Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion go to college or no?

This is the "don't have significant savings" rule.

If you have actually saved cash, say so that you can actually retire, you pay a lot.

And, if anyone was curious, apparently with future investment returns in the gutter, people are going to have to save about 34% of their gross salary every year to actually retire (granted this is state pensions, but still).

http://www.crestmontresearch.com/docs/Article-Looming-Crisis.pdf

Especially when skilled cabinetmaking is a six figure career!

If you haven't already read it, I recommend "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." You'll enjoy it.

The net price at many of the Ivies and other top schools has to do with gross income. For example, one Ivy has a chart on their website that shows if your gross income is under $120K, it is likely they will cover the entire tuition. If gross income is under $60K, you get tuition, room and board. Certain other top schools (schools that have been around a long time, big endowment) will cover tuition (or pay a hefty portion of it) if you make under $100K.

I know that it would be cheaper for my kids to attend one of those top schools than our state flagship. The tough part is getting admitted to one of those top schools - there are so many qualified applicants these days that the acceptance rate is in the single digits for those schools.

I think that a lot of people - low income or otherwise - look at the tuition, room and board and think that the school is out of reach. If they delved a little deeper - or if guidance counselors gave them some decent guidance - they might find the top schools to be more affordable than other options.

I'm pretty sure that assets are taken into account as well.

Ahhhh-- and delving a bit deeper still, most parents don't realize that "aid" at high priced institutions is often INCLUSIVE of some major borrowing on the part of the student/parent.

That's a perfectly valid means of "meeting need" in an institutional sense.

Not so much for students/families who are stuck borrowing 10-30K annually.

KWIM?

Take-home message (realizing that I've been part of academia myself, and that my DD and her friends are starting to be 'processed' by this particular machine)...

ask a LOT of questions about what is meant by "financial aid." Most of that aid is: a) less than what College Board SAYS they ought to be giving per a particular income level, b) not in the form of grants (which don't have to be repayed), and c) non-renewable if it is.

We have looked at several local private colleges for DD, one of them "highly selective."

Tuition rates are sticker-priced at 36K and 55K. "Need" in our case (and btw, we're below what NotSoGifted indicates as an income where tuition costs at that selective institution are theoretically "covered" completely)... is approximately as follows:

a) Local Public Uni 1: ~12K annually, but likely discounted to ~8K due to academic merit, and we would cover ALL of that cost.

b) Local Public Uni 2: ~14K annually, but likewise, ~9K with merit discount, again covered out of our pocket.

c) Local Private 1: ~35-38K annually, discounted to around 28K with merit-based renewable grants, our "need" at this school based upon a frankly outrageous EFC is ~14K, and they would have us meet that with.... LOANS.

d) Local Private 2: ~55K annually, no discounts (this is a selective school, so DD is a "strong, but not remarkable" applicant)... our "need" at this school is estimated to be around 30K annually. Not clear what grants are like at that level, but if recent matriculation among friends/acquaintances is anything to go by, we'd be borrowing about 20K a year for this institution.

So no, sorry... cost is far lower at the public institutions. By the way, BOTH of those private institutions list themselves with College Board and other calculators/aggregators as "meeting 100%" of student need in costs. They do. With loans. They also offer "merit based aid." Again, they DO. It's just that 15K in merit based aid isn't ENOUGH to offset the fact that the tuition is still more than double what the local flagship public universities have as a sticker price (which, again-- high-merit students DO NOT PAY).

That does bring up another good point, though, and that is-- check out the actual price at any institution. Don't rely on that sticker price, but that applies as much to public institutions as to private ones.

Yes, as documented in this report:

http://www.artsci.com/studentpoll/v10n1/index.aspx#aboutStudentPoll
A Majority of Students Look at a
College’s Sticker Price Without Taking
Financial Aid into Consideration

Personally and painfully, indeed. And they also don't mention that parental loans do not have a deferment (or didn't thirtyish years ago.) On that subject, I think it would be more enjoyable to just start at an affordable state school and never know what you are missing.

Yes, but some colleges have no-loan policies. A college's loan policy should be checked carefully when making application decisions. This is what Bostonian means when he says that some of the elite colleges can turn out to be less costly than a local public university.

I recommend checking each college's website for up-to-date information on its loan policies. It can't hurt to apply to these colleges. If they say no, you're in the same position you would have been in anyway, but if you get a yes, you might end up paying less.

Jonlaw: some colleges don't include your house in their aid calculations.

Unless, of course, "affordable state school" also turns out to be unaffordable. It's a relative term.

You can also go through some rough EFC calculators to estimate what FAFSA/College Board will say that your expected family contribution will be.

Many of our friends/associates have been VERY unpleasantly shocked to learn that they have EFC's into the five digits... up to 30% of your gross income is possible there, so it really pays to take a close look at what that EFC is.

Also recognize that each college may calculate EFC individually, and that value may be higher. (Or, in some cases, lower.)