<p>I think the most expensive public school in PA, Penn State is about the same price for instate students. They are also not known for great aid.</p>
<p>The flaw is that there is no way to give everyone who thinks they ‘need’ ‘deserve’ money for whichever college they want to go to. The flaw is that is that it costs 15K to go to one of the cheapest state schools. The flaw is not that a family earning 130K a year doesn’t qualify for need based aid. Like you said earlier, full Pell is ~5k and freshman stafford is 5500 (or more if your parents can’t get Plus loan) and that 10.5K isn’t going to pay for most ‘sleepover’ colleges. I have no idea how Cal grants and Regents or other state grants work. But even if you get them all, college costs can be a stretch for most people.</p>
<p>The flaw is that they don’t tell parents that the day their children are born, they should start living like paupers to save every penny. They don’t say “hey that 3K you are spending in 2008 for Disney world would be worth a semester of state tuition in 15 years”. The flaw is that nobody would listen to them even if they knew that to be fact. The flaw is that those same people might be crying foul when they don’t the meager free funds that the govt does ‘give out’ when those kids are ready for college. </p>
<p>My son’s school is now nearly 52K a year. Even with a 30K scholarship, and my EFC of 11K this year and 2400 Perkins and 5500 stafford, that still doesn’t add up to the total cost </p>
<p>I figure on paying out of my pocket, from savings, about 65K over 4 years, my entire life savings earned from a job I started in 1991 at 13.5K, topping out today at 67K (AGI is much lower because of pre-tax retirement that FAFSA adds back anyway). </p>
<p>And my son will have ~30K in federal student loans.<br>
Let me know when ‘fair’ kicks in…</p>