Things that have gone up in price so much, you just had to reluctantly stop buying/using

[Ann.without.an.e]

3 hours ago, kbutton said:

You could probably make a viral meme with the bolded, lol!

The college I attended way back when is on the bandwagon with this kind of pricing, but when I attended, it was the same bottom line for everyone except for the financial aid that was out of their hands, such as Pell grants, outside scholarships, etc. They did that on purpose and talked about it freely--they didn't feel like they should be leaning heavily on some students and not others. 

DD was one of the few on a merit scholarship at her University. The ticket price was so dang high and that was a few years ago. I would get an invoice for $79,000+ a year and then my cost as $0. I know they give some financial aid that is more need based and not a lot of merit (since just getting in is considered merit). I guess I have a hard time with that price tag though (and a lot of families were paying full ticket). I just don't know that it is really worth that? Maybe there was an era where a brand name education was a big deal but I feel like maybe that is less than it once was?

Edited March 21, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Faith-manor]

55 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

DD was one of the few on a merit scholarship at her University. The ticket price was so dang high and that was a few years ago. I would get an invoice for $79,000+ a year and then my cost as $0. I know they give some financial aid that is more need based and not a lot of merit (since just getting in is considered merit). I guess I have a hard time with that price tag though (and a lot of families were paying full ticket). I just don't know that it is really worth that? Maybe there was an era where a brand name education was a big deal but I feel like maybe that is less than it once was?

It just isn't. The sheer amount of debt we would have had to take on for our one boy who was Ivy and near Ivy made zero sense. He is an electrical engineer, so as long as he attended an ABET certified program with internship options, there wasn't going to be any fall out from going to a state school vs. an expensive private school. 

Dd went to U of MI, and it was hard even in 2008. They were more generous with financial aid and merit back then so the bill when ds got in was a massive shocker.

Med school is probably the exceptional given that undergrad from Cornell vs. a not top 25 state school probably does make a difference in the chances of being accepted. But still. When one considers the horrific debt of going to med school, how can one also take on massive debt for some expensive private school? In the past ten years, the private schools have gone off the rails on rate increases and cutting aid. Just ugh.

[Shoeless]

1 hour ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

DD was one of the few on a merit scholarship at her University. The ticket price was so dang high and that was a few years ago. I would get an invoice for $79,000+ a year and then my cost as $0. I know they give some financial aid that is more need based and not a lot of merit (since just getting in is considered merit). I guess I have a hard time with that price tag though (and a lot of families were paying full ticket). I just don't know that it is really worth that? Maybe there was an era where a brand name education was a big deal but I feel like maybe that is less than it once was?

Who are these families that are paying full price? I'm not being snarky, but I can't figure out how the money works out for families with more than one kid. Or even 1 kid. Is this a socio-economic class of people where money is irrelevant, or are people going into deep, deep debt to fund this?

[marbel]

1 minute ago, Shoeless said:

Who are these families that are paying full price? I'm not being snarky, but I can't figure out how the money works out for families with more than one kid. Or even 1 kid. Is this a socio-economic class of people where money is irrelevant, or are people going into deep, deep debt to fund this?

There is another option. This isn't me, but I know people who consistently saved for their kids' college starting when the child was an infant, in a 529 plan or other type of savings. 

Of course those are people who had the ability to save, but also by starting when the kids are young, there is lots of time for growth.

[Ann.without.an.e]

13 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

Who are these families that are paying full price? I'm not being snarky, but I can't figure out how the money works out for families with more than one kid. Or even 1 kid. Is this a socio-economic class of people where money is irrelevant, or are people going into deep, deep debt to fund this?

 

8 minutes ago, marbel said:

There is another option. This isn't me, but I know people who consistently saved for their kids' college starting when the child was an infant, in a 529 plan or other type of savings. 

Of course those are people who had the ability to save, but also by starting when the kids are young, there is lots of time for growth.

 

The amount of money sitting in the upper crust schools is insane. There were plenty of students who took private jets places and owned multiple homes across the US and Europe. $79k a year was nothing for them. One friend dd made offered for her to occupy their home that they forget about and never visit which overlooks Central Park. It just sits empty. No big deal. It only belonged on paper to him and his sister. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Shoeless]

6 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

 

 

The amount of money sitting in the upper crust schools is insane. There were plenty of students who took private jets places and owned multiple homes across the US and Europe. $79k a year was nothing for them. One friend dd made offered for her to occupy their home that they forget about and never visit which overlooks Central Park. It just sits empty. No big deal. It only belonged on paper to him and his sister. 

