I’m really surprised how many people don’t save for college

[Anonymous]

We have a few sets of dumbass middle class families in our family tree who delude themselves into believing their kids will pay for college with athletic scholarships. None of their kids are even great at their sports, which all of the parents have wasted ten plus years and who knows how much money on. Correct me if I'm wrong, but only D1 kids get scholarships, and even then, most D1 scholarships are only partial tuition scholarships? And D2 and D3 give zero athletic scholarships, right? This country is full of morons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

1. How many kids?
2. Some colleges are more than 80K a year.

2

One goes to UMCP (which is cheaper than private school) one goes to a school that is $70K but we only pay $40K

Each kid takes out student loans (5K/year) basically hoping for loan forgiveness. That worked for one kid so far.

We will pay the rest if we have to. Interest free loans are just smart money.

There’s a good chance that loan forgiveness, while earnestly promised, will never come to fruition

My work offers it so I mean from their job, I should have said Liam repayment.

I took $10K parent plus loan and my work payed it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Ummm...so I don't think the OP is talking about someone saving $18K per year per kid.

+1 you should have a minimum of 400 K if this money is in an interest-bearing account

I was thinking the same. We make under $140k but started saving when kids were 10 and 8. $100/mo and occasional larger chunks ($500-1000) when we have the money. This includes some of their earnings too.

We are hoping to save enough for $40k/yr coa. They should each have about 80-120k by start of college in 529, and we will still have some time to save/pay for jr/sr yr. 1st got need aid at CSS school. 2nd will need to do the same or get significant merit or go instate.

You get less aid if you saved up money for college

A family that makes $140,000 a year (and chances are that they’ll make more by the time the kids are actually applying to college) is not getting financial aid (unless the kid gets into Harvard, and good luck with that).

Are you contending it didn't happen, or did you just5 not read what I wrote? I just said they did. It's a CSS school. Kid #1 is a college freshman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Ummm...so I don't think the OP is talking about someone saving $18K per year per kid.

+1 you should have a minimum of 400 K if this money is in an interest-bearing account

I was thinking the same. We make under $140k but started saving when kids were 10 and 8. $100/mo and occasional larger chunks ($500-1000) when we have the money. This includes some of their earnings too.

We are hoping to save enough for $40k/yr coa. They should each have about 80-120k by start of college in 529, and we will still have some time to save/pay for jr/sr yr. 1st got need aid at CSS school. 2nd will need to do the same or get significant merit or go instate.

You get less aid if you saved up money for college

We got good aid for #1. Annual income counts for way more than savings (unless you have a 2nd home, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

Yes, this works, too, if you don't have substantial expenses allocated elsewhere. You are likely "living within your means."

This is us - planning on cashflowing on a $250k income. But we are paying $30k a year for private now, which makes it easy to avoid too much lifestyle creep! It’s forced us to make choices along the way that will help us get through the college years (one car, bought a house that cost 30% of what we “could” afford). Private school was undoubtedly a lousy financial decision (although a wonderful educational one), but at least college is going to be less of a shock to our pocketbook…

NP I get that your budget can accommodate it, but what if one of you loses your job and the income isn’t there? We make slightly more and could have done the same I suppose but I never wanted to put the college education at risk, or be in a position to have to take loans if for whatever reason the income wasn’t there, so instead we planned and saved.

Then we’ll almost certainly qualify for FA. I’ve run a bunch of NPCs and our EFC is about $50-60k at most private schools. If I halve our income, EFC is $20-30k. Assuming the laid-off parent couldn’t get back to work immediately, we’d probably cash flow half of that and borrow the other half. It would be OK.

[Anonymous]

No one should subsidize a other for college everyone should pay full. You don't pay less to ride a plane, or cruise or hotel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Adding to PP's poignant description, I will add that it's a shitty country that makes people choose between enjoying their hard-earned income, and tightening their belts to send the next generation to earn their expensive degrees.

Other wealthy nations subsidize universities and lower tuition costs. The USA should do the same.

But it is not always rainbows and unicorns in other countries. The European model does allow for gov't subsidies for university but guess what? Not everyone gets to attend one. Students are tracked in high school (or younger) and those who score well attend and those who do not or are late bloomers, well, no university for them. The US system has plenty of flaws but only having a restricted number of seats is not one of them.

