College Net Cost Calculator - what's the catch?

[havaneselover]

That seems a bit excessive. I had a full tuition scholarship to Duke, but most of the people I knew had some kind of aid. Over half of Duke students receive financial aid. Even for those who don't, the estimated cost of a year at Duke is just over $60,000 (which is a lot, but most people at Duke do not take eight years to graduate ).

This is a two income family in northern virginia. They won't qualify for aid. If it's $60k now, why is it hard to believe it would double in 18 years?

When I went to UVa 20 years ago, the university of Richmond was $17k. Now it's more than three times that.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

This is a two income family in northern virginia. They won't qualify for aid. If it's $60k now, why is it hard to believe it would double in 18 years? When I went to UVa 20 years ago, the university of Richmond was $17k. Now it's more than three times that.

Perhaps, but it is not clear from your earlier post that you were estimating costs 18 years from now. I expect they will see a bit of growth both in their dual Northern Virginia incomes and in their college investments during that time period as well.

 

[havaneselover]

Perhaps, but it is not clear from your earlier post that you were estimating costs 18 years from now. I expect they will see a bit of growth both in their dual Northern Virginia incomes and in their college investments during that time period as well.

Sorry I wasn't explicit. This was for a newborn.

Income growth and investment growth doesn't change my point. And northern virginia is getting hurt right now because defense contractors are facing huge cuts.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Sorry I wasn't explicit. This was for a newborn. Income growth and investment growth doesn't change my point. And northern virginia is getting hurt right now because defense contractors are facing huge cuts.

I'm not trying to start an argument. I just thought it was an unrealistic number for four years when the other posts seemed to relate to teenagers. With 18 years to go, it's not like they have to save $25,000 per year out of their dual incomes to hit that target - investment growth is very much the point. Your post makes it seem like Duke is out of reach for people who won't qualify for aid. That is not the case.

 

[sksjasams]

That just doesn't sound right. My friend's daughter was valedictorian of her class and is paying a lot more than that at Duke! Unless you have a very low household income, I'm finding that estimate to be very low.

I know, I was surprised too. We have a modest income, very little assets, and my DH is 55 now, which I think makes a difference (how close you are to retirement).

I'm not even sure he could get into Duke or Notre Dame, but he mentioned them, so that is why I looked them up. In my mom-brain, I was thinking I would be able to show him how much cheaper it would be to go to school in state rather than so far way. But that didn't pan out...

PP was right though, when you have to add in air transportation, that will make a big difference.

I will have to try to find some private schools that offer generous aid, but are closer to home. I can not imagine him being so far away

 

[Colleen27]

That just doesn't sound right. My friend's daughter was valedictorian of her class and is paying a lot more than that at Duke! Unless you have a very low household income, I'm finding that estimate to be very low.

The thing is that "very low household income" is going to vary a lot from place to place. We do pretty well for ourselves in our low-cost corner of Michigan, but we'd be living on the streets in NYC or SoCal or DC. Local cost of living doesn't seem to have much impact on financial aid formulas, though; what matters is our relatively modest family income and not the fact that our expenses are well below our means.

With a household income around the national median, the need-based aid from many private universities is very generous. Putting in middle of the road stats - 45K household income, 2 kids/1 in college, 100K house with a 50K mortgage - yields an estimate of just over $5000. Now, at higher incomes I'm sure that goes up quickly but we tend to forget around here how skewed DIS stats are compared to the overall national numbers. Of course, none of this matters if the student can't get into the generous schools... and it does vary HUGELY from school to school. Out of curiosity I looked at ND with our info and then at Xavier, which is the school DD is most interested in. Our net price estimate at Xavier came out as more than triple the ND estimate; we could cash-flow our expected contribution at ND but at Xavier she'd need about $10K/year in loans beyond what we could pay.

 

[sksjasams]

Out of curiosity I looked at ND with our info and then at Xavier, which is the school DD is most interested in. Our net price estimate at Xavier came out as more than triple the ND estimate; we could cash-flow our expected contribution at ND but at Xavier she'd need about $10K/year in loans beyond what we could pay.

I looked up Xavier and Creighton, and both were about triple what ND would cost us too...both quite a bit more than UW Madison would cost us. It really does seem to vary a lot.

My daughter is attending a private university in central Illinois. The financial calculator was extremely accurate. She was able to put in her ACT scores, and the calculator was very accurate., as it included the award money that she would receive based on her ACT score.

Can I ask where your daughter attends? Thank you!

 

[Dakota731]

I can only speak from experience with my own kids in private schools, but we are very middle of "middle class" and my kids were all top of their classes, but the most we got offered from any university was half off which still tended to put tuition on par as some state schools. So to me all offers were almost the same (I think colleges are in cahoots and plan it that way lol). Until you get an offer in writing from a school, I wouldn't bank on anything!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We checked many net cost calculators when DD was looking at colleges last year. Her counselor urged her to apply to at least 3 schools, 1 reach, 1 match and 1 safety. She ended up applying to about 5, was accepted at 4 and we decided on the one that gave her the best aid package which happened to be our local public university. We are a family of 6 with a (lower) middle class income. She qualified for about $8,000 in federal and state grants and the university covered almost all the rest with different scholarships. We were looking at paying about $3-4K for room & board (of which she would cover half) when she received the President's Award Scholarship that covers tuition, room & board & books for all 4 years as long as she maintains a 3.4 GPA. Definitely a load off our minds for sure.