What did your daughter think about that? Did she feel out of place with such wealthy students?  I'm assuming your dd is not accustomed to taking private jets anywhere.

[prairiewindmomma]

15 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

Who are these families that are paying full price? I'm not being snarky, but I can't figure out how the money works out for families with more than one kid. Or even 1 kid. Is this a socio-economic class of people where money is irrelevant, or are people going into deep, deep debt to fund this?

I went to school with people who took private jets places. You know the show Bling Empire on Netflix? Those kind of people.... Money isn't irrelevant--you can still get cut off for bad behavior--but your parents own multiple houses, you have a guaranteed posh job somewhere when you graduate due to family connections, and going to the Bahamas some weekend because it's cold and icy weather and you're bored is something you do at the drop of a hat.

The world is full of those people. The 1% are just very good at keeping their circles tight because it would really outrage normal people if we saw how the world is really set up. 

[prairiewindmomma]

We typed at the same time, Shoeless! Sorry!

[Shoeless]

18 hours ago, Shoeless said:

I feel you on this.  I am feeling very negative about college. There is a very average school in my town that charges $52K a year for tuition, room, board. They proudly proclaim that "Everyone gets a scholarship!" to attend. If everyone automatically gets $5K off the price, then just charge $47K a year instead!  "If you attend this pre-registration event, you get another $2K off the first year tuition!" You're a university; stop acting like Kohls! 

I have a pervasive feeling of "The emperor has no clothes" about so many things.

Quoting myself because I looked at this school's new-ish nursing program, and there's a banner on the website proclaiming "Get a $6K scholarship if you apply today!" Very Kohl's cash, lol.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Shoeless

[Ann.without.an.e]

10 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

What did your daughter think about that? Did she feel out of place with such wealthy students?  I'm assuming your dd is not accustomed to taking private jets anywhere.

 

No, not at all haha, We are not private jet people. DD wasn't usually friends with the super wealthy. She only had one friend who was in that category and it was because he didn't really fit with the sorority/frat crowd. Most of her friends banded together because they weren't from money.  ETA: a lot of the talk she heard from others about spring trips to their home in France, etc happened not in her friend group but in convos in a class or after class, etc

Ed Sheeran was on campus a few times her first year since his gf/fiance (?) was in law school there so that was cool. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[LucyStoner]

3 hours ago, marbel said:

There is another option. This isn't me, but I know people who consistently saved for their kids' college starting when the child was an infant, in a 529 plan or other type of savings. 

Of course those are people who had the ability to save, but also by starting when the kids are young, there is lots of time for growth.

Depends on how much the family can save and where those funds come from.  Most of the families I know with college funds at the point of paying in full even for private schools have had regular gifts from relatives.  
 

A friend of mine who comes from a middle class background and is pretty affluent due to getting a great tech job and getting fortunate with stock options asked his financial planner how much he should set aside a month for his then hypothetical future children to go to top tier private schools (at this point, he wasn’t married and no kids on the way, he just had extra funds and thought he might as well start saving in case he was ever in a position to send his kids to a private college).  He was thinking $100-250/month total.  The financial planner was like “assuming two kids going to college in say, 25 years from now, you need to make that more like $500/each kid and you need to start yesterday.”

He now has 1 toddler and 1 kid on the way.   He did start saving but not at the level his financial advisor suggested.  He now thinks state schools sound like a great idea.  

Edited March 22, 2023 by LucyStoner

[teachermom2834]

Even saving from the time they are born…that is an awful lot to sock away to have say $300,000 available for college for each kid.

That’s a lot of money. That is a different class of people than most of what I know and it is about more than just the discipline to start saving. It also means that people of average means wouldn’t look at a pile of $300,000 and think…hmmm…maybe you could just go to a state school AND buy a house. 

[Hilltopmom]

Our usual CSA just posted the price for summer broilers this year- $26 a chicken. You must commit to 10.

I just can’t bring myself to pay that for a small organic chicken when tbh my kids like the roasted ones from Sam’s club better.

