<p>Triptime, I have to agree with Finley. We are not rich, both my husband and I work, and make just over $150,000. When I ran the numbers through the estimator for CMU, our EFC was going to be $48,000. So there must be a pretty big jump between $120 and $150 thousand. I can promise you that making just at $150,000 does not leave enough to pay $50 thousand plus a year for 4-6 years.</p>
<p>“We are not rich, both my husband and I work, and make just over $150,000”</p>
<p>Actually, that puts you somewhere in the top 5% of the national income distribution. Statistically speaking, your household is rich.</p>
<p>the scary thing is that full-pay for a good private school is still inaccessible to people in the top 5% of the income distribution</p>
<p>^check that, 150k is in the top 5-10 percent.</p>
<p>point is still salient, though…</p>
<p>We live in Maryland, and comparing cost of living through out the country, not so rich. And no, we can not move somewhere else and make the same amount. Probably not even get the same jobs!</p>
<p>I whole heartedly believe that college is definitely not a right. K-12 education is mandatory, but anything beyond that should be a privilege or rightfully deserved. Not everyone deserves a college education nor can everyone benefit from such an education. Many choose to work right out of high school or go to trade school, which might be more beneficial for them rather than a college education. Already, too many people in the public school system squander their education and waste resources that can be used for other purposes.</p>
<p>If college were a right and the government required everyone to get a college education, how will employers separate the chaff from the wheat. </p>
<p>Long ago, it used to be that a high school diploma was all that was needed to get a good job and live a relatively comfortable life. During those times, a college degree was a one way ticket to the good life.</p>
<p>Now, however, a high school diploma means almost nothing. A college degree is becoming more and more of a “requirement” for even the most basic jobs. If college were ever to be mandated by law, the value of a bachelor’s would be severely watered down, more than it already is. At that point, graduate school will become the new college and we will have to spend more and more of our lives in school.</p>
<p>You don’t NEED an expensive degree to do well. Do you all really think that the only people who are succeeding have a degree from one of the top 25 or so schools? Of course not. A college degree is still affordable - but not ALL college degrees.
Put away $100/month for your child’s first 18 years. At 6.5% interest, you’ll have $42,000. That’s two years at a lot of good schools. If your child lives at home in the summer and works hard, there’s another $4,000 easily each summer for a total of $12,000.
College can still be affordable but if you are middle class and haven’t put away anything, yes, you are in trouble now.
It’s never been easy to afford college. I had a good scholarship, worked all summer, living at home, worked during the school year too and managed. My grandfather worked his parents’ farm to send his brother, who then contributed to my grandfather’s education - at a state engineering school. He was a civil engineer and did fine.</p>
<p>I also am looking at the people I know who don’t have expensive degrees. There are a lot of success stories out there. And, there are those who have expensive degrees and don’t have a great job too.</p>
<p>
You are in the top 0.33% of humanity. I fear that there are people out there living (and thriving) on far less. Even in Maryland, would $100,000 a year impoverish you? Of course, you are accostomed to a lifestyle matching your income, I presume, so you may have circumstances that require you to be bringing in $150,000 (high mortgage, expensive cars, etc) but those, like private school education, are luxuries. I am sorry, but I won’t be weeping for the rich any time soon.</p>
<p>
Statistics tend a little in the opposite direction, but, as a whole, a college degree (public or private) makes a big difference.</p>
<p>Dolorousedd, I am not impoverished, granted, and we do have decent salaries. But I can assure you, in the DC are, the cost of houses/living is high. I would love to be able to do my job for the same salary in a different state. I believe that all people are saying is there there is a gap. I do believe that college should be affordable, and if you can get into a school, there should be money available to do so. But there is not. We are chosing NOT to send our son to a 50 thousand dollar/ year school. We have searched, and do not see the benefit over more affordable schools. But it would be nice to have the option to send him where ever he wanted to go. I just don’t think that my son has the right to go where ever he gets in.</p>
<p>Yes - a college degree can help. But that doesn’t mean an expensive, four year private school degree.
Here’s 11 well paying jobs that only require a modest two year degree:
[11</a> jobs without 4-year degree](<a href=“http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/associate-s-degree-jobs-that-pay-well-13.aspx]11”>Personal Finance Advice and Information | Bankrate.com)
DolorousEdd - $150,000 BEFORE taxes turns into around 80 or 90 after taxes, so yes, 50K is quite a big bite.
