Some families don’t have a choice of how far apart the kids are (twins, triplets) and of course the choice of spacing has been made long before the first one reaches college age. I’d bet more families have kids who are within 4 years of each other than not, and therefore most families will have two kids in college for at least one year. Just a guess from my unscientific observations with my own kids and their friends.
I can say that excluding the 401k/IRA contributions would have helped me last year.
Since fraternal births occur one in eighty pregnancies, ( which is an increase since fertility treatments have become more popular), that is certainly a risk.
I remember one family in high school in the 70’s, that had two sets of twins and one singleton.
We had two sets of identical twins in my grade, ( as well as the singleton from that family).
But they are still fairly uncommon. My oldest daughter, didn’t have any twins in her classes, not sure about youngest.
Even in the NICU, there was only one set of twins.
The neighbor adopted fraternal twins, who are now grown. They are very interesting, as their body types are quite dissimilar. One looks like a football player, and the other is very fine boned.
In my family, at one time my parents had 5 teenagers (out of 6 kids). Many of us overlapped in college.
My own kids are 10 months apart, and in the same school grade. My experience with twins (and triplets) in the NICU is much different than yours (there were many sets), but my daughter was there for 3 months so saw a lot of babies come and go. And it was a big ward.
I think it goes back in just so they compare apples to apples. If parent A suspends his $10k a year contribution, and B doesn’t, A would be penalized for being willing to suspend to afford college. That part doesn’t bother me…
What bothers me is how little income these folks think people can live on while paying the EFC. To be upfront, personally I have no dog in this. Thankfully we have enough and I can do both and pay for retirement (as long as tuition doesn’t double!!). But, it seems we are creating a world where only kids who can pay cash and really poor kids can go to college. If your family is middle class, you get hit the hardest just bc you have a decent life.
I don’t entirely agree. Middle class certainly do get hit hard because of lack of some aid, but aid levels for low income only get you through CC. The low income family is the one that really gets hammered. High performers certainly can qualify for good aid (merit and FA from top Us) but that is a very small segment. The middle income family with an average student still has it better than a low income family with an average student.
The problem I have with 401K contributions being added back in while mandatory pension contributions aren’t added back in is that it leaves two otherwise identical families in much different circumstances for retirement, especially if they have kids in college for a 6-10 year period. I’d be a lot happier if the system allowed either the mandatory pension contribution OR 8% to a 401K/IRA. That would be apples to apples, imo.
(And this goes far beyond low-income families. It also can affect whether a student is eligible for a subsidized loan, and whether the institution chooses to award federal work-study funding or institutional grants.)
It is ironic I agree that a family with an EFC of say $20,000, may not qualify for subsidized loans if they try and save money by having their kid attend an instate public U, where costs are roughly, $20,000.
But*, if their kid is accepted into one of the schools that meets full need, but COA is $60,000, * then* they would not only be eligible for subsidized loans, but also work study.
I don’t know about private pension funds, but all Fed Govt workers put 0.8% into the pension every year. It’s not worth discussing. $50k per year contributes $400. Most are also contributing to 401k (TSP) and some agencies offer another 401k plan too, or IRAs. The Pension just isn’t a factor.
Company match doesn’t count as income unless you withdraw it. Mine vested immediately, so I could have withdrawn it to use for college immediately, but it doesn’t count as anything until you withdraw it. Neither, of course, does the interest accrued during the year.