[stupac2]

The financial-aid wars really kicked up steam while I was at Stanford. In 2005 I got almost no aid, maybe $10k out of the $45k sticker and mostly in loans. So I blew my savings knowing that being poorer would look better and that my brother was starting college the next year which would help too. After that I was on the hook for ~$15k a year, after the cheap loans and grants, which was about what my parents were giving me, so it worked out. Ended up with ~15k in loans that got paid off in <5 years.

Also, Mick, without knowing your friends' actual financial situation, I find it a bit hard to be too sympathetic (aside from the cancer part, that blows and I hope they've recovered) because:

1) Medical expenses are capped now, it's no longer ruinous.
2) $190k is significantly more than my wife and I make, and we're managing just fine with a mortgage and a kid. If we made that we'd be able to spend $30k/year on college without much issue.

So, I dunno. I'm always really skeptical about the "woe is me" financial stories from white-collar types around here, it just doesn't jive at all with my experience. I frequently see posts on /r/bayarea from people who make more money than I do saying that it's just impossible to own a house and raise a kid in this area on normal salaries and am like, uh, what do you spend your money on? It reminds me of [url=http://"https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/"]this article[/url], which should be titled "I Am Really Bad With Money and it Caused Me PROBLEMS." Yeah, funny how that works.

[stupac2]

The financial-aid wars really kicked up steam while I was at Stanford. In 2005 I got almost no aid, maybe $10k out of the $45k sticker and mostly in loans. So I blew my savings knowing that being poorer would look better and that my brother was starting college the next year which would help too. After that I was on the hook for ~$15k a year, after the cheap loans and grants, which was about what my parents were giving me, so it worked out. Ended up with ~15k in loans that got paid off in <5 years.

Also, Mick, without knowing your friends' actual financial situation, I find it a bit hard to be too sympathetic (aside from the cancer part, that blows and I hope they've recovered) because:

1) Medical expenses are capped now, it's no longer ruinous.
2) $190k is significantly more than my wife and I make, and we're managing just fine with a mortgage and a kid. If we made that we'd be able to spend $30k/year on college without much issue.

So, I dunno. I'm always really skeptical about the "woe is me" financial stories from white-collar types around here, it just doesn't jive at all with my experience. I frequently see posts on /r/bayarea from people who make more money than I do saying that it's just impossible to own a house and raise a kid in this area on normal salaries and am like, uh, what do you spend your money on? It reminds me of [url=http://"https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/"]this article[/url], which should be titled "I Am Really Bad With Money and it Caused Me PROBLEMS." Yeah, funny how that works.