Have you prepaid for your kids college?

[mamalle]

both our kids have the fla prepaid for their 4 year college tution. we paid a lump sum for both- dd was right around $7,000 and ds was around $7,800.

 

[jordgubben]

Hi, I'm a 26 year old graduate of a private college who pays about $800 per month in student loans (this includes my husband's loans from the same school).

Am I glad that my parents did not pay for some pre-paid state college program? You bet I am!

Truth be told I had absolutely no desire to attend a state school (or any colleges in NJ for that matter - and I visited nearly all of them) since none of them seemed like a fit. For me, the perfect school happened to be a small, private college in central PA called Elizabethtown.

Etown isn't exactly what you would call inexpensive, however, taking everything into consideration (read: financial aid packet) it was basically the same as a college in NJ. This was terrific news since I couldn't picture myself anywhere else.

One thing my parents did promise me was that even if I decided to attend the university 10 miles away from home I would still be allowed to live on campus. This is huge - and it has nothing to do with partying.

I was extremely involved in college. I was an active member and student leader of the two largest organizations on campus. This meant that I attended regular weekly meetings and other events. Long story short, I either had a meeting (9pm was our regular time slot) or event at least 4 nights of the week. If I had not lived on campus, at least my first year, my involvement in these organizations would have been extremely limited. I think that would have been definite loss because, while it might seem like a cliche, I really do believe that what I learned through my involvement in Student Senate and the Activities Planning Board had more direct application to "the real world" than most of my academic pursuits. In fact, when I finally did land in "the real world" it amazed me how much less organized and less effective meetings were compared to the student run meetings I was used to.

So, to summarize:

Do I have student loans? You bet!

Would have I have gone to a school other than Etown if it meant no school loans? Well, it's tough to say no to free money but I can't say that I would have been happy about it and frankly I don't think that I would have flourish the way I did at Etown.

Does I sometime wish I didn't have school loans? Yeah, but I just keep thinking about the $800/month raise I'm getting in 10 years.

 

[Steven'sMom]

Being a single mom, I hope that my son will get scholarships!!! Or a least financial aid and loans and hopefully he will also be able to save some money, too! I do have a 529 plan for him though, that I contribute to every month.

 

[lillygator]

That's why the comment wasn't directed at you.....other previous posters (page 1) made comments such as "that's what loans, scholarships and jobs are for", and " I didn't get help, and I won't help my kids" (maybe those aren't the exact words, but they are close enough)

My goal is to provide what my kids will need. For one child, working a part time job during school may be too much (they need more study time, for example). Another child may be able to handle a full class load and part time job with two hands tied behind their back.

In my family, I attended a private 4 year university (out of town), my sister stayed at home and did junior college and local college, and my brother attended an out of area state university. We all made the choice we wanted, for different reasons. My parents supported those individual choices.

Julia

I wasn't going to touch it again - but you said it perfectly!!

Thank you!

 

[DVCLiz]

I, too, believe that my children will appreciate their college education more if they are contributing to it. However, I don't think how their education is funded is the best way to measure their contribution. I'm going to measure it by watching for grades and maturity, both of which are earned over time with hard work and experience.

Having a child work to earn a college education is fine if that is your family choice. That doesn't happen to be my choice. I'd much rather have a child learning to be independent, manage time, have a social life that doesn't interfere with other responsibilities, etc. That's all I expect from my college-age child. And if she does that well, she'll be ready for her next step into the working world, which I hope she'll be ready and eager for.

And I respect other's choices to have their students live at home, but that again is not my choice. It totally defeats one of the main purposes of college, as far as I'm concerned. I just can't imagine how my children would gain the independence I'd like them to achieve. Different strokes for different folks, I guess!

 

[Suzanne74]

I haven't read too far into this but for those considering 529 plans for their kids, have one of your parents, a godparent or a trusted friend or family member put the 529 in their name for your kid. You end up with more chances for financial aid since the 529 doesn't show up as your savings.

