<p>The line for “wealthy” starts when u NEVER see the economy class section of an airplane. </p>
<p>The line for “wealthy” starts when you can tell the boss to eff-off without a care because you don’t have to make another dime to live well for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>For financial aid purposes, it doesn’t really matter if the income is from one source, or ten sources (maybe each parent works five jobs). $180k to $200k plus a rental real estate property will likely net very little need based aid (unless this student attends a generous school like Yale or Harvard while the sibling is also in college).</p>
<p>The very good thing…this student sounds like an excellent student who will be eligible for the top Bright Futures money. AND the parents are willing to contribute $30,000 a year. If she stays in Florida, she probably will be able to attend college for a small amount like her sister ($4000 a year). </p>
<p>But there are options outside of Florida for her. Like I said upstream…those SUNY schools should be looked at.</p>
<p>From a cost-benefit perspective, unless she gets one of those full-tuition scholarships somewhere (and maybe not even then), I don’t see a better option than New College of Florida for someone in FL looking for a LAC.</p>
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<p>Not all wealthy people care about flying in premium classes on airplanes. Indeed, accumulating wealth often involves avoiding wasteful spending, and many people consider the cost of premium classes on airplanes to be wasteful spending. Of course, there are also very high income people who spend heavily, resulting in little wealth accumulation and complaining about not having money despite their high incomes.</p>
<p>Back to the original subject, some of the expensive private LACs (e.g. Mount Holyoke) have been reported to give substantial merit scholarships. Check to see what is available at each school, but make the reach/match/safety assessment on the scholarships, not admission, if the scholarship is required to make the school affordable.</p>
<p>"…the financial adviser has reassured me that they do not want the high tuition to be a reason for why a student cannot attend if they are accepted."</p>
<p>I would love to tape these statements that most always come out of the mouths of what are usually admissions office employees. Yes, Davidson BrynMawr and a number of top schools, HPY as well, GUARANTEE to meet full need for accepted student and will often heavily tout that no student has to decline an acceptance due to unaffordabilty issues. Ummm. Well, sort of. There is that category of students whose PARENTs can afford to pay for these colleges ACCORDING to the need calculators. If that is the case, such students, get little or nothing because they are defined as having NO NEED. It’s all a matter of definitions, and what the definitions of “need”, “afford” are. </p>
<p>You also need a bit of perspective, OP. You are not “middle class”. take a look at what a true middle class family income is. You and your family are very acustomed to the standard of living you have and think it’s middle class or average, in part because of your surroundings. Very easy to feel that way. </p>
<p>When it comes to defining need, your family has to “show it all” in terms of income as reported on the IRS tax forms, and assets, including home values for PROFILE schools. The schools and other sources of financial aid look at hard numbers and run them through the calculators to decide whether you are needy or not. Because a family spend a lot of what they make and they don’t want to part with their hard earned assets is not a case for financial aid. </p>
<p>So, you should run some NPC numbers and also start looking at schools that give merit awards that can bring the cost to affordable levels for you.</p>
<p>We have a slightly higher HH income than the OP and believe me, we are middle class.</p>
<p>2018dad, maybe sociologically, but not the way the numbers fall. My husband’s cousins tend to be in the true middle class, and they would think you were rich with an income like that. Their mouths would fall open if you said you were middle class unless 2/3rds of your income were going directly to some place where you got no access to it now or ever.</p>
<p>The most common statistics I have seen are that the median average for a full-time employed American is $33,000 and that the median household income is $54,000. “Median” does not equal “average,” it refers to the most common. Of course living expenses vary greatly, as do taxes, from state to state (and situation to situation). </p>
<p>OP. I agree, if your parents have to come up with that amount of cash for tuition, it is a bitter pill! Great for your family that your sibling found a good solution. You have rec’d some good advice (Posse, merit awards, in-state) and there are excellent threads on this website about merit awards. Please let us know how it goes and good luck.</p>
<p>FAFSA and PROFILE do not take into account COL differences. So someone making $100K in central Mississipi where the median income is very low, housing prices way down there, is going to be in a whole other financial situation than someone living in Manhattan. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. </p>
<p>You can feel mighty poor whatever you make and have , if you live around those who have a lot more. </p>
<p>I still think that New College of Florida is the best option.</p>
<p>The analogy I would give is a kid from MI who wants to work on Wall Street with preferred admission to Ross (UMich), won’t get much fin aid, but can’t afford full-pay at an Ivy. Yes, they could try to get one of the few big merit scholarships at Duke or UChicago, but it’s hard to argue that there is a better option from a cost-benefit perspective in that case.</p>