That sounds more fair than high stat kids from donut hole families not able to afford top schools here

Fair? Your kid has no right to attend an expensive college. It is a LUXURY item like a Porsche. “Donut hole families” is a made up thing that people use to feel better about not being able to pay for their kids to attend private colleges. You are bitter and jealous of families that are richer than you and can afford to write the tuition check without a second thought.

You are stating exactly how it is unfair, top colleges are for rich kids only

A Rolls Royce is only for the rich, but there are lots of excellent cars that the non-rich can buy. So is it unfair that you can't have a Rolls? And you can always take out loans if you MUST have a so-called "top" school.

I'm thinking many of these people might have had more to save for college if their mindset was different. They feel entitled to a "luxury item" and have bought into the idea that only T20 schools are worth it for their snowflake. Many I have met with that attitude also spend on luxury items that are not essential and likely could have made different choices and actually saved much more for college. No one is entitled to attend an elite/top school.

No one will take away my Tahoe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

Yes, this works, too, if you don't have substantial expenses allocated elsewhere. You are likely "living within your means."

This is us - planning on cashflowing on a $250k income. But we are paying $30k a year for private now, which makes it easy to avoid too much lifestyle creep! It’s forced us to make choices along the way that will help us get through the college years (one car, bought a house that cost 30% of what we “could” afford). Private school was undoubtedly a lousy financial decision (although a wonderful educational one), but at least college is going to be less of a shock to our pocketbook…

NP I get that your budget can accommodate it, but what if one of you loses your job and the income isn’t there? We make slightly more and could have done the same I suppose but I never wanted to put the college education at risk, or be in a position to have to take loans if for whatever reason the income wasn’t there, so instead we planned and saved.

We planned and saved way more than you did and better than you did. You should have planned and saved better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a few sets of dumbass middle class families in our family tree who delude themselves into believing their kids will pay for college with athletic scholarships. None of their kids are even great at their sports, which all of the parents have wasted ten plus years and who knows how much money on. Correct me if I'm wrong, but only D1 kids get scholarships, and even then, most D1 scholarships are only partial tuition scholarships? And D2 and D3 give zero athletic scholarships, right? This country is full of morons.

The DCUM soccer forum says hold my beer.

[Anonymous]

I have t read all of the responses but I agree that I’m surprised about people who continue to have kids yet don’t save for college.

[Anonymous]

I’m not remotely surprised. Especially among MC/UMC. I see how people spend, especially dining out and vacations. It isn’t possible they are saving much, if any, assuming they have salaries normal for their careers, location etc.

[Anonymous]

I’ll go a step further and say I’m surprised when people have a third or fourth child without factoring in college costs. I have several family members and friends who did this because they really wanted a big family, and then started freaking out when their oldest started bearing college age, as they realized the costs and that they’d be paying them for 10+ years.

College costs factored into how many kids we had. I knew it was a long way off, but as someone whose had to work hard to pay down my own debt, I have the goal of my kids attending school either without loans or with a relatively small amount (like less than 20k) that could be feasibly paid back in a few years.

It just surprises me when parents don’t even think of this until later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

Yes, this works, too, if you don't have substantial expenses allocated elsewhere. You are likely "living within your means."

This is us - planning on cashflowing on a $250k income. But we are paying $30k a year for private now, which makes it easy to avoid too much lifestyle creep! It’s forced us to make choices along the way that will help us get through the college years (one car, bought a house that cost 30% of what we “could” afford). Private school was undoubtedly a lousy financial decision (although a wonderful educational one), but at least college is going to be less of a shock to our pocketbook…

NP I get that your budget can accommodate it, but what if one of you loses your job and the income isn’t there? We make slightly more and could have done the same I suppose but I never wanted to put the college education at risk, or be in a position to have to take loans if for whatever reason the income wasn’t there, so instead we planned and saved.

We planned and saved way more than you did and better than you did. You should have planned and saved better.

DP, but who's to say these PPs were not planning and saving? Maybe in retirement accounts or other investment accounts instead of dedicated college accounts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have t read all of the responses but I agree that I’m surprised about people who continue to have kids yet don’t save for college.

I'm surprised at how people willingly pay for private and out of state tuition when better or equal programs exist for the cost of in-state tuition. Especially if they're not going into fields where undergraduate degree "status" matters as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one should subsidize a other for college everyone should pay full. You don't pay less to ride a plane, or cruise or hotel

Uh, yes you do. Differential pricing is a big part of the travel industry.