College and "How do you afford for your children to attend?"

[SonshineLearner]

Ok, so some of you are financially able to just pay for your children to attend college because you've been diligently saving for 18 years. My husband and I have been married for 7 years and his oldest is college age next year.

One college she's looked at is St Andrews and they accept no financial aid, but the college is under $10,000 a year plus living expenses. (like living with a family off campus) so about $15,000 total a year.

 

Another is Hillsdale College, which is more like $28,000(living and other expenses included) but she could hopefully get a financial aid package of $12,000.

 

So, I'm curious. Do most of you really pay the $15,000 per year for your children to attend college? How about for those who didn't start saving right away....Do you work so your child is able to attend college? Do they leave owing $60,000??

 

And...whatever we do...we have four...one right after the other...

 

Thanks!

Carrie:-)

[Sharon in MD]

We didn't plan and save the way I would have liked to, but we are stuck with the consequences of the choices we have made. So, we have always told our son that he is responsible for 1/2 of the college expense. His half can be made up of scholarships and loans and whatever he can earn. We will cover the other half. (My husband and I will really wind up with more than 1/2 because we are only "counting" the tuition/room and board in the figure for splitting the cost).

 

His top school choice is really expensive. It comes in at 42,000 a year. But, he has been offered 14,500 so far in merit money from them, renewable each year and he will work 3 co-ops while there which will bring in at least 13,000 each after tax and deductions for living. So, overall, the cost averages out to about 20,000 per year. When I compare it that way to the cost at our big in-state school which is 19,000 a year without any merit money, it doesn't seem quite as bad. We really don't think we will get any scholarship offers from the state school, or if we do, they will probably be pretty small (another state school offered him 2,500)

 

I'm going back to work as soon as graduation hits. We will have to borrow at least some money initially, and then I will be working to pay it off.

 

The good thing is that there are other scholarships and grants that become available after you've declared your major. So we are hopeful that the overall figure may be reduced, but we are not counting on it. DS should not have personal debt when he is done because his co-op and scholarship will pretty much cover his "1/2". If he does have debt, it should be pretty small compared to what he should earn as an engineer.

 

We only have one kid, so we probably won't qualify for any aid. The good thing for those with more children is that the financial aid folks do consider how many kids you have in college, or so I've been told. I don't really know how much more that helps those families though.

[Virginia in Tx]

Our daughter wanted to do private college and we had money for a state school college. So we told her the difference in cost would have to come through her. After looking at the cost of student loans - she decided to go to a state school, ended up getting 3 scholarships (merit based) that pay for tuition and room and board - so now she has money for graduate school. If your child can score high on the SAT or ACT then they can get some pretty good scholarships especially at smaller (i.e. less popular) state schools. THis was a good option for my daughter because what she wants to do requires a master's program and so she can go a prestigiuos school for a master's.

[Jenny in Florida]

There were obstacles in our way, but we definitely should have done a better job on that front.

 

Our daughter's basic costs (tuition, fees, room and board) are about $29,000 per year. She earned a merit scholarship that covers a bit less than half of that amount. The first year, we paid as much of the rest as we could in monthly payments and took a parent loan to cover the rest. I had hoped that our daughter would not have to take any loans in her name, especially because she is so young. However, this year, we didn't qualify for a loan. So, she took a smaller loan in her name (which we still intend to pay off for her), and we're paying the rest out of pocket. It's just plain luck that we can afford to do so right now. (Although, I suppose if we were not as lucky, we might have a better shot at getting other financial aid.)

 

She is hoping to graduate in three years, which would be nice, financially. At her college, we pay by the semester, not by credit hour. So, she can take as many classes per semester as she wants without incurring additional cost. This is absolutely not something we would encourage as a cost-saving measure. It just happens that she likes to be busy and has taken a lot of classes each semester because she wants to do so. And it will still cost us a bit more than three years' worth of fees, because we'll probably have to pay for her to take a couple of classes locally over the summer. But it would help.

 

Of course, we also pay out of pocket for her voice lessons, which aren't included in the regular tuition. We do get a discounted rate, though, now that she's officially minoring in music. Oh, and while she is required to pay the going rate for the dining plan, she's a vegan and still pretty picky. So, we end up paying to buy her groceries, too.

 

It's not pleasant, and if we were in a more traditional situation I might have pushed harder for other alternatives. However, for this child, the options aren't numerous.

