<p>I calculated everything for college and know where I am planning to go to college, but I just wanted to know if there was anyone else like me- parents who are well off but honestly can't afford college. </p>
<p>My Family(of four) rough estimate (annual):
Total Salary- 140,000$
Taxes and Parents work benefits/Insurance-56,000-62,000$
Mortgage- approx 42,000$ (I live in an average home-its actually kind of small-under 2,000sq ft, but the property values in DC area are really expensive)
Food and Utilities- 27,000$ for the whole year
Other (birthdays, phone bills, tv, etc)- 10,000$</p>
<p>So in the end, my parents can maybe contribute max 5,000$ a year, lol.
This of-course changed where I was planning to go to, but I think I know where I am going at what I can afford and where i can get scholarships.
Since I probably wont get financial aid, I cant rely on that. My EFC is 38,000 when I did a FAFSA estimator. ha, definitely cant afford that..</p>
<p>So was anybody else in this situation? Or anybody right now in this situation? Just want to know if anyone else has parents with a high salary, but can't afford that four year state school for 20,000 for room and board.</p>
<p>Do you qualify for any of the automatic or competitive full tuition or full ride merit scholarships listed in the sticky threads at the top of this forum section?</p>
<p>Many students post who qualify for little or no need based FA but their parents can’t afford the EFC. One thing you need to understand is that colleges expect you to pay from three sources: past savings, current earnings and loans to be paid off in the future.</p>
<p>Sure. We could be neighbors. If D didn’t have great grades and scores, she’d have far fewer options. As it is, she still doesn’t have many to which she “fits.” We’ve had to find schools with her desired major/program/concentration where she has a chance at great merit or grant aid. We found one of the latter. I hope you fare better. There are large state universities with automatic merit, but she didn’t want to go to a large state uni. And you must pay attention to earlier admissions deadlines (November 1st often) for almost all these opportunities. Run the NPCs carefully. That EFC won’t be this high at all schools, perhaps, but don’t expect UMD to offer you any money other than loans unless you’re exceptional. Still, it’s a very good school, esp in the sciences and engineering. If I can help you, pm me.</p>
<p>*3.6 GPA? What colleges will offer me a full ride?</p>
<p>I have a 3.6 gpa and 1600 SAT (out of 2400). (I know this isnt the best, and more average, but I have an upward trend- with more challenging courses taken sophomore and junior year, and if you take…*</p>
<p>With those stats, there would be very few schools that would give you substantial merit. I think UCB knows some HBCU’s that might. He might weigh in here with some suggestions.</p>
<p>food and utilities…$27k per year? Sounds like y’all need to put a sweater on in the winters and learn to cook some more economical meals. Your home is less than 2000 sq ft.</p>
<p>a little more softly, mom2. there are all kinds of people using this thread who find the cost of college daunting, and children often don’t have a sophisticated understanding of their parents’ income and expenses.</p>
<p>As discussed in some of your earlier threads, there are scads of students just like you throughout the DC region. They go to MC or NOVA or PGCC or Ann Arundel CC for the first two years or they commute to UM-CP or GMU or they chase merit aid. You are not alone. Next September (and even more so in January 2015) a whole lot of those classmates of yours who are talking big right now about where they will go to college will be registering for classes at NOVA/MC/PGCC/GMU, etc. </p>
<p>Stop fretting, and accept your reality. It is what it is. You can still get an education.</p>
<p>Jkeil brings up a good point. YOU need to discuss your college finances with your parents. Find out how much they can contribute to you college costs. Then look for colleges that are either in that price point, or will be with guaranteed merit aid. </p>
<p>If you are currently a senior in high school, you have likely missed the early application deadlines for the most generous merit scholarships awarded by most schools. Many are December 1, or before. A couple are December 15. </p>
<p>In addition, you really need a higher SAT score to be competitive for large amounts of merit aid. Did you take the ACT? Some students do better with this.</p>
<p>If you are a junior, you have more time to plan for college.</p>
<p>As Happymom noted, many other students are in the same boat. Some of your classmates will be heading off to less costly colleges. Some will commute from home. Some families will take out large loans to pay for college (not something I would advocate). </p>
<p>But first things first…you need an understanding about how college costs will be funded by your family…and the amount.</p>
<p>And in mom2’s defense, many families DO find that college money years do require some belt tightening…lowering the thermostat, eating out less, shopping someplace other than Whole Foods, foregoing vacations, new cars, furniture, etc. Some families even sell larger homes and move into smaller ones. Of course some folks don’t. </p>
<p>You need to know what YOUR parents will do. Ask them. They know you want to go to college. They know it isn’t free. I’m sure they have given this at least a tad of thought.</p>
<p>a little more softly, mom2. there are all kinds of people using this thread who find the cost of college daunting, and children often don’t have a sophisticated understanding of their parents’ income and expenses.</p>
