<p>Is geeps even a parent?</p>
<p>Just wondering…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Where are you getting this? I’m understanding where you’re coming from with the idea that affluent kids are being priced out of the Ivy League because of a lack of needed aid but I don’t see how this is lowering the Ivy League’s prestige at all.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, you sure are lucky your kid doesn’t have to go there!</p>
<p>This is a personal matter for all of us. We’re all stuck in one boat or another and afraid it might be sinking fast. </p>
<p>For me, our income is high enough that I’m afraid our EFC will be huge, and we won’t be able to meet it even though we’ve been saving for years and have not added to our house or spent extravagantly like some friends have.</p>
<p>For others, trapped in or having chosen a career that just pays less, the fear is that even state U. would be unaffordable. And then what could you do?</p>
<p>Dumb luck, or lack of it, is another factor. With our college savings worth so much less, and college endowments worth so much less, this is just the worst time to have a prospective freshman or two living in your house. </p>
<p>And all along, you might see a flagrant example of someone else who was just luckier, or had parents who gamed the system, or got money for some BS reason and of course that is going to bother most people.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s great advice to say —let it go— but it’s hard to do that when you’re in an environment that is FULL of these inequities. It’s hard to avoid the reminders.</p>
<p>Most of us have become completely DEPENDENT on generous financial or merit aid. Too often, it seems to be a total crapshoot what the actual price will be for school A or B relative to it’s apparent sticker price.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Don’t tell me I don’t get it…I TOTALLY GET IT…that’s why my 2 kids will be full pay on income far less than $200k. Fiscal responsibility, early planning. Yeah, I don’t get it.</p>
<p>
Fleeing, I say , just fleeing. In droves. Stats are dropping like…well, hmmmmm. I guess they are not dropping, are they? Hmmmmm. Nevermind about the brightest. But the bestest kids , they are fleeing. ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I did it…Taxes are not what you stated.</p>
<p>Dear Rocket, You aren’t bothering to look at how much the State University’s scores are increasing. It’s happening because the smart high middle income kids are going to the State Schools. Look at Michigan/IU/Purdue/U of Illinois/UNC/California State U’s/NY State U’s…so many others. They have MUCH larger numbers of students, so their percentages of high ranking students are not as high, but they have higher numbers of high achieving students in the aggregate. There are still some high ranking schools that flat out take the BEST students…MIT, for example. But most of the Ivies are becoming a joke…between their legacies, their affirmative action, their programs to “balance” their classes. It’s a joke. They DEPEND on the international students to bring up their scores…and the kids who are extremely talented and low income…because middle America is gone.</p>
<p>Geeps, you haven’t a clue. How about…200k in income, self-employed…18K in social security/medicare alone. Plus state and federal tax of 36k. And you get none of the deductions of the “middle” class. That is the income group carrying all of the financial burden in this country. And clearly, they have been saps.</p>
<p>geep - I think you forgot about FICA, employee contribution to health insurance, life insurance, ADD, 401K contribution. I know all that because I actually take a paycheck home.</p>
<p>debrockman-I want hard proof-like numbers…I read your article, it was anecdotal at best…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That, and the fact that the economy and budget concerns are making state governments reduce their financial support. In fact, that might actually be one of the main reasons. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Where are you getting this? Who, besides you, is saying that the Ivy League universities have lost their prestige? (It’s not like all of those things you listed are brand new or recent, by the way).</p>
<p>whatever debrockman…I do have a clue…and not everyone is self employed that makes $200k.</p>
<p>your numbers are not that far off from mine by the way…$11k a month</p>
<p>geeps-I will not attack you. My family doesn’t make 200k, so I really don’t know how it all adds up…but I do give you props for being so frugal and saving…you must have had some hard choices</p>
<p>By the way, self employed making $200k should be filing as an S-corp(even if they are a LLC), taking a salary and paying a lot less in FICA.</p>
<p>debrockman- You are simply wrong. It IS correct that many very bright, high-scoring students are going to state universities. That has ALWAYS been the case. There are not enough spots at the so-called “elite” universities for all the extremely qualified applicants. We’ve covered that topic on these forums over and over again. There are also other reasons a student (while a competitive candidate for a highly-selective school) might choose a state university or a LAC with merit money- such as a desire for “real” athletics, financial considerations or simply wanting to stay closer to home. Perhaps in the current economy more high-scoring students are choosing state universities, but there have always been plenty. This is no way means the Ivy schools are “settling”. Admission is more competitive than ever and the kids who get in (whether with financial help or from the upper middle class or the extremely wealthy class) are very talented. There are many times over that number who don’t get in because there is not room for them who are equally talented.
But to say “it’s a joke”. Sour grapes???</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>well thank you…not sure why I’m being attacked in the first place…because I believe someone making $200k should be able to save for the kids education? How dare I</p>
<p>Just a note, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are not shortchanging the middle class. If I am accepted to Harvard I will undoubtedly attend because I will be roughly 15K annually because they have a 1 to 10% of income plan for those making 200k or less (might be 150K, I don’t remember). So if you are beastly enough to get into one of those 3 schools, middle class people do have a couple of “elite” options.</p>
<p>geeps20 - I would still like to see your math. Talk is cheap.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Olin College of Engineering is #2 on the SAT list, where tuition is free…Cooper Union, William and Mary, New College of Florida and UC Berkeley (all free or public Us) all come before Michigan. This proves many above posters’ points.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But college certainly isn’t. BWAHAHAHAHA!</p>