Yale!? @choirsandstages That’s a bit…ambitious don’t you think? I mean I’d love to go, they have a great IR program, but I’m pretty sure that getting in would be a stretch.
There would be one for each parent.
Yale is a reach for everyone. So, it goes without saying that it’s be a stretch. It’s a high reach but not an impossible one. You could even apply Rea while applying to your flagship. If your brother can bring his scores up, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities. You just have to understand that odds aren’t in your favor.
Run the NPC with 4 in college.
Congratulations on your academic achievements! You’re asking great questions.
First, have you talked to your parents about the difference between tuition vs. room/board/personal expenses? Are they not willing to provide the money for your food and personal expenses? They’re paying for that now! If they can be convinced to cover that, I think if you cast a wide net, you’ll all find colleges that will offer you full-tuition scholarships (though perhaps not an Ivy), and then you and your brothers will only have to personally cover dorm/apartment costs. Full-RIDE scholarships can be very difficult to find, but there are many more full-tuition scholarships.
Next, my husband (an engineer/manager at an int’l engineering firm) commented that Ivy League schools really may not offer the best preparation and value for your brothers who are interested in engineering and computer science. Lots of state universities have terrific engineering programs and at the end of the day, career opportunities may be pretty similar.
Third, I have a couple of full-tuition scholarships recommendations. Especially since you’re in Ohio, spend the time to write very thoughtful essays for the Morrill Scholarship at Ohio State. You also might want to look into the Hammond scholarship at the University of Miami, FL. Neither are top 20 universities, but still have very good rankings.
Thanks for the info @momfactfinder. I’m already looking at the Morrill scholarship at OSU
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If your parents truly have only 10k in savings on 200k income(no stocks, bonds, mutual funds, 529 plans) they are practically living pay check to pay check. If they haven't saved a dime for college knowing the impact of having 4 kids to put through school at the same time I would suggest you take them at their word-they have never had any intention of helping you pay for school. Not only that, with a meager 10k in savings they don't seem to have a dime to spare out of current income. Even schools with a 20k price tag (times 4!) are completely unrealistic. <<<
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^^ This is my concern.
Your parents have been saving for retirement, good for them. And they’ll continue to do so because they know that they need more than $1M.
I didn’t see the $10k in non-retirement savings, but if that’s true, then @planner03 is exactly right. If over the years, they’ve only been able to save $10k in non-retirement, then that just means that their income is going towards household expenses and retirement. there’s no money for college…at least not much.
Yes, once 4 hungry boys are out of the home, they will realize some savings, but probably not more than $16k per year TOTAL…that’s $4k per son.
Well, I’m glad I started this discussion. Certainly not shooting for Ivies now, and for sure gonna get with the whole family and figure out what our EFC is. Thanks for the help advice everybody 
Good luck! Let us know how it goes!
If the parents have $1 million in savings, I don’t consider that living paycheck to paycheck. They’re just keeping their savings tax-protected, they’ve probably been maxing out their 401Ks and IRAs. But the parents could choose to lighten up on retirement savings for 4 years and divert that to help with their sons’ food/personal living expenses. The parents might want to talk with a financial advisor, they may find that they could afford to lighten up on retirement savings for 4 years and still be on track to retire when they want, with the amount of savings they need.
^it’s probably what they’ll have to do. It may also be that they’ge saved a lot until now because they know that with the cost of college they’ll have to divert a lot of their usual retirement savings toward the boys 'college, so for four- five years they only expect to make minimal contributions to their retirement funds.
Somewhere upthread OP stated that his parents were unwilling to divert the retirement savings to college. Parents are not looking for ways to pay for college-they have stated they do not intend to. OP still hasn’t told us what the yearly 401k contribution is, but it certainly isn’t anywhere near enough to fund college even at the 20k per kid level that some are suggesting, even if they stopped completely for the next 4 years. And I don’t think 20k per kid is a realistic COA for the schools OP is mentioning anyway…
I do think with applying to enough of the right places (and each of you having 3 safeties each - safety being financial and application safety and the school having the desired degree plan) you can eventually figure out by the end of senior year what options work out best for each student. And I do think it is realistic to consider $10K - $15K for each for room/board/incidentals/travel etc. If multiple go within an area, maybe can share a car.
