Average college savings for children

[spima3]

Our oldest DD is graduating this year. This has been an interesting process. Luckily, we have a large number of colleges/universities that she can attend.

She is going to the local state school. She qualified for need based aid, and $2K in merit aid. She is still short about $4K. With working part time, living at home, and us helping w/ about $2k she will only need to take subsidized loans.

She is not happy as she wanted the whole dorm life experience. I told her she needs to look at the big picture, and be thankful she may graduate w/ only about $15K in loans.

DS is in top 1% of his class of 460, and is interested in a STEM career. Even so, I told him we are going to do the same. Apply to good private schools, but also do the local commuter state schools, and he needs to be smart about his finances as well. Money will be getting tighter w/ 2 in college and a third close behind.

We have about $10K for all three, and I have bonds I can cash out to help, but they will be responsible for the bulk of it.

 

[crisi]

You really can't count on your kid getting money. I went to school in a good district and I never knew how many internal politics were involved that were completely out of my control.

There was a scholarship I was a shoe in for. I had top grades, an excellent application. It was a fairly big scholarship, but the pool of applicants was small (my fathers industry association). He knew all the other possible candidates, and had been president of the association.

It went to a kid with worse grades and much less need, but whose father was a bigger player in the industry. My dad can still get worked up about it.

I was the recipient of a number of merit based honarary scholarships. No money, we save that for the kids who need it, but you can say you won. My parents were very middle class.

I'm really glad for everyone who got, or who have kids who got, generous scholarships. But if you depend on them to fund college, you may be looking at loans. Save, if you don't need the money, it spends. And if you are worried about getting less financial aid because you saved, most aid comes in the form of loans. Would you rather pay interest or make it?

 

[mom2rtk]

This was my experience when I went to college as well.

I got an incredible financial aid package at a very expensive school (cost now is over $50K/year and was approaching that during my time).

People assumed that I got a "free ride" because I was smart. While flattering, it really wasn't the truth. Being a top student got me into the school, but being "lucky" enough to come from a large poor family is what got me the financial aid. Some top universities, mine included, offer no merit-based aid. The assumption is that all accepted students are intelligent, so they reserve financial aid for those who cannot otherwise afford to attend.

That has always been the case at the top schools. That was the case when I went to Northwestern 30 years ago. My "scholarships" were all based on financial need. When I repped for them I was trained to tell students asking about merit scholarships that they did not offer them. They didn't need to.

My earlier point was not about the top flight schools. My point was merely that for a good student, there is money available if they are open to a lower level school, probably a step below their dream school.

 

[mebbradley]

I'm graduating in december with about 60k in student loans. That's 5.5 years of college.

My mom had nothing saved for me, she couldn't. My family did luckily get a lot of need-based grants.

For our future kids, I plan on [hopefully] being able to fund 1/2 of their in-state tuition. We will not qualify for any need-based with the farm being owned by us by then.

 

[dzneelvr]

We worked from birth to set aside $10K per year for undergrad and grad would be on their own. It's not easy but did build up. The college CDs generated interest and any earning they had went into the CD. Each had paid interships every summer during college and held an on-campus job during the year. DD went through grad school with no debt because all she paid for (undergrad)was room & board at a private college based on ACT and high school GPA; DS has 3 years of med school grad debt and the counselor said he should have it paid off in 2 years. Both are in high paying careers and worked hard to get where they are. We are very proud

 

[mistysue]

Someday I will stop paying half of my income for childcare, at which point that will go to a savings account. As long as nobody develops any more strange medical needs that aren't covered but cost a ton of money! Doing that alone we would have enough in savings to pay for DD and most of one son's college by the time DD gets there. Our mortgage will also likely get paid off while our first in is college.
I suspect my oldest is the type who will want to do community college for a year or two before going away, which is completely fine with me.

 

[crisi]

Someday I will stop paying half of my income for childcare, at which point that will go to a savings account. As long as nobody develops any more strange medical needs that aren't covered but cost a ton of money! Doing that alone we would have enough in savings to pay for DD and most of one son's college by the time DD gets there. Our mortgage will also likely get paid off while our first in is college.
I suspect my oldest is the type who will want to do community college for a year or two before going away, which is completely fine with me.

From experience, this works really well.

 

[MrsPete]

Someday I will stop paying half of my income for childcare, at which point that will go to a savings account. As long as nobody develops any more strange medical needs that aren't covered but cost a ton of money! Doing that alone we would have enough in savings to pay for DD and most of one son's college by the time DD gets there. Our mortgage will also likely get paid off while our first in is college.
I suspect my oldest is the type who will want to do community college for a year or two before going away, which is completely fine with me.

