How to pay for college: specific scenario

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is insane. What do you mean you couldn’t “rein in” your kid. You should have said”we can not afford this.”

Your choices now are your kid transfers or you take out expensive Parent Plus loans or you pull cash from your investments/savings. Those are your choices.

This is exactly right. My heart breaks for this kid. OP, why didn’t you say no? I highly doubt the kid and the relative would’ve done this behind your back. You didn’t want to be the bad guy last year and caused this issue.

Sigh

We told our kid they would need to use loans to cover whatever we can’t cover. Now I’m trying to help friends tire out the best approach.

Nobody was blindsided.

There’s still part of me that remains hopeful they’ll transfer.

So relative and student hatched this plan… and then what? You stepped back and let it all go down? Did relative take them dorm shopping? Drop them off at school? At what point did you wash your hands of this situation knowing you would eventually end up here?

Count your blessings that your children listen to you. My kid didn’t.

Having said that, they are actually very independent. I suspect if I just step back and let them figure this out, they will.

You didn’t raise much of an adult who doesn’t understand long term consequences. I also have an adult child who is adult enough to understand that his parents are paying for college and that he wants to graduate debt free. This adult of mine realizes that starting in 3rd base is the best base to start on.

Mazel tov!

Fwiw, I know many families who sat down their kids and discussed numbers. The privileged kids uniformly opted for the more expensive option.

It’s a toss up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid chose to go to a college OOS knowing they could only go one year? Then they made their choice. Time to transfer back home.

+1
This is your kid’s problem now. S/he chose the expensive school without a long term plan. S/he knows how much you have to contribute. Now s/he has to figure out how to pay the balance or transfer.
First lesson in real world adult decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP i don’t have good advice (although it looks like your child really should transfer back in state but you know that). I just wanted to say I find the people on this thread particularly harsh, not sure what is going on. Maybe a couple repeat crazy posters..

You did everything you could. A 400k home is not a luxury in this area, 180hhi is actually not that much here, and taking care of your elderly parents and nephew/niece is a lot.

You seem like a great person OP, I wish you good luck

NP and I don't understand either why people are ganging up on OP who seems like a decent human being to me. I used to listen to Suze Orman a lot a decade ago and to Dave Ramsey as well and if I remember correctly, Suze used to advise to prioritize your own retirement over kids' college. I think, but could be wrong, that Dave also gives the same advice, especially to those who are behind on their retirement savings. OP, I am rooting for you and your kid and praying for a great outcome for everyone. Good luck and stay strong.

+100. Where are all the DCUM posters who usually criticize parents for prioritizing college savings over retirement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid chose to go to a college OOS knowing they could only go one year? Then they made their choice. Time to transfer back home.

+1
This is your kid’s problem now. S/he chose the expensive school without a long term plan. S/he knows how much you have to contribute. Now s/he has to figure out how to pay the balance or transfer.
First lesson in real world adult decisions

+1

[Anonymous]

OP is doing fine. They have enough to pay for in state tuition. That's more than a lot of people have. I think your child is going to learn a valuable lesson. You can't have everything you want. I agree it stinks to leave a school you love, but if you knew what the situation was going in, that's on you.

[Anonymous]

PP ^ By "you" I mean your kid.

[Anonymous]

Other options -
Take a year off to work for tuition. If they live and work in the state they are attending school in they (might) be able to establish residency and get in state tuition. Check out the specific details before starting down this path.

[Anonymous]

Here's what I would do in your position. Explain to kid that you only saved enough for in state. So give him two options: 1) transfer and go in state for free or 2) you pay for next year out of your 529 and kid takes out loans for the following two years. It's a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I would do in your position. Explain to kid that you only saved enough for in state. So give him two options: 1) transfer and go in state for free or 2) you pay for next year out of your 529 and kid takes out loans for the following two years. It's a great deal.

OP has to co-sign the loans for the last 2 years though. Is OP willing to do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is ROTC a possibility?

The very fact that students should potentially put their lives in danger for education is disgusting and shameful.

Says the person unwilling to serve their country. Better to have the poors fight our wars I guess.

If you knew anything about the military and how wars are fought, you would know that roughly 90% of our military serves in a support role.

+1. And our military work as a social mobility tool helping out kids who would not otherwise be able to go to college or gain a valuable skill or trade do so

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I would do in your position. Explain to kid that you only saved enough for in state. So give him two options: 1) transfer and go in state for free or 2) you pay for next year out of your 529 and kid takes out loans for the following two years. It's a great deal.

OP has to co-sign the loans for the last 2 years though. Is OP willing to do that?

No. OP’s kid can’t qualify for ANY loans other than the $5500 unsubsidized loan from the Feds which you get if you file the FAFSAs. The student has no collateral = no bank will loan her money. It’s the parents responsibility to figure this out. The child cannot. OP needs to meet with child and financial aid at tDD’s school and beg for help. Other than that, the child needs to leave the school. Period. OP needs to notify the school that they can no longer afford it and that she will no longer be responsible for charges. We haven’t even heard if OP actually has enough saved for in-state. No one has suggested it but when we had several kids in college at once and an EFC of 100 percent we had to refinance our home in senior year (for one child - others still had a ways to go) in order to make ends meet. And yes we had a lot saved but we also had expenses not covered by FAFSA (elderly grandparents and taking care of SN child).

[Anonymous]

People aren’t criticizing OP for not saving. They are criticizing OP for letting their kid go off to an expensive out of state school with literally no plan to pay for years 2-4 and then throwing up their hands and blaming their teenager for making this decision and telling them they could get a loan when that is clearly not an option, and now trying to find some way out of this that doesn’t involve transferring, which was the entire point of OP’s post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I would do in your position. Explain to kid that you only saved enough for in state. So give him two options: 1) transfer and go in state for free or 2) you pay for next year out of your 529 and kid takes out loans for the following two years. It's a great deal.

Correct. That’s basically what we are discussing.

I was just hoping someone might have navigated the loan options and would weigh in.

I recognize I will need to finance it if that’s what my kid chooses. But I won’t do that unless they realize it’s a debt they’ll be on the hook for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People aren’t criticizing OP for not saving. They are criticizing OP for letting their kid go off to an expensive out of state school with literally no plan to pay for years 2-4 and then throwing up their hands and blaming their teenager for making this decision and telling them they could get a loan when that is clearly not an option, and now trying to find some way out of this that doesn’t involve transferring, which was the entire point of OP’s post.

^Literally their question was what is the best way to handle this in terms of student loans or other loans.”

[Anonymous]

Has the spring semester tuition, room and board been paid yet? Your DD should consider taking that $25K and putting toward her in state options. If she won’t agree to that, have you told her how much you can give her going forward? Is it somewhere around $15K? So, her shortfall is $25K. She will be eligible for a $6500 student loan her sophomore year. Based on my loose calculations, she will need $18,500. Is she living off campus next year? Often, that can be cheaper than dorm and cafeteria. You, the parents, will have to co-sign on the remaining loan amounts. Be aware, when your child graduates from college and can’t make her loan payment, YOU are held responsible.