This might be a stupid question but do Common Data Set reports include private loan data? I’m looking at a lot of elite-elitish schools and they pretty consistently report 50-60% of students receive financial aid so at least 40% are getting nothing. And I’m trying to figure out how there are that many people willing (and able) to shell out $65-$70k per year without loans or any other financial aid.
No
Well, You are looking at elite schools and should not be surprised that 40 percent are from rather elite backgrounds and attending with no financial aid. We know many kids at the Ivy League schools and Stanford… Every single one is full pay and came from one of two schools. A private high school that costs college tuition to attend and a public school in the middle of the wealthiest neighborhood in the county.
Of course, that is just who we know. There are certainly kids who get in from regular high schools and more average income homes. Just shouldn’t surprise that 40 percent of families don’t have to even take out a federal student.
The most recent IRS data (2011) reveals that there were over 5 MILLION returns filed with Adjusted Gross Income of $200,000 or more. Obviously, only a small percent of those would have a high school senior applying to any college in any given year, but it’s a big country, even a small percentage like the top 1,2 or 3% of incomes will still contain LOTS of families. And those families will be full pay.
Some families (like us) use a combo of savings we started when our kids were born, federal loans, and out of current income. One of my kids also attended a school where she got a pretty fair amount of merit aid, too.