<p>Of course many people find the cost of college daunting. </p>
<p>My joke about the cost of utilities and food was simply that. If they’re spending that much on those two expenses (which don’t include TV and phones) then maybe that’s an area that can be “cut back” so that more funds can be set-aside for college. </p>
<p>I’m not a believer in spending a gazillion dollars on college. I think it’s totally fine that many kids commute to their local CC or state univ. Many families would be nuts to spend their limited funds on room and board…especially if they have more than one to put thru college.</p>
<p>mom2, i totally agree, but I also realize that I’ve spent the last 17 years hiding my financial concerns, more or less, from my children. That is not to say they didn’t know there were limits to our resources but I didn’t talk about money or salary or inheritances in front of them. so when D gets to this point and finds out my salary she’s surprised. and there’s some questions I won’t answer for her because they’re none of her business. but that I intend to retire in ten years and not fifteen is something she needs to understand, just as she needs to understand that there’s no deus ex machine gonna sweep in and make all this go away. I agree that many of her friends are going to CC or UMD, much to their surprise, but on the other hand I have no idea how some of them are going to UMich or Berkeley–and neither do they, possibly.</p>
<p>I completely agree that many kids have NO IDEA about their families’ finances. We have kids here who’ll post that their families have lowish incomes, yet they think their parents can come up with $20k per year for college…not happening…unless the parents have some other source of money or some odd situation.</p>
<p>And, I agree that parents shouldn’t jeopardize retirements to pay for college. There was a student who recently posted that she felt her dad was being unreasonable for saving so much for retirement…which (in her mind) limited her options. She was quickly “set straight” by a few posters here on CC. </p>
<p>My own kids were the last ones to know anything about household expenses when they were in HS. In their young adult minds cell phones, car insurance and other living expenses are somehow magically covered. Yes, if they had been asked to sit down and actually write down everything that their parents were possibly paying for each month, they’d probably capture the obvious things, but they’d have likely forgotten a whole bunch of things. </p>
<p>In the OP’s case, the student seems to have numbers that appear to have come from his/her parents. </p>
<p>but on the other hand I have no idea how some of them are going to UMich or Berkeley–and neither do they, possibly.</p>
<p>At this time of year, the senior lunch tables are filled with “I’m going to (fancy school)” talk. Once the FA pkgs come and parents have sticker shock, a whole bunch will find out that they’re not “going to (fancy school)”.</p>
<p>Well, the only things you really need to reveal to her are (a) the information needed to fill in financial aid forms and net price calculators, and (b) what you are actually willing to contribute to her education costs. Then let her find the affordable choices within those parameters. Obviously, the money talk is best done before she makes her application list, so that she can come up with a realistic list.</p>
<p>*And in mom2’s defense, many families DO find that college money years do require some belt tightening…lowering the thermostat, eating out less, shopping someplace other than Whole Foods, foregoing vacations, new cars, furniture, etc. Some families even sell larger homes and move into smaller ones. Of course some folks don’t. *</p>
<p>Exactly…that was my point. Families who can’t say “money is no object” when it comes to paying for college usually do have to do some budget dances. Maybe they have to put off replacing the home’s flooring for a few years, maybe take cheap vacations, maybe drive older cars…there’s often a whole list of things that a family with a high income can do to find some more “college dollars”. </p>
<p>Just today I was at a friend’s home and she loves those shopping networks. I don’t remember which one she had on TV, but it was advertising the day’s special which was a “no-contract” Samsung Galaxy phone with lots of minutes and data and the option to get “3 for 1” minutes/data for the future. I didn’t catch all the details, but I could see how a family with a pricey cell phone plan might be able to switch to something like that if need be. </p>
<p>I know that in our own household, if we needed to cut-back, we’d hit things like our DirecTV bill and switch to a lower plan. We can’t drop our cell phone plan yet, but we could reduce some things if needed. And…for sure I’d tell DH that he can’t run around barefoot, in shorts and in a Tshirt while flipping on the heat! (a major pet peeve!!!)</p>
<p>That said, since this student will very likely have an unaffordable EFC even if the family does cut-back a bit (EFC will likely be at least $40k per year) and her stats won’t get the needed merit, she needs to look at schools that she can commute to.</p>
<p>Not sure what you’re saying. It seems like this student is familiar with the parents finances. The student is giving numbers like 56k, 42k, & 62k. Those sound like numbers from the parents. Kids would be more likely to give numbers that end in 0 or 5.</p>
<p>There seems to be common distorted idea of what “high”, “middle”, and “low” income and economic class are on these forums (i.e. these describe much higher income levels than what they would if they were based on actual income levels in the US).</p>
Your home is less than 2000 sq ft.</p>