<p>I'm fairly new to this college process. Husband makes a great salary and I stay at home with the kids. Our oldest is just starting a private HS and is doing good so far. The problem we have is this: While she can get in to some good colleges here in the upper midwest it doesn't look like we'll be able to send her due to costs. When we figure out our EFC it looks like we're being told we can afford $46,700 a year. We have two younger children besides our oldest. We have bills like DH student loans, disability insurance, and some others that are not taken into account. I feel like our success has screwed our children out of any school choise other than CC or in-state state universities. I'm hoping there are other parents out there that have simular situation than can tell me what they are doing? Thanks</p>
<p>Are the colleges that your daughter is looking at ones that offer merit aid (aid based on SAT scores and grades rather than your financial situation)? That might be the best bet in order to reduce costs to what you can pay. </p>
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<p>Nah, that’s not true. Even kids with 0 EFCs don’t usually get enough money to choose anything more expensive than an in-state state university, and sometimes even that’s out of reach. The EFC just qualifies you for a small amount of federal aid and, depending on your state, some amount of state aid. By itself it can’t tell you what you can afford and it’s fairly common for someone to either get a high EFC that they clearly can’t pay or get a low EFC but nowhere near enough aid to attend the universities they want. It’s frustrating but it’s a constant.</p>
<p>Would you rather be poor and get financial aid?</p>
<p>We’ve been in both positions. With child # 1 our income was good (though admittedly nowhere near 46,000 EFC range) and we did not even think of applying for financial aid - never crossed our minds to be honest - I though that was just for poor people. By the time child # 2 went to college our financial situation was drastically different because of a combination of things (lay offs, major and chronic continuing medical problems of the primary earner, leading to early retirement, major medical costs every year etc). My daughter does get good FA at a state U but it would not cover her expenses without the pretty good merit scholarships she has - and the FA does include student loans. If I could choose between our once good good financial position and no FA, and our current financial situation with FA - you had better believe I would choose to be in a better financial position and not get FA.</p>
<p>The way it works is this…</p>
<p>Those with good incomes are expected to be saving for college.</p>
<p>Most schools do NOT have the means to give much in aid anyway, so even if your EFC was lower, it would NOT mean that you’d get much in aid unless your child got into one of the limited number of schools that meet need.</p>
<p>Low income families often cannot afford college either because (again), most schools cannot meet need.</p>
<p>You’re choosing to spend money on private high school instead of saving that money for college. That’s a personal choice. I’m not criticizing it; my kids went to private high schools, too. BUT IT IS a choice. If you were lowish income, that choice probably wouldn’t be affordable. If you were lowish income, you probably couldn’t afford to be a stay at home mom.</p>
<p>You have MANY advantages that a high income affords…a stay at home parent…private school education. Don’t for a minute think that you’d be better off with a lower income. If it were true, tell your H to take a lower paying job.</p>
<p>Anyway…if your kids have high stats, they can get good merit scholarships at various schools. </p>
<p>We have a high EFC as well ( with 2 in college), so I’m not trying to be harsh…just giving you a reality check.</p>
<p>I’m sure you didn’t intend your post to sound so disparaging of the countless students getting an excellent education at their instate publics – where even those getting financial aid are still attending at great cost to their families, students working summers and during the term, and taking out loans to boot.</p>
<p>My daughter is having an excellent educational experience, and life experience, at her in-state public. For a family like yours with the means to pay for it, it’s a bargain at the price. Really state universities are subsidies for the affluent. Count your blessings!</p>
<p>This is such a hard thing to explain without sounding like I’m looking down at state schools or CC. First I wish to say that I thank God everyday that we are so lucky to have the life we do. Like so many others we worked hard to get here. I am coming to realize that our daughter will most likely go either two years to our local CC or to one of the state schools. My problem is I came from a state where the state system was looked down upon. Now I need to change my feelings and I take responsibilty for these feelings. What I guess I wanted was reasurance that a good education can be had outside of a top university. My DD wants to major in English with a possible minor in Journalism.