@Al73 - Are MIT and Harvard in the realm of possibility?
Why would you allow him to apply to schools if you can’t save enough out of your ~$300k income to pay for them? If you don’t qualify for need based aid you need to target schools that offer merit and/or schools whose cost of attendance comes in under your budget.
If you won’t pay more than $25k/year you should let your son know his budget soon. Don’t let him waste time dreaming of schools that cost more than you’re willing to pay.
We had about that income ( adjusted for inflation) We were well aware that this was NOT middle class. This was upper class. Period. End of story. So how do people who have this income save for college ? Live like they are making 100k less. This even after taxes easily let’s you save 25k plus a year. So when time for college came around we could tell our kids that they could go to any college they wanted. No financial aid of course. Because that income makes you, you know, rich and definitely rich enough to pay for Ivy’s. So long as we didn’t live like we were for the 18 years after they were born
I have twins going to college in 2020. The third one is still in elementary school. I doubt we will get any need based aid even with two kids in college and there is no merit aid in top schools.
Yes. At least for one and maybe for both of my twins. They both have very strong credentials. Though we also understand getting there is more like a lottery so no one can be assured.
We weren’t rich, but I had a college prof job that paid a good salary.
We began to save for the kids’ college when they were very young. We wanted them to be able to attend any college they might be admitted to. My parents donated US Savings Bonds with a face value that turned out to be sufficient to cover about 1 to 1.5 years of the costs at a good private college. They did this for all of their grandchildren. They weren’t rich (my father was an aeronautical engineer; my mom a housewife and mother of 5 children). But they saved, and they valued education. My 4 sibs and I all graduated from college (3 at public institutions, 2 at private ones – we were full-pay students).
What did this mean for our two kids? Federal and state “College Savings Plans” had only begun to come into existence. But prior to their entering college we needed to save about 2-3 years of anticipated cost of attendance for each of our children in “regular” savings accounts, plus enough to cover any remaining gap after taking into account the support from my parents. At the time they applied to college our kids knew we had in the bank the money to cover full costs for 3 years, and that we would likely be able to cover the 4th year from our income earned after the kids began college.
The plan worked. Part of that plan was to NOT apply for financial aid. We figured that applying as “full pay” students would marginally increase the odds that they would be admitted. As it turned out, of the 13 colleges they applied to they were admitted to all but 1. One of the kids received a small NMS from the college he chose to attend (UChicago); he turned down much larger awards from two public universities he was admitted to as well as a private LAC. The younger kid attended RISD.
We made clear to each of them that they HAD to graduate in 4 years. They did that. Every dollar we had saved for their college (including the money from my parents) was paid out. But my 403b savings were intact and I still had a good job.
OP- how? you guys either start saving like crazy, put off retiring for a few more years, or tell your kid you can afford 25K per year and let him figure out the rest.
I get that after taxes and mortgage you probably don’t feel like you can aggressively save much in four years, but when you think about it, you probably had a fine life ten years ago when you were making much less money.
We were somewhat frugal from the git go, but we discovered a couple of things when our kids were in middle school when the belt tightening began in earnest:
1- Creep. You go from free TV (like when I was a kid) to getting a couple of cable packages and then before you know it, you are paying through the nose for dozens of stations you never watch and don’t even know about. Cut back- you won’t miss it.
2-Overinsurance- we’ve always driven cars into the ground. Lots of miles. But if you aren’t aggressive about watching your insurance rates you will end up paying a lot of money for a car that isn’t worth as much as you think it is. Take a look at your home owners policy. Take a look at your health insurance. We moved to high deductible policies on everything which saves a ton of money-- and at your income level, although it stinks to cover small losses yourself- you can afford it.
3- Stop buying toys. Your kid is too old for every gizmo and gadget that comes out, and you guys are too intelligent to spend your money on electronics which are obsolete the month you buy them.
4-review your employee benefits at work. We got a couple of small scholarships for the kids from one employer- the scholarship administrator said we were the only family to apply one year which is kind of hard to believe given the company had tens of thousands of employees. But nobody reads fine print like Blossom! Drop all your ancillary deductions at work- vision, dental- they never pay out. Cheaper to negotiate with my dentist ("if I pay you cash- today- what’s a cleaning cost?) then to pay for insurance which only covers 40% or whatnot. The extra money in every paycheck- went straight to college.
You can probably free up a lot more money than you think you can at your income level without having to eat beans and cut your own hair. (But we cut our own grass. Free- and good exercise).
We saved nothing. The first few years of kids’ lives we literally didn’t think about it - had no idea that college costs could get as high as they have. Then, I took myself out of the workforce to homeschool, and shortly after, H left his job to open his own business. Until high school that’s how things were, then H went to a corporate job, and I got a part time job. Soooo, we only use current salary to pay for college. D is a sophomore and borrowed $1200 last year (subsidized loan) but nothing this year. Son may be a different story - he’s just starting to apply now so we don’t know where he’ll end up or what, if any, FA he’ll receive. Lower stats so probably no merit, but an engineering major so we may be willing to borrow if we have to.
This makes me sad. First, cuz the OP refers to the Ivy League as the “tops”. So naive to think that a sports league determines what the OP sees as the “best” schools.
Second, cuz I plan on working into my 70’s to fund my retirement, as a single parent. As frugal as I am, and my son, I promised him , when he was in 5 th grade, he could attend an elite college if he got in. My definition of elite does not mean Ivy League, But colleges strongest in his areas of interest.
