<p>Using Cedar Rapids as an example, one who earns 175k in NYC ,would need to earn only 99,900 to have the same standard of living…so when FA offices see incomes,perhaps using a simple salary/income calculator might be beneficial…</p>
<p>Apparently over 2.2 million people manage to do it somehow.</p>
<p>Where one lives and how one chooses to spend one’s money are choices. Live in a modest house in Queens on a $175,000 income, don’t buy a lot of toys, and you can afford to write a check to Yale for the full COA.</p>
<p>Annasdad, you might save on home cost,but life insurance will wipe out the savings…i repeat,for the most part, you don’t want to live in the area the home you chose as an example is located…</p>
<p>A few quick tips for preparing for retirement and college.
Live below your means.
Save 10% of your income for retirement.
(Only public employees have pensions anymore.)
Start saving for college as soon as your children are born. If you are moderate income, save quarterly. If you are affluent, save monthly.</p>
<p>We’re fortunate to be free of medical bills or health issues, so it is hard for me to understand the financial plight of people with big bills.</p>
<p>^^annasdad,
Trust me, you don’t want to live in South Ozone Park, Queens, especially with a Yale quality daughter. If you lived there, your kids will have little chance to be admitted by Yale. Having said that, I believe you have choices, but OP might not have. He might have a mortgage that he thought he could afford, other fixed costs maybe bearing down on him. Variable costs can be cut, no vacations, no restaraunts, no gifts, no this and that… At the end, OP is fortunated enough to have this income to sustain himself, but without college savings and planning, I agree it will be difficult to pay for the 60k/year COA for Yale.</p>
<p>A simple math will reveal that a $175k income will have to pay 60K taxes at the minimum, if you deduct 60K Yale COA from the balance, you will have around 60K leftover for living in NYC. I don’t know that is enough or not, but it will be super tight, depends on the mortgage.</p>
<p>A simple math will reveal that a $175k income will have to pay 60K taxes at the minimum,</p>
<p>Not necessarily. We don’t know what their taxable income is. If they have a large mortgage and can deduct a bunch of interest and the wife has a bunch of business deductions, their taxable income may be much, much lower.</p>
<p>To the op, the mortgage is the thing. Short of downsizing, which was not wise in this day of deflated re values, we make a go of two full pay students on the same income as yours taking a new 30 year mortgage at super low rates. Now, I know we should have stuck with a short term, especially since there were only 5 years left on the old mortgage but the decrease in monthly payment for two years of two kids in college, and the decreased rate of 3 percent gave us freed up cash flow. My hope is that the economy will improve and we can kick back 2k in principal that we do not do now, but we wanted a two year solution that covered the gap between savings and cost, when our savings took a hit in 2007 in the crash. Op needs to choose the sacrifices - we also gave up a third car, vacation, eating out, etc, and I took on more work over weekends that I may have declined in another economy because that return is a very low compared to my desire to generally not be working 70 hours plus a week. We had the unexpected in the crash of 2007 and a generally poor economy, and made up the difference by working more, and by an economic choice with the household expenses that is not objectively wise for two years. There are no certainties, and no hard and fast rules but those that work for you.</p>
<p>^^ No we don’t know the exact financials of the OP do we? But as an independent consultant since 1986, I kind of played all the tricks for Tax “reductions” and I do all my taxes personally. Be very careful about the “business expenses” such as “home office”, while working as a “government consultant”, a small potato like us cannot afford an IRS or State audit. I will leave my comments just like that.</p>
<p>OP-I hope you got your answer a page or so ago (likely had some expenses added back into your AGI and thus the fin aid “surprise”). </p>
<p>About the high COL area discussuion. I understand that costs are very high in some parts of the country. But in those low COL areas, rememeber that your salary will be nowhere near what it is in a high COL area. It’s not like you get to move to Iowa and take your 150k salary with you. You might, but it’s pretty unlikely. Expect a pay cut, a big one.</p>
<p>i need some finance help. my parents make 240k per year [dad is something in FBI, mom is pharmacist] I would like to got to a certain college but it costs like 50k per year including books and stuff. i could also go to uva [in state] which would cost a lot less but i less prestigious. after undergrad, i want to attend columbia’s math finance program so i would prefer to attend a good undergrad. the problem is i have a brother in college as well. will colleges understand my situation? i might be recruited for tennis which is a plus. THANKS</p>
