<p>If the household makes, let's say, $80,000 annually, how in the world can it afford 60,000 for college? So many kids on CC seem to be applying to these ridiculously expensive schools, but to afford them the annual income must be either very low to qualify them for so much financial aid, or very high to be able to afford it anyways. How can middle class families afford college?</p>
<p>You check the net price calculators to see if need based financial aid at each college bring them down to affordable net price levels.</p>
<p>If not, then check for merit scholarships that are within reach of the student.</p>
<p>If need-based financial aid is insufficient, and there are no large enough in-reach merit scholarships, then the college need not be considered further.</p>
<p>Simply, most families with $80,000 in annual income and not a whole ton of assets don’t pay $60,000 a year. The vast majority of kids attend public institutions that cost far less than $60,000 a year or regional private colleges where they receive merit and/or financial aid or attend a local community college or university and live at home.</p>
<p>agreatperhaps -</p>
<p>They apply to these institutions, but where they actually end up attending is an entirely different thing. Nationwide, the majority of traditional age college students live at home and commute to school.</p>
<p>Some of us start saving for college when the child is born. Admittedly got some contributions from my parents and wife’s parents, but it was 18 years worth of savings, not paying out of cashflow for 4 years. And it wasn’t anywhere near $60k per year.</p>
<p>Very few would pay 60K a year.</p>
<p>If the student with parents making 80K can get into a private school which covers the family’s full need, the cost could be somewhere between 12K and 20K, without any merit aid.</p>
<p>Or a strong student can go to a private school with substantial merit aid, sometimes as much as full tuition or even a free ride (full tuition plus room and board) or at least partial tuition.</p>
<p>An alternative is to go to the public university and pay far less than 60K.</p>
<p>Been saving since birth of D, with funds started by Grandma who was a big advocate for college education. But I still won’t pay 60k a year for college because my D did not demonstrate enough motivation to warrant highest cost college.
agree that we applied to several schools that will probably not work in the budget.</p>
<p>The part that kind of bugs me about the FAFSA and aid calculations is how families who scrimped and saved and have the savings are penalized compared to other families with same incomes and households. We have higher EFCs, not fair!!</p>
<p>You can pay less for a private school education than a public one, depending on one’s income and assets. However, that depends on the student having strong enough credentials to get into those schools, or applying places where they will be in the top group and so is offered my merit aid.</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that only 5% of parent savings are counted toward the parental contribution. Income matters far more than savings in terms of how much people are expected to pay.</p>
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<p>This. We actually used the pre-tax daycare my spouse had through work as part of our approach to this. They took the money out of his paycheck, and by the time we got the lump sum checks for it a few times a year, the daycare bill was already paid. We socked those checks right into college savings for each kid. So we actually saved a lot, mostly into their 529s. Invested in the age-bands for the first 10 years or so, and mostly got good growth. Also bought a few stocks, and hunted for CDs with good rates. And continued to add to the 529s over the years. This positioned us with over 50% of the money needed for each kid when the time came.</p>
<p>I’ve talked with lots of friends who targeted the schools where their kids would get great merit aid. I don’t think I know anyone who has spent $60,000 per year for college.</p>
<p>very few cost $60K…if any</p>
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<p>Agreed. But there are a lot that are $50k plus when you add in Room & Board.</p>
<p>My parents make a little more than 60k/yr, which in the south, is considered middle-class (or we certainly seem to think we are). The answer is that we aren’t going to pay out all of our income each year for school, but I was also not able to apply to a whole bunch of very qualified, awesome schools that I could have fallen in love with because they simply didn’t meet need or define need in a way that was possible for my family. </p>
<p>For ‘middle-class’ families, and especially upper middle-class families, there are private schools that are attainble either through super aid (HYPS) or schools that give out a bunch of merit aid to attract higher-performing students. Barring that, CC and then a transfer… or some choose to take out staggering amounts in private loans.</p>
<p>Most college students in the US do not go away to college. Most commute to their local CC or state school.</p>
<p>My D is attending a $40K a year school but with a scholarship, grant, and stafford loans, we are paying just under 11K a year. That is mostly out of income with a small parent loan. We were a one income family until just 6 years ago, making much, much less and just couldn’t save for college. The trade-off was being home to raise my own children and homeschool, betting that good merit and need based aid would be there for us later.</p>
<p>^^And most parents, even those that saved for colleges for one or more kids on $80,000 of income are not going to spend a quarter of a million dollars per kid on a college education. I would guess it’s a rather miniscule number of people taking out “staggering amounts in private loans.”</p>
<p>They can’t, which is why all the large big name private schools are so popular. They offer very generous need based aid. Many claim to pay for everything if the need exists. The only catch is that like with Stanford 30K people apply for 1800 slots.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, 60K total cost is here 
[Here</a> Come $60,000-A-Year Colleges - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/10/12/here-come-60000-a-year-colleges]Here”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/10/12/here-come-60000-a-year-colleges)
And that article is two years old now…</p>
<p>*They can’t, which is why all the large big name private schools are so popular. They offer very generous need based aid. Many claim to pay for everything if the need exists. The only catch is that like with Stanford 30K people apply for 1800 slots.
*</p>
<p>True. Those with high stats have more options. They might get accepted to the schools with the best aid, or they might get large merit scholarships from other schools.</p>
<p>I don’t know why (and I am not trying to be rude) but it bothers me when people ask these sorts of questions. I don’t know of a single college that would ask a family making $80,000 to give up 3/4 of their income - it simply does not make sense. In my own opinion I don’t think tuition should predicate college selection, but I know that is quite controversial. </p>
<p>Logistically, there’s no possible way they could pay (in full) the tuition each semester or trimester. The great thing about many of these expensive schools is that they offer a significant amount of aid to those who they feel cannot afford the school. A lot of top-ranked and expensive schools will guarantee 100% of your need, so you pay no more than your EFC (of course the hard part is getting in, not paying tuition). </p>
<p>Personally, I come from a middle class family, yet I am currently going to a private high school and I have been admitted/applied to schools with $50,000+ tuition and expenses. My high school’s tuition is nearly $22,000, yet through financial aid my parents only had to pay a minority of that. Further, for the past two years I have been lucky enough to receive a full tuition scholarship. Sticker price does note equal the price you pay. I cannot tell you how many reps. from ridiculously expensive schools have done the math and told groups that in some situations one might pay more at a local public university than at a private one.</p>
<p>My parents and I plan to subsidize any money not covered by financial aid through loans. Even though it is not ideal, I plan on becoming a doctor so I feel I could adequately repay those loans in a healthy period of time. Now, if I were going to major in English Lit. or a less viable career path I would just go to a state school. Basically, what I am trying to say through this is that parent’s contributions and loans are subjective to both the university and the future pursuits of their child.</p>