<p>Your “continual evidence” is just a straw man to me. Most of my peers and professional acquaintances that I know muddle through and work something out. Am I saying that it is easy? No it is very hard, everyone who has gone or going through this knows it very well. Sorry, it is not a convincing argument to me that most families with 200k income do not or cannot afford to save some money for their kids education.</p>
<p>There is one factor in all this that is the elephant in the room - college costs have increased exponentially. If you are a parent who went to college twenty years ago, looking at costs today is pretty shocking. Yes, his parents make $200,000 a year combined, and any way you slice it that’s quite a bit, but a full 25% of their pretax income for ONE child to attend college? Come on. That does not mean the parents are denying their child simply because they are greedy and unwilling to share their blessings. Parents need to talk with their children and explain that financial aid for many is just that, an aid to help but not solve the financial problem of attending college.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yup, when my kids were babies, I was paying the equivalent of college tuition (for 1 kid) for daycare (for two) and figured that paying for tuition out of earnings would certainly be doable 17 years down the line. I was wrong!</p>
<p>It’s ridiculous to assume that any familu should be able to pay 25% of their income towards college costs. Some families saved, some didn’t. Some are dealing with difficult circumstances, some just don’t think they should have to help and everything in between. It’s up to the parent to decide what they will or won’t do to help.
I know for us we told our dd upfront what we could do. We didn’t save when she was younger because we were working very low paying jobs and just barely surviving. In the last few years we’ve earned more but still can’t pay $30 or $40k a year for a high sticker school. This doesn’t make us unwilling to help our daughter- it just makes us comfortable with our financial situation.<br>
It is very hard in today’s economy to commit to too much debt for the student and/or for the parents.</p>
<p>I still think FAFSA is a joke. Evidently I am supposed to have my parents pay half of their (~100K) income a year for me to go to UVA? That’s absurd! If he worked part time and made half as much, I could go to college for free! Yes mom2collegekids, I will be accepting a full ride on merit. Unfortunately, my dad has to pay taxes on my scholarship! Absolutely ridiculous! If you think my parents can/should pay more or that it’s fair that I can’t go to UVA, you’re wrong. Sorry</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Part of it is because you picked schools that may not give good financial aid. That isn’t FAFSA’s problem. All FAFSA does is calculate a number for Federal aid purposes. With $100k income, your EFC should be max $15-$20k. If a school meets full aid, that is what it would cost. No where near $50k/yr.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You should have looked at Harvard. With $100k income, it would have cost about $10k/yr to go. Harvard has awesome financial aid.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Technically, the taxes on the scholarship are yours, not your dad’s. But, if you can’t afford the taxes, then he may end up giving you money to pay it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Only on the parts for room and board, which everybody needs to pay, no matter if you’re in college or not. Why should the fact that schools are paying for you to live and eat (making it income) be tax-free, while somebody else who earns the money through work have to pay taxes on the same money they use to live and eat.</p>
<p>And there’s an easy way to not have your father pay your income taxes. Save a bit of that living stipend you have and pay it yourself.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not as absurd as you thinking that, even though your parents make $100k, someone else should pay for you to go.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not at UVA, you couldn’t. </p>
<p>FAFSA isn’t supposed to figure out how much money your family won’t miss – it’s how much you can scrape up if college is your number one priority. Speaking as a parent who has quite a low EFC, I’d trade places and have the extra $ for all the non-college years :).</p>
<p>OP - certainly it’s ok to be disappointed. But don’t stay disappointed too long and become bitter. </p>
<p>And be open to the idea that your family’s position is that it doesn’t make good financial sense to pay thousands of additional dollars for something that’s only slightly better.</p>
<p>College costs are supposed to be paid from past, present and future income (savings, current pay/budget, and loans) from both student and parent. If the numbers are such that a family can only pay so much, then so be it. Sometimes families make obligations such as buying a house, investments, that they cannot easily back out of. If they have not saved, that’s a major piece of the funding plan gone right there, and what has the student saved? </p>
<p>Just a minor rant here–when I was a kid, and with my kids, there were savings. Not the case for a lot students these days. The birthday checks, the allowance, baby sitting money, all seems to be gone,and kids don’t seem to be working and salting the funds away for college these days from what I can see. Not a good development because even the most generous school in terms of financial aid expect even the poorest students to take on some of the cost of college, and what seems to be happening is that that portion is being just rolled into family contributions for most families.</p>
