<p>LB. I do hope you are really listening to the advice here. Your plan could end up NOT changing your EFC that much but leaving you without the means to pay for college. Did you know that the CSS Profile has you list every single car in your name, wife’s name and each child’s name?<br>
You feel angry and you also thing you have found a loophole. Every single parent here has told you that you are wrong - this is a bad idea. If it was a loophole everyone would do it until the government closed the loophole.</p>
<p>Plan A (for high earning families): Do not save. Spend, spend, spend. Enjoy it all, knowing that your exceptional child will receive one of the gadzillions of totally free rides available to straight-A students headed to Ivies and other elites. They are a dime a dozen, so long as you don’t have a savings account. Laugh at the fools who saved and have to pay part or all of the sticker price.</p>
<p>Plan B (for high earning families): Plan ahead for college. Make it part of your overall financial plan, including your retirement plan. Amass enough to pay most or all of the sticker price for colleges of all levels of selectivity. Sacrifice a bit (or a lot) in your lifestyle, date of planned retirement. Be a tad wist-ful that you won’t get any or much of that “free” money going to some other families.</p>
<p>Plan B works for me. Plan A works for … um, er, Plan A works for … whom? I don’t think it works for anyone. Guess I’m stupid.</p>
<p>Oh, and if Plan A doesn’t work out quite as you planned (darling D or S not accepted to 100% need school; accepted but doesn’t get the financial aid package you counted on), have ready your eloquent speech on why s/he will not be going to the college of his or her choice. S/he won’t mind. She got to drive around in the Mercedes, go to Thailand, etc.</p>
<p>I think LB is a student -writing just for fun. Honestly, this does not sound like an adult.</p>
<p>I did wonder about LB being a ■■■■■. The low violin price made me wonder, to be honest, along with the truely silly “plan”.</p>
<p>Actually, you can find a lovely sounding violin for $2000 - but the other things I read sound suspicious.</p>
<p>Yeah I was reading through the college life forum, wondering why the name seemed familiar. I don’t think that a concerned parent would be making declarations elsewhere about Stanford girls being ‘hit with the ugly stick’ and other such lovely things. ;)</p>
<p>I have long wondered if LB is a ■■■■■ – especially if you look at all his posts, not just the ones on this thread. He insists on calling himself low income despite his $120,000 salary (and now we learn, $150,000 bank account); upset at his daughter’s poor score of 222 on the PSAT; believes he will “lose face” in his Asian community if she doesn’t go to a top-ranked university; thinks the only professions are “scientist, lawyer, doctor and banker.” I’ve decided that even if he is a ■■■■■, then perhaps in our responses we are educating some parent who may believe the things he purports to believe.</p>
<p>I knew that folks knowledgeable about financial aid would contribute here when I saw his comments; I learned more about financial aid from reading what you all said. I now feel that I have more data to argue against the “spending” vs “saving” philosophy, which I instinctually knew was wrong. ■■■■■ or no ■■■■■, it’s been educational.</p>
<p>Another ■■■■■ vote here.</p>
<p>DH and I both had to work our way through college without any financial support from home. I vowed that for my kids, it would be different. DH and I talked about the importance of our children’s college education long before we were even married. It is one of our major shared values, and our kids know it. The kids have embraced a tremendous love of learning, and to me, it would be hypocrisy to say our support of that value terminates once they go to college. The kid will be helping to fund this endeavor, make no mistake! My point is that getting an education is a core value to us and we have prioritized our actions accordingly.</p>
<p>Launching my kids successfully has been my goal for the past five years since I became ill, and beleive, me I am relishing every step of the way! :)</p>
<p>BlahDeBlah – Laserbrother never posted in the College Life forum - you’ve got him mixed up with someone else.</p>
<p>I’d bet the farma that he’s not a ■■■■■, though – he’s for real. Go back through all of his 92 posts and you’ll see that from his first posts, all he talks about is his D’s 8th grade SAT score and his quest for a full ride. He’s been completely consistent in his themes. Unfortunately, I think he’s just a very misinformed parent. I don’t see why he comes to a community like this one for advice and then dismisses it even though virtually no one has agreed with him yet. </p>
<p>However, I did find it one of his old posts a little inconsistent with his more recent one about spending down his big checking account.</p>
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<p>I feel very sorry for his daughter and son. It looks like they’ll be judged in his eyes only by their SAT scores and high school grades, and they’ll be made to feel extremely guilty for any grade less than an A. What kind of life is that?</p>
<p>He talks about spending down the money, but it doesn’t sound like he’s done it–I think he’s just frustrated about what feels like unfairness. I think he’s likely a real person too. I think it’s possible he might eventually moderate a little. I hope so, for the sake of his kids.</p>
<p>I would be willing to bet that OP’s daughter’s B in AP Physics is the opening shot across the bow in the battle at home for independence. She may not realize it yet, but it’s about to begin.</p>
<p>CoutingDown, That was my take as well. Hold on, Laserbrother, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, and methinks there will be a very unexpected landing.</p>
<p>I go back and forth about the ■■■■■ thing. I’d lean towards the toll except I’ve had too many parents just like LB contact me directly. One mother called me wanting me to give her son “practice essay prompts” because she was going to make him practice writing college essays for “an hour or two a day, every day” over the summer. She also told me that she saw this enforced practice as his “ticket to Stanford.”</p>
<p>Something didn’t smell right, so I asked her what grade her son was in.</p>
<p>SIXTH grade! He was 11!! </p>
<p>When I suggested that he really couldn’t start writing his college essays yet because he hadn’t yet experienced anything to write about, she got very upset with me. Told me that I was a BAD college counselor. :LOL:</p>
<p>So, while there are plenty of tolls lurking, there are also plenty of parents who sadly really do buy into LB’s line of thinking.</p>
<p>Carolyn, yikes! You must have a book’s worth of similar anecdotes. :)</p>
<p>I know a mom who asked for a conference with the teacher and principal to find out what her daughter’s class rank was - in 2nd grade. She has been consistently loony ever since. (The mom, not the daughter - though I’m sure in this case there’s a high probability of the insanity being passed on to subsequent generations.)</p>
<p>These poor kids. Some parents are never satisfied.</p>
<p>(The mom, not the daughter - though I’m sure in this case there’s a high probability of the insanity being passed on to subsequent generations.)>></p>
<p>LOL! :)</p>
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<p>Rock on! However, spending alone won’t be true arbitrage if EFC duns your savings at a rate below 100 percent (so it’s similar to the scheme of spending money so as to pay less tax, which is actually a loss). What might work better is to move your money to places, such as the hands of trustworthy non-tuition-paying associates, who would pay at a lower rate on it; tax but not tuition. Check with a tax lawyer to make sure it is done legally (this is why you need a trustworthy person on the other end; you will have to actually surrender control of the funds for it to be anything other than a fraud).</p>