<p>In 1999, we put 20K into a 529 fund, almost enough to cover one years tuition (23K in 1999-2000). Now the fund is worth around $27,000, but tuition for next year is nearly $40,000.</p>
<p>How do the colleges expect families to pay? Home equity has disappeared. Salaries have not increased at the same rate as tuition. Loans are being pushed but are not really a great idea. Fin Aid may increased, but the price tag scares away many deserving students.</p>
<p>Bottom line - these tuition increases are unsustainable!</p>
<p>When Happykid was in 9th grade, I attended a financial aid seminar presented by the head of financial aid at our local community college. I learned a lot of useful information, but no one gave me the key piece I needed: how to estimate our FAFSA EFC. I dug around online until I found the [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) website, and I ran a FAFSA estimate. I was horrified by the results. I couldn’t believe the figure relative to our other expenses.</p>
<p>A year later, braver and closer to Happykid’s college starting date, I ran the calculators again. The numbers were the same. Clearly this was what would be asked of us. I knew from Happykid’s GPA and interests, that a merit scholarship for an expensive private institution was very unlikely. I also knew that as one of the worst testers on the planet, she was not positioned to get the kind of exam scores that would make a difference. Facing reality in the eye, I had to accept that her best (and possibly only option) would be to start at the local community college.</p>
<p>We can pay for the CC out of pocket, and the equivalent amount when she transfers. If she takes out the maximum Stafford Loans, then we will have a bit more than half of the in-state tuition and fees for any of the public universities that offer her major. Biting the bullet, Happydad and I could take out Parent Plus loans to cover the difference, and if we pay the equivalent of one year of CC tuition and fees each year, we will be shed of those Parent Loans in four to six years.</p>
<p>Am I happy about taking out Parent Loans? Heck no! However, we are fortunate that we are in a position to pay this much. Things could be even worse.</p>
<p>As it happened, Happykid was awarded a 15 credit per semester tuition and fees scholarship for her first year at the CC. We have only had to pay books, materials, and about $500 for credits over the limit covered by the scholarship. That means that the money we had planned to spend for tuition and fees this year is stashed in the bank. If her scholarship isn’t renewed, we already have the expenses for next year taken care of. If her scholarship is renewed, this year’s savings (and next year’s) will mean that we have fewer Parent Plus loans to worry about in the future.</p>
<p>mema32: I’m with you. Its nearly impossible to save for college at the rate they are increasing. Meantime, parents are getting increases to match these rates.<br>
In addition, if you did manage to save some money thats taken against you too, when your paper work is reviewed. Again, a little unfair, while many others are sitting on the beach taking in the rays at some tropical paradise, others are trying to be mindful and save. However, now you get nothing because you have a savings and your salary is ‘X’ dollars more than someone else.</p>
<p>Dungareedoll, this isn’t true. When colleges calculate how much a family is expected to pay, the number-one most important factor is current income. Debts are for the most part not considered, unless it was for some exceptional circumstance such as significant medical costs. </p>
<p>If you’ve been an ant and you’ve saved and have home equity, then yes, colleges will expect you to contribute more than a grasshopper who blithely spent it all away. The dirty little secret is that most schools won’t give either the ant or the grasshopper very much need-based money. That’s because the vast majority of schools don’t guarantee to meet need. There will end up being a gap between how much you, the family, can afford to pay, and how much the school costs, even after getting aid. Because the grasshopper hasn’t saved, they’ll have no way to pay that gap. If they’re bankrupt, they won’t even have the option of loans. The ants will be able to cover a small gap because they have savings, or can take out loans. If the gap is too big, then the ants tell the young ant that they can’t afford that school. That’s OK, because there’s generally another school that the ant family CAN afford.</p>
<p>There are a few handfuls of schools that guarantee to meet full need. Even here, the grasshopper family has problems because it is the school that figures out how much a family can afford to pay. They don’t care that the grasshoppers are bankrupt, or have a big mortgage check to write. They just want the family to pay somewhere between 25-33% of their household income per year to the college.</p>
