At some colleges, even $400k/yr families can get significant FA. A quote from a post I wrote in another thread is below listing Princeton cost by income, assuming not unusually high savings. Princeton’s marketing claims that Princeton charges no cost tuition for typical families with $250k income – Affordable For All | Princeton University .
It’s not a coincidence that Princeton is also the highest endowment per student college in the United States. Princeton’s endowment is currently $38 billion. Over the past 20 years, Princeton has had an average historical return of ~10% on their endowment, which corresponds to $3.8 billion in investment gains per year. That’s an average of over $400k/year annual investment gains per student compared to average tuition revenue of ~$20k per undergraduate student.
Princeton Net Cost
$466k AGI – Net Price = 20% of AGI (sticker price of $92k/year)
$450k AGI – Net Price = 19% of AGI
$400k AGI – Net Price = 18% of AGI
$350k AGI – Net Price = 17% of AGI
$300k AGI – Net Price = 15% of AGI
$250k AGI – Net Price = 12% of AGI
$200k AGI – Net Price = 9% of AGI
$175k AGI – Net Price = 6% of AGI
$150k AGI – Net Price = 3% of AGI
$136k AGI – Net Price = 0% of AGI (no cost to parents)