Paying for college

[tiggerlover]

I am just curious how many of you foot the entire bill for your children's college education? For those who don't foot the whole bill, what kind of arrangements do you have with your kids, do you pay a portion and they pay a portion with loans or what other arrangement do you have?

 

[PrincessPatty]

Parents paid for my 2 year community college education (just tuition..books were on me)

When I transferred to a state school to finish my bachelors, I took out loans and paid for everything myself.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I'm in college right now. My parents each pay roughly 1/3 (they're divorced). The other 1/3 (approx) comes out of a 529 that they started for me awhile ago. My dad considers the 529 "my" portion, but realistically it is mostly their money. What they pay goes toward room and board (and all the random fees). I pay for books and expenses with my own money. Mom does pay for my medicine and a lot of my snack stuff though. I offer to pay but she seems to enjoy taking me shopping for whatever I need whenever I go home. At the moment I have no loans, but that may change in 2 years when my sister heads off to college. Then I may have to pick up my mom's portion. Although I'm a major money saver, so I may not have to take out any loans until grad school. I do have a small scholarship from the university that is renewable each year, and had a couple of small scholarships from high school activities that basically paid for my books last year

 

[christineann]

My kids both have scholarships and loans, and I have parent loans for them. Most of the stuff in their names is scholarship money. They each have a fund set up by their grandparents that will pay at least some of their loans off. Even though I am the sole support of our family, I am trying to pay as much as I can for their education. If I could pay it all, I would. I feel comfortable saying that because they are very much aware of the importance of making the most of the opportunity to get a college education and the financial sacrifices that are being made, and they show it by being focused on their future and by getting very good grades. They insist on paying me back for their education, but I would rather handle this myself if I can.

I am the queen of FAFSA!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

I am in my senior year now and i have been very fortunate..my parents and grandparents have paid for everything while ive been in college..It was always under the terms that i kept my grades at the A or B level

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

I am a Junior in college. My parents told me they would pay for my college education as long as grades were all A's and B's and I got some scholarship. I pay for my own books and food, they pay for my housing. Like monarchsfan though my mom is always taking me grocery shopping and sending me food so I really don't spend that much on food. Moms seem to like to do that!

 

[DisneyBlonde]

I recently got married, and in a few months I'll be selling my current house to move with my husband...I plan to set aside some money from the sale of my house for college.

I currently pay about $8k a year for DS's high school...so I will continue to set that money aside. I think I will have DS get student loans each year...and give him what I have accumulated for him when the loan comes due (used to be one year after graduation, I need to look into that). Then he'll have to pay off the rest of the loans himself.

We're also hoping for some scholarship money.

I think this is fair. My parents told me I had to go to college, they told me which college I could and couldn't go to, and they didn't give me a penny to pay for it.

 

[jimmiej]

We paid about 70%. Of that amount, we borrowed about 60%. The other 40% we already had. Our daughter paid for the rest through student loans. She graduates from the University of Texas Dec. 9th & is getting married Dec. 30th. Wow!!!

 

[horseshowmom]

Parents paid for my 2 year community college education (just tuition..books were on me)

When I transferred to a state school to finish my bachelors, I took out loans and paid for everything myself.

That's pretty much what happened with me. My parents picked up all the costs for the 2 years at community college. I got a part-time job and made my own spending money. When I went to a private Christian college to finish up, I got student loans.

In DD's case, we worked long and hard throughout the years on her education, extracurricular activities, etc. with the hopes of getting a lot of scholarships. Fortunately, she did get those scholarships at a state university, and all of her expenses have been paid - for which we're very grateful.

A few things have come up that have tempted her to get loans, but we've encouraged her to work a little part-time every chance she gets and not to do the loans. I realize that some people can't help it, but they can wind up being a heavy burden.

 

[christineann]

Usually, the student begins paying off his/her college loans 6 months after graduation. Should the student be unable to do so, he/she can apply for a deferral.

My daughter's largest scholarship requires that she maintain dean's list grades to renew the award each year. I think that is pretty tough for a physics major, but she is determined. I wish I had her brains!

