http://finance.yahoo.com/family-hom...2xrA2JhbmtvZm1vbWFuZA--?mod=family-love_money Holy shit! 50 Grand a year for 4 years 200K just to get a certificate to Apply for a job! 200 Grand!!! Wow, So in 10 years is college going to cost half a million dollars? And this??!? "The family had to cut the four different specialized summer camps that each child attended, at a cost of $1,600 for all three children per week. And they've been forced to eat into a nest egg designed to support the girls as adults." Wow Americans really have no clue how to grow net wealth and save for a rainy day with this kind of spending and borrowing to the hilt.
go to a state school, 1/3 to 1/2 of 50,000 live at home, rent free small education loan balance after graduation: priceless
its another cheap credit scam brought on by the government. they arent doing the country a favor by handing out cheap loans to everyone
I'm not sure if you read carefully, but the first example you quoted about summer camp is for a family with 3 disabled daughters... I can't find fault with them for financially struggling. On the other hand: "Mr. Johnson made up to $550,000 a year, including bonuses, before losing his job in March 2009.The Johnsons had stashed $250,000 away for college." He should have been able to save $250k a *year*.
A degree from Johns Hopkins will probably make those children more than enough to pay off the cost of going there. Sometimes, college is more than finding the cheapest school. You don't learn anything if you aren't compatible with the school, and sometimes there's more to a school than pure academics, such as connections. Do you really think Harvard teaches business that much better than most good state schools? Or do you think that the connections gained from the HBS is what really helps? Maybe both, I don't know. Just speculation.
I live in California, and my total income tax payments (including state) ends up being ~36% a year. From his $550k, he was taking home $350k. I believe his mortgage was $800k, at 6% translates to ~$50k (tax deductible). He still has $300k, a year. If all he could save was $250k before his kids turned 18, then I certainly question his priorities.
Article says "up to", so the reality is he probably made 200 every year and then one year made 550. If you wanted to hazard a guess as to what his real income was, you could go figure out what neighborhood he was in (or check public records) and divide it out by the local home price to income ratio, and I'm willing to bet the home price was not 1.6-2mil.
Now we're just speculating. But this is interesting, never heard of the home price/income ratio. By the way, article states the home price was $1.5mm.