H had two brothers in college at the same time he was in college - one went to St Norbert’s, H went to MSOE, and one went to Notre Dame. Parents were very modest income and lived in SW WI. They made it work. Brother at St Norbert’s had a car, that eventually brother at Notre Dame then had. I got H home in the car I got after junior year of college (H and I went to different schools in Milwaukee). H had relatives around Milwaukee so he was able to borrow a vehicle now and then.
There is something to the logistics. Fortunately H and I graduated on different days on the same weekend, but I can imagine if all graduate at the same time from different schools, that will also be where choices have to be made.
However, college was a lot less expensive in the past.
Through a full-time summer job and part-time (10 hr/wk) school year job, you can contribute $11,000/year to college. If your parents will agree to contribute $4,000 per child for food/personal expenses, you should be able to make the numbers work with a full-tuition scholarship rather than a full-ride scholarship. It may be tight, but doable.
If you’re in Ohio, consider Miami. The student body has, um, some diversity opportunities, opportunities just waiting for high stats students to fill.
I’m sure you’ve already looked, but U Toledo and U Cincinnati both have coop programs which could work out really well too.
Correction to #133, the $11,000 is work income AND an annual $5,500 student loan
I wouldn’t count on the parents diverting much/any of their retirement contributions, especially if they’re being made with pretax dollars.
$1M in retirement savings is not a lot if that’s their only retirement plans (other than SS). Remember, this is for two employed people…so it’s really like $600k for one and $300k for the other.
The OP has already said that his parents have assumed that the boys would get “free rides” for being great students, so it doesn’t appear that they’ve had the intention of “pulling back” to pay for college.
the burden of paying much for each quad would be substantial…even paying room and board ONLY for each child would mean paying $60-70k per year.
Even if they stopped pretax 401k and IRA contributions for 4 years, I don’t think they’d be netting close to even 40k per year.
Plus, they’d be losing any matching dollars contributed.
The mention of “paycheck to paycheck” wasn’t meant in the same way a poor person lives. It was meant in a way that their budget is such that after they make their retirement contributions and pay taxes/insurance/FICA, their remaining take-home pay hasn’t allowed much/any savings.
@ucbalumnus yes tuitions were less, but so were earnings. Private colleges are much more costly now in comparison to back then, but some privates and publics give good merit. The publics, even with four at one time are more affordable for this family than what it was for H’s family for what these parents are earning…H’s parents lived thrifty during the years due to relatively low income. Dad had min wage earnings or slightly above and even lost a job for a while, then got on with the post office part time and then eventually full time. Had he worked at the post office years earlier, they would have been in better shape for his earnings and for a pension. Mom worked for a rural elementary school - so she was the main earner and also carried the health insurance. So now they have her teacher’s pension and SS.
The two students that attended in WI received WI State Grants as well as the federal grant max. I know MSOE had tri-mester system, so three tuition payments a year. St Norbert’s might have given a price break because uncle was a Norbertine Priest. Brother that went to ND had $20,000 in debt after he finished there before going on to pharmacy school in WI - paid as he went and also incurred more student loans. All had good paying jobs over the summers - one poured concrete, one worked in framing homes, and H was an electrician’s helper and during school semesters worked 2nd shift some hours at a plating factory near MSOE. So not cushy jobs but a good change from academics. I know H came out with about $7K in school loan debt - that doesn’t sound like much but in 1978 an engineer made $17K. Since I had no student debt and earned what he did as a RN with night shift differential, we paid off his student loans within a year - we shared a paid for car. H’s family had a fourth son who attended college after the first two were out, and by then #3 was on his own in pharmacy school.
There are going to be sacrifices, even with some merit.
@SOSConcern One difference back then was that a student could borrow the full cost of attendance, even for a private. Can’t do that now.
Parents could be structuring a very firm budget - no eating out, cash basis budget to work on cash flow for college costs. Curtail spending, look at ways to save money, sell things that aren’t needed. The students can get jobs to start saving (if don’t have summer jobs now). It would seem that the parents and students can pull together. Perhaps the parents had to put themselves through school or have some ideas on how this all should be handled.