 

[ScoutTN]

Private college or university for sure! Public uni is still reasonably affordable here, for students with decent scores. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by ScoutTN

[TechWife]

In the before times I went to coffee shops fairly regularly. I’ve only done it maybe once every couple of months since. However, yesterday I went through a drive through and was shocked to find out prices had gone way up since the last time I did it. $6.59 for a 12 oz chai is over the top and completely unnecessary, IMO. I won’t do it again anytime soon. I think for many of the convenience items, companies are just charging more because they can, not because they have to. They can raise prices, blame it on inflation and pocket the money. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by TechWife

[JustEm]

8 minutes ago, TechWife said:

In the before times I went to coffee shops fairly regularly. I’ve only done it maybe once every couple of months since. However, yesterday I went through a drive through and was shocked to find out prices had gone way up since the last time I did it. $6.59 for a 12 oz chai is over the top and completely unnecessary, IMO. I won’t do it again anytime soon. I think for many of the convenience items, companies are just charging more because they can, not because they have to. They can raise prices, blame it on inflation and pocket the money. 

I was having a terrible day yesterday, just being sick for too long and being so exhausted, that I splurged for a normal iced coffee and Dunkin donuts. Something I haven't don't for awhile. And a medium was just under $5, for coffee. Nothing special just iced coffee. That is over $2 more than the last time I got iced coffee from there, which was probably in early fall. It solidified my desire to make everything at home from now.

[HomeAgain]

15 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I was having a terrible day yesterday, just being sick for too long and being so exhausted, that I splurged for a normal iced coffee and Dunkin donuts. Something I haven't don't for awhile. And a medium was just under $5, for coffee. Nothing special just iced coffee. That is over $2 more than the last time I got iced coffee from there, which was probably in early fall. It solidified my desire to make everything at home from now.

It's absolutely insane.  And half the time it's not even good coffee.  It's weak and poor quality. 

Years ago when we were trying to get a handle on the budget we realized dh's coffee habit was out of control.  He'd drink some at home, then stop by the convenience store on his break and grab a cup and a snack, and then sometimes after lunch would go back and do the same.  At $2/cup, it was adding up to over $100/mo on his stops.  We invested in a nice coffee pot, thermoses, and a basket of grab n' go snacks for at home.  Coffee expenses dropped by more than half and he developed a new appreciation for a dark roast. 😄

I shudder to think what our expenses would look like if he was still doing the same.  Now we'd be talking $7/trip.  And given that there are at least 4 Dunkin's between our house and his work.......ugh.

[fairfarmhand]

45 minutes ago, TechWife said:

In the before times I went to coffee shops fairly regularly. I’ve only done it maybe once every couple of months since. However, yesterday I went through a drive through and was shocked to find out prices had gone way up since the last time I did it. $6.59 for a 12 oz chai is over the top and completely unnecessary, IMO. I won’t do it again anytime soon. I think for many of the convenience items, companies are just charging more because they can, not because they have to. They can raise prices, blame it on inflation and pocket the money. 

Well some of this might be true but in our area to keep workers restaurants have had to significantly raise their starting pay for their employees. My dd got a $3 an hour raise just randomly at her Burger King job because retention was so terrible. No doubt some of the price increase is due to higher pay for the workers.

[HomeAgain]

18 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

Well some of this might be true but in our area to keep workers restaurants have had to significantly raise their starting pay for their employees. My dd got a $3 an hour raise just randomly at her Burger King job because retention was so terrible. No doubt some of the price increase is due to higher pay for the workers.

This is a faulty argument.

Given the amount of business a fast food place does over an hour, the increase in pay for the employees is spread out substantially when doing a per unit analysis so that it's an insignificant percentage added to each item.

More than that is greed.

[pinball]

58 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I was having a terrible day yesterday, just being sick for too long and being so exhausted, that I splurged for a normal iced coffee and Dunkin donuts. Something I haven't don't for awhile. And a medium was just under $5, for coffee. Nothing special just iced coffee. That is over $2 more than the last time I got iced coffee from there, which was probably in early fall. It solidified my desire to make everything at home from now.

The McDonald’s app has deals every day. There is always a 99 cents coffee or iced coffee, any size.

doesn’t address the donuts but 99 cents is an inexpensive occasional treat

[JustEm]

14 minutes ago, pinball said:

The McDonald’s app has deals every day. There is always a 99 cents coffee or iced coffee, any size.

doesn’t address the donuts but 99 cents is an inexpensive occasional treat

Oh I didn't get a donut. I see that I have an error in my post and put and Dunkin instead of at Dunkin. 

