Financial Aid for Upper MIddle Class

MWolf
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 23:16:50 +0000

biochemsurgeon:

I considered upper middle class to be above $100,000. My mom makes roughly $112,000 a year and my dad around $80,000. My mom had two business, no she just has one. She recently just finished a bankruptcy if that mean anything. I asked my mom what she was willing to pay and she said she was only willing to pay at max $8,000 a year and my dad said he’d be willing to pay around $5,000 but the net price calculators we’ve used had more than $13,000. MY plan is to go to med school, so I am worried about taking out large amount of loans. My stats are OK overall, but I think I’m in the top 10% of my class if that means anything. But, im not sure I’ll get much merit aid

I would modify this and say that about $100,000 is the very lowest at which a family anywhere can be considered upper middle class. That would depend on family size, state of residence and the CoL of the area.

According to the Census Bureau, the median income for a family of four is $68,000. However, in Mississippi the median income for a family of four is $51,800, while in Maryland, the median is $92,500. So the definitions of upper middle class would be different in each of those states.

I would consider 150% or so of the median and higher to be upper middle class, while upper class is the top 5% or so to be wealthy. Of course, other things to be taken into consideration, like accumulated wealth. So a family of four which owns a $1,000,000 house, fully paid for, has $5,000,000 in savings, and has an income of $200,000 is wealthy, while a family of four with $30,000 equity in their house and $50,000 in saving, and has an income of $200,000 is still upper middle class. Of course if a family has two kids in college versus two kids in elementary school, the income which puts them in upper middle class.

It also depends whether the lower cutoff for wealthy is the top 20%, the top 10%, the top 5%, or the top 1%.