I genuinely don't get saving for college for kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, I was very lucky - as an immigrant from Europe, I went to community college first ( had to pay 3x more because I wasn't eligible for in-state tuition), I accumulated about 120 credits. Then I transferred to private university for nursing school ( I finished with an associate degree just to get RN License) for 2 years. I worked, then went part-time to public university to finish BSN degree in Nursing. I make over 100K gross as a staff nurse and have a government job. My parents never paid a dime for my school- heck, they still live in Europe. I just don't get why parents feel obligated to pay for colleges for kids here. Kids should have figure it out how to navigate their lives after high school.

No one hires community college RNs anymore. You were lucky, when did you graduate?

Tell that to the RN's who are signing crisis contracts for 6-7K PER WEEK. Believe me, no one gives a hoot whether they have their ADN or Ph.D. Do you have a valid license and are willing to work COVID units? That's about it. About half of all RN graduates are from 2 year programs and they get jobs without a problem. Look outside of your little DC bubble.

[Anonymous]

Oh for heaven’s sake, donut joke comes from the gap in Medicare Part B. It has been applied to the Education market in the last eight years to describe families who do not qualify for sufficient financial aid after filing the FAFSA but need it in order for their children to attend college. It’s pretty much everyone reading this board I. The DVM area. For example, our EFC is 100% but there is no way we can afford $81k a year. This is why MC and UNC families are turning away from expensive privates and looking more and more to In-state options and community college

[Anonymous]

“Doniu joke” not “donut joke” above.^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone thinks their kid is a genius when actually, they're just dime a dozen above average.

50% of 12th graders have an A-average GPA. Your kid probably isn't a genius and you can't predict the future. As someone upthread said, depression can surface, they can fall in with the wrong crowd, a broken heart over a relationship, a parent can have a health scare--all of a sudden your kid isn't 99 percentile (if they ever were in the first place), they're dime a dozen 80th to 90th percentile.

And if your kid is 99th percentile, it's really unlikely they'll be happy and fulfilled slumming it at some third tier toilet full of underachievers because mom and dad lease a couple of Audis instead of saving a little cash for college.

You have a really nasty attitude. There are plenty of kids at all schools who are working hard and want to do good in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, I was very lucky - as an immigrant from Europe, I went to community college first ( had to pay 3x more because I wasn't eligible for in-state tuition), I accumulated about 120 credits. Then I transferred to private university for nursing school ( I finished with an associate degree just to get RN License) for 2 years. I worked, then went part-time to public university to finish BSN degree in Nursing. I make over 100K gross as a staff nurse and have a government job. My parents never paid a dime for my school- heck, they still live in Europe. I just don't get why parents feel obligated to pay for colleges for kids here. Kids should have figure it out how to navigate their lives after high school.

No one hires community college RNs anymore. You were lucky, when did you graduate?

Wow that's weird, I guess Johns Hopkins didn't get the memo. My DIL is a community college RN who started there in Baltimore about 6 months ago. She's two years out from her community college nursing degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to pay for all of my college and law school. Parents did not give me a dime + I did not get loans. As a result,I do not think people should have kids if they can't pay for college.

Huh? You mean the kids can pay for college like you? You’re not making sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, I was very lucky - as an immigrant from Europe, I went to community college first ( had to pay 3x more because I wasn't eligible for in-state tuition), I accumulated about 120 credits. Then I transferred to private university for nursing school ( I finished with an associate degree just to get RN License) for 2 years. I worked, then went part-time to public university to finish BSN degree in Nursing. I make over 100K gross as a staff nurse and have a government job. My parents never paid a dime for my school- heck, they still live in Europe. I just don't get why parents feel obligated to pay for colleges for kids here. Kids should have figure it out how to navigate their lives after high school.

No one hires community college RNs anymore. You were lucky, when did you graduate?

Wow that's weird, I guess Johns Hopkins didn't get the memo. My DIL is a community college RN who started there in Baltimore about 6 months ago. She's two years out from her community college nursing degree.

Lol! Most nurse you see in hospitals went to community college programs. Like, the VAST majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're kind of in between. We saved some in the 529, more in the Roth (my favorite) and DC will get $ from their grandparents. But most importantly, we can pay all the bills, max out the 401Ks and Roths and still have around 90k cash/year left, which should be plenty. Our kids are 6 years apart, so we won't get hit at the same time. They can also go to college in the EU as citizens, but I'm concerned about recruiting opportunities here and also qualifying as pre-med etc. We're lucky to have stable, well paid jobs and low expenses.

Can you tell me about the Roth? I'm also concerned about putting savings in an account that can only be used for education expenses when I don't know what the future holds.

THE Roth IRA is supposed to be for retirement. Any financial advisor will tell you that you should not raid a Roth for college expenses. Plus there are penalties before certain ages.