Something wonderful my grandmother did for me, which I hope to someday do for my children:

She babysat my oldest child when I went back to teaching. She was thrilled to do it, and my child loved being with her. She refused money for this service (though she did allow us to buy her a playpen, a high chair and a car seat), but she insisted that we take the money we would've paid for day care and put it into a college account. We were already motivated to save, but this gave us a very strong start. Since education matters to her a great deal, she was pleased to know that she was able to contribute to her great-grandchild's college account.

Win-win-win situation. Unfortunately, it only lasted two and a half years -- then her health no longer permitted her to take care of a toddler -- but in those two and a half years, we put away a year and a half of college for that oldest child.

 

[mistysue]

Something wonderful my grandmother did for me, which I hope to someday do for my children:

She babysat my oldest child when I went back to teaching. She was thrilled to do it, and my child loved being with her. She refused money for this service (though she did allow us to buy her a playpen, a high chair and a car seat), but she insisted that we take the money we would've paid for day care and put it into a college account. We were already motivated to save, but this gave us a very strong start. Since education matters to her a great deal, she was pleased to know that she was able to contribute to her great-grandchild's college account.

Win-win-win situation. Unfortunately, it only lasted two and a half years -- then her health no longer permitted her to take care of a toddler -- but in those two and a half years, we put away a year and a half of college for that oldest child.

Yeah, we would have most of the tuition for all three of them paid for by now. It makes me nauseous. I try to pretend that nobody has an option like that so I don't think about it.

 

[csmommy]

College is just like anything else, you need to do a ton of research. Honestly, DS applied to 13 schools, 12 accepted him & out of the 12 he received significant Merit at 10. The school he choose in DC is covering his tuition for the next 4 years & we pay his room & board. His goal was to graduate with less than $10,000 in debit so he could take loans for Grad school. In his sophmore year he is going to apply to be an RA & if he gets that he will them have his room & board covered.

There are places to look for which schools give the best aid & since most everyone is going to need grad school, if it is possible, save your debt for that.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com...-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html

Just Google something like Colleges and Universities who award merit aid.

While your intentions are good, the more money you have saved under your name or your childs name, the less money the school will give you. It's wrong, but that is how the system works. Better to save money for retirement (since you can't take a loan out for that & the schools do not expect you to use your retirement money to pay for college) & tutors to help your kids achieve good grades, SAT/ACT scores over 2000/27, & leadership EC's.

 

[csmommy]

Some schools even come right out & tell you what you will get for certain GPA's & SAT/ACT scores:

http://www.msmary.edu/admissions/financial-aid/new-students/scholarships-grants/

It just takes a bit of homework & flexibility.

Also, Merit is awarded by the admissions counselors, while need based is done by the financial aid department. Both can be appealed. If you show the schools you are applying to some love, you will get that back. Visit, visit, visit! During your senior year apply early action, any & every award/distinction you receive senior year, let them know about it & that you hope they will take it into consideration when they put together your financial aid package. These emails should be sent by your kids, NOT you.

 

[danygirl]

Funny we just visited the Mount and were very impressed. The merit money puts them in line with instate tuition at a state school

 

[csmommy]

Funny we just visited the Mount and were very impressed. The merit money puts them in line with instate tuition at a state school

We really liked it too, but he would rather be in a city. Thankfully he was accepted to 2 schools in DC & 1 in NYC. Someone I worked with graduated from there as did his wife.

 

[crisi]

Some schools even come right out & tell you what you will get for certain GPA's & SAT/ACT scores:

http://www.msmary.edu/admissions/financial-aid/new-students/scholarships-grants/

It just takes a bit of homework & flexibility.

Also, Merit is awarded by the admissions counselors, while need based is done by the financial aid department. Both can be appealed. If you show the schools you are applying to some love, you will get that back. Visit, visit, visit! During your senior year apply early action, any & every award/distinction you receive senior year, let them know about it & that you hope they will take it into consideration when they put together your financial aid package. These emails should be sent by your kids, NOT you.

If your kid tops out merit aid here, you will still have almost $100k in tuition room board and books. Chances are, you still need to save, or your kids will have loans.

 

[csmommy]

If your kid tops out merit aid here, you will still have almost $100k in tuition room board and books. Chances are, you still need to save, or your kids will have loans.

This is just Merit Aid, it does not include Need Based Aid. In the state I live in this is the cost of instate tuition at our state schools. Now some kids do really well in large classes, my son does not. So if I am paying this type of money for a school I would rather he have classes with 20 kids as opposed to 80. Books you can get used, borrow, or get online for cheap according to my son after speaking with kids at the school he is accepted.

 

[crisi]

This is just Merit Aid, it does not include Need Based Aid. In the state I live in this is the cost of instate tuition at our state schools. Now some kids do really well in large classes, my son does not. So if I am paying this type of money for a school I would rather he have classes with 20 kids as opposed to 80. Books you can get used, borrow, or get online for cheap according to my son after speaking with kids at the school he is accepted.