Just an FYI as it is one of those things 529 plans "put out there" but if you talk to a financial advisor first they will explain things. Also - don't think you HAVE to buy your own states 529 plans. Some give in state people benefits over our of staters but most don't. If your states plan isn't that good then look into another one since they are all for any schools, not just state schools. Now the prepaid plan - that is a different story. You have to decide if your state has enough good public schools for you child to choose from. Maryland has some good ones but we are so close to Virginia and many other states that could offer her something more then Maryland can - so we opted to do the 529 when dd was 2 yrs old.

My opinion on all the "who should pay for what" issue is that it all depends on your finances and your family. I am all for my daughter learning to contribute but I know that by the time, she goes to college tuition will be thru the roof (it is rising 3-4X higher then the national average salary rises) so there is no way you can bank on financial aid alone in 10-20yrs. Who knows where financial aid will even be by then. My feeling is that I will pay for the tuition (and possibly board) as long as her GPA is over 2.75 but she will have to pay for her books and supplies. I don't want her working to pay off loans for the rest of her life. My DH's family didn't pay a cent of his college (when his dad could afforded to but chose not to) and he is still paying off some loans at 36 I don't want that for my children and DH esp does not. My parents paid for ALL of my school and I worked very hard because it was their money and not financial aid. I am so appreciative of what they did for me that I am taking them to Disney in 15 days, all expenses paid!!!

 

[rocky41102]

We are planning to set up some type of 529 type plan for our son's college expenses. I imagine by the time he gets to college, we'll have a lot of it covered, but he'll be contributing also. Financial aid is great, but loans can sure add up. My husband and I both have large student loans from a public university and grad school even while working part time- we've been paying on them for 5 years and hopefully in about 20 more years they will all be paid off! We've decided we don't want our son to have that much debt hanging over him right when he graduates. He's going to have some loans just because of how high tuition is going, but hopefully we can keep it as low as possible.

 

[reginaastralis]

I am a single mom to an eight month old little girl. I wanted to buy into the Florida Prepaid Scholarship this year, but my dd's social security number wasn't in before they raised the rates.

I think the Prepaid program here has a lot of different options. I can pay for just two years at a community college, two years at a cc and then a public university, or four years at a university. Also, there is an add on for books/room and board.

I went to college right after highschool. I was less than one point to low for the scholarship that paid 75% of my tuition. My parents made way to much money for me to get any funding from the school, they also gave me nothing towards school. I was working 50 hours a week, and I dropped out. I now have $3,000 in loans for a lot of f's. I think I passed two classes my first year, it was just too much for me to handle.

I want to give my daughter the oppurtunity to go wherever she wants. I don't care if it's UF, USF, or Hillsborough Community College. I don't care if she moves to California, as long as she knows she has school as an option. And, what if something where to happen to me. Her father doesn't give us child support, he sure isn't going to give money to his daughter for school. I can't expect anyone to take care of my daughter, other than myself.

Julie will know about her prepaid plan. *Whichever one I choose* I'll expect her to work, to get great grades, and most importantly, I'll know she accpreciates it. I think I read that they expect school to be in the $100,000 for four years by the time my daughter is old enough to be in school, I personally don't know anyone who can afford that.

Amanda

 

[my3kids]

I recently came across this information: http://www.gacollegesavings.com/pdf/pay_for_college.pdf I found it very interesting to see the myths and realities of college costs. While looking for that one, I found this: http://www.collegeboard.com/article/0,3868,6-29-0-4494,00.html which was also good information. (Now only if I could find how people just have a click *Here* word that covers up all the link......)

 

[dcfromva]

I think I read that they expect school to be in the $100,000 for four years by the time my daughter is old enough to be in school,

Amanda,
That figure is shocking... But
I went to college a long time ago (30 years ago) and attended several colleges and universities before graduating. One of the schools I attended for a couple of years was a private university. I believe the tuition was around $3,000 a year way back then (it doesn't seem like that much now. ) It now costs 28,270 a year.


You are doing a good thing for your daughter.

-DC