<p>Assuming that the middle-class “can pay” is a little naive. </p>
<p>Say someone’s parents make $100K. Well, 35% of that is immediately gone. Throw in 25K a year in to a mortgage, 10K in to transportation, 10K for food, 3K for clothes, 2K for miscellaneous, etc. and that family might <em>MIGHT</em> have 10K left for school provided this is their only kid or their other ones are going to weak, free public schools at the time. But they have to pay 30K a year for HYPS out of pocket. So they take out a second mortgage and plunge ever deeper in to debt. Kid graduates and wants to go to law school or medical school, only he already has 75K in loans and the juice is running. At the current average salaries for a college grad, he can expect to pay of undergraduate debt right about… the time his hair has all fallen out from the stress of being in debt for several decades. So can the middle-class REALLY “afford” it?</p>
<p>*note: in all commonsensicalness, schools with endowments in the multiple billions should, at this point, probably be giving free educations to anyone that works hard enough to earn admission, regardless of financial status. Only the truly wealthy can really “afford” a $200,000+ dollar piece of paper.</p>
<p>mortgage to a house in an affluent neighborhood: 25k a year
transportation in a fancy car + gas: 10k+ a year
bountiful meals: 10k a year
designer clothes: 3k a year
miscellaneous (plasma television, pool maintenance, leisure vacations): 2k a year
the middle class bitterness: priceless </p>
<p>When you consider a family with <45k, all of which must be spent on rent, food–and not the luxurious meals, take the bus or at best a distasteful car, shop at a thrift store, and have no room left for “miscellaneous,” you will see how ridiculous your assertion is. And not all families in this income bracket are “lazy,” perhaps they did not have all the opportunities. </p>
<p>Good job. You’re family was blessed with the advantages, or lack of disadvantages. A family with over 100k would probably have enough to set a college fund.</p>
<p>Not always. My parents earn a significant income by working full-time. My college account has very little in it. There are other variables on whether a family can afford it other than income including home purchases, credit, equity on long-term assets, mortgages and other liabilities.</p>
<p>Well admittedly that was a rough generalization on my part. But you also must consider the alternative: would you rather sacrifice your pleasant lifestyle for a <45k family income and a free ride to a college?<br>
To some extent the college admission process favors students with money. Students are able to go to competitive, affluent high schools with professional counselors and have the resources to pursue extracurricular activities. Also there is a supporting motivation in their parents, not to mention the expensive SAT prep classes, private tutoring for subjects–the list goes on. Perhaps I’m a bit biased but students that are able to rise above the limitations of their context should have a chance.<br>
There’s a reason as to why the top colleges are prevalently riddled with middle to upper class students relative to lower class students, and sometimes its not always due to the difference in intelligence levels. The odds that one will be of top-20 school caliber is much higher for the former classes than the latter. I’m relieved that colleges are recognizing this discrepancy and considering students in context.</p>
<p>“…you will see how ridiculous your assertion is. And not all families in this income bracket are “lazy,” perhaps they did not have all the opportunities.”</p>
<p>Stop putting words in my mouth. I didn’t mention a THING about anyone being lazy- you insinuated that one on your own. Secondly, those who are making less than $45K ARE currently getting free rides to many places, and deservedly so. Don’t be a simpleton- this isn’t a “middle class vs. the poor” showdown- I’m merely using my gray matter and suggesting that neither group is in a great position to shell out $53,000 a year for a handful of college classes. A school with a $20B trust fund could- and probably should- be picking up the bills and removing a huge burden from the shoulders of both groups. I hardly find this to be a “ridiculous” assertion. </p>
<p>“Good job. You’re family was blessed with the advantages, or lack of disadvantages.”</p>
<p>Thanks for the sarcastic, sideways personal attack friend, but I was not using my particular situation as the example. Some of us have enough life experience and perspective to be able to put ourselves in to the shoes of others and examine situations from multiple angles. I’m a 25 year old independent student who is putting himself through college. My EFC is 0 and I’ve been my own chief financial provider for 7 years. Oh and the “competitive, affluent high school” that I went to was the free, public high school down the block, while the school that I am transferring from is an “affluent” community college. Hahaha, thanks for playing.</p>
<p>Perhaps your particular situation is not pertinent, but your assertion that colleges with large endowments should “probably be giving free educations to anyone that works hard enough to earn admission, regardless of financial status” is still absurd. First off, there are only 2 schools with endowments over 20 billion, one of which has drastically changed its financial support for the middle class while the other will announce its new financial plan shortly. And colleges in the top tier do offer reasonable financial aid for those with evident need.
Do you know how ridiculous and impractical it would be for any college–barring Harvard–to dole out free rides to all students in the income bracket to which you allude. Admittedly some middle class families are at an extreme disadvantage in regards to college, but the alternative is impractical. How many low income students are there compared to middle income students? The achievement rates in both are staggeringly distinct and to put them on the same plane is ridiculous. Now I’m generalizing a lot as each scenario is different. But regardless, to say that the unfortunate middle class has a burden is to not understand the true burden of the lower class.</p>
<p>I was going to start a new thread with this question but maybe it will be answered here:</p>
<p>In the financial aid award letter, under “anticipated expenses” is “travel”… what do they mean by travel? Do they mean the plane ticket that will fly me from the east coast to the west every year? Because they are paying for this “travel” through financial aid…so I just wanted to know.</p>
<p>Yes, travel means the plane ticket. They usually underestimate it by a lot so they’re not really paying for it. My package estimates my travel at ~500. However, the cheapest roundtrip ticket for me cost about 300 and typically people fly home 3 times during an academic year.</p>
<p>@Aellawind: Where are you going? Because last time, I checked Seattle to Miami, Florida (2 of the furthest spots in the continental us) nonstop is still somewhere in the sub-$500 range. What are traveling? Jet Platinum?</p>
I think Bait&Switch was saying this very thing. Many very outstanding middle class kids get into great colleges but can’t afford to go. Should they not also be given a chance, or is total college access only for the wealthy (and in some cases, those with “low income”)? As somebody else commented recently on a different thread, an acceptance to an private college with no financial aid is pretty much equal to a rejection for the average middle class family. So close but yet so far…</p>
<p>bump. I’d like to hear from people about their 2009-2010 financial aid offers.</p>
<p>One problem I see with the current system is failure to consider income history beyond a year or a couple of years. My H, as a new immigrant, started out in his late 20’s in a poorly-paid job well below his ability and experience level. But it was a good start in a new country for which he was grateful. Thereafter, though, since prospective employers always find out your salary history, H kept on making less than others with the same experience doing the same job. Finally, only a few years before S went to college, H got a much better job and almost doubled his salary. Suddenly, we looked much wealthier on paper than what we really were since that salary level was a recent and significant change upward. Worse yet, next H was laid off late fall of S’s senior year, and so his severance, which is designed to tide you over until you find another job, was all counted as income on the FAFSA. The combined effect of that was not pretty.</p>
<p>I come from a very low income family and aside from the FAFSA and the CSS Profile what else does Stanford want for financial aid paper work? Should I send a copy of tax returns?</p>