<p>When I was in college. I spent $6 per month on food. (not a typo). Now S’ school charges $900/month for meals.</p>
<p>Countingdown, what a wonderful job you have done with your children. And I join you in the sentiments to Neonzeus.</p>
<p>I’m afraid, I spoiled my older ones terribly. They’ve had a rough go of it. They were not overly irresponsible financially while in college, but they did not transition well into being self sufficient. A lot of financial mishaps after college, and they spent way too much money. Being around people who had a lot more money and always had some great way to spend it did not help, and I contributed to their sense that could be in that crowd since I did fund them while they were in K-12 with those kids. They didn’t get it that they had to get off the family funding train once they were out of college and working. I am just so glad they did not have any student loans as that would have been a complicating factor, and frankly, I think they would have been in default. They are slowly working out their financial problems now, and it’s painful. I contributed to their senses of entitlement, not so much by what I directly said, but how we did thiings. It’s something to watch as a parent as our kids are entering a tough world these days in terms of job market and credit.</p>
<p>Tigerdad, I just saw your post. Don’t know how you did it on $6 a month, but when I was at college, we all either ate at the cafeteria during the meal times or at the nasty little sub shop that was open in the student centers because those were the only feeding troughs on campus. My college now is surrounded by rings of all kinds fo culinary choices and the cafeteria is now a food court. Kids get a card and they just swipe it for all of their needs and wants, whether it a soda from a machine to a full fledged meal, and they can choose from Thai to fast food McD. Not to mention eateries that take campus bucks off campus. Doesn’t lead to frugal habits and packing lunches. My bad, again, as I didn’t pack for them like I did growing up and while working in the early days. My son is finally getting that he can’t afford bottled water, Starbucks everyday, a drink after work and he has to scoop last night’s leftovers in a container for lunch. Has to grab a breakfast from the fridge, not from a vendor. Very bad habits and expensive ones he got from college when he was able to grab food where ever and whenever with no thought of the cost.</p>
<p>^ It was in the 80’s and a different country. We ate at school cafeteria (really poor quality food, cooks were using shovels). BTW that $6 also covered my expense money
($0.5).</p>
<p>According to my father, when he was a grad student at Cal in the early '60s, he often supplemented his meager meals from the “salad bar” at Kip’s. Of course what he means by this is that he created “salads” from the condiment bar provided for the burgers. He had everything he needed for an iceberg lettuce, tomato, and onion salad with Thousand Island dressing for free.</p>
<p>As for the list provided- a lot of those schools are super selective and known for really good financial aid based on need so it would correspond that a lesser percentage would pay full price. I don’t think the percentages of full pay students would be that high at other less selective private schools.
These schools on the list are more known for really good financial aid based on need and not on merit (institutional grants/scholarships). They already have the the top students going there and do not need to bolster stats with grants/scholarships. A private school trying to bolster stats would give a sought after student scholarships/grants to attract them to their campus (regardless if they needed financial aid or not). But the college could not sustain a large number of these students on a long term basis. So the middle middle class to upper middle class student settles for a lower ranked school to attend feasibly or pay full sticker price for the higher ranked school. At least that was our experience.</p>
<p>thumper1–our kids got significant merit awards along with what they will contribute to their college from summer earnings, we will pay very little towards their education and will not take any loans out for them :D. We found schools that were good matches for their majors that would give them the merit awards. Still waiting to hear on a couple for the twins but our DD is looking at about $200/year net right now, not including books or spending money. DS will be the same if he gets the scholarship for which he is a finalist. The other two made it through the same way, merit awards and summer earnings.</p>
<p>IMO, no college can be justified to pay 200k more than a top 10 public university. (assuming you don’t qualify for FAid in that college and you get full ride merit at state flagship). However if your kid insists he wants to go to a top school, you can give him a list of handful schools (say HYPSM or whatever), tell him if he gets admitted by one of those you will hold your nose and pay full freight. Otherwise he will have to go to the full-ride public.</p>
<p>tigerdad14–if a family making 60K sends a kid to HYP, etc. they go for free–heck yes I would have the kids apply to those schools if we were in that income bracket and their stats made them a viable candidate. Heck of a lot less expensive than ANY state school.</p>
<p>^ true, I was talking about families that have to pay full freight but still feel 200k is a big burden. Of course he/she is free to go to any school that provides substantial scholarship.</p>
<p>What school has a $9000 meal plan???</p>
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<p>You know, I thought it was disingenuous (and a little obnoxious, to be honest) to tell another poster that you’re paying so much less for all of your children compared to what she paid for her one, when the bulk of your kids’ tuitions are being funded by merit aid, athletic scholarships and their own bank accounts. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But not really a fair comparison. A lot of people are paying even less than you. Because they’re contributing nothing. Would it really be relevant to point that out to you?</p>
<p>But to say that you’ve put two kids through 4 years already–you know that’s not true.</p>
<p>kat4444–not that it should matter to you but the response to that poster was based on that person telling everyone else they were spending too much on their kids…</p>
<p>I didn’t get that from that post at all.</p>
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<p>I’m talking about Lowell, MA. You really can’t live easily off $40K
there but a lot of people do it. That’s middle class there.</p>
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<p>Who is to say what is or what isn’t a middle-class lifestyle. If you
happen to belong to certain ethnic groups, living with a lot of people
in one dwelling may be middle-class to them.</p>
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<p>Your problem is your stratification levels. A tiny upper class, a tiny
middle class, and the great unwashed.</p>
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<p>It’s much easier if you just refer to some middle so that one could
reasonably associate the term with reality.</p>
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<p>That’s just your private interpretation which nobody else seems to share.</p>
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<p>How about assuming that middle class has something to do with the middle
population? As in using common sense?</p>
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<p>Wow - BC, how did you pick that of all the cities? Hadn’t heard any references to it for decades. Oddly enough I spent possibly the best couple of years of my life there - actually not living there but working there. At that time in the latter part of the '70s I started at $16K and they upped me to 20 after the probation period…
I wonder if the couple of Greek restaurants I used to go to - Athena, or something similar, are still around, and whether I’ll recognize anything of the residential neighborhood - I think it was called Belvedere or something close - and how much the old houses with the columns cost these days… </p>
<p>BC, what memories you’ve brought back to me - I’ll probably have dreams of those times tonight - all the “firsts” I did there… first time I went hang gliding thru a “course” at Univ of Lowell, first time I got creamed buying and selling calls and puts, first credit card - the odd shaped one through Sears, …</p>
<p>Dad of 3–I started at $22K living in Chestnut Hill in '86. I am thinking you had more fun–or at least more money to spend. Definitely paycheck to paycheck as car loan was $300/month. I think I opened a new dept store charge each time I needed to buy something.</p>
<p>Dad of 3, does Lowell have a big Greek population - because every one I ever met from Lowell is Greek. They are all ridiculously wealthy, too.</p>
<p>DH and I lived like kings on my $20,000 and his $8000 a year in 1989 in Omaha. No kids, one cat, no mortgage, no debt, simple monthly bills. Two bedroom apartment, cable TV, one credit card, two cars paid for with cash… One giant personal computer, dot matrix printer, no cell phones…</p>
<p>Location, location, location…two years after Boston at $22K, was in Manhattan earning almost twice that and had to sell the car as Manhattan rent was more than Boston rent and car combined. No computer, printer, cell phone or even cable bill, but had an awful lot of fun!</p>
<p>Tptshorty, I loved your post #200.</p>