“Rich” is a slippery term - some people define it by resources, others by income. $150,000/year is a lot of money, but it’s a different world than a million a year - just as it is different from $60,000/year.</p>
<p>Thanks nemom, I guess I should have explained the issue better. You said it well!</p>
<p>I actually think $50,000 is a ridiculous sum of money to pay for one year in college, and was simply stating that such a luxury (expensive private education) is balanced with other luxuries (living conditions, assets, anything money is spent on over the years rather than a college fund). With access to state flagship universities, I personally think paying much more for private education is silly, aside from going on need/merit aid.</p>
<p>But still, I maintain that not thinking you can afford such a school is NOT a hardship, and does not affect whether a person is, in a human context, rather rich or not. And, technically, it has little to no bearing on a discussion of whether or not college should be a right, since any right enforced should be for public universities, which I think need to be focused on more. I would quite like it if public universities, bringing to bear the resources of the state, were able to outmatch private schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone can comment on what is rich and what is not. In Maryland, yes, a person can live comfortably with $150,000, but the cost of living has to be taken into consideration. Just looking at the price of real estate says a lot. A small, outdated townhome in my city is $250,000+. Compare that to New York, and people will be moving in to Maryland by the busload, but compare that to Texas, and it’s a completely different story.</p>
<p>to numero1:</p>
<p>We are apparently unable to communicate effectively. Yes, all (or at least most) PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS have an obligation to prepare students for college. That is what parents and taxpayers want. However, a very substantial percentage of those students will never go to college. Some may be denied this opportunity unfairly but many others will lack the requisite skills (3 or 4 years of whatever notwithstanding) or the desire to do so. All schools know this and all teachers know this. At the same time, there are thousands of jobs where a college degree is not required (e.g., [Dictionary</a> of Occupational Titles DOT - Job Descriptions - <a href=“http://www.occupationalinfo.org%5B/url%5D”>www.occupationalinfo.org](<a href=“Contents - DOT Dictionary of Occupational Titles”>http://www.occupationalinfo.org/)</a>). Should I graduate a student who is effectively illiterate (which happens all the time) because he or she has sat in many “college prep” classes or should I try to teach him or her some worthwhile skills? How should we spend our education dollars - mainstreaming or tracking? Should the brightest or most challenged students have a disproportionate share of our educational resources? Should we allocate resources to lengthen the school day or to provide “after school” care? The world isn’t a fair place. Choices are tough. All of us may not have the skills or need to go to college. That is simply a reality.</p>
<p>There is certainly a variation in cost of living, but that is not an excuse to dismiss large sums of money as not being large. Someone making hundreds of thousands of dollars isn’t suddenly working- or middle-class just because their state has a higher cost of living; remember, a higher cost of living generally means a higher quality of living. It may cost more for you than for someone living on a farm or in the country, but you also have a higher quality of life. But, again, I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone to think that a $200,000 education is necessary, when a much smaller fraction of that would be the cost of an excellent public education.</p>
<p>Just as a note - the census (and some others) tend to divide the US into five categories:
poor: lower limit of 0
lower fifth: lower limit of 20K
2nd fifth: lower limit of 38 K
3rd fifth: lower limit of 61K
4th fifth: lower limit of 100K
top 5% : lower limit of 180K
(figures from about 2009)
The only problem with this is that the top 5% are then labelled ‘rich’ - but there is a HUGE range. Two well paid teachers can earn over 90K each, but clearly a family like that is nothing like Bill Gates family.
DolorousEdd - a higher cost of living does not mean a higher standard of living. Consider the poor in NYC - they do not have a better standard of living than the rural poor. They do have a different set of problems.</p>
<p>
Hence why they would not be called “billionaires.”</p>
<p>
Well, the standard of living question is debatable, but now we’re to the poor, not the rich. The poor are screwed over everywhere, by the same system that makes the rich rich. Though I shouldn’t try to incite class warfare on an internet forum, I think you’re veering off from the topic at hand by talking about inner city poor vs. rural poor (and the inner city poor, by the way, often subsist on government housing and food stamps, so may not have a high cost of living).</p>
<p>There is no definition by the US government of a middle class. President Obama has said he believes people making under 250,000 are middle class. Some say 50,000 is middle class. (both are combined income)
Just because it sounds like someone is making a lot of money doesn’t mean their rich. My parents make around 140,000 and they have a lot of debt. Our mortgage, the car payments so they can go to work, and then just regular bills like electric, water, etc take most of their pay. We live very nicely (especially since we’re in a rural area), but we aren’t rich by any means. My parents also work very hard for their salaries. My mom could work 12+ hours in a day for at least 5 days a week. My dad leaves for work at 7 and doesn’t get home most nights until 10.</p>
<p>
What do you mean by ‘not rich’?</p>
<p>I know I am getting off topic, but what if students ‘tithed’ to their schools, ie tuition was initially “free”, but after graduation or leaving school, students paid 1-2-3% of their income until they retired?</p>