5 ms·

The average software engineer makes around 100k. If you have been working for 20+ years, has it been difficult for you to save up enough money for college?

hcho 6y ago
Not during at least three quarters of the mentioned period and not for every location even today.
commandlinefan 6y ago
> save up enough money for college Depends on the college. MIT says to expect to spend ~ $70K/year. $100K * 20 years = 2 million. Two kids * 4 years = $560K. That's a little over 1/4 (before taxes). So yes, it would have been difficult to save up that much money. I have enough to send them both to a public in-state school debt-free, but not an elite private school.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  What in gods name could they be spending $70k a year on?! They hire a private teacher for every student?
  - ip26 6y ago
    I don't know MIT but my first reaction is that number probably does include room & board, which in a college town might be $20k a year. $50k a year in tuition is still not a bargain, of course.
    - Aeolun 6y ago
      Not at all, considering my tuition was €1500, with the total my university received for me (with government supplement) being around €5000 / year. I really cannot imagine what they’d do with that kind of money. Besides build super fancy buildings of course.
      - labcomputer 6y ago
        Professors don't make much these days, but check out the salary for university administrators in the US. The top of the food chain has quite nice compensation, and the amount of administrators is probably too high. Universities also compete on who has the best food and nicest dorms. Prospective student often tour campuses, so having a pretty one with lots of rose bushes, ivy, and brick is good for recruiting. That all costs money. Another thing is that elite private universities often have strong need-based financial assistance (discounts). MIT, for example, claims that the average need-based scholarship is about $47k (on tuition of 53k). They also claim 31% attend tuition-free. Making a small inference: Those who actually pay the full $53k in tuition are helping those who pay nothing.
        dragonwriter 6y ago
        > Making a small inference: Those who actually pay the full $53k in tuition are helping those who pay nothing. Possibly, though it's also possible that those who have paid into the University's endowment in the past are helping those who pay nothing.
- VLM 6y ago
  My kids are getting to college age and its worth considering that MIT has 11376 students whereas google claims there are 19.6 million college students in the USA at this time. So if distributed purely randomly, in the "everyone MUST go to college" USA, something like 99.942% of kids will not be paying MIT tuition. Another thing to consider is if you're investing $280K in the MIT brand, do they offer any bachelors degrees worth $280K other than maybe CS and pre-med?
  - labcomputer 6y ago
    I get your point, but the bursars for those other colleges didn't seem to get the memo that they aren't MIT. The thing is, MIT's tuition is fairly typical for a private university. If anything, MIT (and other elite private universities) offer better discounts than lower-ranked schools.
labcomputer 6y ago
I would argue that it's hard to save enough for college at any income, due to need-based financial aid (aka perfect price discrimination by ogopolists). Most need-based systems take into account parents' income and college savings, and children of software engineers in particular are going to be near the part of the curve where that starts to bite. I randomly chose Princeton's financial aid calculator because it was close to the top of Google. For a family with two working parents, two kids (one entering college), and $250k in home equity in Illinois (the middle of the USA): * For a $100k/year SWE + a $25k/year something else and no college savings the expected family contribution is $30k/year * The same family with $250k saved in a 529 college savings plan is $45k/year * For a $125k/year SWE + a $50k/year something else and no college savings the expected contribution is $50k/year * The same family with $250k saved in a 529 college savings plan is $66k/year * The same family with $450k in home equity is expected to pay $75k/year (I guess you're expected to take out a home equity loan to pay for college). * Make the family renters with $50k/year income (30k+20k), and their contribution drops to $4.4k/year. The point is: The more you save, the more you need to save. And the more you make, the more you need to make. That's not to say need-based tuition is bad policy. But, it does mean that "surely it's easy to pay for college with your level of income" doesn't really come into play until you reach the top 1-2% of income. Everyone below that is going to have their tuition adjusted to make the out of pocket cost painful but bearable, and the average SWE isn't a 1%-er.

hcho 6y ago

Not during at least three quarters of the mentioned period and not for every location even today.

commandlinefan 6y ago

> save up enough money for college Depends on the college. MIT says to expect to spend ~ $70K/year. $100K * 20 years = 2 million. Two kids * 4 years = $560K. That's a little over 1/4 (before taxes). So yes, it would have been difficult to save up that much money. I have enough to send them both to a public in-state school debt-free, but not an elite private school.

Aeolun 6y ago
What in gods name could they be spending $70k a year on?! They hire a private teacher for every student?
- ip26 6y ago
  I don't know MIT but my first reaction is that number probably does include room & board, which in a college town might be $20k a year. $50k a year in tuition is still not a bargain, of course.
  - Aeolun 6y ago
    Not at all, considering my tuition was €1500, with the total my university received for me (with government supplement) being around €5000 / year. I really cannot imagine what they’d do with that kind of money. Besides build super fancy buildings of course.
    - labcomputer 6y ago
      Professors don't make much these days, but check out the salary for university administrators in the US. The top of the food chain has quite nice compensation, and the amount of administrators is probably too high. Universities also compete on who has the best food and nicest dorms. Prospective student often tour campuses, so having a pretty one with lots of rose bushes, ivy, and brick is good for recruiting. That all costs money. Another thing is that elite private universities often have strong need-based financial assistance (discounts). MIT, for example, claims that the average need-based scholarship is about $47k (on tuition of 53k). They also claim 31% attend tuition-free. Making a small inference: Those who actually pay the full $53k in tuition are helping those who pay nothing.
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
        > Making a small inference: Those who actually pay the full $53k in tuition are helping those who pay nothing. Possibly, though it's also possible that those who have paid into the University's endowment in the past are helping those who pay nothing.
VLM 6y ago
My kids are getting to college age and its worth considering that MIT has 11376 students whereas google claims there are 19.6 million college students in the USA at this time. So if distributed purely randomly, in the "everyone MUST go to college" USA, something like 99.942% of kids will not be paying MIT tuition. Another thing to consider is if you're investing $280K in the MIT brand, do they offer any bachelors degrees worth $280K other than maybe CS and pre-med?
- labcomputer 6y ago
  I get your point, but the bursars for those other colleges didn't seem to get the memo that they aren't MIT. The thing is, MIT's tuition is fairly typical for a private university. If anything, MIT (and other elite private universities) offer better discounts than lower-ranked schools.

labcomputer 6y ago

I would argue that it's hard to save enough for college at any income, due to need-based financial aid (aka perfect price discrimination by ogopolists). Most need-based systems take into account parents' income and college savings, and children of software engineers in particular are going to be near the part of the curve where that starts to bite. I randomly chose Princeton's financial aid calculator because it was close to the top of Google. For a family with two working parents, two kids (one entering college), and $250k in home equity in Illinois (the middle of the USA): * For a $100k/year SWE + a $25k/year something else and no college savings the expected family contribution is $30k/year * The same family with $250k saved in a 529 college savings plan is $45k/year * For a $125k/year SWE + a $50k/year something else and no college savings the expected contribution is $50k/year * The same family with $250k saved in a 529 college savings plan is $66k/year * The same family with $450k in home equity is expected to pay $75k/year (I guess you're expected to take out a home equity loan to pay for college). * Make the family renters with $50k/year income (30k+20k), and their contribution drops to $4.4k/year. The point is: The more you save, the more you need to save. And the more you make, the more you need to make. That's not to say need-based tuition is bad policy. But, it does mean that "surely it's easy to pay for college with your level of income" doesn't really come into play until you reach the top 1-2% of income. Everyone below that is going to have their tuition adjusted to make the out of pocket cost painful but bearable, and the average SWE isn't a 1%-er.