I know about McDonald's coffee being so cheap but I'm not a fan of it. Plus they don't have iced coffee, which is what I purchased. What they call iced coffee is just a sugary coffee drink.

[pinball]

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

Oh I didn't get a donut. I see that I have an error in my post and put and Dunkin instead of at Dunkin. 

I know about McDonald's coffee being so cheap but I'm not a fan of it. Plus they don't have iced coffee, which is what I purchased. What they call iced coffee is just a sugary coffee drink.

Mine has a choice of black iced coffee, nothing in it

[Heartstrings]

16 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

Even saving from the time they are born…that is an awful lot to sock away to have say $300,000 available for college for each kid.

That’s a lot of money. That is a different class of people than most of what I know and it is about more than just the discipline to start saving. It also means that people of average means wouldn’t look at a pile of $300,000 and think…hmmm…maybe you could just go to a state school AND buy a house. 

Just for fun, $300k is $16,666 per year for 18 years, per year.  I made $25k when my oldest was born.  That would have been more than half my income.   The year my 2nd was born we collectively made less $40k, so that’s almost our whole income that year for the two.  
 

I guess I wasn’t great at budgeting back then, I couldn’t have made that work.  

Edited March 22, 2023 by Heartstrings

[dsmith]

We've cut way back on Starbucks because everything else has gone up so much. We barely eat out, don't buy cold cuts anymore, and buy meats only on sale. Ds would only drink diet coke in cans but now it's whatever one is on sale, so he has had to become used to Pepsi. I'm constantly monitoring our subscribe and save order. One month one of the coffees we order jumped from $42/box to $56! I used to see price alerts for that but I haven't received any lately. I've cut back on my coffee (I prefer illy) and have switched brands for various items. We buy more store brands and have been doing a lot of Aldi shopping, especially for cookies which we must have in the house for the seniors lol. We also joined Costco and were pleasantly surprised by some of the prices, especially the organic frozen fruit for me and Breathe Right strips, which dh can't live without! Oh, and butter! We never buy steak anymore, but will splurge on expensive meats for holidays. For Easter we will spend a fortune on American boneless leg of lamb. We make a lot of homemade bread, but I have to buy certain breads for our neighbor and mil. She wants low cal and he needs something he can chew well without teeth, so it's usually the Pepperidge Farm 45 calorie at over $5 a loaf. UGH! Occasionally Aldi has their own 45 cal bread but it's hard to find. They've had my son's favorite bread (647 Italian) for a lot cheaper than the supermarket. It's hard getting everyone's particular food requirements! Ds is on WW, I eat mostly WFPB, mil is picky, dh likes his sweets, neighbor needs easy to chew, there will be mutiny without cookies, etc... 😩

[Pawz4me]

29 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Just for fun, $300k is $16,666 per year for 18 years, per year.  I made $25k when my oldest was born.  That would have been more than half my income.   The year my 2nd was born we collectively made less $40k, so that’s almost our whole income that year.  
 

I guess I wasn’t great at budgeting back then, I couldn’t have made that work.  

Not nitpicking (promise!) but that doesn't account for the possibility of any earnings. I don't think most people saving for college stick the money under their mattress, or even in a regular savings account (and even that would pay a small amount of interest).

Edited March 22, 2023 by Pawz4me

[Arcadia]

36 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Just for fun, $300k is $16,666 per year for 18 years, per year.  I made $25k when my oldest was born.  That would have been more than half my income.   The year my 2nd was born we collectively made less $40k, so that’s almost our whole income that year for the two.  

My husband was earning $79k before tax in 2005 and we bought a relatively cheap condo because we want a low mortgage. If we had bought a more expensive home, we will still be paying mortgage. $300k won’t even get us a mobile home here. Private high schools cost more than $24k here.

7 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Not nitpicking (promise!) but that doesn't account for the possibility of any earnings. I don't think most people saving for college stick the money under their mattress, or even in a regular savings account (and even that would pay a small amount of interest).

We did stick the money into no penalty CDs. So not as high an appreciation as 529 plans but still some interest.  Also my friends who intend to pay for private colleges have kids 4 years or more apart so they are paying one at a time. 

