College....How do people afford it??

[golfgal]

It can be done and even with not all that much work to do it. Also, don't automatically rule out private schools because of the cost, like most people do. Private schools have larger endowments and more aid available through grants, scholarships, etc. the state schools. It was SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive for me to attend a private college then it was to go to a state school or even a community college for that matter. Yes, I had loans but in the long run it was worth it.

The school I attended had a scholarship for your GPA. If you had a GPA of 3.75 or higher, $10,000, 3.65 got $7,500 and so on. I think it might be #12,000 and $10,000 now which makes the school less expensive then the state schools just with that one scholarship. Most students going to our private school received some kind of aid. DH also went to a private college and had his last 2 years paid for with ONE scholarship.

Make sure you fill our the financial aid forms, meet with the school counselors (our high school just had a meeting this past Tuesday to teach parents about college applications/aid, etc.). There is SO much out there for kids to go to school it is unbelievable but your student had to apply for them to get them.

Using your figures, if you can afford the $9000 if she stays at home and she were to get on of the grade scholarships I mentioned, say the $12,000 one, she has already met the cost of the school she is looking at just by having good grades (I don't know where she is at with that obviously).

 

[crz4mm2]

I agree. Loans. I went back to school as an adult. Parents couldn't afford to send me when I graduated high school and I knew nothing about financial aid back then.
I don't think parents are responsible for paying for their children's higher education. It's fine if you can afford it and want to, but I don't think it is YOUR responsibility to PAY for the kid's college.

I am still paying off my higher education loans (BSN, MSN) from 1998.

 

[lillygator]

I had to take out loans for myself, which I will be paying back forever....as soon as my girls were born I took out 529 plans and also purchased the Florida prepaid 4 year university plan. We don't plan on openly telling them we have this as they will be expected to maintain good grades and earn some scholarship's, hopefully the bright futures scholarship will still be around then.

 

[grinningghost]

DD is about to start college in the fall, and for us, it will be loans, scholarships and financial aid. We have barely anything saved for her college - it just wasn't something we did - probably should have, but didn't.

I am willing to pay most of it - I feel that's part of the deal when you have a child - but I know not everyone feels that way.

 

[Beth76]

Wow lots of loans here. We have already started college funds for our boys. We will pay their tuition and room/board in full (so long as they're not partying 24/7 ). The amount we're able to save now won't cover it, but we'll add to it as time goes by. We have a while. Also, as long as we don't move or refinance, our mortgage will be paid by the time my oldest gets to college. And we'll be a dual income family by then rather than single as we are now. My parents are both teachers and managed to save up to send my sister and me through college without loans.

 

[golfgal]

Wow lots of loans here. We have already started college funds for our boys. We will pay their tuition and room/board in full (so long as they're not partying 24/7 ). The amount we're able to save now won't cover it, but we'll add to it as time goes by. We have a while. Also, as long as we don't move or refinance, our mortgage will be paid by the time my oldest gets to college. And we'll be a dual income family by then rather than single as we are now. My parents are both teachers and managed to save up to send my sister and me through college without loans.

One thing about student loans, DH and I both had them and found the payments to be more then manageable when we started working. The percent of debt we had is consistent with what kids have now in relation to starting salaries too, so it wasn't like we had it 'easier' then they do. The one thing we found was that we had a LOT easier time buying our first house then any of our friends because we had a credit history, a good one, from paying on our loans. A lot of our friends were denied their applications for their first houses because they had no credit history. Just something to think about. I think ALL students should have at least one loan just to establish that credit history. Even if you have the money to pay off the loan, make payments on it for a year or two and then pay it off if you like.

 

[MsLeFever]

Talk to the financial aid office at the school she wants to attend. Schedule a meeting - they will be happy to tell you about all of your options.

As many others here have mentioned - student loans are the way to go. You can take 20 years to repay and the rates are about the lowest you can find for personal loans.

 

[Laura]

I took out loans myself, not my dad. He put in a certain amount, and the rest was my responsibility. I got a scholarship and some loans.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

We have already started college funds for our boys. We will pay their tuition and room/board in full (so long as they're not partying 24/7 ). The amount we're able to save now won't cover it, but we'll add to it as time goes by.

This is us too. My girls are 10 and 7 and we have been paying into their accounts for several years.

 

[punkin]

Loans!!!

I can afford to pay $10K every year (and that is by being very tight in the budget). After that my girls will have to take out loans or get scholarships.

 

[snowwite]

We are going to have to take out loans. I am giving DD my old car(if she ever gets her liscence) and she will pay the auto insurance. We pay her health insurance and she can live with us so there will be no rent or food bills plus we pay her cell phone and are getting her laptop as a graduation gift. She is not happy that my one requirement is to go to the local school where she can commute unless she gets a similar scholarship offer elsewhere. She has applied at some schools where a semester is more than I make a year! I think she has it pretty darn good because I got a pell grant and worked to pay my way through college.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My parents are both teachers and managed to save up to send my sister and me through college without loans.