<p>Well, you know…the truth here lies somewhere in the middle. Certainly, there is no part of the FAFSA or Profile that asks, “Have you prudently saved for your kid’s college education or have you selfishly squandered away what savings you might have had on personal toys?”. No ant or grasshopper check boxes either! :)</p>
<p>It continues to gall me, however, how we did and still do without the fineries while some others throw themselves upon the mercies of the financial aid offices & cry poor-mouth asset-wise. In some ways, I would’ve been better off taking 5 European vacations in the last couple decades rather than put it aside, because at least then I would’ve had a chance at affording some of those top privates, rather than just telling the D’s no, it ain’t gonna happen.</p>
<p>Slithely: I’m sure your right and I am just ****ed off but in my defense a good portion of the schools that my S was accepted to do meet full need, no loans, and I am stuck paying the whole bill. Again, thats a tough nut to swallow. Walking down one of those campus’ is like throwing $30 to each kid that passes by. Yes, I appreciate that we have a decent income but we have worked our butts off. My DH works 10 hrs a day (at a minimum) and commutes 5 hours r/t a day and works on weekends, and holidays, and vacations. No he’s not some type A personality, thats what he has to do to keep his job. Its not what he wants. When his job moved to NJ he now had to pay for more commutation and endure the exta distance. Again, the schools don’t take into account that we pay $500/month in commutation alone. Meantime, i can’t get a plumber to my house, unless I’m willing to pay extra for his gas expense. Honestly, expenses just seem to hit ya from both sides.</p>
<p>AMEN to JNM123 thats what I’m saying!!! It doesn’t pay to be good. You land up with out the fineries and you pay for everyone’s irresponsible mistakes and/or laziness!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, Dungaree, but who knew that 15-20 years ago? All’s I knew is that college cost a lot & that we had better start putting it away NOW. Of course, truth be told there are some bonified, legitimate hardluck cases–brilliant kids in a two-strikes-against-them environment, and I have no problem whatsoever for those kids to be receiving full rides. It’s the financially-irresponsible idiots that are a stone in my shoe…</p>
<p>I agree 100%!!! Hard-luck cases are exactly what finaid should be used for. Other than that everyone should be entitled to a piece of the pie. Honestly, I would just like a little bit of help. I’m not asking for a full ride.</p>
<p>jmn123, agreed, no check boxes, because the schools don’t care if you’re an ant or a grasshopper. They care about assets, and you specify those. As for being worse off wrt the FA office then those who have no assets–again, this isn’t true. If you have, say, $100k banked in your name because you didn’t take five european vacations, then that will add a few thousand dollars to your EFC. Or, conversely, if you took the vacations and didn’t bank any savings, then your EFC would be a few thousand dollars less. Which is nothing to sneeze at, but isn’t going to be helpful if the college is saying that you can afford to pay $25k a year but your budget says you can only afford $10k. </p>
<p>At a top private which says they’ll meet full need, that grasshopper family may get a few extra thousand a year. At a top private which doesn’t meet full need, the grasshopper family gets nada. If you could know with absolute certainty that 1) your kid was going to be admitted to a full need school, and 2) you and the school entirely agreed that you can only afford $10k a year, then sure, go for the vacations. The problem comes when you find out that your kid wants to go to a school like NYU, or that Amherst thinks you can afford $17k a year. Then suddenly you’re very glad that you saved. The grasshopper’s kid isn’t going to be able to afford those schools. </p>
<p>Both the grasshopper and the ant kids, if they work hard and achieve, can score merit-based full rides. So the best option is to have your kid snag one of those, AND you go off to France. Win-win! :)</p>
<p>Dungareedoll, we’re also a full-pay family. So I get ya, but I also see that the majority of students at the full need privates are from full-pay families. These schools are expensive for everyone. D1 is seeing classmates get accepted to great schools, but then not getting FA that would make it possible to attend. Painful for the kids (who’ve worked so hard), painful for the parents (who would love to send their hardworking kids whereever they want).</p>
<p>Go ask those full-ride need-based kids if they’d swap incomes with your family. I mean, if they have it so good, why not offer to trade places?</p>
<p>Let’s be objective here. If your son was accepted to a full-need school and offered no need-based aid… then your income is plenty sufficient to cover some college, somewhere.</p>