 

[CherCrazy]

I am paying for my kids college education as we go along. It is REALLY tough sometimes...especially when you want to put in a trip to WDW.

Here's the rundown...DS #1 ... had a four year athletic scholarship that paid for his tuition. We paid most of his room and board for the 4 years he was away. BUT...he didn't graduate due to bad grades , a major that he didn't really want but wouldn't change, and it was a five year program. So, he lives home now, and is doing an accelerated program at a local state university...on HIS dime now. I wouldn't pay since he didn't do so well when I was footing the bill. Now he's getting A's. Imagine that. He will graduate with less than $10k in tuition bills.

DD ... went to a state university for a year, we paid. She hated it, moved home, graduated community college and now is enrolled at another very highly rated state university, but living at home. We have paid all her expenses except books. She is an excellent student, so I don't worry about wasting my $$ for bad grades.

DS #2... is getting the short end of the stick. The lesson that we learned from DS#1 was with all the $$ we spent over and above the scholarship,and he still didn't graduate. So DS#2 is going to community college, fully paid by me, and we'll see if he does well enough for me to foot the bill to a university to finish up his degree. So far, he gets an A in partying and staying up all night....stay tuned.

Why do I do this? ....many reasons, but first I really believe that you need a college education in most cases to really get ahead in life. I did not get a degree myself until I was 40, I finally had to do it to get ahead in my career. I also believe that it is my responsibility to pay for their education. I can't see them coming out of school facing mountains of debt that will take years and years to pay off. I also found that there are very few scholarship $$ available for the middle class. The FAFSA is a complete joke.

I have worked with young clients that have over $100k in college loans and are only making $40k per year. To me, that's insane. Sooo, if I am shorting my retirement funds to make sure that my kids have a debt free start into adulthood, no worries, I'll just move in with them.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

We started a mutual fund for each of our girls when they were born and save monthly for them.

Our eldest is 16. I have signed her up on Fastweb and am challenging her to complete one scholorship application every month between here and the start of college. We have worked with her to help her maintain honor roll throughout the past two years, hoping to keep her in the running for many scholorship opportunities. We've sent her to test prep courses. She does community service as well.

We've planned, we've saved, and we're trying our hardest not to have to put out a penny for our daughter's college education. When she is finished with college, she can either have that money or use it to pay for medical school.

When I went to college, my parents paid as much as they could, and I worked to pay the rest. But they didn't save for my college the way I'm saving for my girls. I don't know which way is better in the end, because I don't regret having to pay for my education. I really value that!

 

[minnie56]

Paying for 2 daughters...one in 4th year the other in 2nd. It's a killer sometimes but we can say at the end of the day that we did our best!

 

[christineann]

Chercrazy, I sympathize with you. I am a divorced mom with no help, working as a paralegal, and when my son applied, we were told that I make too much for him to qualify for a Pell Grant! Now that I have 2 kids in college, they think I'm a little bit more pitiful and came through with one. Both of my kids have jobs also.

My daughter was offered some full scholarships for basketball, but she would have had a difficult time in her chosen major if she had decided to play basketball. She was offered a walk-on with option to play into money by one of her first choice schools, but after she really thought about it, she knew that the academics would suffer. Fortunately, the academic money came through, and she knows that she made the right decision to concentrate on academics.

My kids tell me that they plan to make it possible for me to retire and become an old lady who walks her dogs on the beach. I have told them that I am not their responsibility, but geez, that sounds nice.

 

[ashjohnson80]

I paid for my own college. I had a full scholarship for two years and then took out student loans for the rest. Now I just have to find a way to pay them off.

 

[smartestnumber5]

My parents got tons of money in financial aid and paid the rest (I paid for books) and had to come up with all of my spending money, money for car, clothing, etc. I went to a private liberal arts college so the tuition plus room and board came out to about $35,000 a year. My parents had to pay maybe $2000-3000 a year I think. I also won a scholarship which made up part of the financial aid such that I didn't have to take out any loans at all.

There was never a question of whether my parents would be willing to pay for college. The question was always whether they could afford it. I applied to numerous other schools and got into some of the top liberal arts schools in the country, but their financial aid packages weren't quite as good. They generally wanted something like $4000-5000 a year and required some small loans. My parents told me I could make the choice, but I would have to come up with the difference of about $1500 a year.

