How much do colleges take from your savings?

[Allison]

Really bad idea

 

[Swan4Me]

DH thinks we should spend more of our savings b/c when dd14 goes to college, they will take a lot of it. BTW, DH is a professor and dd could go tuition free there, but she wants to go to an ivy league like DH did We'll see.

If you are middle income ( I'm a SAHM), do they take a lot of what you have saved?

Sorry-FREE trumps Ivy League in my book

Whay Ivy League school did your DH graduate from?

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Princeton for undergraduate, Cornell for PhD.
The college he works for also does an exchange program where your child may be able to go free to another college they are associated with if you can find a faculty child that wants to go to our college.

 

[allison443]

Thanks for all the answers. Some of you are so silly to think I am talking about blowing all our savings- we just want to figure out if we can take some out to travel more before the kids are in college! The only debt we have is our home mortgage, both cars are paid for and no other credit card or medical debt.
Maybe we will go talk to someone in financial aid at DH's college. I would love for her to go there but she has set her standard's high. We'll see. Also, at the Ivy Leagues there is something ( I can't remember what it's called) but if you have a parent/grandparent/sibling who went there you are more likely to get in. I didn't say I thought it was fair,though! So don't flame me.

That is referred to as being a "legacy"

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for all the answers. Some of you are so silly to think I am talking about blowing all our savings- we just want to figure out if we can take some out to travel more before the kids are in college! The only debt we have is our home mortgage, both cars are paid for and no other credit card or medical debt.

I guess the question is...what is that savings for?

If the savings is for something to fall back on in case of extended job loss, then it would be near lunacy to spend it on other things. If it's just savings for the heck of it, then maybe you're over-saving, and it *should* be used for other things? Or maybe it would be better to put it into a college fund for your daughter but of course, since it's the whole point of yo uguys thinking of it, if it can't fund ALL of it, it could just hurt the ability to get financial help.


Remind your daughter that transferring in is a viable option, after doing 2 years at the FREE school.

 

[punkin]

Sorry-FREE trumps Ivy League in my book

Whay Ivy League school did your DH graduate from?

Now, that depends...I can easily see scenarios where Ivy League would definitely trump FREE.

Besides, Ivy League schools are very good when it comes to financial aid. They have huge endowments and they are not afraid to use them.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

Big thing to keep in mind is that college expenses go wayyyy beyond tuition!

Things to keep in mind are:

- parking permits (can be very expensive, especially with universities in the city)
- text books (can also add up quickly)
- laptops (most universities require them, and many have specific models)
- rooming (where I go to school - Clemson, go tigers!, scholarships can be applied to room & board on campus, but not off-campus)
- depending on major, extra materials (as an architect major, I have to purchase a lot of materials for projects)
- food, on and off meal plan
- furnishings for dorm room/apartment
- sorority/fraternity membership fees and dues
- other club/organization dues, such as Honors College, major-specific orgs...

There are many, many additional costs that people don't think about when saving up for college.

Personally, I don't think you should take much, if anything, out of your savings, right now.

Why don't you wait until the kids get out of college, then have a nice vacation with the money you've saved (maybe)!

And an Ivy Master's would go further than an Ivy Bachelor's. I'm a big advocate for affordable quality undergrad rather than incurred debt for undergrad in fields that will likely lead to grad work. Even if it is just for the first year or two as long as credits transfer to the desired Ivy.

This is a great piece of advice!!!



As for where DD goes to school, let it be her choice! I chose my college based on my major. But, I know people who have chosen because of location, the football team, financial aid, etc. It really is a personal decision.

 

[dfchelbay]

Excuse me if I'm being forward, but unless your daughter gets a full ride scholarship to the ivy league school she wants, then she should take full advantage of the free tuition provided as a benefit of her father's employment. Just because it's not what she (or any child) wants doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. It's good enough to provide for her and give her everything she has via her father's job. Why would anyone take on all that debt, or drain hard earned savings when a University is willing to give them free tuition? Sorry if this post sounds rude, but I would take the free education given, and not the selfish (sorry) wants just cause you want, cause what's being provided isn't good enough somehow. (Sorry if this sounds harsh). Unless she is going to be some politician, I don't really see the "need" for attending an ivy league school. I say politician because that is a field in which little to no doors will ever be opened to her UNLESS she attended ivy league like the rest of them....WHICH IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS!

