I remember reading that the foreign service agencies recruited heavily at Brigham Young due to the fact that so many students there were fluent in a second/third language due to the Mormon requirement for missionary work. I’m not sure if this would also be true of University of Utah but it might be worth looking into. I think University of Utah offers in-state rates to OOS students after one year.
@gigglebot3, you have the numbers for automatic full tuition at Temple or Ole Miss (two places my son is applying). Ole miss is cheaper overall, since housing and meal plans cost less.
Even if your parent income was “only” $200,000 a year, you still might NOT have received a penny of need based aid.
Don’t get too hung up on going someplace others you know are not. You don’t sound immature, so not knocking, but this is very young thinking as something that doesn’t matters in the scheme of things. I’d rather stay instate if I could talk dad into a year abroad, somewhere the exchange is favorable cost-wise.
Just because u can afford something doesn’t mean it makes sense to pay more for something that you can buy for less.
We want our kids to have a sense of ownership in their own education. Full pay for a modest private is within reach, but it isn’t going to happen. One of the things that really rubbed me wrong about one well known school was the tremendous sense of entitlement I picked up among the student ambassadors & admissions staff. We don’t do that.
If DD has the ability to earn her way - even partially - via merit, we feel a need to encourage that. She is instrumental in her own success, financially as well as academically. Writing a check is easy. Passing along our values is tricky.
@HRSMom:
“And carving out $20k from $325 while still maintaining daily life and saving for retirement is a challenge.”
I would love to be so challenged.
Not mocking that a prudent eye toward all expenditures and a healthy eye toward the future is simply smart, but, “good grief!”, as the boy in the cap said.
@Jamrock411: “The program received hundreds of applications from across the US from white applicants, despite its locations and not so high prestige.”
What are you talkin’ 'bout? Harlem is all the rage these days. It is the new Upper West Side. Granted, I would not want to receive critical care there, but its training programs could certainly be a draw, even for those [insert ‘assumed privileged’] students who merely take a cab to their brownstone, or shared high-rise in the East 80s.
I thought I read somewhere about three years ago that HBCU’s had about a 7% white population.
If the OP is smart enough, he/she can earn a merit scholarship to a Vanderbilt, Rice or USC. If not, there is nothing wrong with IU or Purdue. Both are excellent schools.
Post #66, I have relatives who make that similar salary $350k per year near San Diego and they complain about money and housing is expensive. The couple both have loans while put themselves in college and medical school, but after 3 kids only the husband is working. It’s not a lot of money even in not so high cost area near San Diego. It’s not NYC.
^ Ok, but Indiana - even Indianapolis and surrounding suburbs- have much lower cost of living, overall, than many parts of the country. Housing, in particular, is much lower than many other metro areas.
Comparing cost of living in San Diego (and SD is really high compared to Chicago area, for instance) to Indianapolis is hardly any comparison. Sales tax in Indiana is low, too.
You can live very comfortable on 325k in Indiana, even with 3 kids. San Diego, probably not as much.
Although I agree, that if the parents are in debt for any reason, that debt will be a hindrance to saving long-term for college, etc.
$325,000 per year is still a very large amount of money to live on in San Diego. It is about five times the median household income of $64,058 there. If $325,000 is not enough to provide a comfortable living in San Diego, does that mean that the median household living on one fifth that income is living in dire poverty?
@gigglebot3, As an individual who graduated from IU’s graduate school, I would have loved it if my daughter could have attended there. But, no engineering school. Purdue with and honors college invate and a merit scholarship was on the top of her list for a few months though. She ended up going somewhere else where the merit offer made a bigger dent. I get where your parents are coming from. You have some great options in your own state. Best of luck with your application process.
To all that are speculating about my financial situation… Yes, money does go further in Indiana. Taxes are cheap, bigger houses sell for much less than any other city or suburban area. It is mostly the fact that we will be spending loads for three daughters’ college educations, with two anticipating grad school. We have had a college plan since I was born and we were not hit very hard by the recession (my dad kept his same job). However, my parents are well into their 50s and are also trying to plan for retirement. We live comfortably and I do not need to worry about money but both of my parents were raised in poorer homes and therefore do not hand out cash when it is unneeded. I drive a used 2006 PT Cruiser that has no a/c and occasionally breaks down, not a super nice car like some speculated. My parents claim “character building”. 
We are upper-middle class and enjoy that comfort, but that would not make it wise to spend upwards of $600,000 on college education over a span of 7 years. (if all three of us pay for a private school education at $50,000 for 4 years)
You are a very impressive young woman @gigglebot3 with a good head on your shoulders; it is clear the proverbial apple has not fallen far from the tree. You will thrive and suceed where ever you choose to go.
Are the $20,000 in addition to your college plan? Because that may change the picture a bit in terms of where you can apply.
^^
Good question…but I think the dad would have made that clear when he said the $20k. The subject of discussion was income and paying for college. If dad’s intent was to provide $XXk from fund, and $20k from current income, I think he would have said so. But…it’s good for the student to get clarification.
I suspect that the “college fund” has an amount in it that the parents have figured will provide $20k per year per DD either directly or combo parents/college-fund.
While the parents’ income is very high, again, we don’t know how long dad’s income has been THAT high. The fact that mom thought the income was $200k makes me think that there has been some newish big accounts rather recently acquired.
I knew you would come to defend dad! Good kid:). It is what it is and you will figure it out and do well!
Can we stop with the drumbeat of how much $ is comfortable or rich? In many big cities, the mean income is indeed poverty. Meaning a $600 apt in the bronx for a family of 3…barely getting by. Kids go to failing schools. No one to watch the kids while mom works at night poor. It is a terrible shame but true. Unfortunately, a huge number of people live well below that with public assistance. I would not use the mean in a big city to illustrate anything other than that there are loads of people barely getting by in these cities, many of whom have income of zero.
Reality check for @gigglebot3: while you may believe you are upper middle class or it feels that way because your parents run the household like a family earning less (for example, you have a car but it is a 2006 PT Cruiser), income of $325k is in the 95th percentile which is probably no one’s definition of upper-middle class.
I suspect you underestimate the willingness of people to identify themselves as anything other than [modified]-middle class.