 

We've already made it very clear to her that she will have to take on the burden of her graduate school expenses. The reality is that, given her age, she won't be able to work to pay her way through. However, I'm a bit more comfortable with her taking loans for that purpose than I was when she started undergrad.

 

Fortunately, we have only one more after her. And we should be done with the bulk of the big out-of-pocket expenses for her (although still paying off the loans) before we have to start paying his bills.

Edited January 23, 2009 by Jenny in Florida

[Nan in Mass]

Because we have no mortgage payments (that was more or less our savings plan), we've managed to pay for the first year of a state school for the first child. Next year, we'll have two in state schools, and we're going to need help. The oldest will pay for himself (mostly) with loans and we'll try to pay for the first year of the second child for him. Then he'll have loans, too. Hopefully they will be able to pay them off without completely sacrificing their standard of living. If we can, we'll help, but by then, we'll be paying for the third child, who might need to go to a private school, and who might not have the same potential for paying off loans when he graduates. We and other family members have saved a little money for their college, but that will/was eaten up very quickly and didn't even cover the first year. So far, it has been much more efficient money per time wise for my husband to work extra than for me to get a job, so he is working extra.

-Nan

[Miss Marple]

The value of the savings plans that were in place several years ago is now greatly diminished because of the stock market decline. It is necessary for those of us with savings plans to find other means of paying college expenses. To this end, I have become a keen advocate of high level academic performance in order to get scholarships. My boys are aware of the costs of college and know that they will need to squeeze out every bit of their brains in order to score well on admissions tests. I have been so surprised at the amount of money that is available for college - both needs based and academic based. Since we don't qualify for the needs based, we're working on academics.

 

My son has been able to amass scholarships (departmental, honors, private corporation) which more than pay for his tuition.

[Mandy in TN]

How about for those who didn't start saving right away....Do you work so your child is able to attend college? Do they leave owing $60,000??

 

I guess we will find out next year.:001_unsure:

 

My oldest ds will be graduating next year. Dh and I have been married 8 years. We have a 6yo. I will not be going back to work. There is no money for either of my older two dc to go to college. Xh has nothing.

 

I will fill out all the required forms for everything we might possibly qualify to receive. Oldest ds also qualifies for the state lottery scholarship. Anything above and beyond financial aid and scholarship money he will have to pay. He knows this. He does want to go away for college. The goal is to keep his debt around $30,000.

 

Middle ds plans to spend two years at the CC under an articulation agreement with one of the state colleges and then transfer. He does not test well and in all likelihood will qualify for no scholarship money, so staying home and going to CC for 2 years will help. Still with no scholarship money he will probably have as much debt as the oldest.

 

Mandy

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

My kids have stocks from their great-grandparents and a savings account.

 

My dh and I are saving for our retirement first. We don't believe that social security will be around for us and building a retirement that will cover the cost of our health and well being in our old age is the gift we are giving our children. My own mother was laid off last fall and we've watched her retirement dwindle. I worry and worry over what she will do. She has yet to find a job. I don't want my kids to worry about supporting ol' mom and dad.

 

As for college. I plan to help them as long as they help themselves (work in the summer, save, study hard, apply for scholarships and aid) by getting a full-time job and putting my paycheck towards their college expenses. We have lived and saved so long on one income, I hope that all of my paycheck will be able to go towards their expenses.

 

K

[Anna]

My dh and I don't pay for college tuition or books. We're still working on gathering retirement funds, which is what we feel we should be doing with our money at this time.

 

Oldest dd's first choice was Hillsdale but their scholarship package didn't offer enough. She ended up at her second choice private school, with tuition at approx $25,000. a year. She earned an academic scholarship which pays about 3/4 of tuition and she works part-time to help pay the rest and to pay for her books. She had to get a small student loan so when she graduates she will owe a total of about $15,000. My dh and I only help with the other stuff. She lives home so she gets free room/board, we pay medical, insurance, bought her a car. She pays for her gas. We often buy her necessary clothing and stuff and she pays for nonessentials. Currently, she's working through her third semester.

 

Other dd is finishing her first year at community college. She works part-time and pays her own tuition and books. We pay for the other stuff like I mentioned above. By the time she completes her second year at CC, she will owe nothing. Then she transfers to the 4-yr univ as a third year college student. We haven't looked beyond CC expenses at this point but as we get closer to univ study, we'll see about scholarships and student loans for her last 2 years of college.

