<p>Does anyone know from experience the best way to go about paying for college with this level of income? This level of income puts me JUST out of need based aid and it's not like we're even upper middle class in this part of the country. We have a decent 3 bedroom house, 3 cars over 10 years old. If we have to pay for college too, my parents may have to move into an even smaller house with 2 bedrooms ( do those even exist?). Advice please! :)</p>
<p>What schools are you looking at?</p>
<p>You attend a State University which will run you around 18-22K per year, living on campus. Even if your parents haven’t saved anything up to this point, this is a manageable amount with that income. Probably not what you want to hear, but it is reality.</p>
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<p>For the majority of schools, this income puts you WAY out of need based aid.</p>
<p>I’m looking at MIT and wharton as my reaches and dartmouth and brown as matches (hopefully). A state school would bs lovely (I don’t really care as long as the school isn’t horrendous). Problem is consulting (field I want to go into) requires a certain amount of prestige. I have to get into a top 10 school to land a nice job.</p>
<p>That was actually what I was thinking, which was why I asked about schools. Our income isn’t close to $200k, but we pay for our son’s state school without borrowing. Actually, we had two in school last year - D had a big scholarship so her costs were low, but we paid a whole bunch of money between the two of them. People do it by saving beforehand, by cutting back, by working extra jobs if needed, and by borrowing.</p>
<p>I was looking at upenn where with 195K and one brother attending college, I get $4,000.</p>
<p>I have to get into a top 10 school to land a nice job. </p>
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<p>Absolutely not true.</p>
<p>As for the private schools you are looking at, it is worth applying for aid - but any aid you get at your income level is probably minimal. MIT is pretty up front about expecting families to contribute, so I doubt you’d get aid there …</p>
<p>Ah guess that’s life then thanks for your help guys. I’ll work my butt off to get the money because my parents are very unwilling to pay.</p>
<p>Have you applied to any schools where you could get merit aid? If you are competitive for those schools, there are plenty of other schools where you would be competitive for merit aid … and that is not tied to income.</p>
<p>my parents may have to move into an even smaller house with 2 bedrooms ( do those even exist?). </p>
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<p>And I do hope you were joking. Seriously.</p>
<p>In addition to state school options, you can look at schools where your statistics put you in line to get decent merit aid. At the same time, you should talk to your parents about what they are willing to contribute. It’s hard to imagine a part of the country where a family is not upper middle class with a household income of ~$200K but that’s neither here nor there.</p>
<p>I am not joking. I live in NYC, 4 kids in the house, already paying 10K plus living expenses for one child not in house. I am sorry if I’m offending anyone.</p>
<p>I would be happy to apply to those other schools if say I was going to engineering where they ^no longer play by old boy rules. But to get into IBanking or consulting everyone I’ve talked to says that prestige matters a lot. Please correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>… you don’t know if 2 bedroom houses exist and you want to go to a top school?</p>
<p>… I have no words for this one.</p>
<p>I was referring to your question of whether 2 bedroom houses exist. Not only do they exist, but many families with more kids than yours live in them. There were even families in my kids’ elementary school who lived in travel trailers and motels - one family had mom plus five kids in a one bedroom efficiency cabin. Beats the homeless shelter or the streets. Many, many people have far less than your family.</p>
<p>Of course top schools can open doors. That doesn’t mean that students who don’t attend top schools can’t get into and do well in those careers, though.</p>
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<p>So your parents are paying to help a sibling, but they won’t help you? Is this child support or is it a sibling in college?</p>
<p>My five person family lives in a two bedroom house…</p>
<p>Once again I’m sorry for offending anyone. Obviously I’m an ignorant fool. I merely thought once you go two bedroom only condos or apartments are available. But this is besides the topic. Yes they are paying 10K for my brothers college but won’t for me…I point this out to them, and they say they are too strained. It is no matter I have heard of quite a few people who work multiple jobs to minimize their loans, and even though this sounds difficult, like you guys there are people worse off.</p>