 

[MickeyManiac]

Excuse me if I'm being forward, but unless your daughter gets a full ride scholarship to the ivy league school she wants, then she should take full advantage of the free tuition provided as a benefit of her father's employment. Just because it's not what she (or any child) wants doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. It's good enough to provide for her and give her everything she has via her father's job. Why would anyone take on all that debt, or drain hard earned savings when a University is willing to give them free tuition? Sorry if this post sounds rude, but I would take the free education given, and not the selfish (sorry) wants just cause you want, cause what's being provided isn't good enough somehow. (Sorry if this sounds harsh). Unless she is going to be some politician, I don't really see the "need" for attending an ivy league school. I say politician because that is a field in which little to no doors will ever be opened to her UNLESS she attended ivy league like the rest of them....WHICH IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS!

I work for a state university and half tuition for my dependents is one of my benefits. Being a state school our budgets are at the mercy of the Legislature so as you can imagine times are tough. I just got my first raise in 3 years Sadly I am very underpaid. DS has known for a long time that my tuition benefit is part of his college fund. He is under NO obligation to go to this school but if he choses to go to another school we will not be contributing any more than we would if he were to attend my university.

Now that it's so close he's starting to see the value of this benefit vs years of student loans. I should also say that this is a very good university, I'm not expecting him to settle for a subpar education for cheaper tuition. It's going to be an interesting year.

 

[crisi]

You might find something like this helpful: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/quickefc.phtml

They aren't going to be 100% accurate, but its a start.

 

[windycitymom]

I bet alot of families would be thrilled to be in your shoes and have a FREE college education waiting for their kids if they desired. At a minimum, she should go to her dad's school for the first two years for FREE. If she transfers to her "choice" school after that, her diploma will still say the "choice" name. IMO, more important than her school choice, is her college GPA. Or do all four years for FREE than go to graduate school or get a master's at her choice school. Fyi...FAFSA is a total joke and middle class families get nothing!

 

[DawnM]

I would be thrilled! You better believe my children would be offered the free school as a 1st choice and anything other than that would be their responsibility!

I had a dear friend in college whose father was a Prof. She paid only 10% of her tuition.

Dawn

I bet alot of families would be thrilled to be in your shoes and have a FREE college education waiting for their kids if they desired. At a minimum, she should go to her dad's school for the first two years for FREE. If she transfers to her "choice" school after that, her diploma will still say the "choice" name. IMO, more important than her school choice, is her college GPA. Or do all four years for FREE than go to graduate school or get a master's at her choice school. Fyi...FAFSA is a total joke and middle class families get nothing!

 

[collegejunkie]

i go to an ivy and transferred between ivies. i don't get financial aid, but i will try to help you and feel free to PM me if you have specific questions and i can try to find out for you

ivies don't give merit-based money, so everything is calculated based on your assets and income. if you make under $75,000 a year, then you are guaranteed no loans in your package and your family contribution is $0. you do have a student contribution of 1-3k depending on the year in school. it gets a little trickier from there, as different schools place different caps on the amount that they're willing to "allow" you to make before tacking loans on and considering a family contribution. they will take 1/3 of the savings in your daughter's name for sure, so move any of that money. i don't remember what the amount was for parents' savings, but 25% is stuck in my mind. if you have any property besides the house you live in, they will consider that property's value and assume that you will be willing to sell it to pay for your child's education, so i would also get rid of extra property.

that said, you should be willing to pay for your child's education as much as you can because the school doesn't owe you grant money. you will probably get a good amount unless your husband makes over $150,000 a year, anyway.

 

[nsmith]

Any advise on where to find these scholarships?? I never hear anyone getting the ones on the oneline scholarship sites.

 

[nsmith]

Thanks for all the answers. Some of you are so silly to think I am talking about blowing all our savings- we just want to figure out if we can take some out to travel more before the kids are in college! The only debt we have is our home mortgage, both cars are paid for and no other credit card or medical debt.
Maybe we will go talk to someone in financial aid at DH's college. I would love for her to go there but she has set her standard's high. We'll see. Also, at the Ivy Leagues there is something ( I can't remember what it's called) but if you have a parent/grandparent/sibling who went there you are more likely to get in. I didn't say I thought it was fair,though! So don't flame me.