 

[Colleen27]

I looked up Xavier and Creighton, and both were about triple what ND would cost us too...both quite a bit more than UW Madison would cost us. It really does seem to vary a lot.

It is enough to make a parent crazy, isn't it? I'm really stressing to my kids the importance of graduating with little or no undergrad debt, especially for my daughter who plans on grad school, but the legwork in figuring out which schools are actually affordable is daunting. Particularly if the child's major is offered just about everywhere or any of several majors will do as a prerequisite to grad school.

 

[Colleen27]

I can only speak from experience with my own kids in private schools, but we are very middle of "middle class" and my kids were all top of their classes, but the most we got offered from any university was half off which still tended to put tuition on par as some state schools. So to me all offers were almost the same (I think colleges are in cahoots and plan it that way lol). Until you get an offer in writing from a school, I wouldn't bank on anything!

There have been endless threads about this, but "middle class" is such a vague descriptor as to be virtually meaningless. Pretty much everyone considers themselves middle class other than the desperately poor and the super wealthy. Statistically the "middle of the middle" (25% higher and lower than median) would be roughly $40-65K/year, which is a range that still yields some generous financial aid from certain schools.

 

[crisi]

One catch I've heard tell of is that schools WILL give aid, until it runs out. So while it might be possible to go to these schools for the cost in the college cost calculator, when the aid is gone, its gone. If they have more kids who need a greater amount of aid than they thought they would admit, some of those kids won't get admitted in time to get the really good aid package. On the other hand, if they have a year where they admit a lot of kids who don't need as much aid, there may be more aid available than they expect.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

It is enough to make a parent crazy, isn't it? I'm really stressing to my kids the importance of graduating with little or no undergrad debt, especially for my daughter who plans on grad school, but the legwork in figuring out which schools are actually affordable is daunting. Particularly if the child's major is offered just about everywhere or any of several majors will do as a prerequisite to grad school.

Very daunting! We just started looking at net price calculators. I was definitely scratching my head at what was spit out for our EFC. If we actually had that much extra money lying around each year, we should be taking more trips to Disney!

And, maybe I just need to do more research, but I was having more luck finding public schools that would give merit aid, rather than private institutions. It was like some of the 'big names' expect to get the best of the best students, so they weren't offering $$ for grades and test scores--only need-based aid. Again, perhaps I just need to search harder.

 

[crisi]

Very daunting! We just started looking at net price calculators. I was definitely scratching my head at what was spit out for our EFC. If we actually had that much extra money lying around each year, we should be taking more trips to Disney!

And, maybe I just need to do more research, but I was having more luck finding public schools that would give merit aid, rather than private institutions. It was like some of the 'big names' expect to get the best of the best students, so they weren't offering $$ for grades and test scores--only need-based aid. Again, perhaps I just need to search harder.

One thing to remember about your EFC is that the government figures that you knew 18 years ago that college might be a possibility for your child - and figures you've been saving for it for eighteen years. Not that you woke up and discovered a high school Junior with a 3.8 GPA living in your house - so they figure out based on your income today and your family size, what would have been a reasonable amount of money to have saved over the past two decades.

And yes, big name schools don't give merit aid. Anytime you have a school accepting 50% or less of its applicants, all the students there have high GPAs and high SAT/ACT scores. So aid has to be distributed differently. But, on the other hand, students with really high GPAs an SAT scores can often get nearly free rides from schools with less tight admission policies.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

One thing to remember about your EFC is that the government figures that you knew 18 years ago that college might be a possibility for your child - and figures you've been saving for it for eighteen years. Not that you woke up and discovered a high school Junior with a 3.8 GPA living in your house - so they figure out based on your income today and your family size, what would have been a reasonable amount of money to have saved over the past two decades.

I see your point. I guess I (foolishly, perhaps) thought our kids would be paying for college on their own the way I did. Well, I thought I was paying on my own, then my parents surprised me after graduation by taking over my loan payments. But, since I had spent 4 years thinking it was going to be my bill, I had been very frugal and didn't really have much for loans. But, that was a long time ago...now the student loans I took out for 4 years probably wouldn't pay for one year anywhere. And we have been putting money away, just looking at some of the calculators it feels like we'll have to choose between retirement or putting kids through college. Or, it can't be so much of a surprise paying for school after graduation, because kids can't take out the whole amount necessary on their own, so we'll have to be ponying up some funds on the front end.

And yes, big name schools don't give merit aid. Anytime you have a school accepting 50% or less of its applicants, all the students there have high GPAs and high SAT/ACT scores. So aid has to be distributed differently. But, on the other hand, students with really high GPAs an SAT scores can often get nearly free rides from schools with less tight admission policies.

Exactly. This is the conversation we're going to have to have. Do you want to get a great education for a reasonable price, or do you want to have loads of debt and a brand-name degree. It's realizing that going to one of those other schools isn't 'settling.' That can be hard for young people who have been told to dream big and are ready to go our and change the world. Now, for us old folk, doing the fiscally-responsible thing is more of a no-brainer. Or maybe that's just me, being the cheap/tight/frugal one in the family.