<p>My parents' untaxed combined income is somewhere around $250,000 for this year. According to HYP and other ivy estimates, I will be getting little to no financial aid, whereas 180,000 and under receive almost full tuition.</p>
<p>This whole financial aid thing has almost driven my liberal parents Republican xD
anyone in the same situation?</p>
<p>Lots of people in this situation. And lots of families who have that kind of income who saved money for their kids to go to college. It was apparent to me a long time ago that we would get no financial aid. Saved from when the kids were born.
I’m afraid you won’t get a lot of support here because there are a lot of people who make a LOT less than that. At that income you are in the top 2 percent of the country.
What you need to do now is sit down with your parents and figure out what they can afford.
If they haven’t saved or there are extenuating cirumstances you need to look at a schools where you will receive merit money. They are out there.</p>
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<p>Actually, read those policies again. Students with incomes under $60,000 get full tuition. Above that amount, most of these very generous schools have a family contribution of 10% of their income…so it would be $18,000 a year…still very generous.</p>
<p>But remember…HYPS accept only about 9% of applicants. That means that 91% or so do not get accepted. There are plenty of very well qualified applicants who do not get accepted to these schools. The first hurdle is getting accepted…there are no guarantees of that. The financial aid incentives do you NO GOOD unless you are accepted.</p>
<p>With a family income of $250,000 a year, do you really think you should be receiving NEED BASED AID? Sorry, but I do not. This is a VERY solvent income. Please talk to your family. Perhaps they have been putting some of this generous income aside for your education. Find out how much they can and will contribute annually to your college costs. </p>
<p>Remember too…colleges expect that costs will be paid in three ways…past income (savings), current income (that’s your income now) and future income (loans).</p>
<p>we have about 60,000 in savings (more than most people I’d say) but we’re also paying two mortgages, because my mom has to live in another house part-time because of her work. and no she could not find a job closer to work.
I just think it a bit unfair that, like you said, 180,000 pays 18,000 a year while I would have to pay 50-60k</p>
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<p>Well, you certainly could choose to go to a less expensive school. Or you could choose to research schools that would offer you merit aid. The point is, you have many more choices than a student at lower income levels would have. Sorry, but there’s nothing “unfair” about targeting limited aid to those with more limited resources. Most aid goes to kids with family incomes under $40K/year. And many families, mine included, save from birth, work extra jobs, and cut the budget to the bone to pay for education.</p>
<p>Of course i don’t disagree that families under 60k deserve aid! All I 'm saying is there’s not much disparity between a family maknig 180k and one making 200k, yet the differences in aid grants are enormous among ivy leagues. like you said, 180k=18,000. 200k=full</p>
<p>The bottom line is that there are 4 schools on the planet that have obscenely generous aid, and 99.9% of kids won’t get into them anyway. At the vast majority of college anyone making over $120K will be full pay.</p>
<p>The wild programs that a few rich schools came up with are a non event in overall aid at US colleges.</p>
<p>Yeah, you are just talking about 3 or 4 schools. If you really feel their policies are unjust then your anger and frustration should be very specifically targeted to those schools’ financial aid directors, their presidents, their trustees, boards, etc. It isn’t like some sweeping unfairness. And i happen at different income levels. For example, maybe a student with a family income under 40K gets a free ride, but a kid with a family income of 45K only gets tuition covered. Now that kid has to come up with thousands of dollars for room and board. These colleges are private, and they can make their own rules about how<em>they</em> spend <em>their</em> private money… just the same as you and your parents can with your money.</p>
<p>I know a family with a far, far smaller income than yours, and they also have to maintain two houses for work-related reasons. But, at the end of the day, they have equity in two homes. Should their son’s college subsidize that second home because the parents’ well-paid professional jobs require that living arrangement? It’s kind of silly when you think of it like that, isn’ it?</p>
<p>You probably shouldn’t invest too much energy in thinking about how “screwed” you are with your family income of a quarter of a million dollars. Better would be to consider your options, and if the 50K is too much (considering --like thumper said-- savings, income, and loans), then there are some excellent public universities, many with excellent honors programs, that would cost far less. There are also many excellent schools with great merit aid available to a student of HYP standards.</p>
<p>OP: I’m not sure whether to be amused or disgusted by your sense of entitlement to financial aid, but you should know that you are NOT “upper-middle class.” From 2007: Median household income was $50,223. An income of $250,000 in 2007 would have put you in the top 1.9 percent. Complaining that you won’t be getting financial aid only makes you look spoiled and small.</p>
<p>Most of us are making significant sacrifices to send our kids to college, on far less income than your family’s. You’ll probably have to do what the rest of us do: some combination of tapping savings, earning more income, cutting spending, looking at more affordable options, or borrowing. Welcome to the middle class.</p>
<p>Dude…you guys are pretty well off.<br>
Your parents should’ve saved up for college for a while. $250,000 is more than 4 years of college at an Ivy, money your parents make in less than a year.</p>
<p>Sorry, but it looks like you’ll probably pay for college wherever you go unless you get merit scholarships and such.</p>
<p>At least you’ll be able to drive your BMW around.</p>
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<p>I highly doubt there is a Republican plan to provide grant aid to students from families making $250k/yr.</p>
<p>Those full-rides for less wealthy kids at those tippy top schools are mostly paid out of institutional funds. And we’re talking a very small number of students overall. Pell grants provide a drop in the bucket. Don’t blame poor people for your family’s choices.</p>
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<p>electronblue - I don’t understand what you mean by this. What choices?</p>
<p>Stup…not ALL the Ivies have the same generous financial aid policies. As others have pointed out, there are a handful of schools with this very generous aid AND they are the MOST COMPETITIVE for admissions too. </p>
<p>There are roughly 3000 other colleges in this country. On an income of $250,000 a year, your family should be able to pay the bill at one of them at least. Check out the flagship university in your state for undergrad. You can go to one of those other schools for grad school.</p>
<p>Please, understand that a family with an income of $250,000 a year AND two homes is NOT entitled to need based aid.</p>
<p>Oh…and another thing…those schools with the generous need based aid also say that this is with “typical assets”. Me thinks a second home (regardless of the reason…you know…your mom could be renting a room in an apartment or house instead of owning a second home) will not be considered a “typical asset” as most folks don’t have them…and certainly not folks applying for need based aid.</p>
<p>Stupefy, if you are truly a viable candidate for the Ivy league, then you are most likely an excellent candidate for merit-based aid at other schools. Broaden your search for schools and you might find money in the process.</p>
<p>I saved 60K (enough to pay my EFC out of pocket for 4 years) during a 10 year period when my salary rose to 70K from 40K. I also bought a house. I also paid cash for a car I just bought (the 18 year old civic finally died).</p>
<p>Total spent on vacations during same 10 year period, about 2K TOTAL.