Perhaps you should earmark your savings each week, that is what we do. We treat college savings, vacation savings, christmas savings as bills each week. We came up with these figures after looking at how much we HAVE to put aside to pay the bills/pocket money and how much was left over. After we pay all of our bills (including above mentioned items) we put the rest in our savings account.

 

[MrsPete]

DD18 did not get work study her first year, but this year's package includes $2000 of work study. Now all she has to do is find a job.

If she has work study, the school assigns her a job.

I had work study in college, and I don't remember how I knew what to do -- I must've had a letter in the mail telling me where to go -- but they showed me a list of departments neededing student workers, and I picked one. They told me how many hours I was allowed to work each month, and I arranged the hours with the department secretary (very flexible). I just answered phones, copied/stapled tests, ran errands. At the end of the month I think I collected my paycheck from the financial aid office.

The next year the department specifically requested that I be assigned to them again, so the arrangements were even easier. The departments are accustomed to working with work study students, and they make it easy.

I think many people are shocked when they see how much they are expected to pay for college. I read somewhere that it is often one-quarter to one-third of income. This figure isn't all from current earnings...it is supposed to be made up of savings, current income, and loans.

This is accurate. The FAFSA people figure you've had this child for 18 years, and college didn't sneak up on you. They don't expect you to have $$$$ extra from this year's paychecks; rather, they expect that you've got a little of the past 18 years of paychecks saved towards that big expense.

 

[Karenj2]

Thanks for all the answers. Some of you are so silly to think I am talking about blowing all our savings- we just want to figure out if we can take some out to travel more before the kids are in college! The only debt we have is our home mortgage, both cars are paid for and no other credit card or medical debt.
Maybe we will go talk to someone in financial aid at DH's college. I would love for her to go there but she has set her standard's high. We'll see. Also, at the Ivy Leagues there is something ( I can't remember what it's called) but if you have a parent/grandparent/sibling who went there you are more likely to get in. I didn't say I thought it was fair,though! So don't flame me.

My DH had free tuition to Villanova (a very good college near us) because his uncle is a Priest in the order that runs the school, but he really wanted to go to Notre Dame. He went to Villanova for one year, then transferred to ND the following year. He took out student loans to do this - his parents couldn't contribute.

Personally, I think that, depending on your degree, going to an Ivy league school doesn't mean that much. I went to James Madison University - and I don't think any of my employers cared that I didn't go to Princeton or Yale. What my parents did, and we plan on doing with our children, is offering to pay $X amount per year - if the child wants to go to a school that's more than that, she will have to come up with the difference, either through their savings, scholarships, or a loan.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Here's another question- it's been 22 years since I started college and the memories are fading so I'll have to ask- did you get a financial aid package from each school right away after you received your acceptance letter?

 

[shortbun]

I agree that affordable undergrad(as long as it's a reputable college or university) followed by a graduate degree at Ivy or near Ivy League is most practical and beneficial. I have a friend who quit her job when her boys were in high school, got them scholarships-they were all valediictorian candidates- and they all ended up with graduate degrees from Ivy or similar(Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown). They are now scientists and surgeons. She barely went out of pocket. Even the graduate degrees were compensated. Their dad had 50% benefits at Kenyon College but not one attended Kenyon-a great school!

I need to get my act together. My son is a sophmore this coming year.

 

[LilyWDW]

If she has work study, the school assigns her a job.

I had work study in college, and I don't remember how I knew what to do -- I must've had a letter in the mail telling me where to go -- but they showed me a list of departments neededing student workers, and I picked one. They told me how many hours I was allowed to work each month, and I arranged the hours with the department secretary (very flexible). I just answered phones, copied/stapled tests, ran errands. At the end of the month I think I collected my paycheck from the financial aid office.
.

Our school sort of works between the 2 extremes. The school will allow departments to post any positions needed on a board outside the financial aid department. It is then up to the student to follow up on those to find a position for work study. So, the school helps, but most of it falls on the student.