Just talk to your parents. They saved half of what Yale requires. will they pay the rest out of income? (They can but do they want to?). If not, will they cosign for you? If not. That is the end. If so, you have some thinking to do.
$120k is a lot of $. But I do understand kids whose parents won’t pay, but still earn way too much for FA. The kid is caught in the middle. Sad, but it is fairly common it seems.
We had saved about that much. D1 got a merit scholarship to her college, too, and I paid the rest out of income. D2 picked an expensive school with no merit. She has taken out federal loans, worked for her own spending money and books, and we paid the rest out of income. Some parents will do it… Has Yale offered you unsubsidized federal loans? You could potentially take out $5,500 in unsubsidized loans this year, I think (amount goes up a little each year, total for undergrad is $27,000 over 4 years). What do your parents say if you take out those loans and work full time in summers, and part time in the school year?
Well, there’s something screwy about this story.
OP, do you know what the top marginal tax rate is for the federal income tax? You seem to think that the tax system has taken an unusually large amount of your parents’ money away. For the minimum alternative tax, the top tax rate is about 28%. For the regular income tax, your parents might be in the 35% marginal tax bracket but most of their income is being taxed at a lower rate (if not partially sheltered from taxation). I’m not saying that taxes are negligible, but in your second post you seem sure that your parents’ income has been so greatly reduced by taxation. They still have a ton of money left.
And another reality check for,the OP…who seems to have disappeared.
If you didn’t get need based aid from Yale, you won’t be seeing a penny of need based aid from any other school. Yale is amongst the most generous…providing aid to families with in me up to $180,000. Oh…yours is more than double that amount.
@CheddarcheeseMN not to nitpick, but at a certain point, the benefit of lower rates reverses itself. Remember, they also pay ss tax, and state and local tax. That can get you very close to 50%. They should have plenty left, as long as they don’t have to come up with $30k a year x3 in the same year!
@HRSMom - I believe that social security taxes stop once the limit for the year’s earnings that would be considered for social secuirty, has been met (118,500 for 2015). So this is like another bonus of earnings. We don’t know the state/local rates or whether they’re variable.
part of SS stops. yes. depends on the state.
I prefer not to think of the SS max as a bonus of earnings so much as them not taking more of my $ I will never see again, bc SS benefits also max out.
It depends on the state? With SS being a federal program, I find that strange.
that was the answer to the second question about state and local. everyone knows ss tax is not state dependent.
Why are we talking about SS on this thread?
Everyone. Got it.
Back on tpoic now?
It’s a values thing. If I were to be asked about my opinion regarding these issue, it would go like this, (PSI make a small % of your parent’s income but people have different values, different beliefs and different backgrounds makes attending a elite school different-those with low incomes benefit differentially).
What’s my opinion for my kids?
I believe (not all people do) that access to elite schools can hobble together a pathway to success that would otherwise be much more difficult to find. So I’d do just about anything to make sure my kids could attend schools that would promote their success at the highest level possible. Would I 2nd mortgage my house. Yes. Would I sell my house? Yes. Is that wise? Probably not. Would my other kids be upset? Maybe but they know I’d do it for them too. Is it necessary? I don’t know. Would I do it again? Yes.
Can’t students be successful out of Public University #12? Yes. But I don’t want my kids to attend NY Public University 12. For kids who are not wealthy, attending a elite school gives them exposure to a world they would otherwise have not access to-the world of the financially successful.
Have you sold your future for your kids’ education when it was unnecessary? I don’t know. But I’d do it again. But I also know not everyone believes it makes sense. But my ancestors gave up a lot to come to the USA-with hope that their children would have a better life. I probably benefited from that. Regardless I am willing to do the same for my own offspring. Is it necessary? I don’t know?
Well some people saved money for their children’s college and they have to sign over all their money to colleges whereas others who did not save don’t need to do that because they get financial aid. Isn’t that unfair?
NO. Because the difference is probably not that one person partied and squandered their money whereas the other denied themselves’ everything to save for their offsprings’ college. The salary differentials are such in the US that some workers could deprive themselves of everything, even ever going out to eat or buying themselves a new couch and would still not be able to afford college for their offspring despite continuous employment for 30 years. In contrast, some people can work 40 hour a week, have luxurious vacations in exotic places and multiple homes in different places and enough in the bank to last 3 generations. So no, I don’t think those that get aid are simply the offspring of people who should have saved. They are usually the offspring of hard working parents in a country that now has a caste system. NO, the rich don’t wear a dot on their foreheads but they might as well.
Based on the prior threads from the OP it’s likely the parents gave a $ limit to what they would pay for school and the OP just decided to try for other schools anyway.
OP, it is a shame you can’t attend the school you’d like, but it has NOTHING to do with the FA you didn’t receive. It is entirely due to your parents limits on what they will pay. If you want to attend Yale you’ll need to talk to THEM about it.
LOL it isn’t tax code it is a values thing! What do your parents value? They don’t value a Yale education above everything else. I would for my kids but they don’t. There isn’t anything wrong with that.
"Your parents are affluent- and have saved a nice chunk of your college expenses. Other people at their income level knuckle down during the college years- keep the old cars, no vacations or just camping at a state park, deferred home maintenance, no eating out, cancel cable tv and the lawn mowing guy, and manage to squeeze out enough cash to bridge the gap between what they’ve saved and what they need. "
Exactly. Did your parents consistently live at their income vs below it?
Your parents money is their money, to spend as they please.
If they’ve set a limit on how much they’ll finance, that’s how they choose to spend their money. Nothing else matters. This is your education. Live within the budget they’ve set, or find a way to earn some money of your own.
And…there is nothing “weird” about this financial aid award at the Ivies.