<p>My husband is still looking for records on how much we paid for our cars. One of the college financial aid applications asked about it. He says he has to keep looking. His records aren't that great. Anyone have any ideas to save this marriage?</p>
<p>Did he pay by check? If he paid by check or automatic bank withdrawal, then he could ask the bank if they could find something. This one time, I messed up my checkbook (the light bill folks waited an eternity to process my payment!) and the bank was able to go way back and find what I messed up on and they printed it out and everything. </p>
<p>That might work, but I do not not know for sure because I am the third generation of my family to go to the same branch of the same hometown bank. La ti dah.</p>
<p>Maybe...</p>
<p>Does the car company have some long term proof of payment?</p>
<p>good point about calling the car company. I think I will try that myself. thanks</p>
<p>Also you probably don't need an exact figure -- I mean, the point of that question is to get an overall sense of your assets and lifestyle, not to tally up the value of everything you own to the penny. So if you remember paying about $15,000 for a car... and it turns out you paid 15,789.... you aren't going to be in trouble. A car is a big expenditure, so I am guessing your husband has basic idea, even if he can't find the bill of sale.</p>
<p>Calmom, yes, you can gauge a picture of the persons lifestyle by the CSS. So if you have saved and spent wisely are you rewarded by the college?</p>
<p>Seriously, if you are applying to an elite school and everyone getting in has families making over 200K, with expensive lifestyles, new cars etc., and you are let's say middle-income with only a home as an asset, does the college use it's professional judgement and say this is a person in need compared to the others. </p>
<p>I mean there is a pretty big jump from truly middle income families and the wealthy. Which is why I am having a hard time with these EFC's.</p>
<p>I mean how can say a wealthy celebrity send their kid to Harvard and a middle income family and both come out having to paying full tuition?</p>
<p>janesmom, I don't know what your definition of "middle income" is. In my state, the median income for a 4-person family is around $68K. I make around $50K, but then I am a single parent with only one kid left to support - that $68K comes from mostly 2-earner households. So I figure I'm "middle" enough, and my daughter had pretty much close to a full-tuition need based grant at her college, and was offered plenty of grant money even at our in-state colleges. </p>
<p>There are a bunch of great graphics showing US household incomes here:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States</a></p>
<p>I like the one at the top of the page -- basically if you look at the chart, I'm living on the upper end of the yellow level.... and I keep seeing posts by people who live up on the very top floor calling themselves "middle income". I personally don't consider anyone whose income puts them in the top quintile to be "middle". I don't care whether or not money is tight for them -- that's another issue entirely -- I'm just focusing on what you can call "middle". I mean, I don't call my daughter an "average" student just because her SAT's put her in the 92nd percentile range rather than the 99th.</p>
<p>In any case, I think that Harvard now offers a tuition-free education to any kid from a family with an income under $60K. They don't jump to full tuition when the income hits $61K -- the EFC goes up kind of gradually from there. </p>
<p>The wealthy celebrity doesn't have to pay more when he buys a new car, either. The price is $X. When a private college gives need-based aid to someone out of their institutional grant funds... it is an act of charity, not a function of socialism. I hardly see how any college would be able to function if they defined "needy" as all but the most wealthy.</p>
<p>The system is premised on the assumption that those with higher incomes will have done a better job saving for college. I think the families that get hit the hardest are those that historically have had a low or very moderate income, perhaps accumulating a lot of debt, and then in the year or so before their kids hit college age, experience a sudden increase; and the families who make out like bandits are probably those who experience a precipitous but not disastrous drop in income at about that time, such as with a parent retiring. </p>
<p>But my point is that there aren't very many "middle" income families paying full freight at Harvard. The appropriate word for the families who qualify for little or no financial aid is "upper" income.</p>
<p>"The system is premised on the assumption that those with higher incomes will have done a better job saving for college. I think the families that get hit the hardest are those that historically have had a low or very moderate income, perhaps accumulating a lot of debt, and then in the year or so before their kids hit college age, experience a sudden increase; and the families who make out like bandits are probably those who experience a precipitous but not disastrous drop in income at about that time, such as with a parent retiring."</p>
<p>Yep, that's us. I was not fortunate to have my children two years apart as to have one in school at the same time. So, I have not been able to save because I was sending them off at different times. I feel grateful for everything I have and will try to make this work for the last kid.</p>
<p>Our higher incomes from a two parent household are taxed heavily in the Northeast, after taxes on our modest sized home and higher cost of living and putting away for our retirement, car insurance on used cars etc.(no we do not live lavishly--never have), our take home is cut dramatically. I would have never figured that us blue collar types would be put in the category of upper middle! Neither my H or I have a college degree.</p>