As someone who didn't attend college in the US I'm still trying to break through to the real story about college costs and the debt that people get into.
On the surface, I saw that even top end Ivy's aren't 'that' expensive using the CSS profile, for most middle class families... so where is the debt coming from?
Is it that the price estimates for college include scholarships that are untainable, or do most students study full time with no income, and therefore create debt for just general living expenses?
Here's an example with Harvard: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
I ran an example with a student with not a lot of assets, $2500. Parents earning $100K, and having $150K in assets. I excluded home equity and retirement plans from this as (I believe) CSS profile doesn't consider these? As such, assuming most of the family wealth is in retirement and home equity, I'd say that this is a somewhat wealthy family.
Out of state tuition, including room and board contribution showing only $9,725... does this seem right, or crazy?
On the surface, I saw that even top end Ivy's aren't 'that' expensive using the CSS profile, for most middle class families... so where is the debt coming from?
Is it that the price estimates for college include scholarships that are untainable, or do most students study full time with no income, and therefore create debt for just general living expenses?
Here's an example with Harvard: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
I ran an example with a student with not a lot of assets, $2500. Parents earning $100K, and having $150K in assets. I excluded home equity and retirement plans from this as (I believe) CSS profile doesn't consider these? As such, assuming most of the family wealth is in retirement and home equity, I'd say that this is a somewhat wealthy family.
Out of state tuition, including room and board contribution showing only $9,725... does this seem right, or crazy?