MaryMak07 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Hi Ladies, I know that everyone's financial situations are different, but it seems like there are quite a few ladies on here that are or have homeschooled (and operated households) on very tight budgets. I'm just curious what your plans/thoughts are regarding college. I know some people IRL who feel that saving for college is a huge priority and if that couldn't happen on one income then the mom should go back to work. Others believe that homeschooling is a different type of investment in their kids education that is just as, if not more valuable. What do you all think? Do you/would you stay home and homeschool if that meant not being able to save for college at all? Thoughts? Plans? (Right now we just have 4yo and 20 mo old and are on a pretty tight budget and only able to save a small amount - on an inconsistent basis - for their college, but still feel it is worth it for me to be home. We hope to have more to save in the future, but this is just something I've been thinking about) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy g. Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I have never felt like I "owed" it to my kids to pay for their college. I told them that I was investing in their childhoods and it would be up to them to invest in their adulthoods. Dh and I both put ourselves through college, so it seemed fair to let them do the same if they chose to attend at all. Miss Good ended up getting a full merit scholarship, so I'm glad that I didn't go back to work just to save money for her school. Her honors professors assure her that they can help her to get all of her graduate school paid for as well, so I hope they are right. Mr. Clever works for an international company that pays for his college as an employee investment. Miss Beautiful still has 1.5 years of highschool. I'm advising her to start out at Community College for her first few years. If she doesn't want to do that, Dh has been putting away his yearly bonus and stock options for her education. If she ends up going away to school, she will get a scholarship, or go to a state school and live with family friends rather than living on campus. By the time the younger kids get ready for college, we will have enough saved if we continue to just bank bonuses and Long Term Incentives. My point is that everything will be fine for my kids, but not because of scrimping and saving or abandoning homeschooling to go back to work for the sole purpose of saving for their education. There were many, many years when we saved nothing at all because every dollar went to their education and extracurriculars. I don't feel bad about that at all. I have kept their expectations low. I have told them that getting a degree is up to them, but if they get lucky, the schools or their employers or even their daddy might be willing to help them out some. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroe1 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I always thought parents should endeavor to give their kiddos a first car, a college education, and a wedding. Unfortunately, the best thought out plans rarely transpire. Luckily, our kiddos are spaced very far apart and we have been able to pay as we go without saving for specific kid events. That does mean, however, that expensive colleges are not options, nor a lush wedding in the south of France. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 DD knows we will be able to pay X amount to help her with college, which will cover community and/or the local state college with her living at home. If she wants more, she will have loans or get a scholarship, but she is leaning toward making it work closer to home. The issue of college savings did not play into our decision to homeschool or not in any way. We homeschooled and still do because that was what she needed. I would never *not* give her what I thought she needed right now because of a worry about what she *might* need in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 We have saved inconsistently. There is money for each child to go to college, but not fully funded and not any college they dream of. I would not abandon a plan to homeschool *only* to save for college. There are many routes to a good future, but there is no do-over if you are absent for too much of your child's growing up years. Honestly, some of it we are just figuring out as we go. I do think it's nonsense the way some people behave as if all will be lost if there isn't a hundred grand waiting to go the day they finish high school. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Our take is we save what we can, asked for savings bonds from relatives for bday and Christmas, had the kids work and save and encouraged lots of dual credit and scholarship applications. We also have had kids commute ( approx 70 mi/day) because room and board is nuts. Far more than gas and a beater car. YMMV we deemed my staying home worth it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 P.S. I liked the book, Debt Free U. The young author, Zac Bissionette, is kind of annoying sometimes, but I also agree with a lot of what he wrote. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 nm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Well, I will say one of the greatest gifts DH and I got from both of our parents was the help to graduate college debt free. My parents helped me, but I also worked 60+ hours a week during the summers and started working my sophomore year of college. I ended up getting an undergraduate TA job and then an excellent paid internship at some point. My DH lived at home and did his undergrad slowly while he worked. His employer paid for his master's which he did at night. We are working to have our house paid off by the time our oldest goes to college. He is a freshman in high school this year. Our state has free dual enrollment options for high schoolers, so I hope he can be taking college classes possibly next year, and most definitely junior and senior year. That said, I would like my high schooler to experience at least having a seasonal or part time job at points. He has some academic prowess and I think it may pay off more him to keep his head in the books longer than to