<p>OP: Did your D’s school already have some investment in her when you made made the request for additional FA, i.e., was she already a student there that they wanted to retain? Your S’s prospective schools may not have this attachment, although I suppose anything is possible if they want him.</p>
<p>You still have a semi-liquid asset in the stocks. You say they were meant for retirement. Perhaps you can consider any or all of your real estate holdings to now be your retirement, and use the stocks to pay your son’s way to his preferred school. If the real estate market does not improve, and in several years, you are in no better position to sell, refi or borrow against, the question becomes this: will you delay your retirement as long as need be for your son’s happiness?</p>
<p>We have had some serious discussions with him - that unless he is given grant money we cannot afford his top choices. He is being interviewed for scholarships in 3 weeks at a small school with merit money - decent school, just hope he like it enough, they are flying him back East to interview him. They really seem to want him (he is already accepted )and the coach is really pulling for him. We do plan on using the only cash we have that’s liquid (the stocks) and just pray that the real estate and job markets pick up. Meanwhile, our house is up for sale (how long will that take???) so that we can downsize and have lower expenses. The college money we had saved for him was in a RE Tic that went bankrupt - we didn’t pull it out in time!- like so many others out there a little shell-shocked. This market is AWFUL! Thank you for all your advice…</p>
<p>This is terrific and I hope it works out for you.</p>
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<p>I do have to ask…why do you feel it’s necessary to do this when the deciding factor for your son is involvement in a sport? I know it’s important to him, but if it were ME, I would not be jeopardizing my retirement so either of my kids could play sports. Most colleges have club sports which are available to those who do not play on the varsity teams. If the school didn’t give my kid money for sports AND we could not afford the cost, the school would be off the table. </p>
<p>As you note, times are tough…if the whole family is struggling to make ends meet, perhaps some discussion with this upcoming college student are in order to explain the finances.</p>
<p>Thumper, you may not be aware how good Div 3 sports can be. For example, often a Williams, Middlebury, or Amherst basketball player plays in Europe for several years. Afterwards, the connections developed open a lot of doors. Sometimes they get try-outs for a pro team. Runners and swimmers can often go to Europe as well and participate as professional athletes. I certainly understand why someone would make sacrifices to send their kids to play sports at such schools and it appears the OP has the resources. If I was in her/his position and with those resources, I wouldn’t hesitate to send my child to an elite LAC to play sports.</p>
<p>GTAlum, I DO know how fine Division 3 sports can be. My point was…I would ONLY be willing to send my child to a school such as this IF I could afford to pay the bills. If the OP can make the sacrifices, as you say, then all is well. But the impression from the original post to this thread was that this was really going to impact this family’s finances in a huge way because “all” they have is assets, and not sufficient income to pay the bills at these very expensive schools.</p>
<p>Hopefully they can strike a balance.</p>
<p>In addition to being good sports schools, they are EXCELLENT academic choices. BUT again…if you can’t pay for them, then other options should at least be considered.</p>
<p>I would echo the cautions mentioned here. You do NO ONE any favors if you jeopardize your retirement security to help your S have his dream IF he will/may need to support or subsidize you in your old age. There are MANY athletes who stop playing their sports during college and we all have to be sure that we can pay for our expenses as we get older and face voluntary for forced retirement. If you have no retirement savings and plan to use all your real estate and securities for retirement, l can you really afford to spend them toward your child’s college when there are other good options.</p>
<p>Good luck in figuring out what balance will work best for your family. It does no one any favors when you don’t have sufficient assets to take care of your future needs.</p>
<p>How does the OP’s family eat and pay the mortgage (or rent) on $10,000 a year?
Or is there some real major funny business going on here? The schools will be curious about the details of this as well.</p>
<p>Hard to believe that Wash U gave aid in this situation. Even their FA form still requires the reporting of all assets (as a poster noted above)- or did this family just not report a sizable chunk of their assets?</p>
<p>Self-employed people can set up protected tax-advantaged retirement accounts just like anyone else - they’re called SEP-IRAs. It sure seems very unwise to be at the age of 60 and have all of your “retirement” funds in very very risky assets, and to have NOTHING in the usual type of retirement accounts that are protected from the FAFSA and Profile. </p>
<p>In post #13 the OP said that much of the aid they got from WashU was merit based. It isn’t unusual for a school, when they really want a student and it comes down to tuition, to increase the amount of aid for the family and call it merit based.</p>
<p>In post #15 the OP said that one of their properties currently has an equity of $1,000,000 although they don’t want to tap into that now. They have other assets, including $200,000 in stocks. Those other assets could be used now for the tuition and then they’ll have the property for their retirement. I think they can afford to be full pays at any of the schools their son is interested in without jeopardizing their retirement.</p>
<p>If all they have is the $1M equity and the 200K stocks and they spend say $200K on the student’s education, that will mean they only have $1M for retirement. If this is all they have for retirement with no pension or anything else, that is really not all that much (tho I know it SOUNDS like money and is more than some others).</p>
<p>HImom, in this case, relative wealth really does count. There are people with less than $250k in their accounts and <em>that is all they have</em>. This family wants need-based aid in a depressed economy. There are going to be kids whose parents have lost everything, every penny, in the stock market, who are not going to college <em>at all</em> because they are in depressed states where there aren’t jobs.</p>
<p>It’s not that I don’t think their situation sucks, for them. They are not in the place they planned and worked for and it’s a real disappointment.</p>
<p>But nobody is right now! And many people–in fact, at least 98% of the country, if not more–is in that place.</p>
<p>If their son is such a great athlete, he can get an athletic scholarship. But need-based aid with all of those assets? I’m sure they could sell their house for a fraction of the value if they wanted to. They don’t want to lose out in the market. I get it.</p>
<p>But…</p>
<p>They are forgetting the people who are bankrupt due to late payments of medical insurance because they lost their jobs at Wal-Mart and Starbucks, all in one month, who have kids that also want to go to college. People who are truly needy.</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that they should get need-based aid with their assets, just cautioning them about depleting these assets that they will likely need for THEIR future, as no one wants to be an anchor on their kids, hoping that their kids will help support them in their old age. This family DOES have affordable options that they should strongly consider. Just because they COULD liquidate and pay does not mean it is a GOOD choice for THEIR future.</p>
<p>If these folks are living on $10K income now, they may need some of their assets liquidated just to meet THEIR daily expenses, much less spending it on their kid when he has other options that may not meet their ideal. Folks on this board have all ranges of income and assets. None of us that I’m aware of wish to be a drain on our kids (or anyone else).</p>
<p>“Descriptive statistics. There was at least one retirement account in 57 percent of the households. The average or mean amount in the retirement accounts was $49,944, but the standard deviation was $174,193, suggesting that the dollar amount held in retirement accounts varies widely by individual households. The median amount held in retirement accounts–$2,000–provides another indication of the wide variation in the amounts held by households. (See table 3.)”
