<p>No-- you can't. But in the discussion of how to define 'middle class' it seemed that income alone was not the determining factor, considering location, number in the family, and so on. Also, it seems that 'middle class' in this country is perhaps more a lifestyle than a income label.</p>
<p>In that context, it seems that an assessment of some of these lifestyle indicators (ownership of recreational vehicles, ownership of luxury cars, regular international vacations, and the like) might separate the wealthy from the middle class, aside from income.</p>
<p>Partially true, but then, there are people I know who invest in the luxuries even though they can't afford it, and end up bankrupt. A fool and his money are soon parted, I guess.</p>
<p>Yup. So I guess those folks are choosing to living a wealthy lifestyle on a middle class income. Long term, not a good strategy. Short term, there could be benefits in terms of FAFSA and EFC, though, as converting liquid assets (which are counted against you for financial aid) into toys and trips (which don't count) will reduce ones EFC.</p>
<p>My family are well educated aswell as allin good careers.My mum alone is a phyciatrist.In my household alone my mum and dad earn around £180,000 a year which is approx $360,000 but were still classed as middle class.Maybe its got something to do with how much you put back into the government and society.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, beginning, are you saying that colleges DO treat different towns differently?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, of course they do. That's a old practice that isn't going anywhere soon. If you have an applicant from Fairfield County and one from rural Idaho, the applicant from rural Vermont gets the bump. If they both get admitted, the applicant from Vermont gets a bigger financial aid offer in order to order to entice them to come, even if their incomes are the same. Applicants from poorer towns almost always have preference.</p>
<p>Financial aid and FAFSA are two different things. The federal forms might not look at your town and circumstances, but the actual human beings in the financial aid offices sure do.</p>
<p>I think it depends on where you live and the average cost of living. I live in central FL and here 100,000 a year is considered fairly rich (youd be able to pay off a mortgage on realllllly nice house in a very very nice part of town within 5 years on that salary here.)</p>
<p>My family has just about always been considered to teetering between lower middle and middle middle class and my mom (single parent of 2) made almost 30,000 last year. When my brother and I were growing up (elementary and middle school) she made only around 25k a year, and we had everything we needed and lived in fairly nice (yet rented) apartments and houses.</p>
<p>My EFC is 0 for this year, but that is after my mom lost her job in the middle of the year and with it the next 6 months of income.</p>
<p>yes, 100k is just comfortable, but I think 200k is fairly well off, and it would be hard to get fa for that. I think anyone under 150k can get fa.</p>
<p>Whatever a person's family is making is middle class or 'comfortable'.</p>
<p>Twice what a person's family is making is wealthy or 'well off' or 'rich'.</p>
<p>Glad we cleared that up. :)</p>
<p>"..approx $360,000 but were still classed as middle class.."</p>
<p>I've seen this phenomenon in the affluent community we live in. The kids, most in rich families, have no clue that they're rich. They think that pretty much everyone has luxury cars, big houses, and takes expensive European vacations.</p>
<p>read "class " by Paul Fusell
really hilarious
Class isn't necessarily about income but what you spend your money on and what you spend your time doing.
a family who has a higher level of education, generally does things that are involved in the community, are usually considered to be higher class than a family who spends all their money and time buying and playing with "toys".
Income is seperate from class.
Our income makes us lower "middle class" however, we have had the priority of education over a larger house- fancy address etc
( although heck- now our neighborhood is considered "the "place to live in Seattle and our property taxes and assessment have gone up accordingly)
I have found the calc at Cc and at finaid.org to be pretty accurate for a EFC guess
it will figure both federal EFC and institutional EFC to give you an estimate at what you need to come up with.
