<p>I am wondering what is the percent of students/parents that actually pay full tuition + room and board, etc. How many parents that don't qualify for need based aid have actually been able to save some $200,000 per kid for private school tuition or $120,000 for an out of state college? It seems to me that college of choice is now available only to the very rich or to the very poor. Does middle class end up in state colleges? Do parents/kids go into huge debt to finance college or do you settle on merit aid in a school few levels below their potential? Yet when it comes to college selection money issues are hardly ever discussed.</p>
<p>Ahem…the expectation is that college costs will be paid by past earnings (savings), future earnings (loans), and current earnings (income). We did it for two kids.</p>
<p>At Harvard, only about 40% of students are on financial aid. Financial aid goes up to $200,000. You do the math.</p>
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<p>It’s discussed a lot (though not early enough) here on CC. Use the Search function (eg. full pay, debt) and you’ll find lots of threads.</p>
<p>Most kids don’t consider how they’re going to pay for college when making up their list of schools. It’s really up to the parents to learn about FA and merit scholarships and discuss and work with their kids in selecting schools to apply to.</p>
<p>Harvard degree offers potential for high earnings. How do you justify paying same amount for second tier school?</p>
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<p>Let’s not get into the Harvard vs other schools discussion. Let’s just say that Harvard is NOT the school for every student. My DD is an engineering major at an excellent school that is not Harvard. My son went to school at the school ranked 60th (you can find out what it is easily enough). We (our family) felt that both schools provided excellent educations for our kids. AND neither of them cared a lick about Harvard or any equivalent school.</p>
<p>There are a lot of discussions about the cost of college on this forum, but (I agree with entomom) not enough.</p>
<p>Frequently we hear from new posters (parents) who are in stunned shock when they realize what colleges cost nowadays, and how little financial aid is available to families whose income/assets are over a certain level. Kids write in who thought they would be able to attend XYZ school and then find out from the aforementioned stunned parents that it can’t happen.</p>
<p>I personally don’t know anyone, no matter what income level, for whom college costs were not painful.</p>
<p>One of the reasons there have been so many threads on the topic of how much it costs out-of-pocket for college is that every applicant’s situation is unique; different schools with different policies and resources, different household sizes, different savings, income, house value. </p>
<p>The best advice is one voiced pretty often: do your homework for each school and look for FA calculators on their site - in the alternative, try a generic FA calculator, but be forewarned, differences in school-specific FA policies can have huge effects on the ultimate award. </p>
<p>I’ve mentioned before that my son’s awards (using actual out-of-pocket comparisons) varied by by more than $16,000 PER YEAR between schools. </p>
<p>And by the way, maybe I’m self-delusional, but I consider myself solidly middle-middle class and my kids have received a lot of financial aid (non-merit).</p>
<p>We are decidedly middle class and put three kids through college with a combination of savings, income at the time and for the oldest because he took five years, a small amount of loans in his name. It is definitely doable, but you have to plan ahead and make education a priority.</p>
<p>The single most important discussion families need to have…and don’t LIKE to have…is about college finances. Parents need to convey to students what they are willing to PAY per year for college for their kids. It doesn’t matter what your EFC is…if the family is not going to contribute that amount…the child needs another plan. If the family can contribute more than the EFC…so be it.</p>
<p>From what I can tell from my friends here, parents are often unwilling to share this financial information with their kids for whatever reasons. </p>
<p>We felt it was important for our kids to understand what we could contribute (almost the full cost of attendance at private schools) and WHY we could not be asked for more (spending money, cars, trips, etc). So…we explained our college financing expectations to them. I have to say, I think it helped them understand financing in general. AND they were mighty appreciative that we were able to help them as much as we could and they never asked for an additional penny. </p>
<p>For some reason, a lot of families hope that the “college costs fairy” will materialize for them and pay the bills. Yes, some kids are able to garner merit aid that can get them through school (see threads from momfromtexas)…or have finances that put them in a situation where they DO receive sufficient need based aid from the schools to get them through. </p>
<p>But…folks need to be realistic too. Things to remember…FAFSA only computes an EFC to be used for federally funded aid and if you get the max possible it will not pay the costs at a four year residential college. MANY schools…actually MOST schools do NOT meet full need. This means that your EFC is the MINIMUM you will be expected to pay.</p>
<p>Posted by brysia: “How many parents that don’t qualify for need based aid have actually been able to save some $200,000 per kid for private school tuition or $120,000 for an out of state college? It seems to me that college of choice is now available only to the very rich or to the very poor.”</p>
<p>Posted by Skyhook: “Frequently we hear from new posters (parents) who are in stunned shock when they realize what colleges cost nowadays, and how little financial aid is available to families whose income/assets are over a certain level.”</p>
<p>I hear you brysia. Skyhook, this is exactly what happened to us. I have tried to bring this up on a few threads and I have been taken to task.</p>
<p>Here is my experience. We are in the middle class and we qualified for no need based assistance. In our opinion the full price at a private school, even pulling out all the stops, meaning parent and student loans, savings and contributions from our income, was out of our reach. I wasn’t alone in the experience. I’ve have this conversation with people I work with, who are making roughly the same salary that I am. They didn’t even let their kids apply to private schools. The college costs are coming at the same time they were taking a serious look at their retirement accounts. They concluded that it wasn’t responsible to try to finance a private school education.</p>