That being written, I’m happy the OP came here to vent. yes, it will cost him $$ to,send his son to a private college, if that it what he considers better than a state school. The OP has several years to economize
If the kids are good enough to get into the Ivies, then they should probably get some good merit going down a tier.
OP, I get where you are. But here is the bottom line: the way colleges and the government determine how much a family should pay for college, your twins are not going to get enough financial aid to cover what you are willing and able to pay. This happens a lot. According to the formulas, given your income and assets, you should have save more than you did , you need to pay out more from current income than you can or want, and you need to borrow more than you feel is wise.
There are many valid reasons for these things. They may well be the best decisions to make. But one of the consequences of those decisions is that you cannot afford to pay for highest priced colleges in this country , the ones that do not offer merit money (which is extraordinarily difficult to get).
There are a number of schools that do offer a chance at merit money.and with kids with the chance of getting some, go for it.
Oh, no offense taken at all. With that particular kid, having him attend that particular private high school, took care of a lot of running around, juggling programs, paying costs, car expenses, stress as we had other kids and issues. Our public school simply did not have the resources to cover his interests and activities.
Sometimes living life a certain way is the trade off for not saving for college and having those limitations later. What we paid in private schools and programs, had we saved that money for college, would have made a tremendous difference in paying college expenses. But then our kids would not have had the experience s and prep that they did.
We live in an expensive house that made things so much easier in taking in extended family, giving us all space, good commute for DH, near the schools for our kid, decent public school back up. Our choice for our family to enjoy that luxury all of these years over easy pay of college. It was our choice deliberately made.
Those two decisions are what sank our budget and all the belt tightening, a lot of what we did, could not compensate because too much money involved. We had no cable or those subscriptions, hardly ever ate out, checked our insurance, benefits and any coverages carefully. Rock bottom there. Utility bills lowest in the neighborhood. Few toys— they bought their own, kids all worked even in middle school. No clothes budget except for DH who had to dress well for work. I spent zero on clothes some years. All donated and gifted.
But our extravagances transcended those savings. Trade offs. We all make them.
“Middle class families” don’t make $300k/ year and have $140k in 529 plans.
@cptofthehouse, you should have save more than you did
We currently have 200k in 529. In my dream world it should be enough for 4 years in college but in reality it doesn’t. I only have one kid and already stressing over the cost of higher education.
@Bunnywu, I agree. We should have done a lot of things differently. We made a lot of mistakes. We made some poor decisions.
But I do not regret putting the kids in the expensive private schools, nor do I regret buying the house we did. Those were our main money sinkholes.
I also badly underestimated increases in private college costs. I never dreamed it would go over $50k a year. I’m having a lot of trouble stomaching the $80k+ numbers that are rolling in and My kids are done.
Um…in reality 200K DOES pay for 4 years of college. Maybe not 4 years at Harvard, but you can certainly get a degree at a very good school for 200K.
@BunnyWu, if your son is in middle school, you have at least six more years to save money before he is a college junior, when you would have run out of the college funds you have now saved. Six years seems plenty of time (at your current income) to save enough for him to complete an elite college education, unless you have some exorbitant necessary expenses that you aren’t mentioning here.
Also, if he is really that smart, he can get a great education at any number of selective schools where he can possibly get merit aid scholarships. There are wonderful, well-regarded schools where students can get a top-notch education that can take them anywhere in life. Schools in the U.S don’t have to be the MOST prestigeous to be highly respected. Also, if your son wants to go to graduate school, many/most PhD programs are self-funded, meaning he could complete the program without debt. If you’re concerned about prestige, it’s the graduate school that matters, not the undergraduate institution. Plenty of students go on to earn Ph.Ds at Harvard and the like after graduating from state-schools and lesser-known private schools.
Maybe everyone around you makes $300,000 per year or more, and that makes you feel you’re barely getting by. Trust me, you have a LOT more money for helplng your son to succeed than most people. If he works hard, he should be fine.
Taxes make it much less! Close to 50% depending on state. I will tell you that in a very high cost of living area, $300k is most definitely middle class, especially if it doesn’t come with much else benefits-wise. OP also did not suggest that they should get financial aid at their income levels.
Paying for college is challenging and strategizing to save the right amount in the right form is not easy. I would consult a financial planner that can look at the whole picture, including early retirement and help you with a savings plan that is flexible so you can swing assets for college, or not, depending on what you child’s future holds.
My brother lives in a small 1200 Sq ft ranch with 3small bedrooms and a baths and a Half. Close to work for self and wife which was important to them, as kids schools nearby too. One regular car, one smart car to just get to train and Back. Very frugal family.
But COL is high there. They moved out of state twice, didn’t work. They have good support in the area which has been invaluable to to health issues as well as child care. Yes, they make a high salary. How they spend it is very much for quality of life that I think is important. Is it worth saving enough for college choice because those kids aren’t getting financial aid? They got behind in retirement savings due to some true bumps in the road, some of them health issues. They weathered them due to money saved, but there went the funds.
Had saving for any college choice been their top priority, they could have done it. As we could have. But it was not. These are choices.
Doesn’t mean we don’t look for the best angles to get college expenses paid.
So there was just an article about a couple making $340,000/year were just getting by. Yes they lived on the West Coast and had kids in private schools. But it was interesting seeing their breakdown of expenses.
I was told years ago “it’s not about what you make, it’s about what you keep”.
If you have $200,000 saved then your there. Either pay the rest out of current income or put less away till you hit your goal mark.
Just remember… Some kids want to go to graduate school also… Lol ?