for an even easier guess, estimate that 1/3 to 1/4 of your before tax income will be assumed to be available for education purposes- about $2,000 less for only the FAFSA and without home equity</p>
<p>As my nana says aslong as the bills are paid,theres a roof over your head and food on the table then your coping........and of course you have clothes on your back (she's not that old!!LOL)</p>
<p>$100,000 for a household is normal middle class where I live. I'd estimate that most of the kids who go to my high school and live in houses have families that make around that much...anywhere from $70,000 to $120,000 would be reasonable in my area.</p>
<p>it doesnt really matter how much they make... to an extent. what really matters is how much debt vs. savings they have. for example, i know a girl that lives in an at least 2 million dollar house and recieves finanacial aid. her parents ar both successful specialty doctors (probably 120-200,000 dollars a year each) and she only has one sibling; so there is no apparent financial crisis. financial aid is granted to her because her parents spend obsene amounts of money. they recently installed a pool on the third story of their waterfront house, yet they can't seem to pay the full 20,000 dollar tuition.</p>
<p>ug, $100k/year isn't rich enough to confortable pay for college tuition, yet it is just enough that colleges give zero aid. Where I live it's the lower spectrum of middle class. </p>
<p>Sometimes even if you live in an expensive area it's not that you choose to live there, it's where your parents can get a job. My mom is a techincal editor and could only find work in the bay area where there are a ton of tech places, so we live in the cheap neighborhood, and a 2br completely un-updated condo was $400k. For that same amount almost anywhere else in the country it could have at the least bought a house at the most a freaking mansion (ok so it'd have to be like in upstate NY but still, a mansion).</p>
<p>Pinkmuscat--that's INSANE. is she an athlete?</p>
<p>If they make 240 to 400K, I'd be very surprised if they get any need-based aid. Spending and debt aren't considered in the financial aid formulas (mortgage debt being an exception in the case of the Institutional Methodology). Spending can reduce a liquid asset, but it doesn't offest income.</p>
<p>I've always thought that schools should factor in cost of living in the city and state of the student's family. They should probably calculate a number based on median home prices for the zip code and the family's income / assets. $100,000 is not the same in SF as it is in Peoria, which is why I think that locale should be considered.</p>
<p>That said, $100,000 yearly is upper-middle class, unless you're living in an exceptionally wealthy city / suburb. If you live in a nice suburban area and think that everyone is pretty much middle class, please use your head. Average in your neighborhood is not average elsewhere. You live in a nice, upper-middle class area. That's why everyone else is so comfortable.</p>
<p>I live in the Boca Raton area (it's pricey), and $100,000 is a comfortable living where the median home price is ~$360,000. That's similar to D.C. and Sacramento, CA. The median home price for the US is ~$190,000...in most places, $100k is upper-middle.</p>
<p>Wow!!America is so cheap!In Britain,well where I come from,the houses can stretch to a few million.The typical home is around 200-350,000.Council houses are around 100,000 and these are houses provided by councils for poor people.
I find the rich and posh areas so boring and lifeless,if I go down to the council areas everyone are friends and the atmosphere is great.Theres nothing worse than snobbery!!
I have been brought up in the not so rich areas,I lived and spent most of my childhood in the "common" areas but my family kinda worked hard and thats why I'm here now.As far as where your educated tells if your rich or not,thats a loada s***!!My grandparents got into a really good universities and they grew in a very poor city,they struggled so alot.</p>
<p>It's easy to fall into the trap of looking at the Joneses up and down the street, and assume that because they live in equally big houses and drive equally new cars, that you're 'middle class'. But taking the broad view, and looking at the numbers, when median family income is 43K (meaning half the families in the US make less than that), it's hard to argue realistically that 120K is middle class. Particularly when the argument seems to be: "Well, we live in a nice neighborhood, where houses are expensive, and our cars are very expensive to buy and maintain, and so we have a lot of expenses, so we're really just middle class even though we make three times the median".</p>
<p>Nobody with 100K should complain about being not well off. With big income come big expenses. If you can't stand the heat get out of the oven</p>
<p>also, there is a problem with labeling certain locations with certain acceptable income. Some would think living in nyc is expensive, but not unless you live in the less expensive neighborhoods. There is no way for colleges to effectively determine your expenses based on location, as it can vary so much even within the same city.</p>
<p>Agro, some latitude should be given to people living in more expensive areas, but I propose that how expensive an area is should be determined by zip code, and not city. You have higher expenses by living near NYC (even in a more affordable dwelling), compared to someone living in the midwest. The bigger problem with comparing by zip code occurs when the home prices are inflated because practically everyone in that zip code is loaded. Perhaps factors like sales tax rates and home prices in surrounding zip codes could be used as a stabilizer.</p>