[marbel]

14 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Not nitpicking (promise!) but that doesn't account for the possibility of any earnings. I don't think most people saving for college stick the money under their mattress, or even in a regular savings account (and even that would pay a small amount of interest).

Right. And look, I'm not saying everyone could stash away $300,00/kid for college (we didn't!) but I have seen it done. Sure the families were upper middle class, but they were not super-rich either. No second houses or private planes, but a good income and the ability to save: aside from regular deposits, all monetary gifts (like from grandparents) went into the accounts, vacations were modest (no Disney!), etc. 

Also college savings plans have some tax advantages. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by marbel

[teachermom2834]

40 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Just for fun, $300k is $16,666 per year for 18 years, per year.  I made $25k when my oldest was born.  That would have been more than half my income.   The year my 2nd was born we collectively made less $40k, so that’s almost our whole income that year for the two.  
 

I guess I wasn’t great at budgeting back then, I couldn’t have made that work.  

 

11 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Not nitpicking (promise!) but that doesn't account for the possibility of any earnings. I don't think most people saving for college stick the money under their mattress, or even in a regular savings account (and even that would pay a small amount of interest).

Agreeing with both of these. Lol.

I understand the magic of compounding interest but 18 years isn’t really all that long for that level of magic. I know people with significant incomes can do it. I just don’t think it is super realistic when people ponder “how are families paying out of pocket for these private schools?” for the answer to just be that they started saving at birth. I would have to have saved more than the largest mortgage payment we ever had to have had enough out of pocket for a private school.  So, sure, some people can sock that away, especially high earners and dual income families, but it is still out of reach for your average folks. That’s all I was saying. 
 

I actually did open 529s for my kids at birth but I could only add about $50/mo and some extra here and there. There was tremendous gains over some of the time we had it open and it helped for a semester. Lol. It was the best we could do but it obviously didn’t go very far. Was still a good idea. 

But I don’t necessarily think my kids are entitled to private college so I don’t spend any time worrying about it. Just…it is a lot of money and not something people I consider average folks would be able to do even if they started saving at birth. 

[shawthorne44]

1 hour ago, Heartstrings said:

Just for fun, $300k is $16,666 per year for 18 years, per year.  I made $25k when my oldest was born.  That would have been more than half my income.   The year my 2nd was born we collectively made less $40k, so that’s almost our whole income that year for the two.  
 

I guess I wasn’t great at budgeting back then, I couldn’t have made that work.  

 

Another thought.   Let's say you do have 300K to spend on your kids college.  Wouldn't it be a better idea to take, say 200+k of that money and pay cash for a house and have the kid go a cheap college?  Imagine never having to pay for housing.  One set of Grandparents were like that, and while they worked non-professional jobs they were rather wealthy.    

We recently went to the wedding of DH's nephew, and when I was trying to find the extended zip code, I stumbled on the link for the house rental site.  It is the exact same floor plan as my first house, so I was admiring the photos.  Then it dawned on me, this is a starter home and the mortgage was 30K a year.  30K.   How does that work?   This isn't an area with high-standard of living salaries. 

[Bootsie]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

Not nitpicking (promise!) but that doesn't account for the possibility of any earnings. I don't think most people saving for college stick the money under their mattress, or even in a regular savings account (and even that would pay a small amount of interest).

If parents save every month for 18 years, want to have $300,000 in 18 years, and earn 6% interest, they will need to save $775 per month to meet their goal.   If they can earn 10% per year, the monthly amount drops to $500.  

[prairiewindmomma]

27 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

have the kid go a cheap college?  . 

Part of the issue in saving adequately has been the rapid spike in tuition + dorm costs in recent years. As states have cut funding to schools, schools have raised tuition rates. 
 

Tuition and COL at the local community college averages $25k/year. (Tuition, fees and books are $12k of that.) For a 4 year state school, tuition and fees and books push more to $16-20k/year (depending on major, some have differential tuition costs because of labs), so the total cost is over $30k. 
 

I do not know this “cheap college” you speak of. 😂

[TechWife]

6 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

Well some of this might be true but in our area to keep workers restaurants have had to significantly raise their starting pay for their employees. My dd got a $3 an hour raise just randomly at her Burger King job because retention was so terrible. No doubt some of the price increase is due to higher pay for the workers.

