Paying for college

[Pugdog007]

Her Dad and I are paying for all, including living expenses and books and meal plans and the works. She also gets an allowance from her Dad and has a Visa card for other needs that I pay each month. Yes she has it made. But she has to keep her grades up.

 

[Forevryoung]

I have been EXTREMELY fortunate- I say it to myself all the time so I do not take what I have for granted.

My parents paid for my undergrad degree- 4 years at an out of state school, room and board... Took out what stafford loans we could and they will pay them back for me as much as possible (that is the plan anyway).

So I needed to go to grad school. I was all set to pay for it all myself, use up my savings, get loans to cover tuition, the works. I got into the program of my dreams and to top it all off the leading researcher in the world in what I want to study asked me to join her training grant! I feel very honored to be working with this amazing woman. In exchange for 10 hours of research a week and a bunch of extra classes, I get full tuition and a monthly stipend, including subsidized health insurance. The catch is that I will have to work for the Dept. of Education when I graduate for 4 years... which means essentially that I have a guaranteed job when I graduate
I just have to make it through grad school!

 

[barkley]

when both the kiddles were born we purchased life insurance policies that will have aprox 50K each in cash surrender value in their mid 20's. we figure they can go for whatever scholarships may be around then (we have quite a few years to go), work part time (or as dh and i did ft) to help contribute, we'll help where we can-and the rest can be put on student loans so when they graduate they will have a decent amount to put towards the pay-off. THEY will have to make a decision on how to best pursue the education/career they desire with the resources they have available-and the income they will have post grad. we hope they will balance out the cost of attending one school over another based on what they will conceivably earn in their chosen career (we hope they are learning from their older cousins' decisions to opt for the overpriced 'i wanna go to' private college-which have left a couple with degrees that earn them no more than the local state college degrees would have-to a tune to close to 100K of student debt pretty sad when your salary won't top 25K for several years to come ).

 

[Galahad]

We pay for all of their undergrad that isn't covered by scholarships. Grad school is their problem to solve.

 

[aprilgail2]

I plan to pay most if not all of my duaghters. I am a single parent but have been putting money away for her since birth plus her my brother has a very substantial college fund set aside for her. He paid for his own college and he always said that she would never have to go through the pressure of paying for it that he did so we are very lucky!

 

[Tazicket]

My parents told me throughout my childhood that they would not be able to afford to pay for college for me, so if I wanted to go I had to earn it myself. I worked really hard in school and am blessed to live in a state that recognizes that. I earned a full scholarship to a state university of my choosing, and another one that totally covered books. I lived at home with my parents for free for the first year. Over the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I got married and moved out. I just graduated a few months ago. DH is excited b/c now I have the time and the degree to be able to find a "real job" (I've been working PT at a college book store for the last couple of years).

 

[mudnuri]

Well, I am currently paying for my own.

I think, had i gone to college right after high school, mom and dad would have helped financially, but being 29 when I went back, I'm on my own LOL.

Part of my scholarship package, required that I not work more than 15 hours per week, so I had to max out my staffords. That part however, pays for my books so its well worth it.

When I graduate, from a community tech school in may of 08, I will have approx $19.5K in student loans. That's for 3 years worth of school. The 1st year I took all pre-co req/s and the final 2 for my degree core classes.

One benefit, is that I am going into the medical field, and a lot of hospitals now are offering tuition repayment as part of their hiring package. I may also next year, sign with a local hospital for the tuition part, requiring me to work for 2 years after graduation there.

Now, my girls on the other hand- nobody in my Ex's family has gone to college, they are all business owners, sooooo they have enough in stocks and other investments to foot their bills for a PHD should they want that. It will come with the required- grades stay up, and we'll pay etc..DD10 wants to go to culinary school, and DD9 wants to be a teacher so we'll see what happens!

Brandy

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well, not there quite yet. My dd will graduate in 2009. It is going to be a combo platter, we pay, she works, plus loans.
I hope she can get a couple of small scholarships to help her.

She knows this and is taking that into account on her choice of major. Obviously loans will have to be repaid and she will need to pay for them. She wants to be a vet and a linguist...we will see what happens. Lots of chemistry, math, and all that jazz with a vet. Vet school alone is 100,000.
Tutions are crazy!!!!

 

[Kitty 34]

Our son is paying for college with loans and scholarships. We help him with books and general living expenses.

 

[NMAmy]

Unless DD gets a scholarship to a 4 year, she'll go to the community college where I work for the first two years. One of my benefits is totally free tuition for myself or my dependents. I can borrow books from other departments so even that cost will be minimal. She'll also be dual enrolled and take some classes during the summer of her junior and senior years so she'll have a head start when she actually graduates high school.

We've put money away for the last 2 years at a university. I have no illusions that her dad will kick in anything so DH and I have just planned on paying that portion.

 

[SC Minnie]

We are prepaying for DD's college education. She can go to any state school in SC with all tuition & housing paid. We started paying when she was 4 and it is less than $200/month. Worth it for us not to worry about how to help her pay for college when Dh will be 60 and ready to think about retirement.

My parents paid 100% of my college. Education was very important in our family so they deal they made my brother and I was that if we went to college, kept grades up, did not gert married or had children, and concentrate on school they would pay for everything. I did end up picking the school I did because it was 1/2 of the cost of my first choice. My brother didn't listen and struggled going back in his late 20's with a full time job and 3 kids. He still hasn't finished.

DH paid is own way through working/scholarships/ and loans.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

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!

We have a DD who is a junior in college and A DS who just started his freshman year. They are both at an instate public university and have a couple of small scholarships. (Scholarships are tough to get at this school. DS was valedictorian of his high school class and received $1500 once.) So far we have come up with the funds from savings and investments but the time may come soon when we have to take out loans. DH and I will be the ones paying them back though. We want to pay for their education.

