<p>Re post 56:
Sorry, I don’t buy the whining about a $140k income. The median household income in 2006 was $60k. No matter how expensive CA is, there’s no way that a bit of saving for college would bring the family’s standard of living to one with a $60k household income.</p>
<p>Exactly, Marite. With a similar income when my D was in school, we paid a third of our take-home for her tuition, saved a third for S’s tuition, and lived on the other third.</p>
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<p>Excellent example.</p>
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Then I hope she’s never confronted by the salespeople I meet every day. My last phone call assured me it was my last chance to extend my warranty. Yesterday, someone assured me they could lower my interest rate. Sometimes you have to take responsibility for your own actions. </p>
<p>Also, when exactly did USC make that promise? When the child was born? Or just before she was due to enter USC?</p>
<p>marite / garland – I completely agree that parental planning is the key. I clearly say so in the next statement. It’s not “whining” to say it’s expensive to live in CA…it’s a fact. Taking any one figure, out of context of it’s reference, changes it. Income alone doesn’t present a fair picture however, it needs to be looked at in context to where the person lives.</p>
<p>I have always been very wary of the median household income figure frequently cited on CC. A ‘household’, by the definition of the agencies collecting the information, can (and does) include single people and elderly retired people living alone. A more useful number would be the average household income for families with minor children, since that is the population trying to finance a college education.</p>
<p>As for saving for college, no doubt many people have been negligent in their responsibility to save for their own chidren’s futures, but perhaps we should keep in mind that the increase in the cost of higher education far exceeded increases in the cost of living over the last twenty years. Many people who have been saving haven’t saved enough because they were caught off guard. They were dreaming of exclusive private schools but saving for Big Public U–but didn’t realize it.</p>
<p>EDIT: Many of the people caught off guard do not live in communities where private schools are in the daily news, nor do they associate with people who understood what was happening in the world of higher education.</p>
<p>The funny thing to me is that we’re talking about California: a state (call it, "system’ 
) with probably the best and most accessible network of public universities ON THE PLANET. </p>
<p>The family quoted by OP is simply out to lunch on this subject.</p>
<p>Financial aid is NOT the same as merit aid. This mom was disappointed that D didn’t receive aid and has combined both types into her expectation. “…grant or scholarship aid from the state or USC.” A LOT of people tell tales of top-notch kids receiving merit aid. This is CC, after all. </p>
<p>Also, the schools vary greatly from one to another, in their award of merit aid. USC is a lot different than a tier 3 LAC.</p>
<p>coureur: great point on the complicity of schools like USC downplaying cost as a factor.</p>
<p>marite: great point about the responsibility of parents to actually save for their own children’s college expenses. What a concept!</p>
<p>Another point to consider: the daughter may well be within commuting distance of USC. It’s about a 20 mile drive from her high school. This would not be an easy drive during heavy traffic, and commuting would not allow the full “college experience,” but if the child really wants to attend USC, the cost of doing so would be less.</p>
<p>Doame–I do understand that some areas of the country are higher expense than others. Living in a NJ suburb of NYC, we experience that here, too. That made the saving a challenge, but not impossible if one is willing to live a lower middle class lifestyle on a UMC income (which we did.)</p>
<p>Garland – The problem I see is that most lower middle class areas do not (at least until recently with some magnets) have great public schools. When you factor in the cost of private school or the anxiety of seeing that all your kids get into magnets, its not easy.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with all of you, don’t you believe in the financial aid fairy?</p>
<p>I went to USC as a transfer for undergrad. I bought into that notion, too, about need. My father was a single parent, and his income was just less than 3 times the tuition, before taxes. </p>
<p>In short, I paid for it with loans. The aid was horrible, and I felt back then that I got taken. The financial aid system was different when I was an undergrad, and it took much longer to understand just how much of that bill I would be paying on my own, without much assistance. </p>
<p>In terms of California income, I will say that even with a good income, housing eats up a huge portion of our family’s net income, after taxes. My inlaws live in the midwest. Their home is worth 25% of mine, yet it is essentially the same size in the same kind of neighborhood. Nothing fancy. My sister in law lives in a neighborhood in which the houses are worth even less than the inlaws. They can get by with less income - I think in large part because of the housing/rental prices. </p>
<p>We saved, like so many others and found that our kids 529’s lost value last year - my kids fund lost nearly 40% of the value. </p>
<p>It is a shock when the federal government calculates an EFC and says 30% is what is expected to pay for a family’s income, and it shocks the students and parents I work with every time. Yet, if you or your kid want the education, you will figure out how to pay for it. For a family like mine, it is loans and savings. I won’t borrow from the house or our retirement. I would rather lock in a fixed rate for 10 years than get underwater in my house!</p>