Sure, but in my experience, families with enough money to go to Disney regularly don't get a lot of need based grant aid - they primarily get loans - if they get anything at all. You still need to find $100k for school. You aren't likely to get $100k in "free" aid as a middle class family. It does not negate the need to save - the topic of this thread. It simply makes some private schools affordable at the same level as public schools.

And $100k for school is still a lot more than if you were to be in a situation where your kid could live at home and go to community college for two years. Also the state college I graduated from last year never had more than 32 students in a class (and is $6k full time tuition) - a state school doesn't necessarily mean large class sizes.

I'm a huge fan of small private liberal arts schools - I'm the one with middle schoolers who already has $40k a year set aside for each of them - but its hard to argue that all this aid means you won't have to save.

 

[csmommy]

Sure, but in my experience, families with enough money to go to Disney regularly don't get a lot of need based grant aid - they primarily get loans - if they get anything at all. You still need to find $100k for school. You aren't likely to get $100k in "free" aid as a middle class family. It does not negate the need to save - the topic of this thread. It simply makes some private schools affordable at the same level as public schools.

And $100k for school is still a lot more than if you were to be in a situation where your kid could live at home and go to community college for two years. Also the state college I graduated from last year never had more than 32 students in a class (and is $6k full time tuition) - a state school doesn't necessarily mean large class sizes.

I'm a huge fan of small private liberal arts schools - I'm the one with middle schoolers who already has $40k a year set aside for each of them - but its hard to argue that all this aid means you won't have to save.

Well I have to disagree with you regarding "families with enough money to go to Disney regularly don't get a lot of need based grant aid - they primarily get loans" . Perhaps we don't fit the normal disney going mold. We go to WDW often b/c we purchased less than 100 points for DVC on the 2nd hand market, only stay in a studio, cook when there, very rarely (if ever) purchase souvenirs, often drive down & purchase 10 day - non-expiring - with plus passes & only do the parks for half the days we are there so the 10 day with plus lasts us 3 trips when used wisely. We qualified for $10,000 per year need based & $2,000 Pell Grant at the school he choose - & some schools offered him as much as $15,000 per year in need based.

How lucky your state schools are so reasonable with small classes! Alas that is not the way here. All I am saying is, while going through this whole process, we found that if you do a lot of homework there are plenty of smaller private schools where aid - either Merit & Need - are good. In speaking with FA officers at all the schools they came right out & said those that saved get screwed. It's not right, its just the system. We have saved some, but with layoffs & salary cuts in the past, it doesn't cover much over the 4 years.

Now if you open a 529 plan in an Aunt or Uncle's name or Grandparents name then it is not counted against you when you apply for aid. Just sayin'.

 

[ilovemk76]

Well I have to disagree with you regarding "families with enough money to go to Disney regularly don't get a lot of need based grant aid - they primarily get loans" . Perhaps we don't fit the normal disney going mold. We go to WDW often b/c we purchased less than 100 points for DVC on the 2nd hand market, only stay in a studio, cook when there, very rarely (if ever) purchase souvenirs, often drive down & purchase 10 day - non-expiring - with plus passes & only do the parks for half the days we are there so the 10 day with plus lasts us 3 trips when used wisely. We qualified for $10,000 per year need based & $2,000 Pell Grant at the school he choose - & some schools offered him as much as $15,000 per year in need based.

How lucky your state schools are so reasonable with small classes! Alas that is not the way here. All I am saying is, while going through this whole process, we found that if you do a lot of homework there are plenty of smaller private schools where aid - either Merit & Need - are good. In speaking with FA officers at all the schools they came right out & said those that saved get screwed. It's not right, its just the system. We have saved some, but with layoffs & salary cuts in the past, it doesn't cover much over the 4 years.

Now if you open a 529 plan in an Aunt or Uncle's name or Grandparents name then it is not counted against you when you apply for aid. Just sayin'.

It will count the year after the child takes a draw. If you only take a draw in their last year, then it will not count. It will also mean there was a years worth of college or less in the account.

 

[reagansmommy]

So is this a regional thing? I am from the south and between state scholarship money and schools (both private and public) making up the difference, I had a full ride, including tuition, fees, room, board, and books at every school in the state that I looked at. A few I didn't look into because I knew they would be a bad fit politically, but all the most regionally prestigious offered me a full ride. Of course this was a few years ago, but my cousin in is the same position graduating next year.

 

[allison443]

So is this a regional thing? I am from the south and between state scholarship money and schools (both private and public) making up the difference, I had a full ride, including tuition, fees, room, board, and books at every school in the state that I looked at. A few I didn't look into because I knew they would be a bad fit politically, but all the most regionally prestigious offered me a full ride. Of course this was a few years ago, but my cousin in is the same position graduating next year.

What state are you in? My state doesn't give any scholarship money.

I don't think it's a regional thing...you and your cousin got "full rides" but surely you're not saying everyone in your state does? I assume you were a top student?