<p>And who is saying that I have it so good. You’re assuming that because my income is higher I’m living on Easy Street. What a bunch of BS. Go cry me a river… I mentioned already that if you are truly a hardluck case then thats what fin aid is for other than that then everyone is working hard and should all get a piece of the pie.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove…the ONLY problem I really have with the whole inequity of it is regarding the top 50-75 privates, where if your income/asset level is decent but not higher, you’re paying full boat no matter what if your S/D is admitted. The competition is so tough at these schools that they don’t need to give much merit aid, so it’s either pay the $50K+ per year or don’t go. Higher income/asset level families CAN afford paying the shot, and lower income/assets (for whatever reason) get the need-based aid, oft times under the guise of merit aid.</p>
<p>So the middle incomes get squeezed out of these schools, or go deeply into debt.</p>
<p>What’s your definition of “middle?” Because I suspect it’s totally wrong.</p>
<p>Middle income in America (the middle quintile of households) is $35-55,000, and none of those households can even think about a $50k private school without a full ride.</p>
<p>If you add the fourth quintile, you’re up to $88,000.</p>
<p>Ridiculously expensive private colleges are ridiculously expensive. That’s why the vast majority of Americans don’t go to such schools. They go to state universities or community colleges. Anything else is a luxury that you can pay for.</p>
<p>Let’s call it ‘middle incomes in college cost parlance’ then…</p>
<p>To me, that’s AGI of $75,000 to $100,000. Even at the top end of that range, I can’t see those folks coming up with much more than $10-$15K max a year spare change. That means hefty PLUS loans if in fact they qualify for one, which isn’t a slam dunk anymore with home equities shrinking.</p>
<p>Look, folks at that income level still have some options for their kids, which is great. It’s just that given the payoff of a B.A. or a B.S. even at a top private is NOT the guarantee of a good-paying job anymore. The landscape has changed.</p>
<p>My family has a household income in that range. I did two years at a California community college near home and transferred to an OOS public flagship with a tuition exchange program. The deal we made was that my parents paid tuition, I borrowed Staffords and worked for my living expenses. I was and continue to be grateful they contributed anything.</p>
<p>I never expected my family to pay $200,000 for me to go to college. Any kid who expects that, IMO, has their expectations totally out of whack.</p>
<p>At Trinity College for 2011, the mean need-based aid for students who got it was $38,262. The mean need-based Trinity grant was $33,809; the mean subsidized loan was $4,317. Total cost is about $57,000/year. The Trinity site has a financial aid calculator to help you predict the package given your own circumstances.</p>
<p>My own trial run of the aid calculator, together with the cited table data (at the above link), suggests to me that a family could qualify for the above mean aid package at AGI ~= $75K, with a net worth of $100K (parents’ savings), parents at age 50, and no other children in college. The calculated package would include work-study of about $1,900. After you subtract summer earnings, and maybe a gift from grandma, the parents could be down to jnm123’s “$10-$15K max a year”. Your mileage may vary. I may be missing something significant. But this is at one of the most expensive schools in the country, one that does not have an especially huge per-student endowment.</p>
<p>Trinity’s 4-year graduation rate is 76.5%; average debt at graduation is $20,174. At UConn-Storrs, the 4-year graduation rate is 61%; average debt at graduation is $21,257. These debt averages are only for students who took out education loans, not for all students. (Source: Kiplinger)</p>
<p>This. No one “needs” to go to a private college. They “want” to go to a private college. The majority of poor kids aren’t “going to college for free” unless it is the local CC or perhaps a public school in certain states. A tiny portion might if they are well connected and guided toward colleges that want them for some personal characteristics, but it is a tiny fraction.</p>
<p>The equation has been the same for several generations, you save past income, you scrimp every day and use current income. If you didn’t save you find somewhere that fits your budget.</p>
<p>Quit your job, get rid of your assets. Get a minimum wage position. Move into something affordable at that pay scale and you’ll get your zero EFC in 2012. See how easy it is.</p>
<p>Who are you, cpt, Albert Brooks in ‘Lost In America’?! Wonder if the motorhome I buy when I cash out everything will be considered an asset? Better yet, I can drive it to my kid’s college and he/she can live in it too. It would cut down on room & board! Might do a little damage to the social life though…</p>
Better yet, I can drive it to my kid’s college and he/she can live in it too. It would cut down on room & board! Might do a little damage to the social life though…</p>