<p>Sure they’ll understand your situation. They’ll look over your situation and they’ll understand that your family makes a lot of money and they’ll say that aid is for families who make a lot less…a LOT less.</p>
<p>tenacious…I would suggest you start your own thread rather than tagging onto this one.</p>
<p>What “situation” do you expect the colleges to understand. Even WITH a sibling in college, your family income puts you out of the range for need based financial aid at virtually all schools. You MIGHT get some need based aid at HYPS but only WHILE your sibling is in college. Then what will you do? Do you realize that your family income is in the top %age of wage earners in this country…way near the top!</p>
<p>Your family income is going to make you a full pay student at probably EVERY college in this country unless you get a merit scholarship (based on the strength of your application). If the college you are interested in is a Division 3 school (like the Ivies, for example) they do NOT give athletic scholarships at all.</p>
<p>University of Virginia is an EXCELLENT university which is very highly ranked. You do know that many students from out of state would be thrilled to attend this fine flagship university.</p>
<p>You need to discuss college finances with your parents. You need to find out what they are willing to spend on you annually to attend college. To be honest, with their income, their family contribution will be WELL in excess of the cost of attending even the most expensive schools. Perhaps they have already planned for your college education costs. You will need to work within their financial guidelines…or apply someplace that does give merit awards.</p>
<p>tenaciousj, you are unlikely to get any need-based aid for college with parental incomes that high. You might try the net price calculator for the college you are interested in just to see. Try it both with another sibling in college and without, so you’ll see what your cost will be during the overlap years and during any non-overlapping years. If you fill out the FAFSA you will be eligible to take out a small Stafford loan each year.</p>
<p>What is it that you want colleges to understand about your situation? The fact that you have a sibling in school (yes) or the fact that you want to go to a “good” undergrad but not have to pay full price for it (no)? </p>
<p>I don’t know if the college you are interested in offers athletic scholarships or not. If not, they might give a student who qualified for need-based aid a preferential package (more grants, less in loans) but they won’t give need-based aid to a student without demonstrated need.</p>
<p>240k income and you want to know if you will get some financial help? And you want to go to Columbia’s math and finance grad program? Clearly that could be most ironic post i’ve read in quite awhile :)</p>
<p>If you can’t figure that one at yourself, maybe you need to find a new grad major…best of luck</p>
<p>Yes. OP, one thing you DO NOT want to burden your children with is needing them to help financially when you are elderly. Beggering yourself in order to send your daughter to the college of her choice is doing her no favors.</p>
<p>(apologies to the OP, a slight diversion from the main topic for a moment…)</p>
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<p>waitaminute, annasdad, you’re generally railing about how attending Yale and other highly selective and expensive schools isn’t worth it because students can get a better and cheaper education elsewhere. Apparently, this doesn’t seem to apply to families earning above some magic income line.</p>
<p>OP, one more anecdote from here on CC to keep in mind. Many years ago, slightly before Yale et al started their generous financial aid policies, a frequent (and very funny and insightful) poster here named curmudgeon’s daughter was accepted to Yale. Since the family owned a business (a ranch, if memory serves), Yale’s aid letter pretty much said that they would be paying full freight for their daughter to attend. It was possible for the family to manage this, but it would leave the student in debt…and she intended to attend med school. The young woman was also offered scholarships at a variety of schools, including a full ride at Rhodes College. After much family discussion, the daughter decided to attend Rhodes, with the understanding that her parents would help her pay for med school.</p>
<p>The daughter prospered at Rhodes, made many close friends, was intellectually challenged, won a major nationwide science award, and graduated debt-free. She is now a medical student…at Yale. :)</p>
<p>Best of luck to all of you during the coming months. Your daughter will have wonderful options, no matter where she ends up.</p>