Did your parents pay for college?

[jennlin]

If not them, then who? If you didn't go to college, was it bc of lack of funds? Would/could your parents have paid for it?

[jennlin]

Also----- does this affect your opinion on if you pay for your kids's college?

[jennlin]

My parents paid for MOST my college. They paid 100% until I started working full time as well (year 3), and I got tuition reimbursement from my company. I think I got 3 or 5000 a year. They paid the rest of it. I got my bachelors before I was married. After I was married, I took 3 more classes to complete a certificate that was relevant to my work. 2 of the classes were 100% reimbursed, and I got laid off during that quarter. Tuition was still paid for, though. I had one more class to take to complete the cert, and I paid for that myself out of pocket.

I lived at home before I was married, and my parents paid for most of my "necessary" expenses (car insurance, cellphone, college) during this time and I think that helped a lot in getting me to where I am today. I want the same for my kids.

[InBetweenDays]

My grandparents paid for my college, 100%. Including living expenses and rent when I lived off campus. They also paid for a semester abroad. I am forever greatful to them for this.

People often say that kids won't appreciate schooling if it's paid for, or they'll take advantage of it, or party continuously. My grandparents paid for college (and grad school) for 10 grandkids. I don't think anyone took advantage of it. Every grandchild stayed in school, graduated with good grades, and went out into the work force (until some decided to stay home with children).

Of course there are those that will take advantage of it, but I don't think it's just paying for school that is the issue. Being taught to value education is something that should start at a very early age.

[jennlin]

InBetweenDays you come from a great family, i imagine. my brother also got the same privilege i did of having school paid for. he didn't "take advantage", but he didn't take it seriously. he only started college right before i did (i think he wanted to try and get it done before his little sister?)..and he brags that he "went to college for a quarter of a quarter"......that's about 2 weeks. he said one day that he left class early to go to work, and the instructor asked him what was more important, and my brother said "making money".......he has not gone back to school since.

[dana86]

I paid/pay for all my schooling. My dad paid for one of my classes when I first started but I paid for all the rest.

[karebear219]

My parents paid half, I paid half with student loans. I just finished paying off my student loans.

I'm sure we'll be able to pay for bkb's school at least for undergrad.

[niq]

My parents paid tuition, room, board. They also paid books for my freshman year. I had to pay for books & fun money outside of that.

This is basically our goal for our child(ren).

[sarack]

my first year was paid for at uw. if i went to wsu, it would have all been paid for.

i paid for the rest. i didn't graduate. i have a ton of credits doing nothing right now.. i tried to go back to school last quarter and took an easy class and got a good grade. but i'm pregnant now and wasn't sure how i'd handle everything so i didnt' go back this quarter. i'm kinda bummed about it. ;(

[Deleted]

I didn't go to college but if I'd wanted to I would have had to pay for it myself. There was no way they were paying for multiple children to attend. So did J.. just the way of things in our family

[picksthemusic]

FAFSA, my mom took out a loan for me, and my dad co-signed a loan for me, and then grants.

[picksthemusic]

Apr 11, 2013 16:02:27 GMT -5 jennlin said:

InBetweenDays you come from a great family, i imagine. my brother also got the same privilege i did of having school paid for. he didn't "take advantage", but he didn't take it seriously. he only started college right before i did (i think he wanted to try and get it done before his little sister?)..and he brags that he "went to college for a quarter of a quarter"......that's about 2 weeks. he said one day that he left class early to go to work, and the instructor asked him what was more important, and my brother said "making money".......he has not gone back to school since.

And it totally sounds like your brother has reaped what he has sewn.

[Deleted]

I paid for most of mine. It was always expected that I would go to college but I'd have to get some scholarships. I worked my ass off in HS and extracurriculars. I count myself insanely lucky to have been granted one of 3 full tuition scholarships my school gives to each incoming Freshman class. For all 4 years I had 2 smaller grants because my dad was an alum and a member of clergy plus a small Natl. Merit Scholar grant. I had a one year scholarship from my church that my college matched so Frosh year I didn't owe anything.

However, I still took out loans (Fed Stafford unsubsidized). Freshman year it paid for a a summer course studying abroad in England for 3 weeks. I took out partial amounts of the loan 2nd & 3rd year to pay for room, board, books. (My dad thinks college is important more for the social aspects than just the academics so wanted me to not stress about a job to make ends meet.) I took out the largest loan my senior year to be able to study abroad for a full term in France. (It covered the extra program, travel expenses, etc.)

My dad still had to pay my mom child support until I was 21, so he worked it out to pay that directly to me and that was my spending money. My mom had me on her medical insurance and covered whatever small medical/dental bills and then sent me a $100 or so every great once in a while.

Without those scholarships, I would have had to work to pay for community college with only a hope of transferring to a university for the last 2 years. I was very, very lucky.

[cdmay]

I paid/pay for it myself with student loans and grants, and worked throughout.  Same for graduate school (which, if i stop procrastinating, i should be done with in a month!).

[larzhope]

my parents agreed they would pay for a bachelors degree. My brother chose a 5 year bachelors degree program, and I finished my bachelors in 2.5 years and then went straight on to get my masters so my parents ended up paying for that since it was "only fair."

Though we don't plan on having kids, this is an area where H and I disagree. I'd like to help our kids out with school, where H (he paid for his own) wouldn't. If we were to have a child, i think we'd probably come to some sort of compromise on it.

[msturtle143]

I paid through grants, student loans. Mom took out a parent loan $3k my freshman year which she still tells me I owe her. I lived off a cc I had too. No funds from parents.
I got my first Bachelor's degree, worked a bit and decided it wasn't going to pay off what I owed so I went back in for a BS nursing degree, paid solely thru scholarship, and so glad I did.

My brother never went to college but I'll bet my mom would have paid for all if he did.

DH has a doctorate degree and paid by student loans also. But his parents were pretty awesome, they would cook meals for him to take to dorm, gave him some money for food, helped a bit with dorm fees. I met DH during freshman and his parents did the same for me, food wise and some spending cash. They helped with what they could.

DH already bought at least a 2-year worth of college credits when LO turned 1. We plan to get her more this year. We will definitely help our kids through college. For us, it's the right thing to do. We may not be able to help 100% but will definitely help cover tuition and board at least.

Wow...most of you have great parents/families who paid for college!