Post by lemoncupcake on Aug 15, 2022 12:02:53 GMT -5
SS: As someone who also has young kids I can’t imagine what the market around higher education is going to be in 10-15 years - so I’m not getting caught up in what we will/won’t cover because I have no idea what things will even look like then.
We are saving a set amount each month, and will likely be able to cash flow some expenses as well. When the time gets closer we will have a better idea of what to expect and what we/our kids should plan towards.
We will pay for as much as we can. She can choose to go to the school my husband teaches at for free but I don't want her to HAVE to go there. She currently thinks NYU is a great choice but she's 9 and has no real concept of college admissions.
Post by W.T.Faulkner on Aug 15, 2022 12:06:45 GMT -5
My parents have already committed to paying for their education in full, but H and I are saving what we can as well. We’re also going to have the mortgage paid off by the time the youngest goes (hopefully!) so we’ll be able to cash flow some of it as well.
Post by dancingirl21 on Aug 15, 2022 12:17:58 GMT -5
We have 529 accounts for both kids and hope to fund their entire education.
DH’s parents were able to pay for all of his. My parents weren’t able to do as much, but I graduated with fairly small loans that I was able to pay off quickly. It set us up well to be able to afford life after college. Ideally we will do the same for our kids.
We only have DS, he's 14 now getting closer to that time. When he was first born there didn't seem to be anyway we would get to a financial place of being able to help pay in any significant amount. So initially we didn't plan on it at all, and DH was especially against contributing for whatever reason. Now our finances are much improved and DH has done a 180 on his stance...but we don't have a concrete plan on how much we will contribute. I know my in-laws started some sort of savings account for DS when he was a baby, I don't know if it's a 529 or what, but they are saving for him. I guess we need to start figuring out some details at some point.
If they go to a school in our state system, we can pay the full ride. If they get into a high endowment university, we probably can, too, because they’ll get a large academic scholarship like I did.
It’s the art, liberal arts, and out of state, state universities where we simply won’t be able to afford room and board. The kids will have to work to pay for that.
We will heavily encourage scholarships. That's how my H paid for most of his undergraduate and graduate degrees. His parents couldn't afford to help him so that's how he got by. More than 50% of scholarships go unclaimed each year. We also opened an account but it's not a 529. It gives you more flexibility with the funds. We'll try to help as much as we can but they'll also have to work for it.
Post by InBetweenDays on Aug 15, 2022 12:26:36 GMT -5
My parents are planning to pay for their college in full. If for some reason they are unable to we will pay for it. We feel very fortunate to be in this position.
SS: we don’t have kids and don’t plan to have them. We do have 529s set up for our niece and nephew. We’d like to help them as much as possible, but will defer to my brother and SIL about the best way to do so when the time comes.
We've been saving since both kids were born and we're putting as much as we can into it. My husband had to work full time while going to college and it made things extremely stressful for him. My parents didn't put anything aside for me and then I had to drop out for a while to take care of my mother and her medical needs. Our goal is to apply for scholarships, pay for as much as we can, and then hopefully the kids will be able to get through with working part time during the year and getting summer work.
Lurker here. For those of you saying that you’ll prioritize in-state options over out-of-state, I find it interesting you say that. I’m in CO where in-state tuition is starting to outpace many out-of-state options especially where merit options can balance out the delta. Something to consider.
Not the case in NY. SUNY and CUNY are bargains for New Yorkers. Many other nearby states charge a lot more for in-staters, let alone for out-of-staters (comparable to private school tuition, believe it or not). I'm sure it's different in other states.
My kids can go out of state if merit options make it so that we'd be paying the same amount then if they went to SUNY/CUNY. Personally, I feel if they attend a public college, they should stay in-state rather than pay a ton for an out-of-state public college, which likely wouldn't be as generous with aid compared to private out-of-state colleges anyway.
We have 529's set up for both kids (ages 12 and 9), and we will continue to contribute a set amount each year for as long as we can. In addition to our contributions, DH's uses a credit card for work that pays 2% of everything charged into their 529's. Before COVID he traveled a ton, so it added up.