<p>When I have brought this up on other threads I seem to get the attitude that I’m bad with money. That’s not it, I mean I could be better but the difference between what we felt we could manage and what we were being asked to do was well beyond my having bought too many pairs of shoes. Also, I know of too many other families who found the same thing that we did for it to be just me.</p>
<p>To answer the question about whether an education at a private college is out of the reach of the middle class I guess I don’t feel like I can answer that, I can only report on my own experience and the experience of other people that I know.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you this much, Harvard had an excellent piece on their now 2 year old financial aid initiative, which targets the middle class:</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Financial Aid: Harvard Financial Aid Initiative](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/hfai/index.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/hfai/index.html)</p>
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false assumption. of course the rich can pay to go anywhere.<br>
but the poor only have a very few colleges that will meet all of their “need”. More often than not the colleges that will accept these students will not offer enough help to allow them to attend.</p>
<p>If cost is a consideration there are many many private colleges that offer excellent merit scholarships. You don’t need to be valedictorian to get a nice merit scholarship to many schools. Finally, there is nothing wrong with state colleges and universities. In most states the price is fantastic and the education excellent.</p>
<p>Pea, College finances are a personal decision each family needs to make. I do agree with you…if the family is not able or willing to finance a private school education, it’s important for the student to know that UP FRONT (especially if the family knows that need based aid will be limited and merit aid not enough to make up the difference between what the family feels they can contribute). Every year we read about kids who got accepted to “dream school A” and could not go because the financial aid was not sufficient…and their parents could not contribute an additional cent. Kids need to know their parents’ limits up front so that they will KNOW that this will factor into their college decision. I personally think too many families don’t discuss this with their kids until AFTER the acceptances are in and the financial aid is being reviewed. In my opinion, that’s too late.</p>
<p>Just FYI…there have been folks here who have posted that they can’t afford to send one kid to college who have incomes in excess of $200,000 per year. Actually one person started a thread with questions about need based aid for a family with an income of $400,000 a year. Sorry, but these folks SHOULD be able to help their kids out with college costs in my opinion (Pea…I hope you weren’t one of these folks…if so…well…sorry but that’s still my opinion). Federally funded need based aid is for families that truly NEED financial aid. Some of the better endowed colleges that meet full need are now saying that an income of $200,000 or less will net a student some need based aid. BUT remember, these colleges are mighty expensive to begin with…oh…and you have to be in the 10% of student who apply and get accepted to get the great finaid they offer.</p>
<p>I agree that the costs of college are a SHOCK to most families who are in the middle…not rich enough to just be able to write a check and not notice…and not low income enough to qualify for large sums of need based aid.</p>
<p>BUT the financial aid policies are not a secret. There are online calculators where you can get a guestimate of what your family will likely be asked to pay…for both institutional and federal methodology.</p>
<p>I think part of the shock comes from the many (most?) people who cruise along thinking that college costs for their kid will be kind of proportional to what college costs were when WE went to college. NOT. Kiddo’s junior or senior year rolls around, and guess what? You realize that your parents never would have been able to send you to college if the costs then had been as large a chunk of their income as what it is for parents today.</p>
<p>thumper1: I totally agree with what you wrote and I was not one of the posters you mentioned. :-)</p>
<p>This thread is another important reminder to “love thy safety!” And it doesn’t have to be an in-state public to be a safety. Tier 2 or 3 privates might be so generous with merit aid for a CC-type that they become less expensive than a public.</p>
<p>In our house, the money talk has been very frank. The kids know that money for their degrees comes in this order:
first money = merit or scholarships the kid earns/wins
second money = unsub Stafford in the kid’s name
third money = 1/8 of savings per semester
fourth money = monthly payment plan </p>
<p>If that doesn’t cover a school’s COA then kid will have to decline acceptance.</p>
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I’m with you, DadofB&G! I always thought we were middle class, until I came on college confidential and heard people lamenting that only the “very poor” get financial aid and the middle class get nothing. Our family qualifies for significant financial aid. I guess my definition of “middle class” is a bit different than the OP?</p>
<p>alamemom, just as you were surprised to come onto the college board and find out you weren’t middle class because you qualified for significant financial aid I was surprised to find out on the college board that since I don’t qualify for aid I am rich. Who knew? :-)</p>
<p>We saved up private school tuition for two kids with a modest salary. But we lived frugally for a long time, saved in the 30% to 40% range of income and had unusually good investment returns (we got out of markets before they crashed).</p>
<p>That said, I was surprised to learn how the system worked.</p>
<p>You can find out what percentage of kids are on financial aid, merit awards, athletic awards. College Board has the info as does USNews. You can also ask the college itself. </p>
<p>Whether you qualify for financial aid or not is determined by a number of factors and it can differ from school to school. How that need is met and how much of it is met is also a variable factor. </p>
<p>There are families who look for merit money, good deals, low sticker prices even if their incomes are considered very high. Nothing wrong with that. It is a decision parents make as to what priority college choice has in terms of finances.</p>