College tutions have risen 40%....The average cost is 20,000 per year for all expenses. That is for an in-state public university & living on campus.
St. Louis U is 27,000 just for tuition.

My brother just got his Master's from Washington U and his work is reimbursing him. That cost is crazy....34,000.

However still not as nuts as the Ivies...we could never afford those.

 

[freckles and boo]

After paying off our crippling loan debt for undergrad and grad school, we decided to budget for our kids' undergraduate educations. We bought a house we could afford and it will be paid off when the kids get to high school. In addition each girl has a 529, a savings account, and a taxable brokerage account with some stocks. They are only 4 and 6 now, but we plan to contribute to the 529s, and to use the other accounts as teaching tools so they can learn to save and invest. Our younger daughter is very bright but she is also autistic - we don't know what type of higher education will accommodate her and whether she will be able to handle a traditional college experience. We are saving as if she was a typical child, because she surprises us every day.

I think I do things differently than I would have had I become a parent in my twenties instead of my thirties. If I didn't have much saved and college was looming, I would become a financial aid expert and follow all the great advice you have gotten here.

 

[golfgal]

College tutions have risen 40%....The average cost is 20,000 per year for all expenses. That is for an in-state public university & living on campus.
St. Louis U is 27,000 just for tuition.

My brother just got his Master's from Washington U and his work is reimbursing him. That cost is crazy....34,000.

However still not as nuts as the Ivies...we could never afford those.

This isn't really all that new. My cousin attended the same college I did 10 years before I did and my costs were double what she paid. That same school today is about double what I paid 20 years earlier (meaning it took twice as long to double the costs as it did previously). You also have to consider that starting wages have gone up quite a bit. The job DH had right out of college had a starting wage when we graduated of about $16,000/year. That exact same job now starts at about $35,000. The starting wage of the job I had right out of college was $20,000 and is now $25,000--teaching job though. Total cost of a year at our school then was about $16,000, now total cost is about $35,000. It is all relative.

 

[Snoozan]

My youngest DS went to the local community college for 2 years while living at home and his last 2 years were spent at a state college. He shared an apartment for those 2 years so we paid his living expenses while he took out the loans for the tuition. He'll be leaving school with $11K in loans, but he knows those have to be paid off before buying any "fun" stuff once he gets a full-time job. I'm hoping to be able to help a bit on the loans, when I can, but my DH and I are committed to saving as much as we can towards retirement. Our goal is to retire w/i 12 years, when DH is 62 and I'll be 60.

 

[ilovejack02]

Im not sure, my oldest is 17.5 (stepson) his mom and my Dh were very young when they got prego. There was no chance to save any money being young and poor. We have been married 10 yrs, and of course Dh was still young lol when we got married. We only started making GOOD money about 5-6 yrs ago and had to work on saving for homes retirement etc.
He is going to culinary school soon and we are looking at 26,000 for 2 yrs ! He is going to have to get loans and that is all there is to it. We will be able to help with gas and some bills and a little spending money and when he is done we may help with some of the loans but we are not getting a second mortgage on my house to help send him to school. We arent going to just throw him out there and say find your own money for everything, but we cant pay it all.
My new DS has a education fund, but its mainly funded by my parents and I know when the time comes it wont pay for everything either. It is really for any of his education so we dont have to pay for private school ( if need be) out of pocket, so it may be used for that. He will have to get loans to and we will help with what we can.

 

[katerkat]

I started Russ's college savings account the same day he got his social security number.

 

[Lachesis00]

We were lucky. I saved 1/2 my son's PFD (Alaska oil money given each year) for 10 years (can't get it when you move dog gone it) which pre-bought his credits. At the time he could go to most schools in Alaska, WA, Oregon, Montana and I think Idaho.
He had enough credits bought for a 4 year school. Granted it probably won't pay for housing or books, but tuition in Alaska has gone up from $24 a credit to over $200 a credit for undergrads since 1989.

My mom keeps trying to buy the credits off of me... even part of them for my nephews. I think not. My sister was stupid and did not put any of their PFDs away.

 

[Patty3]

Three kids put through college, three times the house was refinanced.

 

[Saphire]

Also, don't exclude private universities and colleges because of the tuition. The private ones are usually very well endowed and can offer great award packages of their own.

This is one of the best kept secrets that few people realize. Many parents discourage their kids from looking into pricier private universities because they assume they can't afford it. If your child has their eye on such a school...apply! My sons got more scholarship money from the most expensive school they applied to. It was cheaper for them to attend the private University than attend our state school!