[CTcard]

the aid packages for low and "middle" income Americans is very misleading.

It is not entirely clear to me why you say this - is it the home equity issue you cited?

Plus, although the federal aid formula does not include the home you're living in as part of the assets you can use to pay for your children's tuition, Stanford (and many other schools) do count your home as part of your assets.

Stanford caps how much of home equity can be considered as an asset. This article (below) seems to mention that cap as both 1.5 times annual income and 1.2 times annual income, though I think it is the former. At any rate, I think it is fairly normal to have for a family earning under $100K and kids going to college to have home equity over 1.5 times annual income, so this shouldn't put those living in wealthy areas at much of a competitive disadvantage versus those in more average areas (which to some is a criticism).

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/22/aid

In 1993, Stanford's tuition+room+board was $22,850 and the median income in the US was 33,178, so a year of Stanford would consume about 69% of a median person's income. Now, tuition+room+board is about $64,447 and the median US income is $56,516, so a year of Stanford would consume about 114% of a median person's pre-tax income. That is a staggering increase.

About three quarters of the way down the page linked below, there is some data on Stanford's historical sticker price in both nominal dollars and inflation adjusted dollars. Unfortunately, this is only tuition and not room and board. My impression is that room and board has risen at a similar but somewhat smaller rate - though I don't have figures.
Inflation adjusted, the rise was about 57%. Part of that is simply an increase. Part of that is that Stanford (and all colleges) are increasingly using tuition from wealthier families to subsidize discounts for less well off families - and I am sure most of those wealthier families don't feel overly wealthy with respect to the cost of Stanford.

http://college-tuition.startclass.com/l/...University

[CTcard]

the aid packages for low and "middle" income Americans is very misleading.

It is not entirely clear to me why you say this - is it the home equity issue you cited?

Plus, although the federal aid formula does not include the home you're living in as part of the assets you can use to pay for your children's tuition, Stanford (and many other schools) do count your home as part of your assets.

Stanford caps how much of home equity can be considered as an asset. This article (below) seems to mention that cap as both 1.5 times annual income and 1.2 times annual income, though I think it is the former. At any rate, I think it is fairly normal to have for a family earning under $100K and kids going to college to have home equity over 1.5 times annual income, so this shouldn't put those living in wealthy areas at much of a competitive disadvantage versus those in more average areas (which to some is a criticism).

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/22/aid

In 1993, Stanford's tuition+room+board was $22,850 and the median income in the US was 33,178, so a year of Stanford would consume about 69% of a median person's income. Now, tuition+room+board is about $64,447 and the median US income is $56,516, so a year of Stanford would consume about 114% of a median person's pre-tax income. That is a staggering increase.

About three quarters of the way down the page linked below, there is some data on Stanford's historical sticker price in both nominal dollars and inflation adjusted dollars. Unfortunately, this is only tuition and not room and board. My impression is that room and board has risen at a similar but somewhat smaller rate - though I don't have figures.
Inflation adjusted, the rise was about 57%. Part of that is simply an increase. Part of that is that Stanford (and all colleges) are increasingly using tuition from wealthier families to subsidize discounts for less well off families - and I am sure most of those wealthier families don't feel overly wealthy with respect to the cost of Stanford.

http://college-tuition.startclass.com/l/...University