<p>If the family has not saved anything for college then it will be difficult to pay for a private school out of current income since this would likely be at least 50% of their net after expenses. An in state public in the 25K range should be affordable. What would prevent a family in this income range from saving? The income could be very recent. I know families who do multiple expensive vacations a year (family of five to Europe, ski trips, etc). I’ve seen families spend thousands of dollars on summer programs each year of high school times two kids- about 5K per summer per kid. Overspending on houses in areas of the country where it isn’t necessary-500K might be a shack in California but a McMansion somewhere else. Some people eat out virtually every meal. Lots of decisions both big and small can cause families in this income range not to save or be able to pay out of pocket. Of course there’s also the belief that there are tons of free rides out there, even for average students. </p>
<p>I’ve seen numerous folks on CC who say there is no way they could trim their lifestyles of expensive cars and vacations. That’s their business, of course. But if they then say that they really can’t afford to pay for college, they shown own that choice.</p>
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<p>Not we.</p>
<p>I see many people driving these cars.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.motortrend.com/cars/2015/bmw/7_series/[/url]”>http://www.motortrend.com/cars/2015/bmw/7_series/</a></p>
<p>And some parents buy branch new cars for birthday for HS kids.</p>
<p>Many, many parents assume that their reasonably high-achieving, reasonably bright kid will get into a top school with a free ride. It is amazing how many families consider themselves eligible for considerable financial aid with incomes many standard deviations above the median. Very difficult when they find out that it isn’t so.</p>
<p>I think the issue is that in the US, many families don’t save. It is easy to lock oneself into choices – a high-end town in a high-end state ($200K is not much in Northern NJ as @oldfort would say). </p>
<p>We’ve been fortunate financially but have chosen to spend less than our friends who have comparable incomes (some alot higher and some lower). Probably most importantly, we bought a house in the middle-ish income part of a very affluent town. [Note that the contrast principle made us feel very affluent because we were more so than our neighbors; we would have felt differently living in another neighborhood or town]. Great school system but our house was relatively less expensive than many of our friends. We didn’t send our kids to private school early on, though both went to private middle school. We didn’t take exotic vacations for a long time (now we do) but were fortunate to be able to stay in relatives’ vacation houses. So, we could save quite a lot for retirement and in 529 Plans. We knew we were never going to qualify for financial aid so we saved for college. But, even if you are doing well, you have to make those discrete choices. Had we bought a more expensive house, sent both kids to private school for 12 years, and taken exotic vacations every year like some of our friends, it would have been hard to pay $50K per year for two kids even if the income level were significantly higher. </p>
<p>Dr. Google, music lesson prices vary by region…and the expertise of the teacher. My kids both took lessons from symphony musicians. And we live in an area where lessons are over $50 an hour. We spent $200 a week on four instrument lessons. It’s the level of instruction our kids were playing at. </p>
<p>My son had a studio when he was a HS student but he only charged $25 an hour. He had all beginning students.</p>
<p>I guess there comes a time when parents have to decide whether to continue paying $$$ for lessons and activities and not save for $$$$$ colleges, or find a different balance between current spending and college spending.</p>
<p>I feel like ECs that cost significant money are totally optional and probably shouldn’t happen if they make college unaffordable. There are a lot of things kids can do free at/via school, or very inexpensively through Rec leagues or the Y…and of course once they hit a certain age, there is the time honored EC of the after school/weekend job.</p>
<p>I don’t think EC cost is the reason that $200k income people cannot afford college.</p>
<p>In 1980, the median home size for a new single family home was 1595 sq ft, and in 2010 it was 2169 sq ft. At the same time, household size has also decreased. Expectations about lifestyles are very different now as compared to about 35 years ago. </p>
<p>^ Does that apply to appartments in NYC?</p>
<p>coolweather: Agree, but ECs can be ridiculous. We spend probably $6000 a year or more on dance.</p>
<p>My daughter and I can also easily spend $1000 a month on food if we are not careful. We try to eat really healthy and pack our lunches every day. We don’t eat out a lot. When my son is home our food costs go through the roof.</p>