[Storm Bay]

We have no savings for our dc for college, and I won't go into the long story of why not, but homeschooling is one of them as we earn less than if I had them in ps and was working during the day. We cannot afford to take out loans for them. However, we've told them that if they don't get enough scholarships to pay for their full costs somewhere else, they are welcome to live at home and put themselves through. We have several great schools in driving distance from us, and they could also take the train to others (we live in a highly populated area.) One of the state schools relatively close has an excellent scholastic program, but we're also close to some private colleges as well.

 

We'll also encourage our kids to work part time or else summers in high school to help save for college. They have to option of going to Canada, too, where it's cheaper. Had we the money, we'd pay for their educations, or at least as much as they couldn't save in the summers themselves.

[Gwen in VA]

My dh and I did not save for the kids' college. Long story, but we invested in them -- lessons, classes, etc. Because of our lack of saving, ds couldn't go to his first-choice college, which was difficult to accept. (He would have graduated absolutely buried in debt.)

 

However, my kids hit the jackpot -- each of them was offered over $400K in merit aid from the various colleges that accepted them. Merit aid is such a blessing!

 

They are both at W&L, which has an annual cost of over $50K per student. Ds received a full-ride scholarship that even covers his books and other random on-campus expenses; dd received a full-tuition scholarship. Between one or two other random scholarships, we only pay a few thousand for her room and board.

 

We feel so blessed. We are encouraging the kids to remember that they are attending such a great college essentially for free because of certain very generous donors. One day hopefully they will contribute back to the school -- whether the amount is large or small.

 

Merit scholarships are amazing!

[K-FL]

Here in FL, we have Bright Futures Scholarships which (with the right scores & community service) will cover tuition at a state school. If dd goes to a private school, she can get that $, plus they also have a FL Residents Access Grant. Since she had dual-enrolled, she'll have 60+ credits from our cc to transfer in so she should only have 2 yrs to a BA. We don't have a 4 yr school here or she'd stay home & do that. Plus she did score well on the ACT which should bring $ along with being a member of Phi Theta Kappa (2yr cc honor society) which has scholarships to some schools. We're in the application process now, so we'll see how it all shakes down. We can't take on any debt so she'll need to work to cover any thing else.

[Kelli in TN]

My kids all know/knew that help from us would be minimal. When the oldest were/are ready for college they understand that we still have their younger siblings to care for. By the time the youngest go to college my husband will have retired (by force, not choice, federal employee guidelines require it). We cannot pay for tuition. Period.

 

We did help my two oldest out all we could with things from modest allowances ($25 per week) to helping with books when the scholarships were not quite enough. We will do the same with the daughter we are about to launch into the college life in the fall.

 

They are adults. We expect that they can pretty much take ownership of their lives and their academic careers at this point. We'll help, but they are expected to want it badly enough that they find a way.

[Moni]

Just wondering.

 

If a would-be student worked full-time for one year, saved 100% of it (live at home, supported by parents), I wonder what that savings would amount to? :confused:

 

 

:seeya:

[Ria]

We saved from the time the kids were little (we have six...all of them have their own accounts). Two of our kids are presently in college.

 

DS: Sophomore. Got a 1/2 tuition grant to a school that costs $48,000 per year (room/board). We pay $8000; he accrues $10,000 in debt each year. It was his choice...we had a certain amount of money, but he wanted *this* school. He will owe $40K upon graduation.

 

DD (twin to above DS): Sophomore. Got full-tuition scholarship to a school that costs $37,000 (room/board). We pay $2500 per year. DD does have a loan, but I think it's around $3000 per year; we felt she should own part of her education. She used a portion of the money we saved for her to buy a Honda Civic; she's a nursing major and needs her own transportation for clinicals.

 

Lest you panic, DD's best friend attends the same school, and also got the full-tuition scholarship. As a sophomore, she qualified to be an RA, so now her only expenses are books and food. It's tough for her, and her sis who also attends this school, but both girls work multiple jobs and are putting themselves through college. Their mom is a single mom...dad has major mental issues and is in and out of hospitals, so there is no help there. The point is, these girls are making it work without coming out majorly in debt.

 

Ria

[laughing lioness]

For those who believe with me in miracles, our oldest dd is going to an accredited college on 100% scholarship, paid for miraculously. She was offered it without applying, out of the blue, by a business man with whom we'd done ministry but who had only met her twice. She only has to come up with room and board. Her grandparents (who don't agree with the school or her major) are paying 100% of that this year, though she is working p.t. to pay for books, sundries and plane tickets home. Next year she plans to be an "ambassador" for the school or an R.L., which will pay for her room and board. The school/program are a custom fit for her. My only complaint is that she is so far away (though not as far as Romania:)). God is so good!!!