A Burger King can serve hundreds of customers every hour during peak times. The cost per order of a $3 hourly raise, spread out over 100 orders/hour is 3 cents additional cost per order. Not per item, per order. This doesn't justify the cost increases I've noticed.

 

[mommyoffive]

5 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Part of the issue in saving adequately has been the rapid spike in tuition + dorm costs in recent years. As states have cut funding to schools, schools have raised tuition rates. 
 

Tuition and COL at the local community college averages $25k/year. (Tuition, fees and books are $12k of that.) For a 4 year state school, tuition and fees and books push more to $16-20k/year (depending on major, some have differential tuition costs because of labs), so the total cost is over $30k. 
 

I do not know this “cheap college” you speak of. 😂

I can't remember where you live, but there are cheap colleges in areas.   My dd is taking college classes now and it isn't that expensive.  One University of WI college is less than 8k a year.  I think there are some that are cheaper.  Yes, that is just tuition.  I think there is a better acceptance of people going back to things that save money than there was before.  Community college, live at home during college, earn college credit in high school, live at home after college and save money or pay off your loans.  I am pushing these ideas for my kids.   The cost of everything has gotten so expensive, that these are just smart ideas.  

I know there are great college programs in say GA too.  Don't they have the HOPE program that pays for a lot if you have great grades?

I went to an expensive school back in the day.  Not Ivy, but private and expensive.  It was 10,000% not worth it.  

[cintinative]

529s vary a lot in their return. I started putting small amounts of money in a 529 when my kids were babies, and stopped when I stopped working--when my oldest was about 7.  The lifetime return on the 529 is pretty poor--maybe 6% the last time I checked. 

If I was a skilled financial manager, I could have done better most likely. Instead I trusted our advisor and the system. And really we have maybe enough for less than two year's tuition at the local university (not including books and fees) in there now.

[Bootsie]

7 minutes ago, TechWife said:

A Burger King can serve hundreds of customers every hour during peak times. The cost per order of a $3 hourly raise, spread out over 100 orders/hour is 3 cents additional cost per order. Not per item, per order. This doesn't justify the cost increases I've noticed.

 

One employee cannot serve hundreds of customers per hour alone; one employee cannot take an order, cook, collect payment, every 36 seconds.  The hourly raise must be multiplied by the number of workers.  Also, a $3 hourly pay raise costs the employer more than $3 because they must pay their share of SS tax and unemployment insurance tax on those wages. 

That alone does not justify the cost increases, but remember the restaurant is having to pay more for eggs and all of the other things it is using.  In the past year, the average price of food purchased in grocery stores has increased by 10.2% (it is likely that restaurants have seen a similar increase in food costs).  The average price of food away from home has increased 8.4%, so less than the average price of raw food materials. 

[cintinative]

7 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I can't remember where you live, but there are cheap colleges in areas.  

I know there are great college programs in say GA too.  Don't they have the HOPE program that pays for a lot if you have great grades?

 

This varies A LOT by state. TN, GA, and FL are states that I know of that offer reduced tuition/full tuition scholarships based on grades (for residents only).  Ohio has nothing like that. 

Going to a TN, GA or FL school as an Ohio resident is $$$$$.  

The cheapest "college" near us is a community college.  The tuition is about $4329/year in state. The local university, in comparison, is $13,176/year.

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, cintinative said:

This varies A LOT by state. TN, GA, and FL are states that I know of that offer reduced tuition/full tuition scholarships based on grades (for residents only).  Ohio has nothing like that. 

Going to a TN, GA or FL school as an Ohio resident is $$$$$.  

The cheapest "college" near us is a community college.  The tuition is about $4329/year in state. The local university, in comparison, is $13,176/year.

Right.  I knew it was only for residents.  I forgot to put that in the post.  We don't have that here in WI.

[prairiewindmomma]

So, what's the option for people who live in states with more expensive community college? Living at home and commuting to a community college is still $12k/year (that's how ds started with dual enrollment). Not everyone can move to a less expensive state. If we sent a kid to an out of state school with less tuition, he'd still be paying out of state tuition costs, which are generally around what community college is here. I suppose we could buy a house in a less expensive state, have him work to be financially independent of us so that he could qualify as an in state resident for tuition purposes, then sell the home after he graduates??? 