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have a freshman. A good time to start learning about the process. Good think also that you have an idea of what you are going to be expected to pay. You’ve got a few years to deal with that in whatever manner you choose. You’ve already made the decision to pay for private high school so the concept of paying for education isn’t foreign. You won’t have a concrete idea of where your child will be when going through the college app process in a couple years and things do have a way of shifting around between freshman and junior year. We are very fortunate in the midwest to have an abundance of very solid publics and very good privates that are priced well comparatively. Keep reading. Keep learning. Keep asking questions – there are really no “bad questions.” Start saving if you aren’t already! Help your student do the best they can. It’s really the only strategy that works and has a concrete payoff: saving and encouraging the kids to do well. Your spouse’s success hasn’t “screwed” your kids out of anything, it has given you both the ability to make choices…big difference if you turn the thinking around. We look at it like don’t buy a new car - one year’s tuition. Don’t take a vacation for a few years - another year’s tuition. It’s pretty easy to fill the gap between what you’ve saved for college and what the actual costs are compared to people that need every penny of salary to pay day to day living expenses. You can take a part time job while the kids are in school - another year’s tuition. Once you hit close to full pay status it’s all about cash flow. You’ll figure it out. It sneaks up on everyone but at least you are thinking it out before senior year spring.</p>
<p>I am coming* to realize that our daughter will most likely go either two years to our local CC **or to one of the state schools. My problem is I came from a state where the state system was looked down upon. Now I need to change my feelings and I take responsibilty for these feelings. What I guess I wanted was reasurance that a good education can be had outside of a top university. My DD wants to major in English with a possible minor in Journalism. *</p>
<p>Not necessarily will she have to go to a community college or a regional state school. Since your D is only a freshman and you know your situation, you need a STRATEGY.</p>
<p>1) Your kids need to get the best grades and test scores that they can.</p>
<p>2) They don’t need to take every AP class offered if it means hurting their GPA. I’m not suggesting that your kids avoid AP classes because AP classes are a good thing, but do not overload the schedule with so many hard classes that their GPA is threatened. They need to maintain GPAs above a 3.5…preferably a 3.8+</p>
<p>3) Keep on top of which schools offer big merit scholarships and what stats are required (requirements and/or awards can change each year, so keep up to date)</p>
<p>4) Don’t rely on what people tell you, look at the schools’ websites. </p>
<p>5) Have your kids practice for their PSAT, SAT, and ACT exams. Have your kids take the PSAT as soph for practice. The “real PSAT” is taken junior year and it can mean big scholarships. </p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids is right. A common way high-income kids make college affordable is to get merit scholarships. PSAT/SAT scores are the path to many merit scholarships and, fortunately for you, are highly correlated to family income. </p>
<p>There are other paths too: Your child could probably save $10K a year by attending college in Canada. Attending a top public may be cheaper than a private even if you are attending out-of-state. And, in my community, some stay-at-home moms go back to work when their kids hit college age.</p>
<p>We have a variation on the same problem. We had our kids late in life (early 40s), and we have been saving since forever. Our HHI actually is not that great – well below $100K – so we could probably qualify for need-based aid, IF it were based solely on HHI. But, of course, FAFSA also takes assets into account – and, as I mentioned, we’ve been saving since forever. Now we are close to retirement age (I am 59, and DH is 60). We have built up a nice nest-egg, not all of which is protected in our 401K. We <em>need</em> that nest-egg for retirement; we cannot afford to spend a huge chunk of it on college expenses. Yes, we can contribute some, but we fear that we will be expected to make a dramatic dent in it. It’s almost as if we are being penalized for being frugal savers!</p>
<p>Fortunately, older son is a National Merit semifinalist. I think he may end up going to a school that essentially <em>buys</em> National Merit kids. (Yes, mom2collegekids, he has applied to Bama—and thanks so much for the tip!)</p>
<p>I wish FAFSA would take into account the parents’ age and life-stage. Obviously, when you are near retirement age (and facing the prospect of old age / illness), your nest-egg must be <em>largely</em> (not exclusively) reserved for retirement. Otherwise, you could be up the proverbial creek during your sunset years – and, after a lifetime of saving, that just does not seem right.</p>
<p>The FAFSA does take into consideration parents’ age. The older you are the higher your asset protection level.</p>
<p>Of course, FAFSA doesn’t determine how much you’ll have to pay for college.</p>