We want them to work and take out small loans to help pay for college, or find some scholarships. We want to save enough to ensure that they don't come out with crippling loans, but the idea of them having some responsibility to get a job and make payments after school is not a bad thing for my kids. And I am speaking specifically about MY kids. Other kids may fully understand and appreciate the sacrifices involved with sending kids to school. Mine do not.
Discussion answer: H and I came to this marriage with different views on this. His parents paid for college, but the in-state tuition was affordable for his lower-middle-class family at a state school, though with some amount of sacrifice for sure. I felt strongly that we owe the kids a paid for higher education at any kind of school they want. H disagreed and I think probably still does to some extent. He's certainly not *opposed* to us paying for them if we can afford it, but it isn't maybe a priority for him.
I lost a parent since we've been married and inherited several hundred thousand dollars. We put upper 5 digits into each kid's 529 at that time; education was important to my parent and I felt it was an appropriate use of part of the money. It's been several years; I don't really remember the discussions around that decision. But H certainly wasn't opposed at all.
With that lump sum contribution and money we had already saved, we are currently saving to be able to pay for undergrad at a state school. But barring unexpected events, we would be able to pay for 4 years at a private school* most likely for both kids. As long as we can do that without sacrificing a secure retirement, I will push strongly for that when the time comes. And, I expect us to be able to afford that.
My parents didn't pay for grad school because all of us kids went to grad school and they couldn't afford the additional 8 years combined of tuition. I also don't expect to pay for grad school. I think I benefitted from having to learn the financial responsibility in my 20s to manage my loans. At the end of the day though I recognize that my views on this are shaped so much by thinking that what my family did was "right", so I try to keep that in mind -- I mean, I try to remember that just b/c my family did a certain thing doesn't mean it's right or the only good approach.
*I think both of my children will probably take traditional academic paths but we certainly would pay for trade school or an apprenticeship programme, etc.
I said no because I'm holding out hope they make in state colleges free for residents. In reality, who knows. My retirement plan for a long time was world decimation due to climate change (which may still happen).
Unless dd goes somewhere abnormally expensive and doesn’t get scholarships/waivers to offset some of that, we will pay for it in full, including reasonable living expenses. She has a 529 plus our house will be paid off before she goes to school. My mom did the same for me and it was an enormous gift.
Post by purplepenguin7 on Aug 15, 2022 12:55:35 GMT -5
SS but seems like a common answers. We have a 529 for our child but its small and mostly made up of stimulus money we received and put aside. We don't contribute monthly as our budget doesn't really allow for it. We will continue to add when we can, any gifts she receives or other monetary gifts and see where that leaves us in 15 years. Mostly, I'd love to be able to provide a debt-free college education but I am not sure if we'll be at that point ever.
I put including room and board. They can use whatever we’ve got in the 529s for them. DH moved here from CA and wants schools like the one he went to in CA available to them. We were also lucky to get some inherited money from FIL after he passed last year to really bump those accounts.
Lurker here. For those of you saying that you’ll prioritize in-state options over out-of-state, I find it interesting you say that. I’m in CO where in-state tuition is starting to outpace many out-of-state options especially where merit options can balance out the delta. Something to consider.
All this to say, it is my goal to get DD through her undergrad debt free. DH is less generous, but I’ll do whatever it takes.
This is essentially what happened to me in IL back in 2000, and is why I went out of state. I got significantly better merit based aid at an out of state school than I did going in-state. I actually really liked a school in IL but they didn't offer me any merit based aid so it saved me a lot going out of state.
College debt is a huge crisis. I don't think parents should destroy their own lives to pay for college for their kids, but if they have the means to help their kids avoid debt they absolutely should do that. I don't think most kids truly understand what it means to pay back big sums of money when they have never earned money to support themselves or managed a household budget - it is all just theory to them at that point. Add in interest rates that are at (IMO) criminally high levels, and I can't see any reason why kids should take on debt just to "have a stake in things" or "learn a lesson". Realistically if we had kids, though, we likely would not be able to fully fund their college - largely because we had so much debt ourselves that we still have another decade or more to pay on!
