All props to your sister. They got where they are without cheating, lying, selling cocaine to 3rd graders? I don’t lose sleep over other people’s success.
1 Like
It’s an amazing gift, and I am happy for your kids and you! I mean that sincerely. I do get a pang of jealousy, of course (as someone who spent 10 years paying back crushing college loans), but I can for sure separate that from my appreciation for what your folks did for their grandkids.
1 Like
Perhaps, but I am basing this off of anecdotal stories from the families I know who came from Scotland, Canada, Ireland, Australia. They all have the same story. College was great, and dirt cheap, high quality. They came here to work after that, for various reasons.
1 Like
I think it’s great they’ve had so much success, but my point is they weren’t roughing it to make it happen. I have several family members who don’t have 529’s for their children because they don’t need to. It seems some feel like either parents sacrificed to make sure their children had a top college education, or slacked, bought expensive cars and went on lavish vacations. There are so many different scenarios.
My daughter currently attends a school in Scotland. It’s nothing like school in the US. And the kids there that have to pay (which is most of them)…still complain about the cost.
2 Likes
I am sorry about your predicament. If you are seeking advice from CC members on how to get more FA from Columbia, perhaps start your own thread to gain visibility for your question. I hope that the finance will work out for you; good luck at Columbia.
Not at all. I was actually referring to the people who have 529s because money DID fall from the sky. Let me provide an example. We know a family, same age as us. They had wealthy parents on both sides. When they bought their home, their parents paid for their house. So they had no mortgage. So they were able to contribute to a 529, and their retirement.
We, on the other hand, only made enough to max out our retirement. 529s were above our budget, although we did start one last year (at the time our kids are ages 20, 17 and 14). We will not get much out of it, but a little something.
So for people who worked their tails off to save for college, and could, kudos to them.
I was referring to the original post, where people have very different situations. Some, quite honestly, just have free money handed to them. Others have to work hard. Others still have difficult challenges to overcome.
1 Like
No, worded poorly by me. If anything I believe college should be subsidized more for everyone, not just those with lower incomes.
It can be frustrating that if you work more, make extra, and all that does it raise your EFC and more of it goes to college. If you make less, you get grants.
I also have people I know, who make what I do, but claim to make little, and get big grants. My income is all exposed in a W-2, and to FAFSA. No grants.
1 Like
But the majority of people don’t make enough to save a significant amount, yet they make too much to get anything other than the federal student loan. And very few families benefit from a financial windfall (be it from dead relatives or from grandparents). Any family that is able to pay, even at a “lesser” school, without borrowing a ton in parent and/or private loans, is far better off than most. The chatter on this thread makes me guess that everyone here is lucky enough to afford “a” college (even if it’s not “the” college). I saw far too many students who could not afford any school to buy into feeling sorry for my kids when their first choice schools were too expensive.
8 Likes
You are probably right, and I have to admit, I live in an area where there are some extremes (in that there are some loaded people who live in my town, although we are not one of them). This is not the norm across the country, and we feel lucky that our children are going to very good schools, even if they aren’t the top 30 that people tend to harp and focus on. The top 100 (even 150) schools are all very good options.
No thanks; I would rather not see my tax dollars going to pay the college expenses of the children with multi-millionaire parents.
4 Likes
They’re already getting you in so many other ways (the very rich). They aren’t even paying their fair rate on taxes. Cost of college is like an oil change for them.
1 Like
Should we tax these multi-millionaires to help pay for higher education for everyone then?
Let’s start by rewriting the tax code so we can make sure that American corporations valued at tens of billions of dollars (or more) are paying a reasonable tax and aren’t using loopholes and write-offs to owe nothing. Then we can take a look at further reforms; maybe tighten up on the capital gains rates, etc.
4 Likes
Ok, so why do you want college for children of the wealthy to be subsidized?
One big difference between the US and other countries is the range of price levels in the US. You don’t have the gap between a state flagship at $30K and a private school at $80K. Often you pay the same price at a top college as you do at a much less highly rated college.
So affording college is something which people may complain about. But constraining your choices based on cost, let alone “merit hunting”, rather than attending the best college you can get into based on academic ability, is absolutely not a consideration (other than people who stay at home and commute to save on living costs).
Absolutely agree about the cost structure. But the trade off in terms of curriculum flexibility, residential experience, sports, community and so forth is often under appreciated by US parents. They think you’re getting the US 4year flexible curriculum, residential experience complete with D1 sports, all you can eat 24/7 dining, counseling, advising, mentoring, state of the art athletic facilities for free. That’s not the case.
5 Likes
You don’t have to worry about that. If these multi-millionaires are high income, they would not only be paying for their own children’s education, but for many others as well.
1 Like
Because in almost all other countries, higher education is highly subsidized and is much more egalitarian and austere, unlike in the US.
The Thumper family paid a LOT for private colleges for two kids. One got a decent merit award. The other got a teeny one.
DH and I both worked full time in professional positions. We fully funded our retirement and didn’t save a dime for college (ymmv, but this was what our financial planner suggested). DHs salary was used to pay all of our living expenses while kids were in college. My salary, every single penny of it, paid for college costs for seven years. It was direct deposit, and auto withdrawal by some college. We called it the mystery money because we just never saw it.
My plan was to retire ASAP after the last undergrad college payment was made. I worked full time for one additional year, and then did per diem work which I continue to do.
The thing folks need is a plan. It doesn’t matter whether your plan is for saving in a 529, using current savings or past savings, garnering merit aid, finding a very affordable college, or a combo of some sort.
You need a plan. Money for college doesn’t usually come out of thin air.
11 Likes