<p>If it’s called “middle class”, then surely most people fit that category, right? Hopefully it’s mean or median.</p>
<p>So, for that class, which is most of us, the numbers just don’t seem to match up with what I see. So often I see “Ivies give top aid now”. But that’s just not how the math works for this category of family/student.</p>
<p>Let’s say one is Ivy competitive. That puts them dead on for probably a free ride at many schools, including those lower tiers that buy academic potention, and the mid tiers such as their in-state flagship university. States want to retain their talent, so they offer merit aid.</p>
<p>So, option 1 is a decent (?) school at little to no cost because the aid is based not on need, but on merit.</p>
<p>Conversely, if one has a decent income, of course those need-based colleges expect full payment or close to it. So now we’re comparing a public instate education at $0.00, to a private elite college at $60,000 a year. That’s OUR situation, and I doubt we can be alone. If we get any aid at all, it won’t be much. </p>
<p>For out decision, while we CAN pay that if it were to become the only option…it’s just not a smart investment. There are very few jobs one could get on an undergrad degree that wouldn’t require a lifetime to repay a quarter of a million dollar debt. </p>
<p>So this is the extreme, of course. When we’re talking, as an earlier poster said, of $40,000 in debt at graduation…that WOULD probably be a very wise investment. I recently heard some data, but I can’t be exact. They spoke of the median income of the average Harvard grad, as compared to 2-3 of our instate schools. Of course just one year’s salary made up that $40,000! Keep in mind though, that’s GROSS, and…much more importantly…if one gets a job in Boston or NYC, versus Podunkville, USA…the cost of living is MUCH different and therefore higher salary is a “given”. </p>
<p>So zero versus $240,000 is a no brainer. It’s all the “in between” that makes it tough. We each have our own line that we won’t cross. For me, I am single and I have to consider my own future earning power (in jeopardy, right now, at my age and in this economy), the things I also need to pay: I have only just recently started making a decent salary so I have no savings, no retirement, nothing to leave my child, help her when she needs an extra $100 to make rent, I have to pay my own insurance, double taxed (self employed), there might be a wedding, etc etc etc. So…it seems silly to spend THAT much more, when there is a DECENT education for free. Again…that imaginary cut-off line comes into play when one says things like Community College as an option. THAT is a line we wouldn’t cross.</p>