<p>After 100 posts 68 respondents have advised the amount they are paying toward COA.
100% 32 respondents
95% 6 respondents
80% 2 respondents
75% 8 respondents
60% 2 respondents
50% 7 respondents
40% 4 respondents
20% 8 respondents
0% 3 respondents
Roughly 45% of the respondents are paying 100% of the COA. As some posters were worried that less affluent families might be intimidated by the percentage of respondents paying 100% all readers should keep in mind the 100% rate is is being paid by folks whose kids could could have attended other schools at a highly reduced cost. It would seem that many of the respondents here have the financial means and/or the resolve to pay upwards of 200k for an undergrad degree at the best schools in the country. Roughly 30% of the respondents are paying 50% or less of the COA at the schools they chose. The reduced cost, is due to merit aid, fin. aid, talent/athletic scholarships, or a combination thereof. But …again, had those parents who chose to pay the full COA at the U.S. top 20 schools, had instead opted for other opportunities at other schools the 45% full pay rate would probably have been cut in half. Ultimately we all do what we feel is best for our children based on affordability, and generally nobody is in a better position to know what is affordable and worthwhile for a particular child in a particular circumstance than that particular child’s parents.</p>
<p>Nightingale: I wonder if part of the skew is also that some parents are embarrassed to admit they get full aid? I know parents who think I am strange that I’m willing to be up front about it, because in our relatively affluent area, it’s like raising your hand and saying “Yes, I get food stamps!” or “My children get free lunch under the federal program!” I’m not the least bit ashamed that I’m EFC=0, but there have been CC parents who have made that into some sort of social statement and talked about how I must be less educated (not) or of lower social class (I’m from old money Southern aristocracy, but have nothing to show for it except an impressive family tree and rarefied etiquette) or “blue collar” (nope, again). If anything, 100% family contribution is a wierd sort of badge of affluence, even when people are complaining about it. I wonder if the results would be different if the poll were anonymous? If nothing else, I trust the college’s data more because they’re the ones who see the financial aid awards, and they know who’s getting what.</p>
<p>To be honest, as the OP I did not expect as many responses. I know some folks were glad to read the thread as they felt they were in the vast minority in paying 100% COA. Remember TrinSF, education is not always an indication of affluence. As someone once said “The world is full of educated derelicts” Also remember there are rich grandmas, aunts and uncles out there who help pony up the money for these COA’s. So all 100% (full pay types) may not be all that affluent. I suspect some families are not affluent but have saved a very large portion of their income because they place such a high value on a top notch education. Good for them. I appreciate all the responses and the candor involved.</p>
<p>I didn’t mention it before, but my S turned down athletic scholarships at several schools which would have probably been around 25% COA but could have been less. Not every athletic scholarship is a full ride – and in his sport, very few of them are full ride. </p>
<p>And since the schools dangling the bucks weren’t close to home, we’d be spending the saved dollars on travel.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed a strong generational correlation when it comes to paying for college. If the parent’s were helped financially by THEIR parents, they are much more likely to provide financial support for their own children. Pass it forward, so to speak. Parents who did not not attend college or who struggled through and managed on their own are much more likely to make their children do the same. This is just an unscientific observation based on my children’s friends’ parents and their willingness to pay for a college education.</p>
<p>AnyMom99,
Count us as outliers in the data, then. DH and I both put ourselves through school without benefit of family help (and in some cases, significant hindrance). No way will we inflict that on our kids. They will have jobs and take out loans, but if they do their part, we’ll do ours. Decided that long before we had names picked out! :)</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>This % is a rough estimate of what we calculate as the % of families paying 100% of COA at our D’s private university (we figured about 1/2 based on our D’s roommate group). Funny how that works out…</p>
<p>pharmagal - the two cases I know of personally were for pharmDs who wanted to get MDs. They had worked about five years for the company, made a big impression. Both got to attend public U med school full-time at company’s expense. As I recall, they had to come back to work for the company and then take an unpaid leave of absence to do their residencies. Don’t know if they returned to the company after residency. I’m not at the company any more. Both had managers who advocated hard for them. As I said, in this harsher climate, these sort of luxuries are probably not available or extremely rare. This was about six years ago.</p>
<p>Put me into the 100% pay crowd–not once, but three times–each time at a private LAC (two in top 25–third a top second tier LAC). We’re still paying for our youngest, who is a college freshman. My stepson went to college 13 years earlier than my oldest and I’m amazed at the increased costs. As for how we paid–no trust funds here–we earned the money ourselves–hard work and a bit of good fortune–being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of it. My husband put himself through school–he’s old enough that he took advantage of the GI Bill and free tuition in the UC system in the late 60s/early 70s. I went to the big state U (Michigan) and back in 1975, even working-class parents could afford it. I did have a scholarship–it got me reduced tuition. I can’t even remember what it was called but I qualified because I had a high ACT score.</p>
<p>Nightingale,</p>
<p>Thanks for the stats but I noticed that quite a few posters mentioned getting significant aid at State schools. </p>
<p>Hope you did not count those in your stats since your OP objective was to find out % of students getting aid at private schools, right?</p>
<p>I hesitate to post, but I am on the same page as a previous poster who said "we had a understanding when they began HS - that we would cover the cost of in state tuition at our state U - outside of that they could go anyplace they wanted, but only if they received a scholarship. Both ended up at top 20 Universities. First received scholarship for 70% of COA, second received 100% of COA. Cheaper than having them live at home. Set the goals and give them the challenge - after that it is up to them.</p>
<p>100% (and some) for S1 @ a top 20 private school.
