<p>I like small houses. You can't be so attached to your "stuff", cheaper to heat and easier to clean. ( My rationale for still being in the "starter" house that we bought 20 years ago and couldn't afford to move out of, what with layoffs, private school and astronomical housing increases) ;)</p>
<p>I may try that tack but I'm not sure what the returns will be, kirmum. It is a good point though.</p>
<p>I decided a long time ago for myself that I do <em>not</em> want a large house. I don't like the payments and I don't like the housework. Also, a lot of the space in our house is in wide halls and spacious living areas. Yeah, it's kinda nice but... it's very low on my priority list, to say the least, and definitely behind my future children's educations. Priorities, priorities...</p>
<p>Basically, why should a college or the government pay for your college so that your family can live in a house bigger or better than families in your income bracket who are willing to sacrifice in quality and size so that more money is freed up for college? </p>
<p>The person who mades out from current methodology is the spender who buys all kinds of luxeries and eats and has vacations, rather than putting money into a business, house or savings. Assets are assessed at 5-6% which is not too bad, and you do have the choice of getting selling the asset if push comes to shove. However the high income families who just spent away the money have no penalty for that as FAFSA does not look at salary history or spending pattterns. Someone who had a good time spending all of that money and does not have assets gets hit up for less than the saver who has to come up with 5-6% of the assets for the tuition. Over years, that is about 20-24%. Can add up to a tidy sum.</p>
<p>All I can say is that I agree with you.</p>
<p>"The top 5% income starts at ~$154k, according to the Census Bureau and IRS"</p>
<p>I'm not sure I believe that. Our families EFC was insane, so insane. My parents make a good amount of money but most is in deferred payment plans and properties. Its not like we have a garage full of luxury cars, an assortment of vacation homes, and a million dollar home. We live like an (just barely) upper middle class family... not a family that I would consider rich at all.</p>
<p>I don't really think that I disagree about the concept, but I do think that the numbers are sometimes unrealistic.</p>
<p>Do you expect the government to support your "upper" middle class life style? Why should your family be expected to keep properties and plans when a family with all else similar is investing in education? That is not the way it works, I'm afraid.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong. I feel our system of hitting up the parents for the education of legally adult children is terrible. I just don't see a way out of this financial nightmare with the cost of colleges spiraling upwards. The only thing that will stop this is if enough parents just refuse to pay. This is essentially what the situation is for graduate education. Few parents can and will pay, so loan arrangements are made for the professional degrees and since people balk at borrowing large amounts for PHD programs that do not have such a great rate of financial return, stipends are in effect. I wish that there is a system of national service that can be used to subsidize college educations, but I fear that things have gotten too far out of control. Seeing all the athletic/student facilities and improvements to the campus occurring these last several years, the cost can only go higher.</p>
<p>It's a scary thought. Socialized education certainly has something to be said for it...</p>
<p>They may not want you to take out loans but you'll be the one resposible for them so it may be worth further discussion. Also, if you are in the top of an applicant pool at some quality, not Ivy, private colleges they may offer scholarship $ not based on need.
Lehigh U. provides 10 K to those in about the top 10%. Our S is a FReshamnn at BU. Our EFC was just over thethreshold so no Fin. aid for us, and we saved so he could go wherever he wanted to. Don't know if this is always a good thing since it makes our eventual retirement more daunting,however, we value education and felt it was more important than buying a better home. He was trying to decide among NYU, Tufts, and BU. BU tipped the scales by offering half tuition merit $ so that will be worth about 70 K over 4 yrs. Univ. of Delaware offered half tuition. Although a state school he would have been out of state.