 

[OK!]

The first time I went to school (state university), I had a partial scholarship and my parents paid for the rest. After I was stupid enough to lose the scholarship, they told me that they weren't interested in footing the bill for each semester-long party anymore, so I quit school. Two summers ago, I started going again, and they again offered to pay for everything (they'd always hated that I dropped out). During a horrible time last year, my family lost 9 relatives in the space of 10 months; both my grandmother and my great-aunt left sizable sums of money earmarked for my education, and with any luck I'll be getting ready to graduate a year from now.

 

[antmaril]

We have one son who is a sophomore at an out-of-state liberal arts college. We have been saving for it for years. His grandparents and an uncle have contributed as well. We will pay for his undergraduate degree 100%, including tuition, room and board, books, transportation, etc.

He wants to be a dentist, so he will have to take loans to get that done. We wanted him to get his undergraduate degree without incurring any debt, and, fortunately, we will be able to make that happen.

 

[EthansMom]

My kids are young, but we're putting the maximum allowed into ESA's (Education IRAs) for each of them. We're hoping to be able to pay for the majority of tuition and books for 4 year degrees out of their ESAs. We're also making sure to tell both kids that we expect them to go to college... and telling them how fun college is.

I'd also love to have our house paid off before DS goes to college so that we have the extra disposable income to help pay for the kids' living expenses while at college. They may have to have a part-time job to help pay for entertainment-type expenses, but I don't expect that they'll be struggling to pay for college.

We just finished paying for DH's student loans this summer.

 

[Sandy V.]

We are paying for their undergraduate degrees; haven't decided yet about what/if we will contribute for any graduate schooling.

My mom and grandma died when the kids were young, and we were fortunate enough to put aside $$ for college funds for both DD and DS. We hope that it will cover tuition, room/board and books, but you never know. When we got our first tuition bill in August, I was stunned at all of the fees assessed for this or that. Man, they nickel and dime you to death!!

DD is a freshman at one of our state universities. She is responsible for "fun" money, i.e., pizza, ski pass, clothing that she wants over and above the annual amount we give her to buy replacement stuff, etc. I put $160 in her checking account each month as an "allowance" to help cover the cost of laundry, groceries, shampoo, etc. So far it's worked out well. I made her write out the tuition check, so she could actually SEE how much her education costs. Nothing can sober an 18-year-old up quicker than writing a $7,000+ check!! She doesn't have a job, as we thought it was too much for her first semester. But she's talking about getting a part-time one on campus next semester, so we'll see if that happens.

DS will likely go to the same state university, so I would imagine his financial arrangement will be the same.

We want them to graduate debt-free from undergrad, and then use as many of their own resources as possible to pay for graduate school, if they choose to attend one. I think they value it more that way, although if they get in a financial bind, I'm sure that DH and I will help if we can.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My 3 ds are blessed as they all have a little college trust fund from my deceased sister. Now ds18 has just started college. Its a small private commuting college, but its pretty expenses. We take the money for tuition and books out of the fund, plus his car insurance. He works part time, but only 4 hours during the school year as we want him to get better grades but he works about 40 hours most of all the summer and he has to use that for his expenses etc. If the money is gone by his senior year, then he will have to use his own savings account for the rest. I did look at scholarships for him but his grades were just average etc. We will see what happens with the next 2. I used to work in a college financial aid office so I pretty much knew what aid we would get ahead of time, practically nothing.

 

[disykat]

My parents paid for whatever we couldn't cover with scholarships for undergrad -tuition, dorm, meal plan and books - as long as we carried a 3.0 or more. We didn't qualify for financial aide. Our savings from our summer jobs paid for miscellaneous expenses. I hope to do the same for my kids.

One thing my parents did that helped me stay very aware of the costs was that I had to put together my budget each year and tell them how much money I needed. I paid all the bills and kept track of the expenses(and was expected to be able to account for them). I never wanted to have to go to them for more money so it kept me very accountable. My school sent my dad a bill once and he was furious. He sent it back and told them to send it to the person who was using their services.

 

[KelNottAt]

DS15 is hoping to get into the Air Force Academy, which will be free.

Barb, best of luck to your son. Your post reminds of my neighbor's kid. He applied to the AFA and - get this - nowhere else. So, when the AFA rejection came in April of his senior year he found himself without a college lined up for the Fall (1600 SAT but no h.s. extra cirriculars) . Not only was he heart-broken, but his mom really let him have it when she found out he only applied to one school. (Why she didn't know before April is still a mystery to me...but I could write a book about this family's mysteries.) Again, best of luck.

In response to the OP, we PLAN to pay for all of our kids' college costs. But, if things get too expensive during the 2 (or 3) years they overlap we might ask them to pitch in. But that will only happen if they go out of state or private. We're very fortunate four years in-state equivalent is already in the bank for each of them.

 

[Sandy V.]

Barb, best of luck to your son. Your post reminds of my neighbor's kid. He applied to the AFA and - get this - nowhere else. So, when the AFA rejection came in April of his senior year he found himself without a college lined up for the Fall (1600 SAT but no h.s. extra cirriculars) . Not only was he heart-broken, but his mom really let him have it when she found out he only applied to one school. (Why she didn't know before April is still a mystery to me...but I could write a book about this family's mysteries.) Again, best of luck.

My goodness. We live just north of the AFA. It's ROUTINE to not get accepted! Did the son end up getting into another school?

Barb, good luck to your son. We've known quite a few cadets, graduates, and instructors. Several teach at our high school now. Many come back here to live when they finish their commitment. Fisher DeBerry lives very close to my kids' high school. It's a beautiful place to go to school and the kids receive a fantastic education.