| Take that same NJ family you're talking about, earning 175K with two kids in college. With their income, financial aid won't be in the cards. So assume full in-state NJ college costs. In addition to all the costs b&p laid out, this family with 2 kids in college will have to pay $40K per year (i.e., 20K annually per child) to their State U. That's $80K anual pre-tax income paid out for 4 years. So all of a sudden, the difference has narrowed. The person making 54K per annum won't be paying anywhere near the same for college, since they will qualify for financial aid. I'm not saying that the family earning 200K is the same as the family earning 54K. I'm just saying that the differences in their day-to-day concerns are not that far apart. |