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<p>According the National Center for Education Statistics, average salaries for teachers in 80-81 were $17,644, 81-82 $19,274, 82-83 $20,695. I would guess that starting salaries would be a lot lower. Your numbers didn’t make sense to me because starting salaries in my district in the mid-1990s was low-20s.</p>
<p>[Estimated</a> average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools: Selected years, 1959-60 through 2005-06](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_075.asp]Estimated”>Estimated average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools: Selected years, 1959-60 through 2005-06)</p>
<p>Sorry, BCEagle, data point of one expanded out to thinking that was a generally available number. My friend who decided to skip out on his Comp Sci degree and teach math instead was offered $18,000 in upstate NY. We proudly posted our job offers and rejections on our doors as seniors. </p>
<p>I was surprised to see that in 2001 the starting salary in WA state was only around $23,000, not much better than my friend was offered almost 20 years earlier.</p>
<p>OP: Merit aid isn’t always about grades and scores. At LACs, students can get them for service, leadership, performing arts, etc. CTCL schools do this. DD has merit scholarships for both leadership and music from a school in the Midwest. We don’t qualify for the Cal Grant program, so I am pretty sure we would only get Stafford loans at a California public school. The merit scholarships + FA bring our cost to about/below the COA for a UC. Of course, UC costs have really gone up in recent years. Also note that COA tends to be lower in the South and Midwest because room and board is so much lower due to a lower cost of living.</p>
<p>further clarification: I don’t think I ever referred to ‘elite private’. I was just talking about a ‘non-elite’ private. (Or are all privates considered elite?)</p>
<p>My D applied to one private. FA package leaves about $29K in unmet need. (COA is $55K, FA+grants=$24K)</p>
<p>Again, since this school is clearly not affordable for us, I just got to wondering how it could ever be affordable.</p>
<p>And, I’m somewhat perplexed by the statement that elite privates were never meant for the middle class. Maybe, but is that what we really want, a segregated society?</p>
<p>Magnetron–that is not true that Bennington was the most expensive college in the nation then. I went to college in the early 80’s and my school was $15,000 COA my freshman year. Harvard, etc. were in the 20K range then. Our state schools for tuition/room/board were $5500–not including books, etc.</p>
<p>crizello–you are finding out why casting a wide net if you are looking for merit aid is a good idea. In rough numbers, most of the schools our kids applied to had top merit awards that were about half the COA. If that is all you are getting, then you are going to have to come up with the rest. At 55k, half of that still leaves a pretty big bill to pay, but even at $27k left, that is still less than the COA at our flagship. What we looked for to help costs were other merit awards for things other than grades–meaning awards that were not tied financially. Our kids got them for sports and music (our sport kid could have gotten the music one as well–they were the same dollar amount but they didn’t give both). That same award is given for other areas of interest. It took a lot of leg work on my part (since I had the time to search) but in the end, they ended up with some fantastic choices that are affordable.</p>
<p>Maybe, but is that what we really want, a segregated society?</p>
<p>When roughly 70% of the population does not have a college degree, even a degree from Cornell ;), will put you in the elite % of society.</p>
<p>MY son will attend a wonderful private university that is an excellent fit for him and his career goals, and the money really is a patchwork of sources.</p>
<p>First, I purchased a prepaid tuition plan starting when he was 3, making monthly payments which were really tough once the child support stopped about a year later. But a great return: about $34K on $11K which will be paid out over the next 4 years. Great plan, but what I couldn’t know was that our big public schools would be a poor fit for my bright introvert with a relatively mild LD.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, all gift money was socked away in a savings account (which should have been converted to a 529, or put in my name, prior to FAFSA but oh well.) This almost doubled the cash on hand.</p>
<p>DS’s hard work resulted in a decent GPA (3.3 uw, 3.75 w) and a 32 ACT, which netted some very nice merit money, plus two additional scholarships (one for service/leadership and one for theatre) stacked on top - and all requiring only a 2.0 to maintain.</p>
<p>He will take on the subsidized loans only for a max of $19K if needed, which I hope to help him pay off when he finishes grad school (in a physical science.)</p>
<p>And now that I am a household of one, I am taking this excellent opportunity to downsize, since I need to move closer to a frail parent with worsening health issues anyway. My budgeted savings in overhead will pay for the remainder of the COA without too much hardship, just very careful spending and a modest lifestyle. I was thinking of giving up meat anyway!</p>
<p>That’s how we’re doing it. Worst case, I will start my pension payouts early…yes, I am that old.</p>
<p>Here is how my cousin is doing it: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/136[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/136</a></p>
<p>As for myself, we make enough money that we do not qualify for any financial aid, but due to the house commitment and private school k-12 commitments and other things that we tied ourselves into, plus some adverse events in the last 10 years, we can’t pay $60K+ for our kids’ college educations without putting us in serious debt and uncertainties. We have come up with $35K as what we can pay, and we have borrowed some of that each year as well. Our kids have done all right in finding schools within that price range, and a little more with them putting in some money, and leaving the student loan money as a buffer. Our in state schools, some smaller local and catholic schools, and OOS schools have been where we focused our attention. Found some sweet gems in the mix.</p>
<p>I have 2 in college, the older one at a CSU (2013 graduate) and the younger at a private college (2014 graduate). We saved a lot when they were young and our income was high. Bonuses and gifts from grandparents went into UTMAs. Very little was added after the boys were in junior high school. The UTMAs were converted to UTMA/529s when the boys were in high school. Grandparents set up 529s as well.</p>
<p>The older one was completely covered by the 529 funds because he’s been very frugal. His expenses have come in around $5000/year <em>less</em> than the published cost of attendance due to living off campus, buying used books and not having many misc expenses. He also works in the summers and pays for gas and entertainment.</p>
<p>The younger wasn’t a star student in high school but he received very generous merit aid from his college. This brought the cost down to around that of a CSU at the start, although costs have increased every year at a much higher rate than CSU tuition. Published COA is currently $55K. The first 3 years, with 2 in college, we received a small amount of need-based aid. Next year with only 1 in college I expected to receive zero need-based aid, but in fact the award just came in and the need component was reduced but not zeroed out. COA has been paid from 529s and current income. I transferred some money from this son’s 529 into a Private College 529 plan. <a href=“https://www.privatecollege529.com%5B/url%5D”>https://www.privatecollege529.com</a> This money must remain in the plan for 3 years, so next fall with be the first time I can spend it. It was a hedge against the increase in tuition and will cover about a third of the cost.</p>