<p>I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, I agree with Curmudgeon. I hate to see kids saddled with debt because their parents were poor, alcoholics or spendthrifts. On the other hand, giving people nothing because they scrimped and saved all of their life is just plain unfair.</p>
<p>So what's the solution? Perhaps the answer is to give a nice tax credit for those people who pay tuition without using borrowed funds! This way we reward the savers and still can give aid to those who need it!</p>
<p>Thats what Toby Zeigler keeps saying. Every penny spent on college should be deductible.</p>
<p>Taxguy, nice of you to lump the poor, spendthrifts and alcoholics together. That's pretty ignorant.</p>
<p>taxguy had an OR in there, not an AND.</p>
<p>bluffcity, what number did you have for the "savings and stock appreciation" and what calculator did you use? Those efc numbers for A look way off to me unless A is a stock and savings millionaire, apart from his 401k and IRA and other qualified plans that don't count at all. I assume that our spendthrift B spent those , too and has nothing for retirement either? </p>
<p>OT Sort of: (Or maybe the idiot just put his retirement money in an unsheltered asset like a ranch he hoped would appreciate. Remember there is no cap on ranch equity even if you live on it. You may live in a 1200 foot cabin with window units but it ain't a home if the lot's too big. Like a few hundred acres too big. ;) Who'd do that? LOL .What a goofus . What a maroon.)</p>
<p>I don't think outside of a brief mention of beer and champagne, alcohol featured in the conversation.</p>
<p>That would be the Pacific northwest schools thread.
We are discussing the merits of the wineries ;)</p>
<p>cur beat me to it....</p>
<p>Also, the $17,000 efc can only be for each of three children in college.</p>
<p>cur, well, some people are just silly, you know. :D</p>
<p>To those who don't know, I'm the idiot spoken of in my OT section of my last post. </p>
<p>Not fellow B in bluffcity's post. I think it was clear but then again, I think that about a lot of things. ;)</p>
<p>cur, if you thought I was thinking you were fellow B and not the idiot <a href="sic">i</a>* in your OT section of your penultimate post, please know that I was not. :)</p>
<p>It was, indeed, perfectly clear.</p>
<p>As it usually is when you post.</p>
<p>The main way I look at it is to ask how much each school wants to bid to rent my d's services. Remember, none of this is REALLY financial aid; it is simply the discount they are willing to offer from an arbitrarily fixed price. Needless to say they all prefer having a nice group of students who are so impressed with themselves and with the prestige of the school that they won't demand anything, and, in some cases, can even convince parents to give them a little extra! ;) </p>
<p>But, for the rest, it is simply a matter of discounting. And they've discovered something really neat. For the price of a single Pell grant-qualifying student, they can get 10, each for the price of a 10-year-old car, and have the parents happily fork over the remainder, a la Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. Makes 'em look more generous too, as percentage of those receiving aid goes up. Quite a deal!</p>
<p>re post 200
"it looks like I'll have saved enough to afford my expected EFC.",
I'm going to post here without reading what has written since then, at the risk of being redundant, but a problem with thinking that the EFC is ALL a parent will have to come with, is that turns out NOT TO BE THE CASE more often than not. Every year I read on CC the posts by angry, startled, misled, aggrieved parents who don't understand that EFC does not mean "the college will pick up the rest of the tab". Colleges are the ones holding all the cards when it comes to FA. Financial aid offices are the ones who determine "need", with various, opaque formulas, and the amounts of FA offered, based on those formulas, can vary tremendously from college to college, even among "elite"colleges. For our family, we received FA offers varying from $18,000 to $1000/ year- based on the same information! [Again, my apologies if this has been stated elsewhere since post 200.]</p>
<p>Danhmom, would you prefer poo caused by any reason whatsover OR received insufficient financial aid.. God, we have to be lawyers here to post things.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how college/university costs in other countries compare to ours in the U.S.? How is financial aid handled in other nations, if there is such a thing?</p>
<p>I don't mean to change the direction of the thread, I'm just wondering. Ignore my questions if I broke with CC protocol :)</p>
<p>In France students pay next to nothing (about 400$ a year for tuition) for state universities (and by the way, the Sorbonnes is part of the state system). Private universities of course are another story.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Nah. Not so much help. Wearing a catcher's mask and oven gloves while having the skin of an alligator works best. ;)</p>
<p>I know that there are few PRIVATE colleges in other countries- most all are run by or subsidized by governments. Example- Canada has no private colleges.</p>
<p>menlopark,</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm going to post here without reading what has written since then, at the risk of being redundant, but a problem with thinking that the EFC is ALL a parent will have to come with, is that turns out NOT TO BE THE CASE more often than not.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, I know. But I also know that my likely EFC is enough to pay for flagship State U (which has strong programs in his likely majors, fortunately), assuming S is admitted. Also other state schools. And that's without my taking out any loans, or S taking out any loans; I would consider taking out some loans, not a huge amount, because I'm ancient, but some, and S could certainly take out some loans, though I would prefer that he not, or if he does, that it's not much.</p>
<p>He might have to live at home, which may be motivation enough for him to work harder at finding scholarship money/his grades ( :) ), but we will, barring a calamity, have the funds for a college education for him, even if it's not the rah-rah-go-off-to-a-dorm experience.</p>