I used an online mortgage calculator just to come up with a round number, figuring 10% down payment, maybe a car payment or student loan… that income level puts you in the 400- 450k purchase range at current interest rates. That is not a lot of money in many areas. That isn’t even possible in my area. Again, 185k isn’t destitute, but I don’t think one would be feeling “rich” if all they could afford at that income was a crappy 50 year old, all original condo. My son rents that type of place and he’s happy to be able to support himself, but it’s not exactly luxury. The floors aren’t exactly level, the circuits overload, the balcony doesn’t look quite safe, but he’s happy to have a place of his own. No one would think that’s what rich looks like.
→insert knee-slapping laughter here←
We commute too, but we’re more in the one hour range. Los Angeles has horrible traffic and horrible public transportation, so we couldn’t go much farther out than we are. We can’t afford to live near my husband’s job on the west side of L.A.
Two things to keep in mind as this discussion heads toward getting heated:
-
The median household income in the US is $70,784. The median household income in New York City (with its high cost of living et cetera) was nearly identical at $70,663. The median household income in (to pick a low-COL area out of the air) Kansas wasn’t really all that much lower at $64,521. Which is to point out that the idea that incomes are so skewed in high-COL vs low-COL area is embedded in popular myth, but it isn’t really all that accurate.
-
College Confidential skews way upper-middle- and upper-class. And since surveys show that (depending on how the question is worded) anywhere from 70% to 95% of Americans self-identify as “middle-class”—which is a ridiculous proportion, even at the low end—you can see how this place ends up fostering a distorted image of what middle-class incomes (and wealth) might be.
i think this is a kind of stupid debate but i just wanted to point out that median is a resistant measure of center meaning it isn’t affected by skew, so a better way to see if incomes are skewed is looking at the means or even looking at a graph (sorry but my ap stats knowledge was begging to be let out)
The issue isn’t skew, the issue is what the middle is.
The problem with using means for income comparisons is that there is an absolute lower bound (i.e., zero) but no upper bound, which means that even a single high outlier can create distortions that result in non-comparable results for different populations.
(That’s my quantitative social science researcher knowledge begging to be let out, I suppose.)
Wish I have found this forum/site sooner!
My son is a junior and is interested in applying to the same school as your kids - SouthWestern, Trinity and Austin College. His interested is mainly Political Science/International Relation, Public Health and also taking Pre Med courses.
It looks like SW is offering the most aid to your kid, comparing to Trinity and Austin College. Does Trinity offering less aid making you and your son rethinking going there?
All three schools look… similar. Except Austin College is out there in Sherman, which many said is only reason they won’t go? I guess its rural, but google map shows a few mins away there are stores, movie theater, big box retailers…
We will be visiting Austin College in Feb 10 during their Outback day, and be checking SW out next week. (Its weird that their Pirate Day, or whatever its called, looks to be only happening once a year in Nov).
My son has taken Austin College off the list. He just can’t get over Sherman and the surrounding area. With a school that small, you REALLY have to be comfortable with what you’re seeing daily lol. Also, Austin College courses are 4 credits, we’ve been told by a lot of people that makes it hard to transfer elsewhere if huh don’t like it, you lose alot of classes/credits/time.
Trinity is still in pole position. We’re patiently waiting for Feb 1 when they release the full financial aid package and we can see what they’re giving us in institutional grants and other aid. If it comes within $5K of SU, he’ll definitely choose Trinity. We have a local admitted students event with Trinity this Saturday and are looking at dates to go back to San Antonio for one of their admitted student days on campus.
Oh wow, we didn’t know about the 4 credits with Austin College. Thanks for the info, now we might have to look more closely.
Did he applied as ED or EA to SW and Trinity? I was told by friends that if you go ED, you will likely not get a lot of aid from the school.
The four four-credit class type of schedule is appealing to me as a parent of a child with adhd and these posts have reminded me to make a spot for it in the spreadsheet I’m working on to help decide between the colleges where D23 has been accepted.
He applied EA to Austin College, Trinity & SU. He submitted his apps in October, and heard back from SU within 10 days. Austin College’s acceptance came on 11/15 and Trinity’s EA decision day was 12/15.
Thank you Momof3B.
Will see if the kid likes SouthWestern. It is the closet to us in term of distance.
@Gatormama plus the taxes in PA are significantly cheaper than in NJ. Our primary home is in PA but our beach house is in NJ. We pay way more taxes on the NJ house we use 3 months a year. When the full time beach town resident celebrates Labor Day because the summer people exit the island, I say to them “you’re welcome for my tax dollars”.
As a NJ resident, I have been wondering if it would be helpful to show out real estate tax bill to help negotiate for more FA aid at OOS schools….
ETA: I just looked at a list online with data from a couple of years ago and NJ had the highest property tax rate. And our bill is actually higher than the average bill for our state. I’m thankful to be able to own our own home but it’s a 1960’s split ranch, a far cry from fancy.
D23 headed back to school today. She still has two apps to finish essays and submit. 1/9 and 1/15 deadlines. 3 arts supps due 1/15 (they just need to be uploaded) And one has an “optional” essay due 1/15.
She’ll get it done, not how I would have done it 
. She’s more like her dad. I would have had them all submitted by Thanksgiving. Total of 11. IMHO a tad reach heavy (with a few safeties).
Then we wait.
Good luck. It was excruciating to watch my D just get everything in on time. She applied EA everywhere with two exceptions which did not have EA.
It will be done soon and you will get to the fun part of hearing results!
Mine did an REA, and two rollings in Oct/Nov. and has two acceptances that she is not interested in. Including the Bama full tuition +. So hoping for some good options!
With a few safeties (if she’d be happy to attend and you can afford), the rest of the list type is irrelevant. So if it’s all reaches, no issue!!
So let’s hope the other safety is desirable to her 
In the end, mom and dad have say so - you fund it. So she’ll be fine either way - even if it’s where she initially doesn’t want to be.
Good luck to her.
Well, the Bama deal is an option at least!
Hopefully she will have some other great options!
The funny thing is when these kids grow up and have kids - they’ll be salivating at deals like that, especially when they realized how much their parents had to spend or they hear about what their kids parents spent.
Right about the time they get their first paycheck and pay rent on their own.