Yes, as much as we can, and we're hoping to cover all of it. This is our plan at least for undergrad. If they decide to pursue graduate degrees, we'll have to assess at that point.
I am going to try. We have been saving money since they were born in a 529 and it’s doing well now, but college is super expensive. I would love to be able to set them up without debt. They’re on their own for grad school though.
I want them to be able to go wherever they want, so we keep talking about how expensive some schools are and if they choose them, they might end up with loans. I went to an Ivy and my parents paid as much as they could — I worked all through college and came out with no loans. I’d like to be able to help my kids do the same.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
We are saving aggressively for college for all four kids, but it's unlikely we'll have enough to pay everything for all of them. I'm not planning to break it down specifically between classes vs. room and board, but I expect that we'll do what my parents did - pay for as much of it as we can and have them take out some small loans/get scholarships and grants for the rest.
I don't think it's a bad thing for them to have a little skin in the game, but I'm going to try to make sure they're not saddled with a lot of college debt.
We decided to red shirt DS2 for kindergarten and send him to another year of pre-K/private TK this year, and I realized that means that we will only have two rather than three kids in college at any one time, which is great. Since not everyone goes to college right away or does exactly four years, it may not work out that way, but I'm glad the tuition payments should be spread out a bit more because of this spacing.
Post by hbomdiggity on Aug 15, 2022 13:47:03 GMT -5
We do.
H would like DS to “have some skin in the game” like he did (he ended up with about $15k in loans) but we will have a much different financial situation. DS is unlikely to qualify for much and I think there are other ways to reach financial responsibility
As much as we can. Our retirement comes first though. We contribute to 529s for both of them, as do their grandparents. If we are fortunate and our financial position stays about the same, then they should be able to have a good portion of it covered.
I would love to, but we have 4 kids and are prioritizing our retirement over saving for college, although they all have 529s that we contribute monthly to. College is so fucking expensive now I can’t even believe it.
Our kids will be eligible to attend college in the UK as citizens, but I’m not sure how much that costs these days. My H and I will definitely push that, but will it be too much of a culture shock for them when the time comes? I don’t know if my parents could have convinced me at 18 to move to a new country where I knew no one, except some distant family. We’d love to visit more often, but covid, $$$, etc.
I don't think it's a bad thing for them to have a little skin in the game, but I'm going to try to make sure they're not saddled with a lot of college debt.
This exactly. My loans were all federal and weren't that much (I think I came out with $17,000 which was the max back then). But, I also had to go to the college that gave me the most money. Of course we won't have our kids floundering financially or taking out significant loans when we're capable of providing, but we've ALWAYS had our kids contribute to things in some way - from saving up for a toy they wanted, paying for their own data plan and apps etc., to using their own money when they go places with friends. We'll do the same with car purchases (they can pay insurance and gas or whatever). Independent financial responsibility/budgeting/realistic planning (outside of parental wealth) is one of the most important things we want to instill upon our kids. Yes there are other ways but this is one way to do it.
I would love to, but we have 4 kids and are prioritizing our retirement over saving for college, although they all have 529s that we contribute monthly to. College is so fucking expensive now I can’t even believe it.
Our kids will be eligible to attend college in the UK as citizens, but I’m not sure how much that costs these days. My H and I will definitely push that, but will it be too much of a culture shock for them when the time comes? I don’t know if my parents could have convinced me at 18 to move to a new country where I knew no one, except some distant family. We’d love to visit more often, but covid, $$$, etc.
with 4 of us, my parents made the same choice - their retirement pre-empted saving for 4 college educations.
Post by amandakisser on Aug 15, 2022 14:16:22 GMT -5
I currently work at a university that gives dependents (spouses and children) free tuition after I work full time for 3 years. I'm hoping to stay here long enough to get that benefit, but I also have 529s for both of them to help offset the costs of room & board, books, other fees, etc.