I am an idiot: Next year I will have three kids at expensive private colleges in non-technical majors

A 3 bedroom home in my neighborhood in Montgomery County is $800,000.

Just going to be honest wrote:

A 3 bedroom home in my neighborhood in Montgomery County is $800,000.

Then you need to get OUT of the neighborhood and move to a more affordable area. No sense in spending yourself into oblivion to keep up with the Jones'.

Then don't send your kids to a private school. If your county is as rich as you say then the public schools are probably some of the best in the country.

If housing is to much for you then move two miles outside the citylimits.

Once again 150k is not poor or lower middle class no mater where you live. Please stop making yourself look like an idiot and claiming otherwise no one feels bad for you. Enjoy your wealth and be happy you are better than 90% of all Americans.

No tears here, but another story from the naked city.

We have about $350K HH income, two kids in college, not a penny of financial aide, living in one of the most expensive areas of the country (because that's where the jobs are), nice but not ostentatious house worth less than we paid for it (lost $700K in equity thanks to the crooks on Wall St).

Net of taxes, 401k contributions, insurance, etc. etc, we take home about $160K. 40% of that goes to mortgage and property taxes.

It wasn't easy, but we saved $120K for college. This covered the first year for each kid. By the time the kids graduate we'll have about $375K in loans which will take a decade to pay off.

No denying that we live very well, but without grants or scholarships of any kind the cost of college is a huge bite, one that will keep me working years longer than I'd like to.

Just going to be honest wrote:

A 3 bedroom home in my neighborhood in Montgomery County is $800,000.

The median income in Montgomery County, MD is around $92,000 per year. Even for your county, you're doing just fine.

I recently got my degree in geology from a mediocre college. My tuition was between 2000-3000 a semester and now I make over 70K. Choose wisely in what field you pursue because what is the point of going to school if you will be moving in with the parents when you graduate.

your numbers don't really add up, but so be it (you don't really factor in the mortgage deduction correctly and at that income I'd think you'd have a job where insurance would be pretax, if you have a 401k). the rich never feel rich and as cash says frequently aren't happy about life.

i make a good income and i save about half of it and i have a good arb investing strategy. i live my life in a way that makes me happy based on what is really important, which isn't about money. shocking that people are still making so many poor financial decisions in the eye of the hurricane between financial crises.

Destined for Destitution wrote:

I'm just guessing, but I'll bet your Dad and Mom gross more than 50k a year before taxes. In any event, if your Dad made 3 times as much or 150k a year, he'd be giving a lot more to Uncle Sam and to the colleges. His FAFSA family contribution would be much higher than it is. You really don't have a clue how this works, do you?

Actually, I have a very good idea how it works. He grosses a little, not a lot, more than 50k before taxes. I also understand how the tax system works, and that people who have greater incomes are in a higher tax bracket and pay a higher percentage of their income. I also realize that FAFSA family contributions are related to the income of the student's parents. So I'm left to conclude that I do have a clue how this works. What I don't have a clue about is how you can still say that 150k (before taxes) is not a lot, when that puts you well above the 80th percentile for national median household income. Unless all those other people in the US are poor? Or do you need me to explain to you how percentiles work, and how to read the data?

laughingostrich wrote:

Ok, so you have $100,000 left over. Where do you waste it?

Laughing Ostrich, you are the frickin man.

I didn't say it wasn't a lot. I said I wasn't rich.

By the way, how do you think colleges and universities get big endowments and offer generous financial aid packages?

150k May be above average and "just fine" for montgomery county but try living in potomac.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Potomac-Maryland.html

Earning 150k puts you in the bottom half income bracket and most houses here are $ 2million+.

Don't try and tell me 150k is enough. It struggles to pay the mortgage in highly affluent potomac md.

Destined for Destitution wrote:

I didn't say it wasn't a lot. I said I wasn't rich.

By the way, how do you think colleges and universities get big endowments and offer generous financial aid packages?