At the time I wasn't all that happy about having to go to the school I did (though it was still a very good one and I got into a top graduate school in my field after graduating from it), but now I'm quite glad I didn't commit myself to spending an extra $6000 and taking out $10,000 in loans. I graduated from college debt free and in fact had built up enough savings from working during high school and college and graduation presents to buy a new car for driving long distances to graduate school.

Of course, my brother did not have the kinds of grades I did, so he did not have the same kind of options from merit scholarships. I think just 2 years of his school costs my parents more than all 4 years of mine, plus he is taking out loans. (But then, he does computer science and I do philosophy--so he'll at least have a marketable skill to help him pay those loans off.)

 

[CherCrazy]

Chercrazy, I sympathize with you. I am a divorced mom with no help, working as a paralegal, and when my son applied, we were told that I make too much for him to qualify for a Pell Grant! Now that I have 2 kids in college, they think I'm a little bit more pitiful and came through with one. Both of my kids have jobs also.

My daughter was offered some full scholarships for basketball, but she would have had a difficult time in her chosen major if she had decided to play basketball. She was offered a walk-on with option to play into money by one of her first choice schools, but after she really thought about it, she knew that the academics would suffer. Fortunately, the academic money came through, and she knows that she made the right decision to concentrate on academics.

My kids tell me that they plan to make it possible for me to retire and become an old lady who walks her dogs on the beach. I have told them that I am not their responsibility, but geez, that sounds nice.

I couldn't believe my eyes when we did the FAFSA for our first college bound child and what they thought we could pay. I think at the time it was ONE THIRD of our annual gross income. Whoa! This with a mortgage and car payments and life and three other kids still to go. Unfortunately for us, when DD went to college, we didn't do any better with the FAFSA. DD is a great student too, but that got her nothing. Right after she started school, DH got laid off, no income except for unemployment. Her college gave us a whopping $1000 credit per semester. I just still can not believe it. I hate to say it, but I just think that those of us who are in the middle are scrxxxd. You have to be an OUTSTANDING athlete or an OUTSTANDING student to get the $$$. Or really needy, I guess.

I hear you about the sports. I can't really say though that my son being on the basketball team was what did him in. He has friends on the team who did well and graduated. He just made a wrong choice about his major, then refused to change it to make it better. He needed a class in listening to his parents. DD also played 2 years of basketball and did well, and worked part-time too.

I'll meet you on the beach though when we move in with our kids. I'll just have to get a dog.

 

[RNMOM]

My oldest son is paying his own way to community college and living at home, free. He also works and is saving his extra money for his final couple years at a 4 year university.
He failed all his courses his first semester and has had to repeat them. He learned a very valuable lesson by that and has been an A-B student since. He originally planned to be in the Army for 4 years but changed his mind. He is very proud of his education and takes it seriously. He is a very smart kid but never took school seriously at all. He often didn't turn in assignments, etc.

DS #2 quit his senior year and spent the next year and a half completing his GED, among other things. He has no clue what he wants to do so when he figures his life out, we will help as much as possible.

Both DH and I did not have help with our educations. We have struggled throughout school with our kids underachieving and spent thousands on tutors, Sylvan learning center and every other means possible to help them. I think the best thing we can do for them now is to put it in their hands and, as seems to be happening, they value their education much more than if it had been handed to them.

 

[Barb D]

DS15 is hoping to get into the Air Force Academy, which will be free. Barring that, we'll pay for him to go to a state school, or that amount toward a private school and he'll have to make up the difference with scholarships, loans he pays off, etc. Hopefully even if he goes to a state school he'll get scholarships, be able to get into a co-op program, etc. to help pay for it.

Same deal with DD13, except that she's not planning to try for a service academy. At this point she says she's going to go to the same state school that DH and I graduated from. Of course, this could change.

Too soon to tell for DD7.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

my parents didn't pay anything for my tuition to college. i had to get funding and financial aide. did it all by myself.....and a bit proud actually lol.

my parents never wanted kids so they still like to pretend they never had them sometimes.