<p>I have set a modest amount aside for my kids’ college. My son chose a school where he got a full tuition scholarship, and my daughter will be looking for affordable options as well. Paying $50K plus for a “dream” school is simply not possible for us. In fact, “dream” schools never entered the equation–we presented them with the cold hard truth from the outset.</p>
<p>My family income is a little bit above the discussed amount. However, it was about a third if that until my d1 was in high school, so we didn’t have the big savings at that time. We continued to live frugally and she got her education with no debt. With D2 we didn’t change our lifestyle, so she went OOS with some merit and we were able to help her finish with minimal debt. My son is bringing up the rear years later and since his is the only college left, we splurge on him big time. Very expensive ECs and we love every minute of it. Other than that,our grocery bills are huge – $300 per week including at least $75 per week in vegetables, especially potatoes. But we don’t go out often, haven’t vacationed in almost 20 years and don’t have a lot of stuff, so if we want to lavish resources on this last child, we are going to do it. But you will rarely meet anyone more grateful than we that we can do it. However, we could never have paid $60k per year per child times 3. I know people who can and so, but I am not one of them. The families I know who pay $50k per year per child for private school don’t feel it at all at college time.</p>
<p>Dh and I haven’t been in that income category for long, but we are there now. We’ve been saving for college for years, enough to pay $25-$30k out of 529 + current income times two (our two kids are one year apart so our best case scenario is three years of overlap.) I ran the numbers recently to make sure that the college savings plus extra cash flow will work, assuming absolutely no merit, and it does. I’m grateful.</p>
<p>We’ve always funded retirement heavily and we are probably set there. That being said, I expect dh to leave the workforce the moment the youngest finishes college so dh can still enjoy life while he can still move normally. So we are absolute about only providing at most $30k/year per kid. We don’t see the value in the $60k/year schools with all things considered in our lives.</p>
<p>I skipped from page 2 to page 6, but I assume someone mentioned property taxes somewhere along the way as an additional cost. We also chose to bump up our mortgage along the way when we moved into this school district. I’m utterly convinced had we stayed in the other district there is no way that my oldest (HS junior) would be taking linear algebra and calc 4 this year at the local liberal arts college (having taken calc 2 & 3 and diff eq as a sophomore). It wouldn’t have happened in the other district (which has an abysmal graduation rate compared to this district). That was a cost to us that we view as worthwhile - their opportunities here have been phenomenal. However, we would be looking at a paid off mortgage last year instead of in 11+ years. We could pay the $60k/year if we’d stayed, but I am not convinced either kid would’ve reached as high as they have.</p>
<p>There are trade offs that everyone makes. Some choices make sense to us that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else. </p>
<p>My estimate of $4000/mon housing expenses included mortgage and property tax. It is not a bad assumption if the family bought the house long before they started making 200K a year. </p>
<p>Throwing another variable out there that affects the ability to save–childcare costs. With 2 working parents there can be significant childcare costs. The fees at the center nearest my office are $1,500/month for the youngest kids . The reality for some families is that paying these costs trump their ability to save for college untiil kids get to elementary school</p>
<p>With obamacare related changes shifting many private employer’s plans to high deductible with HSA - more typical out of pocket medical expenses for a family of 3 will be over 2000 (the deductible itself is usually well over 3000, and many, my family included, often hit the maximum out of pocket).</p>
<p>Well, it’s a good thing premium increases are slowing down under the ACA. People tend to forget that the alternative would have been far worse.</p>
<p>Medical care cost inflation is probably not Obamacare-related, as it has been inflating at high rates both before and after Obamacare. In this respect, it at least superficially resembles college list prices.</p>
<p>Employers would be shifting toward higher deductible plans in either case, due to the increased overhead that low deductible plans impose on hiring each employee.</p>
<p>Well, It’s subsidized now, just like college. That tends to increase costs for those who pay. Unfortunately.</p>