<p>Newfaith, I think there are many publics that offer an outstanding education, especially the flagship publics of many states. I have one kid in a tip top liberal arts college (consistently ranked #1 or #2 in the country on certain notable lists) and another kid at the honors college of our flagship state univ. I can tell you in all honesty that my kid at the state univ. (also an English major) is getting an education every bit as good as my other kid at the very selective LAC. In fact, in certain ways, perhaps even better. Partly that has to do with the honors college at the state univ., but also within her major department.</p>
<p>You should check out honors programs that might exist at your state universities. They can be excellent options at a reasonable cost!</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the kind advice. A lot of your advice is right on target with what we’re planning. We live in MN so one thing we will have our daughter do is PSEO (dual credit) which will take care of at least one year of tution. I will probably look at going to work at least part time next year. One of the main reasons I don’t work is because of our youngest (10yr old) who has Aspberger and ADHD. We have spent a lot of $ for therapies that have helped so much but we not covered under our insurance. We thank God everyday that we could pay for these behavior modification and OT therapies as they have brought him so far. As hes getting older he is needing less of me so going back to work part time now seems possible. I’ve had our son in a small Christian school because of the small class size and the ability to work closely with the teachers and admin. When he was younger public school was not a good fit for him and due to his differences there was concern both from therapist and the schools themselves of his being bullied. Long story short we we’re so pleased with son’s sucess and the christian values being taught at his school we decided to bring both his sisters over from the public school. </p>
<p>We have saved for kids schools a little but have always had the thought that they would work for some of the expense too. We have done a lot of the things others have mentioned, no new cars, very few vacations, we don’t eat out ect… I guess what is frustrating is watching others who make a lot less doing all those things and the here how daughter is going XXX but they can afford it because they will being getting aide of course. In our local area I’ve only got one friend who gets it, she understands our problem and is very supportive. </p>
<p>I did not realize that some state schools have honor colleges. I will start looking at that as I research over the next few years. We do tell DD to do the absoulte best because merit aide will be a big factor when it comes time to decided. As far as AP classes, its a non-issue due to her HS not having any honors or AP classes. Her HS is very small but known for being a very hard academic school, which helps her prepare for the expectations of the work she’ll be expected to do in college. Her school also requires every student to due volunteer work in the community and she plays three sports (hopefully will be varsity at baskeball). She might not get into the best school by going this route but I am very pleased that she will be educated in things that don’t show up in the gpa, a love for the lord and the value of service. Anyway thanks so much for everyones post and advice.</p>
<p>One of the problems that people also don’t understand, that although the state schools can be a good choice cost wise, they may be an awful fit for a kid coming from a very small private school. My daughter graduated from a very small private school and that large state univ would not have worked for her at all. Instead, we found a lower rated small college that is a perfect fit for her and she qualifies for merit money. You may have to go that route.</p>
<p>Being so new I look at the cost at some of the small private colleges and don’t see how we can afford it. I’m watching the families with kids ahead of us in HS to see some of things that are working for them. We live in rural MN, love it, so other than CC our kids have to go away for college. Closest schools are 40mins away. I guess they could commute, but doing some of our harsher weather I don’t think this is a good idea. We are currently still paying DH’s student loans and DH really didn’t want to see our kids stuck with huge student loans like we were.</p>
<p>My kids went to a small private school…less than 250 kids. </p>
<p>I was concerned about the transition to a large school, but since their flagship has an excellent honors college and honors housing, they get that “small school feel” within a big school. Honors colleges typically offer smaller class sizes. At my kids’ school, the Honors College courses are limited to 15 students in each class.</p>
<p>As for APs…kids can self-study for them and take the exams at a local public high school if you request that they order the tests for you. your own private school may order them as well. The tests are taken in May. </p>
<p>*We are currently still paying DH’s student loans and DH really didn’t want to see our kids stuck with huge student loans like we were. * </p>
