I definitely agree that college needs to be taken into consideration as well. Here in the U.S., we have a college savings instrument called a 529. Many parents start these when their children are born/very young. When our son was applying, the rules did not allow those funds to be used for secondary education. Per @MAschools post, I believe that is no longer the case. We knew we’d have to stop contributing to the 529 and did not figure that flow into our FA need amount but, of course, ALL current and future disposable income is considered available for paying for BS, including retirement contributions. Because we were in our late 50’s when our son was applying, a $$$$ hole in that portfolio gave us serious pause. Also, accepting FP without loans would take every single disposable cent from us. Both schools agreed that a no-loan scenario might be untenable, but no FA was forthcoming because the no-loan scenario was a choice.
This is absolutely true. BS is a luxury and every BS expects sacrificial contribution. Each family who cannot easily write those checks needs to decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to make BS happen for their child/ren, and sacrificing for BS is what those tiny violins are made for.
There is a ton of great discussion in the archives about paying for BS that covers a lot of ground between starting the application and ending up WL’d for FA. Though it’s too late for this round, I’ll post a few links for those considering BS next year:
Middle class family getting ready to pay in full
The full pay or wait list phone call