest egg to collect interest and we would stop our contributions or reduce them when the kids were in college, and use that money to pay for college. As it happened…we didn’t need to do that.
So…really…our “college savings” was paying off the mortgage and any other debts, and contributing to retirement.
We also knew that, if needed, we could take out smaller loans, and be able to pay them when we retired…if our retirement income could support that.
@4togo, your junior’s FAFSA EFC from last year should have been divided by 3 if your income and assets were the same.
Then each child’s individual EFC also depends on what income or assets they had that contribute to EFC.
For example last year our FAFSA EFC was $12,000 with one in college. Now with two the EFC gets divided by two, but if one child has $1,000 in savings and the other $0, then one EFC will be $6,200 and the other $6,000.
But at our state schools the only aid increase they get is a bit higher state grant and a subsidized loan.