Experienced Parents: What was DCUM right/wrong about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to W&M’s website, tuition, room, board, and fees are $37k this year.

YOu are looking at wrong year. For 2022-23 it's $38,500+. and that does not include trade.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

This is the type of response that makes this forum so frustrating. Anyone can lookup these numbers, but many prefer to talk out their a$$ and others are too lazy to fact check them, maybe erroneously dismissing a good option. Here’s the reality based on the UVA website. A business school class is 350 students. Since it’s only a two-year program, 700 students of 18,000 undergraduates are in the program at any given time. Also, 3,000 kids are in the engineering school, 800 of which are CS students. 3,700/18,000 = 20% of students are in one of these more expensive programs. There are other programs that requir additional charges, but I wanted to clarify that HALF of the students are NOT in these two programs.

Those two are what matter

Says you but in the context of the cost discussion, which is the topic at hand, students at UVA are paying closer to $30-32k depending on housing
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/uva-6968/academics

+1. For 2022-23, it is $32740, all in for College of Arts and Sciences.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

W&M is almost exactly $40k/year. My kid is a freshman, so this is accurate as of the current school year.

You can look up tuition and room and board costs at UVA, W&M, and every other school, so seems weird that there's so much misinformation here about costs.

Everyone sh$ts on W&M’s charges but no one explains that tuition is fixed when you enter. In other words, while tuition bills continue to increase throughout one’s four years at other schools, the tuition at W&M remains the same.

But you can lock in also at UVA. So I don't see your point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

Most parents have no idea when their children are small where their children will want to go to college. hence, prepaid doesn't work for most families.

Exactly! We have moved 3 times since the kids were born, each time to a different state. Prepaid plans are not the best for many people. Much better to front load a 529 so your kid can go anywhere. Then your kids can do the state school where you currently live (if that's what you can afford/where they want to go)

+1. Up until the final moment of decision for our senior in spring, it was down to Purdue, Ga Tech or UVA. Prepaid wouldn't have made any sense for us because we had no idea where our kids wanted to land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

W&M is almost exactly $40k/year. My kid is a freshman, so this is accurate as of the current school year.

You can look up tuition and room and board costs at UVA, W&M, and every other school, so seems weird that there's so much misinformation here about costs.

No, it's 32.740 for the College of Arts & Sciences. Go look at UVA's website

[Anonymous]

Right:
- save early. We put a bonus in the 529 when kid was 3 months old.
- it's much harder to get in than it was for our generation
- colleges are all about brand-building: inducing kids to apply to drive down admissions percentages, driving up URM numbers as much as possible, etc.
- covid threw things into even more disarray
- get essay done early
- in-person visits are important
- demonstrated interest is important
- prep school really prepares them
- demographics matter: it is hardest for white girls right now, except for engineering

Wrong:
- you should always take merit because free money, and if you don't people will judge you for being stupid
- ranking especially US news is the most important thing
- only US schools are worth it and you'd have to be crazy to have someone go abroad except oxbridge and perhaps McGill
- greek life is important (some)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right:
- save early. We put a bonus in the 529 when kid was 3 months old.
- it's much harder to get in than it was for our generation
- colleges are all about brand-building: inducing kids to apply to drive down admissions percentages, driving up URM numbers as much as possible, etc.
- covid threw things into even more disarray
- get essay done early
- in-person visits are important
- demonstrated interest is important
- prep school really prepares them
- demographics matter: it is hardest for white girls right now, except for engineering

Wrong:
- you should always take merit because free money, and if you don't people will judge you for being stupid
- ranking especially US news is the most important thing
- only US schools are worth it and you'd have to be crazy to have someone go abroad except oxbridge and perhaps McGill
- greek life is important (some)

I'm on here a lot and I've never heard anyone say Greek life is "important". How? Future jobs? Maybe true for Duke Lacrosse but not for frats and sororities IMHO

[Anonymous]

demographics matter: it is hardest for white girls [who aren't full pay and can't ED] right now, except for engineering

[Anonymous]

Right:
DCUM is proof that people will say a lot of things anonymously that they'd never attach their names to.
Parents act in self interested and disrespectful ways but are also often wonderful and supportive.
There are a lot of amazing kids in this area and thankfully many will be admitted to wonderful schools.

Wrong:
There is a belief here that certain people somehow genuinely deserve admission more than others. People self report stats and get upset or humblebrag.
URMs and athletes are "the reason" my kid wasn't admitted to X school.
Top 25 universities and LACs are the only ones that matter or are worth discussing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

demographics matter: it is hardest for white girls [who aren't full pay and can't ED] right now, except for engineering

Even applies to full pay. My DD was fine this cycle, but the boys with comparable stats did much better than DD's unhooked but full pay friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

demographics matter: it is hardest for white girls [who aren't full pay and can't ED] right now, except for engineering

Even applies to full pay. My DD was fine this cycle, but the boys with comparable stats did much better than DD's unhooked but full pay friends.