You may want to look at admisions web sites of specific colleges, Clark, Brandeis are a few, and seach under merit or academic scholarships to see what they offer. Most require nothing beyond your normal application to be considered for these scholarships.</p>
<p>Dogs, do you mind telling me your son's stats? I am also applying to University of Delaware and I hope for some merit aid.</p>
<p>Sure---his stats were 1420 combined SAT. GPA was about 4.6---he was 6th in class of about 150. ECs were good but nothing spectacular or impressive just basic like Ski/SB Club, BAND, NHS, had a job, summer internship. Thats about it. He only took 1 AP in 11th and 2 APS in 12th due to block scheduling which lilkely hurt him at his reach schools. The Delaware Honors program, which is about their top 14%, had admission stats not too far off some of the IVYs and it looked like a great program but he chose BU since he wanted an urban environmnet. I think the DEl. web site gives you a good idea of what stats they are expecting for schlarshp $. Good luck.</p>
<p>That's excellent. My stats are very similar. There is still hope for me to leave upstate New York.</p>
<p>That really sucks. The middle classes, especially the upper middle classes, are the ones getting screwed over in the admissions process. For example, my parents' income combined is over $100,000, but we hardly have any money saved at all for my college tuition (I'm a senior in hs). My parents married late, changed careers, and now they are the ones paying for it. I don't blame them, they haven't done anything wrong. My parents are both very frugal about money, but we still only have about $8-9,000 a year to send me to college with. They barely have any money in their retirement account. It sucks because I have the credentials to get into great schools like Mount Holyoke or Oberlin, but I'm not going to be able to because I don't want to burden myself or my family with excessive loans. Grad school only further complicates the problem - I want to be a lawyer and I will have to pay for law school on my own. It's so frustrating. A majority of my friends will have their college experience mostly paid for, but I don't live any different from them. It's not like I have this lavish lifestyle. If it's sounds as though I'm complaining, I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to, it's just very very frightening to realize that according to the government, my family is expected to pay $27,100 a year for my college tuition.</p>
<p>Hopefullly, your schools will give you a generous financial aid package that covers the need demonstrated. If they do, they you and your parents can try to work out the $27K. If you start working weekends now and work double shifts in the summer at waitressing and tutoring , and other high paying type jobs, you could probably come up with a third of that. You say your parents can come up with another $9K. You and they can split the third $9k in loans. Once you get to the school, you need to look for opportunities like RA programs and the such to cut down the costs. Buy your books on line, figure ways to bring that cost down a couple of thousand. ROTC pays, and there is no obligation for the first two years. Instead of a year abroad, you may want to take a year of work and take a couple of lower level courses at a cheap cc at that time. There are ways, but they do take work and dedication. Also with you gone, it is likely that there will be a couple thousand more in saved household expenses, that your parents may be able to manage.</p>
<p>Wait, what does EFC stand for and what does that amount mean?</p>
<p>EFC = Estimated Family Contribution </p>
<p>EFC = 20500</p>
<p>Your family is expected to pay $20,500 of your college expenses for the academic year. :(</p>
<p>so once you fil FAFSA and the school agrees to pay a certain % of your financial need, you automatically get it deducted?</p>
<p>Yes. Some schools, mainly private institutions with hefty endowments, will even state from the start that they will pay 100% of a student's EFC. For example, I know that Mount Holyoke College agrees to meet 100% of a student's demonstrated need. On top of that, you may also be eligible for various merit scholarships and loans.</p>
<p>lirael:</p>
<p>I'm confused by your post. Are you talking about two different policies? </p>
<p>If a school "will pay 100% of a student's EFC" does that mean that if your EFC=32000 and the school cost is say $38,000, that the school will cover your $32,000 with financial/merit aid, and you will only have to pay the balance of $6,000? I didn't think it worked that way. What schools offer this?</p>
<p>I don't think this is the same as when a college "agrees to meet 100% of a student's demonstrated need", because that means that if your EFC=32000 and your school cost is $38,000, then the school is only responsible for providing financial/merit aid for the remaining $6,000. </p>
<p>If a school were to cover 100% of your EFC, and agree to meet 100% of your demonstrated need as well, then wouldn't that mean a "free-ride"?</p>
<p>Yeah, a little bit of terminology confusion here. Need = Estimated Cost of Attendance - (minus) EFC. </p>
<p>Each college publishes two slightly different Costs of Attendance ("COA") depending on if the student will live on or off campus. The COA is intended to be comprehensive, and approximates the total cost from tuition, room, board, books, travel, toothpaste, etc. </p>
<p>What you see promised at more well-heeled schools is that 100% of Need, not EFC, will be met.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant the student's demonstrated need (tuition - EFC) will be paid automatically by SOME schools. This obviously helps out the students who have lower EFC's, as their tuition (or a large portion of it) is guaranteed provided they can get in to the college itself. For everyone else, this means that you have at least some kind of security when it comes to college - you can count on getting a little money, just probably not enough to go there.</p>
<p>In looking back on what I wrote before, I was trying to make a point, I'm just not sure what it was. Must...get....more....sleep</p>