How much of income percent wise should go to tuition?

amother

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:13 pm

If you are looking for a discount in tuition for all your children. How much of your gross income should go to total tuition?
How much of you net income after taxes and 401(k) contribution should go to tuition?

What percentage is fair? For example a family that earns $100,000 before taxes with 5 children how much should they pay?

We are not taking other expenses into account. I'm speaking in a community that encourages having children and supposedly fundraises.

So for those of you that say if you can not afford it then don't have children I'm specifically speaking in a community that encourages children.

Are we allowed to put some money away to marry off our children?
Are we allowed to contribute to our retirement to lower our taxes?

I'm coming from a place of living responsibly within our means with out going into heavy debt to pay full tuition for all our children.

amother

Tulip

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:24 pm

It depends what your other expenses are. You're going to have different answers if there's a lot of whatever your school describes as discretionary spending and if a family used twenty perceny of it's income on medical and therapy bills. Or, in a so-minded community, if they are supporting married children, or sending kids or the parents to professional school- would you count that into tuition?

amother

Arcticblue

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:28 pm

mha3484 wrote:

My kids school has a 20% rule when you apply for aid. Your tuition wont exceed 20 % of your income. I think its a good number.

Per child? Or per family?

amother

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:29 pm

amother Tulip wrote:

It depends what your other expenses are. You're going to have different answers if there's a lot of whatever your school describes as discretionary spending and if a family used twenty perceny of its income on medical and therapy bills. Or, in a so-minded community, if they are supporting married children, or sending kids or the parents to professional school- would you count that into tuition?

Not supporting married children. We are not taking other expenses into account. Purely percentage of your income. Should it be gross or after taxes and contributions etc?

mha3484

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:30 pm

amother Arcticblue wrote:

Per child? Or per family?

per family. When I apply for aid each year they take all my kids and my income and use a percentage system. The percent is never more then 20%.

mha3484

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:31 pm

amother OP wrote:

In my kids school at that income and number of kids your paying min or close to min tuition which is around 3300-3500 a kid. I cant remember the exact number but its in that range.

amother

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:32 pm

mha3484 wrote:

per family. When I apply for aid each year they take all my kids and my income and use a percentage system. The percent is never more then 20%.

The percentage system is based on gross or net income?

mha3484

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:37 pm

amother OP wrote:

The percentage system is based on gross or net income?

I assume gross. This years current tuition for my 3 kids is just under 20% of my gross salary. Within a very small margin so Ill assume that they use gross.

amother

Bone

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 5:47 pm

how does savings factor in, my dh was pretty resentful when the board said they didn't care that it was a high percentage of our income because we have so much in savings. the things is we lived below our means. he was just like, well then I guess I should have blown through a chunk of the money when the kids were small instead of saving it for retirement. it is very few other families who are paying full tuition. yes it's a significant amount.

amother

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 6:39 pm

amother Bone wrote:

Your husband is right. That’s terrible.

amother

Pansy

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 6:41 pm

mha3484 wrote:

My kids school has a 20% rule when you apply for aid. Your tuition wont exceed 20 % of your income. I think its a good number.

From net or gross?

amother

Pansy

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 6:43 pm

mha3484 wrote:

I assume gross. This years current tuition for my 3 kids is just under 20% of my gross salary. Within a very small margin so Ill assume that they use gross.

But how is calculating from gross income fair? I don't see part of that money

twogees

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 6:58 pm

mha3484 wrote:

In my kids school at that income and number of kids your paying min or close to min tuition which is around 3300-3500 a kid. I cant remember the exact number but its in that range.

It's 3500 this year for minimum. I send to the same school and we pay minimum which is 3500. They upped it I think this year to 3500 from 3300.

amother

Hyssop

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 7:50 pm

But does that school take 20% of income, or they calculate that you should pay a total of 20% and then subtract off what you're paying to another school? In other words, if you have both boys and girls, does either of their schools take 20% for a total of 40%, or do they cap it at 20% total between the 2?

amother

Steelblue

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 8:00 pm

amother Pansy wrote:

But how is calculating from gross income fair? I don't see part of that money

Because there’s a million ways to reduce your taxes. Are you going to send 20% of your tax return because you owe the school 20% of your take home pay?

amother

Bone

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 8:09 pm

amother OP wrote:

Your husband is right. That’s terrible.

I actually don't think it's so simple though. If a person got a million dollar inheritance (we didn't) and is therefore able to manage with one minimum wage job ( ours isn't but making this extreme) should they get away paying almost no tuition because it goes based on their job? If you say inheritance is different then where do you draw the line. lets say we got 100,000 dollar inheritance and invested it instead of buying a fancier house, car... now what, we have a nice amount of savings but could have blown it and enjoyed it instead.

keym

Mon, Jan 30 2023, 8:12 pm

amother Bone wrote:

To argue the opposite though.
Doesn't it create a system in which parents feel compelled to drain their savings, take unrealistic loans to buy a house when their child is 3 or 4.
Otherwise, they'll never be able to save enough to put a down payment on a house.