But then why are they still saying they will pay half of the sister’s law school?
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I don’t want to go to grad school, and my parents have told me they earn combined around 400k a year
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I asked them and they claim its an opportunity cost. She didn’t have any free rides and needs a law degree to be a lawyer so they help her out. I have a free ride so they don’t
So that’s fair. Now she could have gone for less for sure - ie a school with merit aid vs Brown . But assuming she is full pay they made that call. Perhaps it’s that they see a career. Lawyer.
You haven’t yet said your goal. So with a physics degree, to the lay person, that’s more unassured.
That $325 will be turned into a lot more by the time you are out, even if just put into a cd.
If they put that $ in a municipal bond - a very conservative investment - they’d make $15k tax free, likely for life. At least many years.
Understand both sides.
Bit in the end, it’s not like you are going to be homeless, uneducated and destitute.
You’ll be well educated and with drive and hustle a huge success. That’s up to you !!
Ps $400k a year b4 taxes - is a lot but some are putting two kids through school.
I bet they didn’t go to MIT and they’re doing just fine !!
You think that you don’t want to grad school now, before you even start undergrad. Do you know for an absolute certainty that you won’t want to go to grad school four years from now? Do you really want to permanently shut that the door on that option? Because with $325,000 in debt, that opportunity may be impossible.
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I would be willing to shut it away for MIT
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Most Phd programs in the sciences are fully funded. I don’t this this student needs to worry about paying for grad school in the sciences. Med school or law school, yes. PhD, no.
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Would not be surprised if they back out of that promise.
You don’t have to. All worthwhile PhD programs in STEM are fully funded. Don’t bother with a standalone masters program.
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Unfortunately employers may require it. My son had two offers this year that did. And most companies don’t cover tuition - just a small portion. So you can’t say that you’re willing to give it up.
You’re a young person who hasn’t yet experienced the many nuances of life.
This isn’t black and white. And you truly have no idea of what the future holds. Nor do I.
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Maybe it’s just me but in my opinion, for a nerdy student really into Physics, LSU and MIT are not comparable at all. They might as well be on different planets.
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Ivevread the entire thread now, and boy do i feel for you. Parents tend to give to each child what they need. There is nothing fair about it. What would be fair us if they said that you get 80k a yr in money if u take the free ride at LSU, since they are paying for brown and law school for sib. But that isnt how parents think. Their goal is to get u both launched. The one thing i can advise is to try to sit down with them and speak honestly and openly about it.
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Learning that the parents are planning on paying 1/2 of sister’s law school but not paying for my MIT would be a huge thorn in my side (and that’s not even taking in account that they are already paying full price for her Brown undergrad,too).
I’d be ticked to be honest. Not just at the parents, but I’d also be looking at my sister to be pursing law school where SHE could earn merit money to fund such. Is she just watching all this drama play out from the sidelines?
We’ve seen parents on here talk about their D receive full scholarship to UF law school, for example, so it can be pursued. Sister doesn’t need to go to a high priced law school. She could work some first, too, and then apply to law school after some work experience.
So this would be very hard for me to have a stiff upper lip and not have long standing negative feelings towards parents and sister if I was initially told MIT wouldn’t be a problem but now sister gets 1/2 law school paid for and I go to LSU, not MIT which is a huge accomplishment.
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There is a website called myintuition.org . You can use it to do a “quick and dirty” financial aid assessment.
I chose MIT and put in a salary of $400,000 with two kids in college. I put in 0 for assets as I don’t know your family’s assets. But at just that income with 2 kids, you would qualify for a 23k grant (free money) and a student work opportunity of 3.4k. Your sister would qualify for 28k grant and 2950 in work-study. Together, that adds up to 51k grants and 7,360 in work-study money.
Now, a few caveats.
- Your parents’ assets might tip the balance to significantly less/zero need-based aid. But you won’t know until you try.
- FAFSA-only schools will not be giving additional aid to families with multiple kids in college at the same time, starting with academic year 24-25. No one knows if generous CSS Profile schools (like Brown and MIT) will continue to give that additional aid, so families that depend on that run a risk.
- Once your sister graduates from college, that benefit goes away anyhow.
- Also, financial aid is based on prior-prior year’s income (so 2021 for this upcoming academic year of 23-24. So if your parents earned significantly more or less in 2021 than the 400k you reported, that can make a difference.
Tagging @kelsmom and @BelknapPoint for their take on whether this student and her sister could still try to apply for financial aid from MIT (OP) and Brown (sister).
College Scorecard says median income is $83k for MIT Physics grads (caveat: not all graduates since data is based on federal financial aid recipients and is for 3 years after graduation.) That is a huge difference with LSU physics.
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OP – what is the age difference between you and your sister? How many years will you overlap in college?
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I agree.
@superdomestique the student very much wants to go to MIT- the parents are balking at paying for it (after first saying they would). Telling the OP that she would be “crazy” for not going is rubbing salt in the wound.
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she is a senior in college currently
Oh, I’m sorry. Then all my calculations above won’t help you, unless your parents earned significantly less in 2021 than they did in 2022.
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