<p>No debt. Avoid use of credit cards. Efficient low or mid-end items, well-researched for long repair-free classic life. No travel. No gifts. Set a weekly and a monthly budget. No impulse purchases. Bring your lunch to work. No eating or ordering out. Do it yourself on home tasks as much as possible.
Set a strict allowance for your kids and encourage them to work for spending money or build a resume for such. Limit them on their expenditures for clothing, travel, partying, etc.</p>
<p>Model and offer this economic lifestyle for your kids. It is another great gift to give them.</p>
<p>Most important…families need to plan for FOUR years of college outlay…not one or two. Times change, finances could change. If financial considerations are significant, this needs to be considered from the get go…not halfway through the schooling of the kids.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel sad because I can’t give my kids all the things they would like or that some of their friends have.</p>
<p>But then I think, I don’t know what the future holds for them. They may make a lot of money and if so, perhaps the fact that they grew up without a lot of luxuries will make them appreciate what they have - and use some of their surplus to help those who are less fortunate, and not look down their noses at people who have less than they do. And if they don’t make a lot of money, they will know how to get by on what they have, and still have good and fulfilling lives.</p>
<p>Will it really negatively affect their future lives that we almost never eat out? That we buy well-used cars and keep them until they disintegrate? That for our family vacations we drive somewhere and go tent-camping instead of flying to Disney World? That we shop for groceries at Aldi instead of the high-priced supermarket, or that we’re regulars at the clothes racks at Goodwill? I think not.</p>
<p>I think they will also understand the principle of making choices. DS14 not long ago was complaining that he’s embarrassed when I drive one of our beaters into the parking lot at the Catholic high school he attends, because it’s bound to be the worst-looking car in the lot. I explained that if he really felt that way, perhaps we could reconsider paying for him to go to the Catholic school (which he loves), put him back in public school (which he detested), and apply the money we’d save to buying a nice car. He got the point and hasn’t complained about the cars since.</p>
<p>At my firm, we have option of deferring our income. I know of people who were defering 100% of their income in order to pay lower tax. I wonder if people would purposely defer income in order to get better FA, if college FA would know that and if it would be included when they are doing EFC calculation?</p>
<p>Oldfort…how is this deferred compensation dealt with from a tax form standpoint? Does the person get a W-2 with NO salary on it…is there some other form that would indicate that this is income but not yet disbursed to the employee?</p>
<p>I was also wondering if folks could do the same with things like stock options…defer the actual receipt of them for tax purposes and then get them at a later date. </p>
<p>If someone can keep their income below the threshold for need based aid at very generous schools…well…if that does not any longer hold for them, they should consider cashing in on some of these deferred options, right?</p>
<p>(I was going to explain how we are dealing with paying 2 tuitions, some good, some bad, some lucky, but somehow this just didn’t seem to be the right place)</p>
<p>But thumper, my sense is that Dad-O games the system just like some other folks do, like Mr. “Didn’t save a dime, went on exotic vacations, and ended up debt-free after I ‘rented my kids.’” DadII asked for positive supports and Mr Rent-'em suggested another way of looking at what FA is all about, pimping. I’m happy OP can join me at the “Ouch! 2 tuition bills hurts” club. I can relate to that. It hurts here too.</p>
<p>“It is true that I have no manners toward those who game the FA system.”</p>
<p>No gaming at all. We abided by all their rules, and were accepting of the results. Why would anyone think that was “gaming”? We didn’t hire any fancy college coaches. We didn’t even have a GC. The kids didn’t load up on APs. They had no outside SAT/ACT coaching. My D1 took the SAT precisely once. No one wrote their college essays for them. We didn’t have any letters from Senators or Congresspeople. We didn’t send any special donations, or bribe the adcoms. We didn’t have any special tax preparers, or apocryphal farms or small businesses to write off. No big house with a hefty mortgage either.</p>
<p>Our goal was to make it possible for our kids to become the most interesting, exciting, passionate kids they were meant to be, and let the chips fall where they may. Whether they were accepted or rejected at certain places wouldn’t change who they already were. Then the schools decided to give me kids hefty tuition discounts. No one twisted their arms. We were prepared to send them to the state unis, where they also would have received fine educations.</p>
<p>And then we reached good agreements with the colleges. They would lower the cost for my kids to attend in exchange for having them. Just like they do with thousands of other kids every year. No “pimping”. Simple business arrangement to everyone’s benefit. They got very fine educations, for which we are very grateful, and the schools benefited too. If, as Padad suggests, all the schools have a hefty surplus, it sure didn’t cost them very much.</p>
<p>Was it a risky strategy? No. We knew they had fine places to go if it didn’t work out at some of these places. And, it cost us PLENTY - in hard cash. Our pre-college costs for the kids was way out of whack relative to our income. It’s just how we decided to spend the money. As far as we were concerned, in those days there was nothing going on at Yale that was more important - to my kids - than was going on in our backyard.</p>
<p>All DadII wants to do is to brag that his kids go to HYPS and the like in a funny way that annoys people, it seems. Does he enjoy that? I don’t presume he has bad intentions.</p>
<p>The constant brag/whine posting style is a bit like nails on a blackboard to many, but it does bring an odd source of amusement. Look at the number of posts this thread got. Lots of traction.</p>
<p>My conspiracy theory is that Dad II is working for the CC´s advertising department, whenever it gets slow here, he is asked to post something provocative on. Maybe that´s how he is earning extra income.</p>
<p>I hope everyone knows I am kidding, including the moderators.</p>
<p>No jym. ^He would never do that! He might take added income in the form of an untaxable gift (and given to his wife or kids… new car? trip somewhere?), but he’d never have reportable income until his son graduates. He knows how to work it.</p>