<p>I completely understand. I don’t know how much your H initially borrowed, but if your child borrows - say $20k total - that isn’t usually that hard to pay back over 10 years (or less). So, don’t rule out that your kids may have to take out some small federal student loans.</p>
<p>Again…get a strategy together. Help your kids focus on getting the best grades and the best test scores they can. Merit scholarships from the colleges that offer them can really reduce the cost of college (not all colleges do offer big merit scholarships - many elite colleges do not offer any merit scholarships). </p>
<p>FYI - the biggest and best merit scholarships are offered by colleges, not by private organizations. Private scholarships are often small and only for one year. Scholarships from colleges are typically for all 4 years as long as grades are maintained. </p>
<p>And…important!..Don’t expect to get much scholarship money as a transfer student. The biggest and best scholarships are given to incoming freshmen. It’s ok that your kids take dual enrollment classes WHILE in high school…that doesn’t hurt their freshman status (even if they have lots of credits). But, if your child goes to a CC after high school and then goes to a university, few merit scholarships are available and they’re often for very small amounts.</p>
<p>A student with high stats that goes to a CC after high school is really hurting his chances for good merit scholarships.</p>
<p>You’ll learn a lot on College Confidential. </p>
<p>Right now, you have 3 kids in private school. When the first child goes to college, the money that you were spending on her high school costs will be available for college as well. </p>
<p>How good is their private high school? If it’s not that strong, it may not be worth the money that you’re spending. What kind of SAT or ACT test scores are they getting as juniors and seniors? How STRONG are their math and science teachers? If they are weak, I wouldn’t send my kids there.</p>
<p>Many parents choose private education, but not all are strong academically. That can be frustrating after spending all that money only to find out that their math and science classes are quite weak.</p>
<p>DS is a senior at a moderate sized private hs (~200 in his class?), and it has been worth every penny - and it costs a lot of pennies.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Oh I agree. Your son is in a Catholic school correct? So, were mine…for K-12. Many/most Catholic schools are excellent. However, we have not found the same consistent quality amongst regular Christian schools (certainly some are excellent). That’s why I made the point about whether this particular school is of high quality.</p>
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<p>FAFSA DOES take parent age into consideration in that more of your assets (savings etc) are protected than for younger parents. In addition, any money you have IN retirement accounts (IRA, TSA, SELPA, etc…authorized retirement accounts) is not counted as an asset. It was your choice to keep your retirement savings in an account that is NOT a retirement account. </p>
<p>If your child is attending private high school, then wouldn’t your private high school costs then be able to be applied to college when the time comes? If your child is a high school freshman, this is a good time to build up a little savings for college (since it sounds like you have not previously done so). In addition, you might want to consider moving (if you don’t exceed the maximum allowable amounts) some of that regular savings IN to real retirement accounts as soon as possible. There is a limit on annual contributions but if you are not contributing the max, you should be able to transfer some. Also you could open a Roth IRA as well.</p>
<p>Others have given you some good suggestions. Your child is a freshman. This student needs to do well in school, make good class choices. Your family needs to look at options for schools. There are plenty of four year colleges out there…some provide more merit aid than others…and in all cases this will depend on your child’s academic performance and standardized test scores.</p>
<p>Perhaps you (the mom) could get a job? I know that my WHOLE income…all of it…went to pay for college costs for my two kiddos. It was well worth it for me to work as our kids went to terrific schools that we could help pay for because <em>I</em> was also working. If your family contribution is already HIGH this won’t really affect your need based financial aid profile but WILL give you additional money to use for college (or other) costs.</p>
<p>We, as a family, also streamlined a LOT of spending when our kids were approaching and in college…no vacations, new cars, housing upgrades, less dining out, etc. Well worth it.</p>
<p>Thumper…I think you’re mixing up two different posters’ posts.</p>
<p>The one with 3 kids in private schools (oldest is a frosh) is not the older parents with lots of savings. I believe they are the ones with the highish income.</p>
<p>The one mentioning being older parents and having lots of unprotected income has a senior in high school.</p>
<p>However, many of your points are very good. A stay-at-home parent may have to go back to work to help pay college costs if a private college education is desired.</p>