<p>Similarly, in this case, a public LAC that has alumni outcomes comparable to the top private LACs (the only public LAC I’ve found that is like that, BTW) is available for in-state tuition. Yes, you could try for big merit scholarships elsewhere, but I don’t see attending New College of Florida as a bitter pill to swallow.</p>
<p>If your parents can pay $30K a year, with what you can earn over summers and during the school year jobs, and the DIrect Loan of $5500 for freshman year (increasing slightly thereafter) can buy you a number of options. Look at the full tuition, hefty tuition stickies at the top of this forum for schools that give good merit money. </p>
<p>We can argue all day as to whether the OP’s family income/asset levels are middle class or not, but the big issue at hand is how the colleges will view the financial situation and what the parents are willing and able to pay. That’s what’s going to make the deal work. </p>
<p>What kind of aid did your brother get when he applied to college? Is he going to a state school, or get a lot of merit money, any financial aid?</p>
<p>In post 1, she says her sibling attends an instate public university.</p>
<p>This OP has options with a $30,000 annual contribution from her parents. The options just might not be some of the expensive private universities. I’m sure it will all work out.</p>
<p>Help us believe that you are middle class with an income $180k-$200k or slightly higher- you live in a modest home, drive two older cars, don’t take vacations/trips, no vacation cottage/second home, kids are in public schools K-12, not much in savings?</p>
<p>Madison, I know folks, lots of them here in very modest houses (wouldn’t go for $100K in most parts of the country, if that),two older cars, very few trips, vacations, and family, friends type when doing so, no second home, kids in public school and very little if any in savings, making about that much. I live in a very high housing cost area where the real estate taxes are ridiculously high so that such houses can encroach the million dollar mark in price (where my brother lives, the same. His house isn’t as big as trailer home and that’s the value of it). </p>
<p>The income is not middle class, in that there are far more in the area that make far less so it doesn’t make the mid 50% in income, by any stretch, but when one lives in such an area and strive to be in the better public schools, more upscale, safer, cleaner areas, one certainly feels middle class or even less. These things are a matter of perspective. But when it comes to college financial aid, it’s the raw numbers as put on the aid calculators that count. You can consider yourself rich, but if your reportable income for FAFSA purposes is under,say $20K or so, live in a $4milion dollar house, living off a HELOC on said house, your kids can have a zero EFC which means PELL and subsidized loan eligible. The PROFILE schools might not buy into this, but yes, in some cases, you can get full need met, living like a millionaire. You can also be eligible for zip in aid even having a hard time making ends meet in certain areas even with a 6 figure income.</p>
<p>I think Madison was saying that this OP is NOT middle class because she goes to private school, has two houses, etc. </p>
<p>The OP is above middle class.</p>
<p>I am starting to see or understand a broader range of what could constitute middle class - maybe it has to do with people acting like what I perceive to be middle class because of the high cost of living in certain areas. So that despite income of $200k, the family has a modest home, two old cars, public schooling, no vacations and little savings which seems to me like middle class.</p>
<p>I was looking for @2018dad to respond with some details and make me believe he is middle class (he said his income is slightly higher than the OP’s family and, ‘believe me, we are middle class’) - maybe he lives in a high cost and high tax area and has two old cars, a modest home, public schools, no vacations, little savings, no second home or rental, etc.</p>
<p>Madison, what difference does it make in terms of financial aid whether he is middle class or not? That’s all that really matter in this case. Are you middle class in terms of getting financial aid from colleges? No, I don’t think that an income of $200K or so is going to make me think that family is “middle class” here in the US. Might live like a middle class family, but that income allows a cushion, privileges whether in spending or safety, neighborhood even if the house is the most modest in an area, but the numbers themselves preclude that classification, IMO. And that of any official purpose. Anyone can make up loose,narrative definitions, but when it comes to anything that counts, like getting financial aid or to be so categorized officially, it comes down to something objective, not subjective, and the $ amounts will prevail. </p>
<p>My brother is “middle class”, maybe even not that in his area in that he lives in probably the bottom of the rung house in that neighborhood, town, and meets all the other cirterion that you list. I’m not kidding when I say the house is very small, smaller than most trailer homes. But with what they make in income, that they are living in that neighborhood, that they partake in every free, and nearly free cultural event and do so actively, that both parents are highly educated, the public school has a very high rating, the highest actually in certain national ratings puts them in a category that is hardly middle class. Not at an income that is about $200K–never mind how little of that second income makes it home after child care, transportation,marginal tax rates get their bites out that. </p>
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<p>Actually, the most common value is the mode, not the median. The median is the middle value. I.e. if you sorted everyone’s income and took the value exactly in the middle, you get the median.</p>
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<p>Competitive spending on status symbol and luxury goods is a good way to feel poor no matter how high your income is.</p>