<p>You ever feel like you are being punished for being frugal? I know a family with a similar income who are getting a lot more aid for their kid... In spite of their lavish home remodel, large home, and expensive annual vacations to exotic places. </p>
<p>We save and live in an non remodeled 60 year old home, never taking big expensive vacations, etc. </p>
<p>I know we are lucky to have what we have.... And I don't spend a lot of time comparing... But every once in a while I feel the need to whine/rant about it. :). </p>
<p>You’re not alone…We really have tried to save for kids’ education, but now I feel like it works against us to some extent. I feel really sleazy when I start thinking things like, “we should make sure we replace H’s car (12 year-old mini-van) this year because if we don’t that money will count against us in the FA calculations next year.”</p>
<p>For all you now, that student got merit aid. We had friends who told everyone that Wellesley “gave” their kid $10,000 a year. They made it sound like a merit award. </p>
<p>The opposite is true too. Kids get merit awards for various reasons.</p>
<p>You are so wise to be grateful for what you have. Maybe that other family is in debt up to their ears, just keeping up with the Joneses. Maybe the grandparents bought the lavish house. Maybe recently one of the parents lost their job, or became ill. </p>
<p>There is an old saying “don’t count other people’s money”.</p>
<p>@psalcal: Need-based financial aid (as opposed to merit aid) is primarily annual-income-based (at both CSS and FAFSA schools), so you and your neighbor with similar annual incomes would be expected to have similar roughly similar EFCs (barring really enormous non-retirement savings/second properties, or several children in college at the same time). And of course, most schools don’t meet full need anyway. I have heard many people refer to loans as “aid.” For all you know, your neighbors are up to their eyeballs in debt. Or perhaps they have been making a high income for many years and have more “give” in their budget. Who knows.</p>
<p>If the neighbor’s kid got a great merit award because of his/her high competitiveness relative to the particular college’s general applicant pool, that is no skin off your nose. Is it? Or perhaps your neighbor’s children applied and got into to schools with very generous financial aid policies. These schools are extremely competitive for entrance, so if that’s the case, good for those kids.</p>
<p>A common problem on these boards is the kid with non-frugal parents and a high EFC. The family cannot afford the EFC because they are locked into a high-consumption lifestyle or are supporting relatives. To me, it’s no " punishment" to be able to live frugally and be able to give your child educational choices without depending on financial aid.</p>
<p>Ya know… I wish y’all would stop trying to fix my little rant. :). It’s needs based. I know enough to know, trust me. I also know enough to know they haven’t saved much at all. </p>
<p>They own newer Mercedes and we own older Toyotas. I wouldn’t trade my life for theirs anyway as they are so leveraged they will not retire until 80. It’s all OK in the long run people. </p>
<p>I understand your point (driving a 10-year-old Honda in the land of Lexus). I live in a relatively old, small and shabby house in a neighborhood full of McMansions with backyard pools. We realized many years ago that given our income, we would probably not be eligible for need-based aid. So we lived our life accordingly (smaller house, old cars, etc.). “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We value education over trips, large houses and vacations. We’re happy with our choice too.</p>
<p>I am completely with you, @psalcal! We are savers and felt punished in this system. Made me a bit frustrated to think we could just buy a second car, a big TV, some jewelry etc. and have a better shot at aid! </p>
<p>And it’s not just income they look at as many would have you believe. We have moderate income, but put a big percentage of it into pre-tax retirement accts. Because we’re in our 40s, that was a huge ding. Plus, we were hurt by all our savings (we don’t own any real property, so that’s our nest egg). </p>
<p>I am grateful that we live frugally and the choices that gives us, including being able to handle full-pay (luckily kid picked in-state public through!). </p>
<p>They might not OWN any cars. Lots of folks around here lease. </p>
<p>Schools that meet full need come in all shapes and sizes. Some have generous need based aid for folks earning $150,000 a year and more. Others really don’t. </p>
<p>And as noted upstream, savings accounts for about 6% of the calculated family contribution. The formulas are heavily weighted towards income. Maybe…just maybe, these folks aren’t the big earners you think they are. They just SPEND like they are big earners.</p>
