5 ms·

Depends on BUs decision, they might be one of those universities who believe parents should've been saving up for their childs education for 18 years and would

Depends on BUs decision, they might be one of those universities who believe parents should've been saving up for their childs education for 18 years and would still happily charge you the full amount.

jefftk 4y ago
That's not how and of the "100% financial need meet" institutions work. It's all based on what they calculate your family can pay based off of current income and assets.
- LigmaYC 4y ago
  View my calculator results in the parent comment
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  The "and assets" part of the equation is the bad part. If you have $100k annual income and a $1 million house plus $100k in a college savings plan, they're giving you the full sticker price. Never mind that you're several hundred thousand short, you have assets.
  - tzs 4y ago
    I tried this in BU's quick cost estimator: 2 parent 1 child household, $100k income, $1 million house with no mortgage, $100k in savings. Results: $44700 need-based scholarship, $29400 parent/student contribution, $3500 student loan, $2000 student work-study. Going back and changing it to not have a house changes the need-based scholarship to $54600 and drops the parent/student contribution to $19500, leaving the rest unchanged. Restoring the million dollar house but taking away the $100k savings makes the scholarship $49600 and the parent/student contribution $24500. Finally, getting rid of both house and savings, leaving just the $100k income makes the scholarship $59500 and the parent/student contribution $14600. So...it looks like having $100k in savings adds about $5000 to your expected contribution, and having a $1 million mortgage free house adds about $10k to your expected contribution. I also tried it with $100k in a retirement account, and that changed nothing. $100k in non-retirement account investments was the same as $100k in savings. It looks like you are going to have to have a lot more in income and/or non-retirement assets to actually get anywhere near full sticker price.
    - LigmaYC 4y ago
      I have around 200k in investments and 50k in cheque account, resulting in 70k per year fee. Even though that would completely wipe out my savings without paying the full amount...
      - jefftk 4y ago
        Two things: * If you have a net worth of $250k and they calculate you can pay $70k for the first year, estimating full payment as $70k * 4 ($280k) isn't right. Your net worth will be lower next year, and they'll consider that. * Their goal is to charge you the most you are able to pay, and someone with $250k in savings is able to pay $70k. I think this is all a bad system, for the same reason that a 100% marginal tax rate is a bad idea, but it's not quite as nuts as you're suggesting.
        LigmaYC 4y ago
        >Your net worth will be lower next year, and they'll consider that I was just giving an example to demonstrate how bad their calculator pricing was (280k fees < 250k savings without selling house) if you wanted to make it more realistic I would also take into account that my investments grow too. >Their goal is to charge you the most you are able to pay, and someone with $250k in savings is able to pay $70k. Seems pretty bad to me. Wouldn't pay 7k/year for BU, much less 70k.
        jefftk 4y ago
        > without selling house Sorry, are you saying the net worth you put into the calculator was more than $250k? Then $70k is even less surprising! (If colleges ignored home values you could put your $250k into repaying your mortgage faster and report having no savings. They'd charge you $0. And if you needed money later you could borrow against the value of the house.)
        LigmaYC 4y ago
        Ah yes, I should've considered selling my house for BU, thanks for the advice...

jefftk 4y ago

That's not how and of the "100% financial need meet" institutions work. It's all based on what they calculate your family can pay based off of current income and assets.

LigmaYC 4y ago
View my calculator results in the parent comment
pclmulqdq 4y ago
The "and assets" part of the equation is the bad part. If you have $100k annual income and a $1 million house plus $100k in a college savings plan, they're giving you the full sticker price. Never mind that you're several hundred thousand short, you have assets.
- tzs 4y ago
  I tried this in BU's quick cost estimator: 2 parent 1 child household, $100k income, $1 million house with no mortgage, $100k in savings. Results: $44700 need-based scholarship, $29400 parent/student contribution, $3500 student loan, $2000 student work-study. Going back and changing it to not have a house changes the need-based scholarship to $54600 and drops the parent/student contribution to $19500, leaving the rest unchanged. Restoring the million dollar house but taking away the $100k savings makes the scholarship $49600 and the parent/student contribution $24500. Finally, getting rid of both house and savings, leaving just the $100k income makes the scholarship $59500 and the parent/student contribution $14600. So...it looks like having $100k in savings adds about $5000 to your expected contribution, and having a $1 million mortgage free house adds about $10k to your expected contribution. I also tried it with $100k in a retirement account, and that changed nothing. $100k in non-retirement account investments was the same as $100k in savings. It looks like you are going to have to have a lot more in income and/or non-retirement assets to actually get anywhere near full sticker price.
  - LigmaYC 4y ago
    I have around 200k in investments and 50k in cheque account, resulting in 70k per year fee. Even though that would completely wipe out my savings without paying the full amount...
    - jefftk 4y ago
      Two things: * If you have a net worth of $250k and they calculate you can pay $70k for the first year, estimating full payment as $70k * 4 ($280k) isn't right. Your net worth will be lower next year, and they'll consider that. * Their goal is to charge you the most you are able to pay, and someone with $250k in savings is able to pay $70k. I think this is all a bad system, for the same reason that a 100% marginal tax rate is a bad idea, but it's not quite as nuts as you're suggesting.
      - LigmaYC 4y ago
        >Your net worth will be lower next year, and they'll consider that I was just giving an example to demonstrate how bad their calculator pricing was (280k fees < 250k savings without selling house) if you wanted to make it more realistic I would also take into account that my investments grow too. >Their goal is to charge you the most you are able to pay, and someone with $250k in savings is able to pay $70k. Seems pretty bad to me. Wouldn't pay 7k/year for BU, much less 70k.
        jefftk 4y ago
        > without selling house Sorry, are you saying the net worth you put into the calculator was more than $250k? Then $70k is even less surprising! (If colleges ignored home values you could put your $250k into repaying your mortgage faster and report having no savings. They'd charge you $0. And if you needed money later you could borrow against the value of the house.)
        LigmaYC 4y ago
        Ah yes, I should've considered selling my house for BU, thanks for the advice...