<p>Yeah--but where are they supposed to live--a cardboard box??</p>
<p>No, there is a big gap between a decent house in a safe neighborhood in a good school district and a cardboard box. I rent out a house that is about 1200 square feet to a family whom I suspect has two other families squeezed in there. There are kids going to Columbia, NYU and Harvard in those families. But there is a gap between that and a nicer house too. You see, I lived in sub par housing in not so nice neighborhoods for years while H was a post grad. Many families living that way, really in student housing near a university. Grundgie, borderline dangerous but cheap. But you can always find something. You live in places where people of your income bracket live. That all come with being poor, substandard housing. But your kid will get a full ride and live with the best of them at HPY if he gets in.</p>
<p>Sell the house to go to college....honestly now. That is an unreasonable expectation to make. Essentially, the system would have penalized my mother for building wealth, which in the Black community is far too rare a thing. The system need balance; addressing the financial difficulties of working class families while at the same time being realistic and empathetic to the concerns of middle class families.</p>
<p>I can't tell you how crushing it was when I got my Dartmouth financial aid statement, its like after my mom and I both worked so hard for 18 years, we get slapped in the face. It was simply unreasonable. And my goodness, how many scholarship are there out there that penalize parents who work hard and make money. Are people realizing the types of PROFITS that one could possibly make from being poor and going to college. All the while, the middle class is stuck holding the bill.</p>
<p>jamimom, you must not be serious. I rather my kid not go to HYP than live in a bad(not nice) neighborhood. A good neighborhood is very important, because it has the right kind of kids you want your kid to hang out with. Note, I'm not equating a not so nice neighborhood with not nice house. As a matter of fact you can live in a nice house in a not so nice neighborhood. But you can't beat a good neighborhood that comes with good school district. This is when I can forget about which college my kid can go to and focus on whether my child will survive long enough in the bad area to go to college in the first place!</p>
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I'm sorry..but my liberal leanings aside...I've gotta say that if you make 100-150K, you really get screwed over by need-based fin aid.
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<p>I agree with you that the middle class is really stuck between a rock and a hard place. We live in a small starter house, drive our average cars till the doors fall off and go to dinner only about twice a year. Our EFC is 1/3 of our gross income. That is crazy! Our only real luxury has been our methodical saving for college and retirement, for which we are now penalized. Sadly, we have not managed to save as much as $160K for higher education expenses, as seems to be expected.</p>
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No, there is a big gap between a decent house in a safe neighborhood in a good school district and a cardboard box. I rent out a house that is about 1200 square feet to a family whom I suspect has two other families squeezed in there. There are kids going to Columbia, NYU and Harvard in those families. But there is a gap between that and a nicer house too. You see, I lived in sub par housing in not so nice neighborhoods for years while H was a post grad. Many families living that way, really in student housing near a university. Grundgie, borderline dangerous but cheap. But you can always find something. You live in places where people of your income bracket live. That all come with being poor, substandard housing. But your kid will get a full ride and live with the best of them at HPY if he gets in.
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<p>What happens if the mother wants the house back later though??</p>
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Lesson to my kids...either be filthy rich or dirt poor.
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<p>Or be adopted by Paris Hilton's parents. Now that would be fun. To be able to buy a Mercedes without giving it a second thought would be awesome.</p>
<p>SusieQ, we lived in a student ghetto for years, and it was not a nice neighborhood by any family's opinion for raising kids. And it was not because we wanted our kids to go to HPY. That was what we could afford. And there were clusters of families living in the area, who were highly educated and very interested in culture but did not have much money. The kids in these clusters tended to go to top schools and get a lion's share of merit and financial aid. They also did not tend to get into trouble as much as kids in the "better" suburbs as they were not permitted to hang out nor were they given much latitude in social interactions. Everything had to be supervised more than parents in nice neighborhoods feel it is necessary to do. But being in the city, they got to be first on board on all the cultural happenings, knew the museums well and learned to use the many public resources. There are a number of Asian families living in the area as well, and I assure you their kids are not in any trouble, danger and a disproportionate number of them go to top schools. I am not suggesting this as a lifestyle of first choice to anyone but I am not as sympathetic to someone hanging onto the house in a suburban neighborhood as a necessity of life and is outraged when they are told that the house is a luxery item and that there are many out there in their income bracket without such a house doing fine.In most private schools a house is considered part of your assets and for good reason. What people choose is certainly their own business, and how they spend their money is their choice, but home equity is certainly fair game for an asset hit by the colleges. </p>
<p>As the the be "either filthy rich or dirt poor", it is not so easy to become rich, but does not take much time and effort to become dirt poor. That is a choice that can be made. I doubt anyone will do it for financial aid. Most people do not want to take a drop in a standard of living to pay for college, are horrified at the idea of living in substandard housing to pay for college, and that is still quite a ways from being dirt poor. Don't think there will be any takers for that very available route. And do contact Mini if you are taking that route as he has some wonderful things that he could do with the money you giving away if you do want to go this way, as he does do work with those who are struggling to attain status of being dirt poor as they are currently poverty stricken.</p>