<p>Part of the reason I didn’t apply for Harvard is because my dad said he couldn’t afford to send me there. My dad’s income is $110K, my EFC is $47K. I really wish Harvard would only cost $10K a year, but I don’t think it would work out like that! I don’t know much of our assets, other than that my dad does save for retirement, emergencies, etc. I applied to UVA, Michigan, UNC, and others, and I do think they meet 100% of aid, at least for students of my stats. I am very sorry; I’m sure I sound like an entitled brat. Maybe I am to some extent. It just makes me very sad that I cannot afford to go to the best school I can be accepted to!</p>
<p>And parents can feel bad that they can’t afford to send their child to the best school they get accepted to. But there is nothing we can do about it either sometimes. My son was accepted to all the schools he applied to. Unfortunately, none gave us enough aid for him to go to any of them - so he is going to our state school. AND he understands why and is fine with it.</p>
<p>If your Dad’s income is 110K and the EFC is 47K then there is something wrong, unless your Dad has lots of assets. 110K should correspond to something around 28K EFC.</p>
<p>The OP has 2 great choices in his future. Once he gets there, meets new people, and has freedom from mom & dad, he will be realize this was what was meant to be. I understand his disappointment and need to vent. That’s ok, we’ve all been there. Sometimes I think ppl on this forum are a little harsh, especially to some of the kids. I have taught my kids to dream, and dream big, but the reality is I would not be able to afford even 15K a year. I have 4 kids, H is recently unemployed, & I work my butt off to survive. Reading these posts made me think of friends I have in NY, (I live in NC) and they were living the american dream. 250K+ per year, 900K house, BMW’s, private schools, etc., well, the bubble burst and the company they worked for folded. Now the wife is making barely 65K, hubby still unable to find employment. The 900K house is in foreclosure, baby no longer in private school, one car re-poed. My point is that you never, ever know where life is going to take you, and to tie yourself down to 50K per year for a private college, IMHO, is nuts — not when you have a choice to go to UNC in-state prices. good luck to the OP, I hope we hear back from you in the fall!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>“Beginning with the Class of 2016, families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from zero to ten percent of income, and those with incomes above $150,000 will be asked to pay proportionately more than 10%, based on their individual circumstances. Families at all income levels who have significant assets will continue to pay more than those in less fortunate circumstances.”
[Fact</a> Sheet](<a href=“http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pageid=icb.page246751]Fact”>http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pageid=icb.page246751)</p>
<p>So, unless your family has significant assets, it would coast $11,000 (10% of $110,000) to go to Harvard.</p>
<p>OP- my son also got into Northeastern but he is staying in our home town in a private college were we do not have to pay room and board. We have a high income, but we have three kids and they all want to go to grad school so we do not see the need to splurge in an extra $20,000 every year just for my kid to live in Boston. The difference between him and you is that he does not feel bad about not going because he understand that even if you have the money you have to make smart decisions in your life.Sorry but none of these schools are worth you or your parents getting into debt. You are young. You will find many opportunities in your life to travel, learn and explore. College can still be exciting, it only depends on you.</p>
<p>I know what they say, OperaDad, and my father filled out net price calculators for Yale. The said calculator estimated $35,000 in costs per year, but that included (pardon my ignorance) some kind of subsidized loan to bring it down that far! I don’t know if those stats are only true because only kids who such stats hold true for (special situations?) end up at HYP or what the deal is. My dad simply told me $35000 not including loans I’d have to pay back is too much. From what I’ve heard around here, the case of a kid from a family making $100K and not being able to afford Harvard is more common than those who can attend for only $10K/yr.</p>
<p>I don’t know what constitutes significant assets. I know our home is modest, and that when my dad erased all our spendable assets (not including our home, retirement, or his salary), the EFC decreased by $12K to $35K. I really don’t think Harvard gives kids $25K/yr more than their EFC, but I could be wrong. I though HYP just met 100% of aid as demonstrated by FAFSA. I don’t know how, based on my experience, you can get a $11K EFC from a $100K income unless saving money and having a nice house are atypical for such an income.</p>
<p>You can’t expect scholarships from Ivies bro :P</p>
<p>The ivies meet demonstrated need using their own formulas. Sometimes their aid is more generous than the FAFSA EFC.</p>