<p>To be honest, I’m celebrating YOU. If those other folks really got significant need based aid, then they could very much be in a financial hole. I don’t envy them one bit. Not one.</p>
<p>I would much rather live within my means, and support college costs (which we did as well…yep, older cars, no new house, no vacations of substance). </p>
<p>I hear your rant…I do. But as you did in your first post. Count your blessings!</p>
<p>Frugals unite! You will be glad when all is said and done. We’ve been the “frugal family” since forever. Saved for college,saved for retirement. Told the two kids that we could pay for instate publics and would not allow them to take loans nor would we drain our retirement/savings for college tuition. If they wanted to try for merit money to go elsewhere that was fine but it would have to equal out to instate costs. </p>
<p>Both kids (one w/ a fullride) graduated in four years from instate publics debt free with some of their college funds still intact to start life after college. Both (ages 24 and 27) are financially self-sufficient and have been since college grad. DH works at utility power plant. I was a sahm until kids were 12 and 15. Have worked p/t at a preschool since then. Not glamour jobs. We have no debt. We are retiring in May (at 51 and 55). Frugal Wins! Hang in there. Stay frugal. You’ll come out to the good in the long run.</p>
<p>If they have “similar income”, their aid shouldn’t be hugely different from you kid’s. Savings make a much smaller impact than income does on the aid formula at most schools. Unless your kid is going to a school that does not meet need and their kid is. When I look at the formula for aid, I would a whole lot rather have the savings I have in the bank and a bit less financial aid than minimal savings, the same income, and some additional FA from my kid’s college.</p>
<p>Also… you may not really know what their income is. I have a small business that usually is at least a six figure income for me. But for a variety of factors that came together last year, I only made about $50K. Now, I had money in the bank, and rode it out with no problem. I certainly did not mention it to my neighbors and friends. But my kid’s college did increase FA when they heard about it, and they likely will give better FA this year based on last year’s tax returns. I am on track to be back in the “normal” income range with my business this year, so that FA is probably going to go away after this year. And I am fine with that. So you think you know your neighbor’s income… but maybe you really don’t.</p>
<p>We planned to have our 2 kids 5 years apart so we wouldn’t be paying for both of their college tuitions at the same time. I was always a planner. Even when our kids were little, I would see some of their friends at their private school with a lot of latest and greatest toys while they were on FA. I used to wonder how they could be on financial aid when their parents owned multiple restaurants in NYC. As much as I would like to rant, but when I read about how some students got into their top choices and only found out their parents couldn’t afford those schools or how they had to think about “financial safeties,” then I am happy to give my kids the gift of “pick the best school you want.”</p>
<p>Having our kids 10 years apart wasn’t exactly planned…but when I see friends with two or three kids in college at once struggling with finances, I figure it was lucky happenstance. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s one of those “disappointments-can-work-out-for-the-best” things. ;)</p>
<p>Fin aid formulas are primarily income driven, so there has to be A LOT of savings and assets to make a huge difference in terms of aid for families that are comparing to like families in terms of income. But, yes, there is that niche if both families are getting kids into the same full need met schools.</p>
<p>On our street, we have a neighbor whose family income is not so up there at all,but they have family with money that supplements them heavily. Two girls in top cost private universities, private school before that with one still there. Plus Grandpa provided a lot of the money for cars, home improvements, vacations. There is no fairness about any of this at all. Just the way it works. I’d love to help my kids out that way though ideally, they won’t need it. </p>
<p>Honestly? No. I do not feel punished for savings. And am, quite frankly, a little surprised when people say they are. The FAFSA calculates that I can contribute 5.6% of my savings over a protected amount (somewhere in the ballpark of 33k for most families with 2 working parents). So, for every 10k over my protected amount, $560 is added to my EFC. Do I want the remaining $9440 or an extra $600 in aid eligibility? No brainer. </p>
<p>And by the way, I do buy new cars. They have sticker prices in the teens, but they’re new. I,m not sure why “old car” becomes the standard against which extravagance is judged. </p>