75% (and some) for S2 @ a Jesuit school.</p>
<p>Anymom: Interesting. I think my mother’s family paid for her to attend, but of course she left after a year to get married. I think my father had a scholarship, but his parents had more money than my mother’s, so it wouldn’t have been need based. Both attended the same LAC in the south. </p>
<p>Based on your assessement, my parents would have most likely “passed it on” and paid for me. Nope. They were focused on other things. I mostly got a full need-based institutional scholarship, though I had loans and workstudy. After the first year, I left for a bit, and when I went back to college, I was pretty much on my own. </p>
<p>Because of my experience, I didn’t want my children to struggle with college expenses, which is why I was very proactive in helping them plan to make the best of our situation and apply to schools with a strong history of generous aid. My son and I were both EFC=0, but he doesn’t struggle because of it.</p>
<p>We are paying 80% at a Private University. Merit scholarship pays other 20%.</p>
<p>We are paying 100% this year at HYP. 88% last year excluding small local scholarship.</p>
<p>Hoping to get some aid next year when S2 matriculates and even more the following year when D1 joins them, with D2 to follow 2 years later. Glad that those endless days of changing a gazillion diapers every day may finally have their rewards!</p>
<p>FWIW - H and I were relatively comfortable with agreeing to pay for in-state public school (did prepaid tuition plan) and kids kicking in any difference if they went elsewhere; but as S1’s accomplishments and choices grew, we relented a bit and agreed to pay 90% after he presented his reasons for not wanting to attend state school. It does require sacrifice on our part, but we felt it was worth it, although spaghetti three times a week is getting old :).</p>
<p>I would view my kids attending ANY college or university as a reward for changing the diapers. I’m just so relieved that they ended up valuing education as much as they do. They work a lot harder than I ever did.</p>
<p>Talked to my MIL tonight about the spectrum of viewpoints on paying for college. FIL (now deceased) was in sales and she said the annual bonus went toward college costs for their three kids. Obviously, this was a precious windfall that could have gone toward their retirement; they chose to invest in their kids’ educations. </p>
<p>Return on investment? Well, priceless, of course. But of the three, only DH – who paid about half his college costs – went on to graduate school. He was much more “successful” financially than the other two, but was a science grad while the other two majored in Journalism/Communications. MIL subsidizes child #3; child #2 opted out of the workforce several years back to devote his time to raising and homeschooling his own children. </p>
<p>No idea how one would quantify the value of an education. MIL has no regrets.</p>
<p>DS gets 23% merit aid and 15% need-based grants. The remaining 62% is a combination of mom & dad and private loans.
DD’s state uni is covered 110% through a combination of need, merit, and athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>Anymom99- Yes you’re right based on my observation. If a parent/s put him or herself through college they have a greater expectation their S or D should as well, or at least help to a far greater extent then the S and D’s of folks who had their parents unqualified support financially. Unfortunately, with the exception of community colleges, it is unrealistic that a 19 or 20 year old can pay the bulk of the expense. Even paying half must leave them burdoned with loans of 60k or more. We’re talking private institutions with that 60k figure. Can it be done probably… but that is a heavy debt unless you’ve got degree in a lucrative profession.</p>
<p>Counting Down - we are also outliers, actually in a couple of categories. I put myself through school with minimal support from parents as did H. We committed ourselves, however, to EFC for both D’s. We told D’s they had to pay for books and spending money. </p>
<p>Too long ago to remember how it worked for D#1, but we are paying a little less than 30% of COA for D#2 at Yale. In terms of dollars, it cost us more for D#1 to go to our state university than does for D#2. </p>
<p>It is the only time that working in a profession that is grossly underpaid has been a plus. Oh, that and being old!</p>
<p>Scholarship is paying 80%, we are paying 20%.</p>