Edited March 22, 2023 by prairiewindmomma

[Frances]

1 hour ago, marbel said:

Right. And look, I'm not saying everyone could stash away $300,00/kid for college (we didn't!) but I have seen it done. Sure the families were upper middle class, but they were not super-rich either. No second houses or private planes, but a good income and the ability to save: aside from regular deposits, all monetary gifts (like from grandparents) went into the accounts, vacations were modest (no Disney!), etc. 

Also college savings plans have some tax advantages. 

There’s also pay as you go if you have only have one or multiple children who are spaced at least four years apart. That was our plan had our child chosen one of the elite LACs he was admitted to that only gave financial aid. Because we spent so much time pursuing our own education and living on little, we had negligible college savings (and no parents or grandparents with $). But then our income basically tripled right before college time. So we would simply have devoted all of my after tax income to paying for college. As it is, we’ve never used it for regular living expenses, just retirement or general savings. 
 

That’s not to say it wouldn’t have been painful on multiple levels to do this, especially considering he was given top merit aid at the LACs that offered it. And we were not willing to do it for an out of state public college, as neither of us saw the value in paying full freight for that for undergrad. But on paper, due to long term frugality and recent career changes, we looked able to be full pay at expensive privates and could have just barely made it work had it been necessary. Fortunately for our finances, our son chose a full ride route for non-financial reasons. 

[mommyoffive]

11 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

So, what's the option for people who live in states with more expensive community college? Living at home and commuting to a community college is still $12k/year (that's how ds started with dual enrollment). Not everyone can move to a less expensive state. If we sent a kid to an out of state school with less tuition, he'd still be paying out of state tuition costs, which are generally around what community college is here. I suppose we could buy a house in a less expensive state, have him work to be financially independent of us so that he could qualify as an in state resident for tuition purposes, then sell the home after he graduates??? 

I think your idea of the house is an idea personally I wouldn't want to do right now.  But hey I have read articles of it working.  I think if community college was that expensive around me I would be pushing for dual enrollment in high school and looking into all the scholarships I could find.  Having the kid work and saving in a 529 too.

[Frances]

1 hour ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

Another thought.   Let's say you do have 300K to spend on your kids college.  Wouldn't it be a better idea to take, say 200+k of that money and pay cash for a house and have the kid go a cheap college?  Imagine never having to pay for housing.  One set of Grandparents were like that, and while they worked non-professional jobs they were rather wealthy.    

We recently went to the wedding of DH's nephew, and when I was trying to find the extended zip code, I stumbled on the link for the house rental site.  It is the exact same floor plan as my first house, so I was admiring the photos.  Then it dawned on me, this is a starter home and the mortgage was 30K a year.  30K.   How does that work?   This isn't an area with high-standard of living salaries. 

There aren’t any houses available here for $200k. You’d be lucky to find a mobile home. It also depends what you consider cheap for college. Not sure there are any private colleges here where you can get tuition and room and board for $25k per year. The only public one in commutable distance where my child could have lived at home didn’t have his major as they only provided service level STEM courses, except for in biology. So no physics, chemistry, math, etc beyond sophomore level. So any other public U would have included tuition plus room and board. And they are not in locations where living off campus results in much savings due to HCOL.

[regentrude]

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

529s vary a lot in their return. I started putting small amounts of money in a 529 when my kids were babies, and stopped when I stopped working--when my oldest was about 7.  The lifetime return on the 529 is pretty poor--maybe 6% the last time I checked. 

If I was a skilled financial manager, I could have done better most likely. Instead I trusted our advisor and the system. And really we have maybe enough for less than two year's tuition at the local university (not including books and fees) in there now.

The advantage of a 529 is in the tax benefits. 

[regentrude]

1 hour ago, Frances said:

 So we would simply have devoted all of my after tax income to paying for college. As it is, we’ve never used it for regular living expenses, just retirement or general savings. 

That's how we financed college. I worked, we lived on DHs income, and my income paid for college.

And part of it funneled through a 529 for the tax benefits. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by regentrude

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

Another thought.   Let's say you do have 300K to spend on your kids college.  Wouldn't it be a better idea to take, say 200+k of that money and pay cash for a house and have the kid go a cheap college?  Imagine never having to pay for housing.  One set of Grandparents were like that, and while they worked non-professional jobs they were rather wealthy.    