<p>The problem is that most parents don’t truly understand what financial need is, or what is expected of them in this process. It should be the first thing that is dealt with in college admissions, but for too many of them, they don’t get their EFC until senior year, well into the college search and application process. EFC isn’t the same for each school, either. You might be expected to pay more - or less - than your family’s EFC, depending on the institutional methodology. </p>
<p>Students should be looking at this and filling out the fafsa forecaster in Sophomore and Junior years. It would save a ton of heartache for families, later, in my opinion.</p>
<p>UC’s tuition is lower than 10k, but room and board and expected lab fees, health fees and tuition is around $28K per year. The rest is paid through the state income taxes, subsidized from the people of the state of California. </p>
<p>It is far less than a private, unless the private school comes up with scholarships and grants. When my son got his aid package from a UC last spring, it actually was less expensive for him to attend the private college, because they made it worth his while. </p>
<p>Everyone has to explore all of their financial aid choices, and this usually means applying to a mix of publics and privates and seeing what is the best offer. For most kids, it will mean, going where the aid is best for them.</p>
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<p>Or ongoing substantial medical expenses. Or supporting relatives. Or repaying the parents’ student or other loans. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Also keep in mind that the $140k income might not have always been there. Or that the savings have been eviscerated. </p>
<p>Parents here on CC tend to be very hard on parents who aren’t aware of the entire college financial lay of the land. Thing is, if parents didn’t go to college themselves, they often are just relying on what they hear from counselors and college reps and the media, which is basically that if your kid works hard and does well there will be money. If the parents DID go to college, they may be relying on their own outdated experiences from decades past. Yes, we should all know this will be expensive, we should save, run the EFC calculator early, read CC religiously. For those who get caught in the above traps, maybe we can have a little compassion, because it could have pretty easily have been any of us. </p>
<p>Whitney was profiled in the book “School of Dreams”. I was very surprised that a student at this school would end up having a choice of either USC at full freight or CSULB, with no UCs thrown into the mix. Clearly, there is more to the story than was reported.</p>
<p>The “system” only owes you something to the extent you pay in. If I pay a highway toll (or tax) I expect the roads to be maintained, that’s the deal. You take my money, you give me value back. Of course, healthcare and college educations seem to be exempt from this seemingly simple and perfect rule.</p>
<p>My gripe with Colleges is that their pricing has nothing to do with reality. I found this link that shows the college inflation rate from 1996 to 2006 to be more than double the CPI. At that rate, today’s USC $51K COA will be nearly $62K by senior year. It shouldn’t be surprising that these institutions are pricing themselves out of the market.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegemoney.com/images/News/News_12_4.pdf[/url]”>http://www.collegemoney.com/images/News/News_12_4.pdf</a></p>
<p>There are basically three tiers of 4-year college pricing, $30K-$40K-$50K, for in-state public, out-of-state public and private. But there is no differentiation made for quality of education or (perceived) prestige of a given institution; a math degree from MIT costs essentially the same as a Math degree from a small LAC no ones ever heard of. </p>
<p>To extend the car example, you can desire what you want and you have a myriad of choices priced from $10K to $300K, it’s up to you to pick your price point. That variety of options simply doesn’t exist in the college market.</p>
<p>Westerndad,</p>
<p>I did commute to USC and never lived on campus when I attended, because I am within than 20 mile range and I already couldn’t afford the tuition, room and board was out of the question! It was tough. Traffic was brutal, but I did that because I really wanted to attend this program. </p>
<p>Commuting does make it harder to have the college experience, but it can be done.</p>
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It most certainly does. Anywhere from community college while living at home and working to a prestigious 4 year school and living on campus. Somewhere around under $4,000 for an associates degree to over $200,000 for an ivy league education. About the same range as your car example.</p>
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<p>Yes, I sure do know that. My kids went to a HS with a M/V SAT of about 900. Most kids there don’t go on to 4 year colleges. Somehow, mine survived this experience, and actually made it to good colleges.</p>
<p>^^Ditto with my school. We did consider sending our kids to private school and decided to save for college instead. their college funds took a hit several times since they were established. But we took out loans and are able to pay full fare. We’ll both be working until at least 70, but we’re not complaining.</p>
<p>A lot of the cost of a USC comes from aspects of the college experience such as a great gym or very long library hours or a lot of advisors, which are designed primarily to keep the students happy, as opposed to getting an education. Students who are willing to work hard, pay attention in class, seek out teachers can get a fantastic education at a state school that doesn’t have the many bells and whistles. This assumes, of course, that education and/or educational credentials is the main reason that people enroll in school. But that isn’t the case. People enroll in school for many reasons, which include wanting to be identified with a particular school. Which is one of the reasons that college confidential exists, no?</p>