work many hours in high school though. Anyway, part of the reason we CAN homeschool is we don't have much debt. Our few years left on our mortgage is our only standing debt right now actually. So yes, we hope to help our to our ability. And that doesn't mean we hand them a blank check. That means we walk through how to pick an affordable school for undergrad and use all the resources and options available for us. I am homeschooling my highschooler. But I actually think this kid that NEEDED to be homeschooled in early elementary (he went to K and 1st in a B&M school) would be fine in many high school settings. He wanted to homeschool for high school. My younger child may not want to home school for high school. I would not home school a high schooler that wasn't fairly self motivated and/or didn't want to be homeschooling. My 2nd child is a young 6th grader. There is no way I would put her in school until 9th at this point. Anyway, my point is if financially we were struggling and my kids were at a place where they'd be fine in school, we'd probably send them to school. I do think my kid's most important homeschool years were those early years. I even think my 6th grader would be fine in school. I just think the social environment and moral in most middle schools is abysmal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Hi Ladies, I know that everyone's financial situations are different, but it seems like there are quite a few ladies on here that are or have homeschooled (and operated households) on very tight budgets. I'm just curious what your plans/thoughts are regarding college. I know some people IRL who feel that saving for college is a huge priority and if that couldn't happen on one income then the mom should go back to work. Others believe that homeschooling is a different type of investment in their kids education that is just as, if not more valuable. What do you all think? Do you/would you stay home and homeschool if that meant not being able to save for college at all? Thoughts? Plans? (Right now we just have 4yo and 20 mo old and are on a pretty tight budget and only able to save a small amount - on an inconsistent basis - for their college, but still feel it is worth it for me to be home. We hope to have more to save in the future, but this is just something I've been thinking about) Yup. My kids know I'm front-loading their education. The amount of money our family has "paid" in having one less wage earner all these years so that someone could be home full time to school them, plus the curriculum we've paid for out of pocket, is our financial investment in their education. If they want to go to college they will have to work hard to earn scholarships, or find some other way to make it affordable. So far, so good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Well depends on the public school options. If the public school option is really bad either overall or just for the particular child, then yes stay home because vthe child's well being is important. The child needs a safe atmosphere, which is intellectually stimulating. If home is the only place that can happen then that is what you do. It happens that where we live my DC wanted to go to high school. And the high school could offer a lot more in terms of science and foriegn language than I could. Most school districts do not offer what we have. At the same time the community college is not free for dual enrollment as it is elsewhere and until recently one had to be 16 to dual enroll. The result is my oldest would only have been permitted to take classes when he was a senior. So, my DC did start public school and I do work to help pay for college. I took a few years off though and that hurt me landing a full-time job with benefits. My parents made sure I didn't need loans, so I feel strongly about being able to pass that on. I don't feel strongly about a car or a wedding. The cost of college has risen so much more than inflation, I think it's problematic to say "I paid my way." Dh paid his way when it was possible to do so. He knows there's no way our kids could do it all on their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 DS will have as much help as the family (including and especially generous greandparents) can give him. At this point, I can envision working while he's in college specifically in order to help pay for it. I wouldn't regret that one bit. One of the greatest gifts DH and I had was being debt free when we started our lives together right out of school, and I definitely want to help give my son that same freedom. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 There are many routes to a good future, but there is no do-over if you are absent for too much of your child's growing up years. . I big puffy heart this! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Oh, I would much rather help pay for an education than for a car or wedding too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I stayed home, because we agreed that it was best for our kids to have a full-time, fully-present parent available to raise and educate them. We hoped to save for college, too, and did a tiny bit. However, our daughter threw us a huge curve ball by deciding to go to college a few years before we had anticipated the possibility. Her situation was extremely unusual, and we felt strongly that allowing her that opportunity was the best option. So, we ended up taking on debt to make it happen for her. This meant, of course, that we had even fewer resources available to put towards saving for our son's college years. However, now that he has gone to college and I am "retired" from homeschooling, I've been able to go back to work. I make much less than I did when I worked full time before the kids, but my income is enough to cover most of the expenses that are left over after my son's scholarships and aid are applied and to help with repaying the loans we took out for our daughter's degree. I have no regrets about choosing to be home for those years. I feel confident that, in my case, for my family, homeschooling was the best thing I could have done and the most important accomplishment of my life. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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