We recently went to the wedding of DH's nephew, and when I was trying to find the extended zip code, I stumbled on the link for the house rental site.  It is the exact same floor plan as my first house, so I was admiring the photos.  Then it dawned on me, this is a starter home and the mortgage was 30K a year.  30K.   How does that work?   This isn't an area with high-standard of living salaries. 

That doesn't work at a lot of colleges. Dorms are a money maker for colleges and so many require on campus housing unless the student is living with a parent or guardian. No joke. 18 and must live with parent, and not only that, must live at the residence listed on FAFSA. Others will not allow anyone, even if mom and dad live within 20 miles of sorts school, live off campus until age 21. It is a scam, and should be illegal, but it is the case. We looked at the possibility of our middle and youngest sons attending the same college, and then buying a cottage or renting an apartment so they would have space, privacy, and could cook for themselves. It came out to about $5000 a year less for the two of them. But because we could not move to the college town due to Mark's job and our elderly mothers, not only would they not meet the requirements to live off campus, the house would have been considered a secondary residence/vacation home which would affect FASFA and greatly increase the EFC which was already laughably high.

The system is rigged against the middle class. The answer from financial aid is always, "Parents should take out loans and second mortgages." Of course if parents go into debt for all of their children's educations, then when in the heck do they retire, and what do they do when they have no emergency savings or become disabled and can't make those debt payments?" 

It is simply insane. Dd got lucky when she was a freshmen. U of MI was out of housing. They could not house their entire freshman class, and had far fewer commuters (students living with parents and driving) than they expected, so they suddenly loosened up the rules. She was allowed to live with her aunt in the area.

[Frances]

3 hours ago, regentrude said:

That's how we financed college. I worked, we lived on DHs income, and my income paid for college.

And part of it funneled through a 529 for the tax benefits. 

Exactly. We also funneled money through a 529 for the tax benefits, not really as a savings vehicle.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Frances

[SHP]

7 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

So, what's the option for people who live in states with more expensive community college? Living at home and commuting to a community college is still $12k/year (that's how ds started with dual enrollment). Not everyone can move to a less expensive state. If we sent a kid to an out of state school with less tuition, he'd still be paying out of state tuition costs, which are generally around what community college is here. I suppose we could buy a house in a less expensive state, have him work to be financially independent of us so that he could qualify as an in state resident for tuition purposes, then sell the home after he graduates??? 

In my area I am seeing this a lot. The family buys a second house within a reasonable commute to the school and the mortgage and utilities are paid by having roommates while the child is in school. They then sell the house when the child graduates and use the equity to pay off any student loans. Rent and dorms are so expensive that dividing a mortgage + utilities among 3 roommates gives them a bargain and the family has housing covered for their student. 

[Pawz4me]

14 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

 I suppose we could buy a house in a less expensive state, have him work to be financially independent of us so that he could qualify as an in state resident for tuition purposes, then sell the home after he graduates??? 

Some states have length-of-time requirements before one can qualify as a resident for tuition purposes. Here it's at least twelve consecutive months prior to the start of the term.

[Miss Tick]

16 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I suppose we could buy a house in a less expensive state, have him work to be financially independent of us

Keep in mind that FAFSA, and therefore schools, have a somewhat non-intuitive definition of financial independence. "You can only qualify as an independent student on the FAFSA if you are at least 24 years of age, married, on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, financially supporting dependent children, an orphan (both parents deceased), a ward of the court, or an emancipated minor."

This is may be separate from qualifying as an in-state resident. Also, schools are cognizant of the draw of in-state vs out-of-state tuition and it can be tricky to get an appeal for tuition granted, don't assume it to be a sure thing even if he is asking for something that seems logical.

[SKL]

Just got non-name-brand tires put on my car last night and it cost over $1,000.

I probably could have done it cheaper elsewhere (why didn't I think of that sooner), but it was somewhat of an emergency with 2 of the tires.

But yeah ... this is at least 2x what the cost was 3 years ago.

Needless to say, I postponed other service that was not absolutely urgent.

[prairiewindmomma]

Yeah, I am aware of the residency and financial independence for FAFSA difficulties. I was trying to point out in my above post that someone saying “that isn’t expensive here” isn’t particularly helpful to someone who lives where community college is expensive.