No one said u were rich but you are trying to make it out like you are truly suffering making 150k a year. You have no idea what truly destitute is. You are so disconnected from the average American that you honestly think you have it bad as one of the top 10% of earners.

Congrats on your success but you are a loser for trying to make people feel bad for you for being better off than 90% of every other American.

Get a life be happy you are better off than most Americans and stop complaining.

Just going to be honest wrote:

150k May be above average and "just fine" for montgomery county but try living in potomac.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Potomac-Maryland.html

Earning 150k puts you in the bottom half income bracket and most houses here are $ 2million+.

Don't try and tell me 150k is enough. It struggles to pay the mortgage in highly affluent potomac md.

If this is a problem, why do you live there?

Lost 700k in equity? You live in a 1.5-2 million dollar house? I get that high paying jobs are in nice areas, but were you really forced into a million dollar home? What kind of cars were you forced into, or forced to buy your kids? I get you're not claiming 350k isn't a lot of money, and I get you have a high priced COL area. Seems to me though that you have blurred the lines between needs and wants perhaps more than is necessary (I'm acknowledging that to a certain extent everything outside of bare necessities is a want).

Also, your kids chose 60k/yr schools and didn't get any scholarships? WTF? This was really the best option? Your super high-priced COL area doesn't have any good state schools?

I get your point is that college is overpriced, especially so for those making 250k+ with non-scholarship-smart kids as it really limits merit and FAFSA aid. But don't expect much empathy from those raised in homes where income was one-tenth (35k/yr) of yours. I was raised by a single mom and went to a 38k/year school. Yes I got scholarship money (25k), but I also did work study (3k), worked during the summer (4k), got some help from mom (1k), and took out loans (5k). Yes, it was hard, but I certainly valued my education more, and took it more seriously than I might have otherwise.

Just going to be honest wrote:

150k May be above average and "just fine" for montgomery county but try living in potomac.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Potomac-Maryland.html

Earning 150k puts you in the bottom half income bracket and most houses here are $ 2million+.

Don't try and tell me 150k is enough. It struggles to pay the mortgage in highly affluent potomac md.

Then don't live there!!!!!!

Don't try to say 150k isn't very well off it is not rich but being in the top 10% of earners is not to bad.

LetsBeHonest wrote:

Just going to be honest wrote:

A 3 bedroom home in my neighborhood in Montgomery County is $800,000.

Then you need to get OUT of the neighborhood and move to a more affordable area. No sense in spending yourself into oblivion to keep up with the Jones'.

Joneses

I'm not asking for your sympathy or your empathy. Median price of houses in my county is $1M. Ours cost $1.7M and is just above the median in my town. It is a modest though very nice 1900 sq ft. house that I'm sure would cost much, much less in Bumblefock, Arkansas. Kids attended local public schools. We could have lived in a less expensive part of the area, but the schools would flat out suck, so we actually come out ahead by paying more for housing and not private school tuition.

As I said earlier, one of my kids had a 2350 SAT and applied ED at the school of his choice. No aid was offered. I value education and I don't buy the argument that he'd be getting the equivalent experience at State U Education Factory, population 35,000.

Also, less expensive is relative, a two bedroom condo will run you $600K.

Stinky McCheesefart wrote:

I'm not asking for your sympathy or your empathy. Median price of houses in my county is $1M. Ours cost $1.7M and is just above the median in my town. It is a modest though very nice 1900 sq ft. house that I'm sure would cost much, much less in Bumblefock, Arkansas. Kids attended local public schools. We could have lived in a less expensive part of the area, but the schools would flat out suck, so we actually come out ahead by paying more for housing and not private school tuition.

As I said earlier, one of my kids had a 2350 SAT and applied ED at the school of his choice. No aid was offered. I value education and I don't buy the argument that he'd be getting the equivalent experience at State U Education Factory, population 35,000.

Then what you are doing on here then. If you're satisfied with your lifestyle that you made for yourself, then live with it and stop complaining. There are many others with worse plights.