We paid over 100% of my income for D’s college expenses all told, and some of H’s. Paid quite a bit for S’s as well. Not sure how or why it matters. They went to Us that worked for them.
Will be about 40% the next 2 years with 2 kids in at the same time after that about 20%, but thankfully from my savings.
I disagree with some of the previous posters. This information is interesting and useful to me. I can see why others might not be interested, but as I consider shelling out 35% of our AGI for one child for one year (and yeah, that would be after using up the 529 we have been building all along)…well I am curious if other families are doing this too. So, thanks to those that responded…
Without knowing other family’s full financial picture, I do find it fairly meaningless information. Simply providing this number says nothing about a family’s savings, retirement picture, other living expenses to be covered, other kids to put through college, etc. etc.
A small percent right now. 10% at the max. Now for vet school it will go up to about 25% of net (we have chosen to pay for this) but we do have savings that will cover most of it. Older daughter chose not to go to college or do anything else so a portion of her education money is going to him (there is still some if she chooses to go back in the next few years after that she is on her own). They were told from a very young age we had saved for education (college, trade school, whatever they needed for a career but that it wouldn’t be given for anything else).
The total bill after scholarships and aid is about 28% of or our AGI, obviously a lot more compared to our net income. But we are not really paying out of current income – let’s not pretend we have that much money to spare every month!
Your comment about not pretending that this can be paid out of current income is one of the reasons the OPs question is not helpful.
We actually did have that much money each month out of current income to pay all college costs. Two income full time family. One income paid for college.
We had years of full employment (both parents working for the entire year) and years of unemployment (one parent working full time, other parent unemployed for all or part of the year). So the percentage of our income varied dramatically (overlapping tuition years PLUS unemployment), even though we were full pay throughout.
Early funding of the 529’s helped, as did living beneath our means for most of our marriage. So when we had to cut back during the tight years it didn’t seem that dramatic. (A well meaning friend asked, “Does this mean you need to give up HBO?” was hilarious, since we’d never had it to begin with!)
@CupCakeMuffins - I completely understand the desire that immigrant families have for understanding how the longer-term residents have managed to do things. But as others have written, it can be very different from one family to another. Just like the rest of us here, newer arrivals have to look at their overall financial situation, and get realistice about the numbers. There is no magical formula for paying for college, and there is no magical college that will suddenly make their families fit in better here, or guarantee sucess.
Like @thumper1 , my college roommate’s entire salary went to cover her daughter’s costs at full-pay with no aid. This was very close to 50% of total family income. Another college friend was also full-pay, but had a very high income for many years, and carefully saved so as to be able to cover those costs, as well as wedding and home down payment costs for three children.
Happykid landed a scholarship at her community college, so for those two years we only paid for books - maybe 1%, if that. Junior year we paid something around 15%, but not all from current income because of savings accumulated during the first years. Senior year was all from earmarked savings, and because of a job lay off, that amount was pretty close to 100% of earning in that time period.
Since the top meet-need schools also consider assets via the CSS profile, percent of income would vary widely. It seems to me that running NPCs at a number of schools would be far more useful for the individual family considering this question.
COA was 68% of our AGI for one kid; 125% the year we had 2 in college. I paid 7% of our AGI last year for the youngest. Year with 2 in college we paid 21% of AGI
The FAFSA uses many assets as well. The only thing the FAFSA doesn’t consider innthe asst Department is primary home equity.
The net price calculators will give college bound families an estimate if net costs at a school. Then the family can determine if this %age of their income will leave the family in the lurch…or not.
Really…the %age of MY total earnings has no bearing on what the bar is for other families. Nor should it. And the %age of income spent doesn’t give anyone an actual dollar amount they feel is appropriate either.
Might be better to ask if you had no college savings what percentage of your gross income would you be paying? For me it would be 25%.
I understand the interest in immigrant parents and the costs. DD has a few first gen friends and the parents are literally forcing them into programs that pay very well so they can support them when they graduate.
I know these programs are very long, PT, pharmacist, etc. Even w/ need based aid, these families are going to be taking on a lot of debt, or working long hours & making huge financial sacrifices. DD feels bad for them, because
the kids had other interests.
Okay. I paid 0% for one kid, over 100% for the other kid. Same years in college. Helpful?
I never implied my thread will be used to resolve all EFC related issues everyone ever faced. If someone has a problem, don’t feel obliged to reply. Thank you to ones who did.
Not dipping into savings, 20% of gross income. Only one child in college at the moment.
About 13-14% of gross income, including everything except books and her spending money (travel, summer storage, tuition, room & board, dining, etc.).
I’m the child but my parents are paying 0% of all my billed costs (tuition and fees, room, board) and books. Our EFC is $0. My mom has already had to take on PLUS loans to finance my older sister’s education (she goes to an instate public) and my little sister starts college in 2019.
My mom does plan to buy me a laptop and said she will help if I ever need it but I don’t plan on asking for anything. I’m lucky, with grants, scholarships, and tuition assistance from one of my two jobs my bill per semester is barely $100. I have a 529 with $2000 and $1000 in a regular savings account.
You can play around a bit with the Net Price Calculators. It’s been a while since I’ve done this so I don’t remember how specific you have to get, but I think there was a way to do a ballpark estimate. I seem to remember the number that stood out for me was that income > $150,000 means parents wouldn’t get aid until costs were over $30,000/year, and income> $250,000/year means basically no aid unless you have some unusual circumstances like multiple kids in college at the same time.