*female friends

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

Most parents have no idea when their children are small where their children will want to go to college. hence, prepaid doesn't work for most families.

Exactly! We have moved 3 times since the kids were born, each time to a different state. Prepaid plans are not the best for many people. Much better to front load a 529 so your kid can go anywhere. Then your kids can do the state school where you currently live (if that's what you can afford/where they want to go)

+1. Up until the final moment of decision for our senior in spring, it was down to Purdue, Ga Tech or UVA. Prepaid wouldn't have made any sense for us because we had no idea where our kids wanted to land.

Prepaid makes a lot of sense as you can use it in the original state OR cash it out. It locks in the rate. It makes most sense when you do it at birth. We did prepaid. They can use it at the state school or cash it out for another school. Its security to go somewhere in case the 529 tanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

W&M is almost exactly $40k/year. My kid is a freshman, so this is accurate as of the current school year.

You can look up tuition and room and board costs at UVA, W&M, and every other school, so seems weird that there's so much misinformation here about costs.

I looked up the UVA for engineering---what both my kids are considering. So the $42K is accurate for that. A&S may be cheaper, but my point was UVA is a state school and it can be over $40K for many students.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What DCUM got right: being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

+1
Talent and hard work in athletics and in the classroom can really pay off!

What do people do with kids who are not talented athletes?

Get them started with a sport they enjoy when they are young. You don’t need to be a natural athlete. It can be learned.

Yes, any kid can learn a sport and get better. But, if your goal is for your kid to be recruited, that’s another matter. Many parents waste 10s of thousands of dollars and tons of time trying to turn their mediocre athlete into a recruitment star. It overwhelmingly doesn’t work. If your kid loves their sport, they get playing time, and they excel relative to others in the game, you may have something. Otherwise, put your money in a 529.

Point taken. My kid is a recruited athlete at a high academic D3. Good but not great athlete. We spend less than 5k per year. Grades and stats in the top 25% of applicants in a school that accepts less than 7%. The investment in the sport was well worth it.

But that is basically a needle in a haystack. One DC played club for years and opted not to pursue recruiting in college. Only 3 kids got scholarships. Two were generous, one knocked down the price and the remainder covered by EFC and need. The other three are playing but minimal money - in that group, all probably measure up with your DC.

One kid really expected to get a scholarship AT ANY SCHOOL and it simply didn't pan out. Kid was super fast, quite talented, not always the best team player, and on the very small side for even a D3 school. Parents were devastated.

Finally, how are you paying less than 5k at a high academic D3 as D3s do not offer athletic scholarships? Perhaps your DC got a robust aid package, even merit, but not an athletic scholarship.

The poster meant they spent 5K per year on their kids youth sport as if that is a bargain. That is so DCUM bubble. The vast majority of us families do not have 5K available for youth sports for each child every year.

We do sports and music. We don't do it for college but to support our child's interests and exercise.

Sure. Lots of affluent families invest in all manner of educational opportunities before their kids. This type of support is not available to less affluent kids. It what it is....the American way. And it is a big advantage in college admissions to kids that could afford to develop their talents

Do you even think about what you say before you say it? Our music program has scholarships and the sports program is through the county which also has aid. And, the tutoring we do is FREE through the school system. We are far from wealthy. We rarely take vacations (its been about 5 years), drive old cars (except one newer one and the other one we have is 15+ years old) and live in a tiny house most people on DCUM would never even consider. We DIY all home repairs that we can. That's how we've saved for college.

If you live in a million dollar house take a vacation or multiple vacations a year, and live a plush lifestyle, then you have zero right ot complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

Most parents have no idea when their children are small where their children will want to go to college. hence, prepaid doesn't work for most families.

Exactly! We have moved 3 times since the kids were born, each time to a different state. Prepaid plans are not the best for many people. Much better to front load a 529 so your kid can go anywhere. Then your kids can do the state school where you currently live (if that's what you can afford/where they want to go)

+1. Up until the final moment of decision for our senior in spring, it was down to Purdue, Ga Tech or UVA. Prepaid wouldn't have made any sense for us because we had no idea where our kids wanted to land.

Prepaid makes a lot of sense as you can use it in the original state OR cash it out. It locks in the rate. It makes most sense when you do it at birth. We did prepaid. They can use it at the state school or cash it out for another school. Its security to go somewhere in case the 529 tanks.

Managed properly the 529 will not tank. How much cash out does MD or VA prepaid give you? Because I'm curious is it would be less than a well managed 529 would have been (I'm guessing it would be less)