Is anyone not saving to pay for all of their kids' college?

[Anonymous]

DH and I had zero help from our parents paying for college (pr wedding, house, etc). Neither did any of our friends that I'm aware of.

I see on other posts people saving in the thousands per month which is crazy to me. That's more than our mortgage.

We are solidly middle class and everyone in our circles went to state schools.

We save $150/month per kid and felt like we would be giving them a huge head start in life if we give them any money towards college.

Are we horrible parents?

[Anonymous]

We didn’t save at all. When kids were in MS/HS, DW got a job after being SAH. Learned to live off my salary, now we’re pay as you go.

[Anonymous]

What’s your income? Where I live public universities are 40k per year and there is no merit. So you must save. Although it is free to those who earn under $80k a year, I believe.

[Anonymous]

As long as you realize that college kids today cannot “pay their way” by working during breaks and even during the school year. Given the cost of college and wage stagnation, the numbers simply do not work. Also, “full rides” based on academic merit are exceedingly rare. Unless they go the military route, they will have to take loans, possible large ones, with high interest rates. If you are okay putting them in that position, there’s no reason to save for their college. It’s not a requirement. It is a incredible gift, though.

[Anonymous]

We didn’t save. We prioritize our retirement funds. However, DH made it a goal to work in a university early on to get free college tuition for my DD. He did get a job at a university so my DD’s tuition will be covered. We just have to cough up board/lodging since she doesn’t want to commute. Our house is 30 minutes away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I had zero help from our parents paying for college (pr wedding, house, etc). Neither did any of our friends that I'm aware of.

I see on other posts people saving in the thousands per month which is crazy to me. That's more than our mortgage.

We are solidly middle class and everyone in our circles went to state schools.

We save $150/month per kid and felt like we would be giving them a huge head start in life if we give them any money towards college.

Are we horrible parents?

You are short sighted and miserly and stuck in a time warp.

[Anonymous]

We save as much as we can, but it likely won’t cover three tuitions entirely. We will need to cash flow some or use home equity for the remainder.

Education is a family value for us, so that’s where we spend our money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t save. We prioritize our retirement funds. However, DH made it a goal to work in a university early on to get free college tuition for my DD. He did get a job at a university so my DD’s tuition will be covered. We just have to cough up board/lodging since she doesn’t want to commute. Our house is 30 minutes away.

My husband works at a university so this is an option for our kids as well, but only at his school, which is not a particularly big name, competitive, or highly resourced school. There is no guarantee of tuition remission at any other schools, although they can apply for tuition exchange with a group of similarly ranked schools in a consortium. So...it's an ok benefit if kid wants to go there, but not like what my nephews are getting from their parents working at Carnegie Mellon, which is full tuition there and half anywhere else.

We tend to save windfalls and tax refunds into the 529s, but our HHI is around 150k and we have one in day care, it's just not reasonable to expect to save enough for full pay at a private school. So we do what we can, but consider state schools, less renowned schools with tuition exchange, and limited loans to be possibilities to add to the mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t save. We prioritize our retirement funds. However, DH made it a goal to work in a university early on to get free college tuition for my DD. He did get a job at a university so my DD’s tuition will be covered. We just have to cough up board/lodging since she doesn’t want to commute. Our house is 30 minutes away.

My husband works at a university so this is an option for our kids as well, but only at his school, which is not a particularly big name, competitive, or highly resourced school. There is no guarantee of tuition remission at any other schools, although they can apply for tuition exchange with a group of similarly ranked schools in a consortium. So...it's an ok benefit if kid wants to go there, but not like what my nephews are getting from their parents working at Carnegie Mellon, which is full tuition there and half anywhere else.

We tend to save windfalls and tax refunds into the 529s, but our HHI is around 150k and we have one in day care, it's just not reasonable to expect to save enough for full pay at a private school. So we do what we can, but consider state schools, less renowned schools with tuition exchange, and limited loans to be possibilities to add to the mix.

My DH’s university benefits where he’s employed include college tuition exchange program. I didn’t realize there are tons of good solid schools there across the country. I’m sure you’ll find several to consider. It will save tons of money. College costs nowadays are ridiculous. One really has to crank up the numbers if the cost is a good ROI - Return of Investment.

[Anonymous]

I thought college will be free and all college debt will be erased...per the Dems, no?

[Anonymous]

I only put in what we get a tax break for. I think it’s $8k total, divided between two kids per year. We have other buckets of savings and investment, plus expect our immodest inheritance will cover their tuition. Aiming for an out of state public savings wise, ough we went to private for undergrad and grad.

[Anonymous]

Modest, not immodest!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought college will be free and all college debt will be erased...per the Dems, no?

Yeah some progress in that direction would be the case if Republicans stopped being such myopic arseholes and would stop blocking every bit of progress ever.

[Anonymous]

Our motto is to never sacrifice retirement savings, but also don’t get your child saddled in huge college debt. We just aim for colleges that we think will give the biggest bang for the buck especially in our current economic climate where nothing is guaranteed job-security wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought college will be free and all college debt will be erased...per the Dems, no?

Yeah some progress in that direction would be the case if Republicans stopped being such myopic arseholes and would stop blocking every bit of progress ever.

It will happen as 99% of Americans are like OP and aren’t saving anything. They aren’t even saving for themselves. Something has to give, and it will be the federal gov picking up the entire tab.