We won't use the Roth for retirement. We've been maxing out the 401K or equivalent since our first jobs and I'm also a fed at the top of a non-GS payscale, so I'll get a nice pension. We can easily live well in retirement from my pension alone, without touching the 401Ks. You can withdraw the Roth contributions free of penalty at any age and the Roth earnings after you turn 59.5 y/o, which would apply to us (we had the kids in our late 30s/early 40s).

https://money.cnn.com/retirement/guide/IRA_Roth.moneymag/index5.htm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was a first generation college student. I worked really hard in HS and got decent scholarships for college. I primarily had merit-based aid, with a small amount of need-based aid and then student loans. I went to an expensive school. Costs worked out roughly as such:

40-45 k total
25 merit-based aid
5k need-based aid (Pell grant)
2k work study
10k student loans

I worked a lot in college and took out loans. It took me about 10 years to pay back the 40k and it never felt particularly onerous. I went to grad school via a program that paid for my degree entirely.

In my husbands case he had a full ride to a comparable school for tuition and his parents paid 10k/year for his room/board. He also has advanced degrees but did a combined ba/ma program and transferred in with a lot of credits so it ended up not costing much extra.

Our child is young but very bright and I believe she will be similarly high-performing in high school. We make more money than my family did, certainly, but we don't have dedicated college savings. I guess I am expecting my child to get a lot of merit-based aid and then figure we will be fine paying the rest.

I don't get why we would save 300k or whatever when I fully expect her to get merit aid. And if somehow she fizzles out and doesn't get merit-aid, then I would expect her to go to a cheaper school.

Am I missing something?

Apart from the well-deserved drubbing you're getting, OP, your post is nonsensical. Despite all the blather about merit aid, you concede that you'll be paying for some portion of your kid's college. But you plan on not saving for that? Sure, if you make a ton (which it doesn't seem like you do) you can cash-flow it, but absent a $500k+ salary, that's really, really tough to do. So, you *have* to save for college, even under your extraordinarily risky and selfish plan.

[Anonymous]

OP's plan might work because -- (a) she only has one child; (b) she does not seem super concerned about the prestige of the college; and (c) her daughter is a high achiever.

DH and I have 3 kids, and they do fine in school, but are not academic super stars by any means. My DS is a 12th grader, and we recently filled out the Common App that many colleges use. It asks if you plan to apply for financial aid. We figured it helped our DS that we were able to check "no" to that box because we have 529s for each of the 3 kids (thanks to my in-laws). It may help him a bit in the admissions process that he is full pay. That's not really fair to have "full pay" count toward admissions, but perhaps my DS would be subsidizing another student who is a better student but does not have the $$ to pay for this college.

Even my DS (with a 3.1 GPA and similar ACT score) is getting offered some merit aid from (not well known) colleges. So that suggests that, if you have a high-achieving child and are not too picky about the college, it might work out for OP.

[Anonymous]

Does attending the best college you can make you the person you are? Does it create your life?

[Anonymous]

As long as you're cool with your kid graduating with 200K in debt then yeah, that's fine.

[Anonymous]

Basically, OP needs to educate himself or herself with regard to the current lay of the land for college costs and only then make decisions after acquiring a better understanding. OP, do not make assumptions based on how college financials worked 30 yrs ago.

Not saving when possible = closing doors. If you want to close doors, go ahead, but do so with full knowledge of what you are doing so that there are no surprises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP's plan might work because -- (a) she only has one child; (b) she does not seem super concerned about the prestige of the college; and (c) her daughter is a high achiever.

DH and I have 3 kids, and they do fine in school, but are not academic super stars by any means. My DS is a 12th grader, and we recently filled out the Common App that many colleges use. It asks if you plan to apply for financial aid. We figured it helped our DS that we were able to check "no" to that box because we have 529s for each of the 3 kids (thanks to my in-laws). It may help him a bit in the admissions process that he is full pay. That's not really fair to have "full pay" count toward admissions, but perhaps my DS would be subsidizing another student who is a better student but does not have the $$ to pay for this college.

Even my DS (with a 3.1 GPA and similar ACT score) is getting offered some merit aid from (not well known) colleges. So that suggests that, if you have a high-achieving child and are not too picky about the college, it might work out for OP.

Why not?

[Anonymous]

My child was also very bright when she was young (still is!) but along the way was diagnosed with ADHD and by middle school was struggling. She manages good grades but struggles on tests. Despite being very bright, will not be getting merit aid and due to test scores, college options may be limited.

I would also offer that my parents paid for my tuition at a state school using money inherited from a deceased grandparent. My husband’s family also paid his tuition. In my opinion, this is the greatest gift a parent can give, funding a college degree and allowing their child to enter the working world debt-free.