We are trusting in 4 more miracles:001_smile:.

[Sharon in MD]

My own parents were so angry with me when they heard that we expect ds to pay for 1/2 of his college costs. They paid full fair for me. However, I can tell you, blushing, that I was totally and completely spoiled. I felt entitled to it. I never even considered how much they sacrificed for me until many years later. I was completely selfish and self-centered about it. I didn't care if I made C's or not, as long as I graduated.....What a stinking, terrible attitude.

 

My hubby on the other hand, paid for almost all of his college out of his own pocket. His parents could easily have paid for it, but they didn't, believing that it was so important for him to own it. He worked hard for his, and cared about it.

 

As a couple, we could not help but compare notes. We came up with a middle road. DS would be responsible for part and we would be responsible for part, since we can take that on and that is what we want to do. Our son is really excited about going to school and is thrilled with the 1/2 tuition scholarship he's been offered. We talked about how it is like a job for him, being paid to go to school. He could not possibly earn that much at a part time job. He also believes it is God's blessing and confirmation that this is the right school for him. We have been praying that if that was where he should go that God would open a door to make it possible....and HE has.

 

I guess I just think that, based on my own experience in particular, that it is a good thing for kids to have some kind of investment in their own higher education. I think that a tangible reason to care can be a big motivator when a friend comes along looking to party and you have a test the next day or a paper due.

 

Just my musings...

[SherryTX]

Just wondering.

 

If a would-be student worked full-time for one year, saved 100% of it (live at home, supported by parents), I wonder what that savings would amount to? :confused:

 

 

:seeya:

 

That is a very good point. Many kids today just blew the money when they have jobs in high school. It is amazing how much money a teenager can save working jobs during the summer, or on the weekends while in school, or like you suggested, work one whole year full time.

 

A kid in TX, for example, where there is no state income tax could clear about $240 per week net (claiming one deduction), working a $7 an hour, 40 hour a week job. Community college classes here run about $150 with tuition and fees, and books/supplies about another $75 to $150 per class, depending on what the kid takes and if he/she can get some used books. So $240 per week - if the kid spent only $40 of it - they could have money to cover about 2 years of college in about 30 weeks. That isn't even a full year.

 

My son just started college in January - we told all our kids not to expect anything more than what 2 years of the local community college costs at the time they started - regardless of where they chose to go. Like some others here, we feel funding our retirement is more important. Also, the local community college has a great reputation - and why spend so much extra for the 1st two years of college when most of that time is spent on basic courses to meet state requirements that usually don't have anything to do with one's major?

 

We started a modest 529 plan several years ago, so have been able to start paying for my son's tuition books and supplies, even with the hit to the markets. However, he is going in the Army this summer and will be using the money the Army will give him to continue his education through his service and after his enlistment is up. So that is how he is paying for it.

 

We also told our kids they could live at home as long as they want while going to college (within reason - unless they end up being one of those students that takes 10 years hahah), and for a little bit after college so they can get out in the world and make sure they have enough to support them self.

 

My son has a weekend job - hasn't been able to find something more since he is going to leave in a few months.

 

My goal is to make sure my daughters get jobs during at least the summer - and possibly part time during the school year if they can handle it.

[JFSinIL]

If any of our three can get scholarships then they can go to a four-year college. Otherwise it is our local cc and then they can transfer and still get loans, etc. We have almost no retirement savings - had a lot of therapy costs for our son with autism, who will never leave home. Need I add that we are pushing high grades, honors and AP classes for our non-homeschooling high schoolers (I only homeschool up to 8th grade as needed per kid.)

[Chris in VA]

I thought we'd be able to help with college expenses, but my stupid use of credit and our middle son's drug addiction treatment took away that hope.

Now ds19 has $4000 towards college. That's it. VCU is about $17K a year (with room and board), and the program he is applying to has two summers of classes, so you graduate with a double major in 3 years, but you don't have those summers to earn $.

I don't know what he is going to do. Our estimated FAFSA contribution is about 24K a year--yeah, right. So not happening.

I'm hoping he gets some sort of help, or he's just not going. I figure he can earn about 1K a month, from now until June, so he could at least go one year with a small loan, but I don't know what will happen after that.

There is a rich relative we could beg...;) Don't think that will happen, either.