But Gold considered his parents affluent and upper-middle-class, although certainly not part of the Establishment or ruling class.

Joanna had a very good education, courtesy of her upper-middle-class parents.

It's run by your upper-middle-class parents, who put together a school they were interested in.

But British middle- and upper-middle-class parents tend to pay more earlier, sending their children to fee-charging independent schools.

For a generation of successful upper-middle-class parents deeply involved in their children's development, filial pride can easily go overboard.

Yet many middle- and even upper-middle-class parents may not realize that "need-based" financial aid can sometimes apply to them.

More middle- and upper-middle-class parents are drawing similar lines, limiting what they will pay for higher education.

Also, the scholarships, at a time when a year in college can cost $25,000, are attractive to upper-middle-class parents most likely to send sons to prep schools.

The values of service started with his upper-middle-class parents and old-fashioned upbringing.

"Having kids is this incomparable drama," he said, and in Montclair "these upper-middle-class parents are terrified by the idea that they could mess up."