<p>I've talked to a few parents with kids thinking about or already enrolled in both Ivy and non Ivy league schools and it's difficult to determine what people are actually paying for college. As we all know these schools cost about the same, mid to high $50K/year. I don't know of any middle class families that can really afford this kind of money every year. Like most middle class we have a mortgage, car payments, and the typical household bills. The school calculators I use to get an idea always come back with you are getting zero dollars in the way of help. I'm hoping to get an idea from others out there who are paying for colleges back East who are in the same situation we are in.</p>
<p>Our situation is as follows:
$200K in yearly salaries (my wife and I),
mortgage,
some rental properties,
minority daughter from New Mexico interested in applying for both Ivy and non Ivy league schools but not a URM,
daughter is currently a junior in high school so we don't what scholarships she'll get</p>
<p>Of course she has to get accepted and we're fairly confident she'll likely get into at least one or two of the schools back East.</p>
<p>One problem is that 200,000 in income plus rental properties means that you are not considered to be middle class. I do not think that you will be offered much in the way of grants.</p>
<p>Ivy schools do not offer merit scholarships.</p>
<p>With rental properties and $200,000 salaries you will pay most if not all of the costs. Aid in the Ivy League is primarily financial aid. Aid in general is primarily financial in nature and you have no need (on paper anyway). If you want to discount that $50,000+ you need to search for colleges that give merit aid for the student’s capabilities without consideration of family income/assets.</p>
<p>agree, if her stats and test scores are good, look for schools a bit lower that offer merit money…some good threads on cc that list the schools. some merit aid is very selective, some is automatic based on stats… research both!</p>
<p>What does this mean? I assume this must mean she is Asian?</p>
<p>Agree with the posters that your best bet is to look down the USNWR rankings a bit for colleges where your D is in the top 25% of statistics for the college and the college offers good merit aid. My D did this very successfully, and is graduating this year at the top of her class from a small LAC that she loved. She is very well positioned from internships, grades, and recommendations for the job market and/or graduate school. And she has no debt, and I am not broke. There are MANY great colleges in the US that are not Ivies or top 10 universities/LACs. My advice is to look beyond the brand names and carefully investigate match and safetey schools in the next tier down. </p>
<p>If you are determined to move ahead with the expensive colleges where she is not likely to get aid, you can do some things to reduce your income in 2012 (that will be the baseline year for your first FAFSA). The Wall Street Journal had an article recently that gave some tips on this. Some items mentioned:</p>
<ul>
<li>Accelerate expenses that lower your income for tax purposed into 2012 (eg, property or estimated tax payments)</li>
<li>Don’t save in your kid’s name, that is weighted more heavily by colleges</li>
<li>Maxmimize retirement account contributions in 2012</li>
<li>Minimize capital gains (good year to take any losses instead)</li>
<li>Delay any retirement distributions or bonuses</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, you need to fill out the FAFSA every year, so you have to consider how to do this throughout her four years in college. If you have other kids in college at the same time, that is also taken into consideration.</p>
<p>For you to get any kind of FA money from Ivies, your income needs to be around 150k or lower. Harvard dropped it to 150 this year from 180 last year.</p>
<p>OP, did you DD take the PSAT and score at or above your states cut off #? If so, and if she is statistically a top student- GPA, SAT, etc she would receive a 1/2 tuition scholarship at USC if accepted there. And about 150 lucky tippy top students will receive full tuition Trustee scholarships at USC, if they apply before the Dec 1 deadline. But those scholarships are more competitive than admission to HYPS and are offered to students who are statistically likely to be admitted to Ivys or similar top colleges.</p>
<p>"As stated in my original thread are people really paying the full amount the schools back East are charging? "
of course there are! Those in the top 1% tier income group do, as well as International students.</p>
<p>"indicated that nobody pays the full price and can expect some discount? "</p>
<p>they dont know what they are talking about…</p>
<p>You should go to the FA websites of colleges NOW, before your DD has really started her search, and plug in your financial data to their financial aid calculators, which all colleges are now required to provide. They will give you an accurate estimate of what your yearly out of pocket expenses will be at each college.</p>
<p>if she has taken the psat and qualifies as a national hispanic scholar…some schools offer full rides for that. </p>
<p>sure there are some that pay the full price at yale etc… some that get financial aid…and some that dont even bother to look at them regardless of their child’s stats as they cant afford them</p>
<p>First, I don’t think you are considered middle class. Secondly, as my husband said to me as I outlined the ways we could help ourselves get financial aid, “Why, exactly should we get financial aid?” Yep, he was right. And we are well below your number. </p>
<p>It might not feel like you can afford an Ivy, but affording an Ivy is about being wealthy, being very poor, or about living below your means for a long time so you can save for the one thing you value the most: an Ivy education. Very few people pay for school out of current income.</p>
<p>“Yes she should be a National Hispanic scholar with her PSAT scores. Those scores don’t mean anything to the Ivy league and schools back East”.</p>
<p>so you really need to do this soon-
go to the FA websites of colleges NOW, before your DD has really started her search, and plug in your financial data to their financial aid calculators, which all colleges are now required to provide. They will give you an accurate estimate of what your yearly out of pocket expenses will be at each college. </p>
<p>nothing is worse than being blindsided by an unanticipated, huge EFC [ expected family contribution] , after acceptances have come in.</p>
<p>"so you really need to do this soon-
go to the FA websites of colleges NOW, before your DD has really started her search, and plug in your financial data to their financial aid calculators, which all colleges are now required to provide. They will give you an accurate estimate of what your yearly out of pocket expenses will be at each college.</p>
<p>nothing is worse than being blindsided by an unanticipated, huge EFC [ expected family contribution] , after acceptances have come in. "</p>
<p>We’ve already done that and as I indicated, we were told we’ll get zero dollars. As several have posted in this thread is to look at schools that consider merit and provide money based on that and not financial need. At the end of the day we’re going to have to “suck it up” and pay.</p>
<p>you only have to suck it up and pay at an elite if you choose to go to one…sounds like she would qualify for merit…nothing wrong with going that route, especially if considering grad or medical school later.</p>
There are MANY great colleges in the US that are not Ivies or top 10 universities/LACs. My advice is to look beyond the brand names and carefully investigate match and safetey schools in the next tier down. </p>