Total spent on take out food/coffee during 10 year period, ZERO. </p>
<p>You’d be surprised how easy it is to save $$ after basic living expenses can be met from income. people fritter away their money a little at a time on the most silly of things but it all adds up, a dollar here, a dollar there…</p>
<p>Our family income is $100,000 LESS than the OPs. Somehow we have been able to pay for the private school educations of both of our kids mostly out of current income. We, like Sueinphilly, have basically no discretionary spending…and haven’t since May 2003. My WHOLE (read that…WHOLE) income pays for college bills. My husband’s pays our other bills. </p>
<p>Agreed that if the OP is competitive for the five or six schools with these great need based financial aid incentives, the OP should be able to find a nice private or public school somewhere that will pay the bills.</p>
<p>As an example, University of South Carolina offers the McNair Scholarship to high achieving, high stat applicants. It is a full cost scholarship including a laptop. The application is a very challenging one, but well worth the effort for those who get the nod. </p>
<p>I would suggest that the OP start looking for these types of awards…but get hopping. If he/she is a senior this year, the applications for these competitive and generous scholarships is EARLY…some are due by November 1. Others by December 1.</p>
<p>Check the colleges.</p>
<p>The OP makes it sound like these Ivies are the only college choices being considered. I hope that the OP can broaden their college search. There are a lot of excellent colleges out there where this student can get a fine college education and with merit aid too.</p>
<p>Screwed in the sense that you had a rather privileged upbringing when your parents COULD have saved for college? My parents made less than 1/10 of what your parents make and even they managed to save enough for books for me.</p>
<p>Why does someone need two houses for work? Honest question. Is it really necessary to have a house? Couldn’t one just have an apartment, which is much cheaper? (I’ve honestly never heard of this so I was just wondering.)</p>
<p>And yeah, if you get in to places like HYP and are forced to pay 50k a year, you should have the stats to get nice outside scholarships to offset the costs. If not, there are MUCH, MUCH cheaper schools. There is always your state U.</p>
<p>Plus, when you make 70k more a year than someone who makes 180k, you’re only paying about 1/2 of that extra income on college, which is about what FAFSA calculates anyways (about 45% for every dollar if I’m not mistaken). I believe a family should be able to scrape by on 200k a year IMO.</p>
<p>sorry to incite so much animosity…
we don’t have that much saved because my family has only recently been making this much. my parents are chinese immigrants who came to America with $200 and in the past 10 years have increased their income from 50,000 to five times that. my mom just graduated from law school last year at the age of 45, and we have been paying for that for the past 4 years.
it just seems that all the work to get from a 100k to 200k income is going to be wasted if 50k has to be thrown away every year. thats all. of course I dont think people who are making 50k a year are better off than me. I’m not an idiot. sorry to complain, I guess</p>
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<p>OK…perspective two from me. Just my opinion. Your family was able to live on far less than $250,000 for MANY years…many. It seems to me that they can do so now to IF they want to support your college costs.</p>
<p>Do you really think $50K is money wasted on your college costs? I can tell you that some folks would agree that this amount is unnecessary to get an fine undergrad education each year. If you think $50K is too much…find a less expensive school.</p>
<p>Your screenname indicates you are from Pennsylvania. Is that your state of residency? If so, look at Penn State. Lots of programs and the prices are modest for instate. There are a number of regional Penn State campuses and smaller state schools (places like Shippensburg) where you would likely garner some merit aid to offset your already low instate costs.</p>
<p>It sounds like you feel that you are entitled to a private school education on someone else’s dime because your parents worked hard. I applaud their hard work…but it does not entitle you to need based aid. They should be proud of their accomplishments…and willing to help YOU meet your goals too. And with that income…they should be able to do it.</p>
<p>$250,000 in income? A Quarter of a million dollars? And you think think you should be entitled to need based financial aid. Seriously?</p>