[Comparing</a> the Retirement Savings of the Baby Boomers and Other Cohorts](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20050114ar01p1.htm]Comparing”>http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20050114ar01p1.htm)</p>
<p>If the average amount is $50K, that makes a $1M retirement account look…pretty good.</p>
<p>Sunnyflorida said: “There is a difference between not having any assets or income and truly not being able to afford it, and having over a million in real estate assets and $200,000 in stocks and not wanting to have to liquidate.”</p>
<p>Sounds like the OP and spouse have enough money to afford college for their kid, don’t like the fact that colleges have figured out they they are pretty well off and can afford to spend more than they want to, would prefer that schools/the system give them additional funds so that they can keep their $200k in stocks, all so they can send the kid to the school he wants to attend.</p>
<p>I think you and your child needs to start being realistic.</p>
<p>A top athlete may or may not obtain a scholarship and a top scholar might not either. You folks all have to explore all of your child’s options realistically. </p>
<p>By now, you and your family as well as your own child will know what the deal is to be with academic or athletic scholarships to an awfully fair extent. But, if none of your prepare for a “what if” situation, then I really do not know what to tell you. </p>
<p>In this life sometimes one has to just plainly settle. But you never settle without a proper plan in place as well as a full on exploration of all of your options and I do not yet see any of that in your situation. For example, if y’all were to take things down a notch, there are scads of SEC schools which might really dig your child. Heck, where I live some Community College “scholar/athletes” go on to University and do fairly well. There are many options available to a determined youngster in this day and age with regards to higher education as a whole but sometimes they need to be guided towards them with a rather firm and steady hand. </p>
<p>Considering the way things are as of right now here in the good old U.S.A, you might want to at least try to have as good a plan of attack down for your retirement as you might (hopefully) soon have for your child’s schooling and all. None of us know what things will be like later on down the line with regards to our nation’s economy as well as most every town’s real estate market. </p>
<p>I mean no disrespect or anything like that at all by any remote means.</p>
<p>Yes Kei-o-lei. Now I feel like I’ve planned quite well for my retirement Remember, the OP says they have 1.5 million in retirement. I certainly don’t want to assume someone with 1.5 million plus should not have that for retirement and that for some, it may not seem like much. But, I want to point out that folks with that much in assets have choices. They can choose to send their child to the college of his/her choice and still have 1.5 million in assets (more if the real-estate market recovers). Or, they can decide they need the extra 200K for retirement (actually, more like 120K as the least expensive schools, or elite schools with merit aid will cost about 20K/year). It’s a choice most don’t have. I may be crazy, but 120K seems like a very small fraction of 1.5 million.</p>
<p>If I thought the OP couldn’t afford to be a full pay at one of the schools that they listed that didn’t offer merit aid then I would have directed my advice more along those lines. Judging from the information she gave us I think they can afford to be a full pay and I got the impression that she would really like to send her son to a school like Middlebury or Bowdoin. I certainly don’t have a problem if they decide to choose a less expensive option.</p>
<p>I just want to give the OP a little encouragement that they do have a choice here. At this point I’m also willing to give the OP the benefit of the doubt and assume that she was just shell-shocked by her EFC and need-based assistance isn’t something she is necessarily expects.</p>
<p>If these folks are living on $10K income now</p>
<p>I don’t believe for a minute that these people are living off $10k per year…they have a mortgage, etc. I think they have a high income and then have all these business deductions, depreciation, etc that brings their income down so low. </p>
<p>I think they somehow convinced WashU 4 years ago to believe that they were poor. I really doubt that they’ve been living on such a low income for the past 4 years. </p>
<p>I think that because their D is at WashU, they feel a certain obligation to have their son attend a similarly prestigious school.</p>
Remember, the OP says they have 1.5 million in retirement. I certainly don’t want to assume someone with 1.5 million plus should not have that for retirement and that for some, it may not seem like much. But, I want to point out that folks with that much in assets have choices. They can choose to send their child to the college of his/her choice and still have 1.5 million in assets (more if the real-estate market recovers). Or, they can decide they need the extra 200K for retirement (actually, more like 120K as the least expensive schools, or elite schools with merit aid will cost about 20K/year). It’s a choice most don’t have. I may be crazy, but 120K seems like a very small fraction of 1.5 million.</p>