WWYD: Weird Paying for College Situation

[Anonymous]

Kid (11th grade) inherited $$$ from a childless relative years ago. Now worth $350K plus a $100K education only fund plus an annual payment of $50K for life (starting in a few years). Kid is obv very fortunate.

Kid is leaning towards attending state flagship where they are likely to receive 100% free ride. Then kid will use scholarship and other $$$ for grad school if they decide to pursue a grad degree.

However, if $$$ were not a factor, kid would prefer
several T20 privates over state flagship and would probably ED/REA. (If it matters, kid is strong candidate).

We (parents) *could* contribute or pay but doing so would push our retirement back by 1-2 years.

WWYD? Offer to pay some? Pay all? Pay none?

[Anonymous]

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post. But I don’t see why I would push back my retirement when a child has a full ride to a school and inherited money. Especially inherited money specifically for education.

[Anonymous]

So kid would rather use your money instead of theirs? Let them attend state flagship. They are smart, so should you.

[Anonymous]

If he has $350k in a college fund, he should definitely look at other schools that he's more excited about. I don't understand why he wouldn't? Why save the money for an unknown grad school that they aren't even sure if they'll want to pursue? Cross the grad school funding when needed and use the $350 for the college that he wants

[Anonymous]

Kid needs to get accepted first, they may not have a choice between state flagship and a T20 private.

[Anonymous]

Does the kid know about the $450k, plus $50k per year for life?

I mean...it doesn't seem like $$$s are a factor. The kid basically won the lottery, so tell them to use their lottery winnings on a top private if they want to go that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So kid would rather use your money instead of theirs? Let them attend state flagship. They are smart, so should you.

OP here.

To be clear, kid not asking and has no expectations.

OTOH, if kid had *not* received this inheritance, we would certainly have offered to help them pay for college or grad school, wherever they decided to attend.

Does that change your answer?

[Anonymous]

Some of this depends on which state flagship, and your financial situation.

If we're talking about the University of Alaska (google tells me this is the lowest ranked state flagship) vs Harvard for (insert something Alaska isn't good at. I don't actually know)? I think that's a different calculation than if your kid is thinking of Michigan vs. Northwestern for engineering.

The other thing is, are you talking about "right now, I am in a good position to retire at 60 with a high quality of living and lots of luxuries, and this will push that to 62" or "I already expected to need to work into my 70's to keep a roof over my head and feed myself"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he has $350k in a college fund, he should definitely look at other schools that he's more excited about. I don't understand why he wouldn't? Why save the money for an unknown grad school that they aren't even sure if they'll want to pursue? Cross the grad school funding when needed and use the $350 for the college that he wants

$350k is cash. So they can use that for future home or to start a biz, etc.

Plus $100k education only fund.

Plus $50k (adjusted for inflation) for life.

[Anonymous]

It depends on your state flagship as well as a bigger picture of your finances. Does your current retirement timeline include any budget for college? How does your budget imagine providing for DC's future (if at all)?

[Anonymous]

Wish my kids had this issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of this depends on which state flagship, and your financial situation.

If we're talking about the University of Alaska (google tells me this is the lowest ranked state flagship) vs Harvard for (insert something Alaska isn't good at. I don't actually know)? I think that's a different calculation than if your kid is thinking of Michigan vs. Northwestern for engineering.

The other thing is, are you talking about "right now, I am in a good position to retire at 60 with a high quality of living and lots of luxuries, and this will push that to 62" or "I already expected to need to work into my 70's to keep a roof over my head and feed myself"?

Good state flagship (think UW or UGA) vs potential T15.

Retire comfortably at 61-62 vs retire comfortably at 63-64.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kid would rather use your money instead of theirs? Let them attend state flagship. They are smart, so should you.

OP here.

To be clear, kid not asking and has no expectations.

OTOH, if kid had *not* received this inheritance, we would certainly have offered to help them pay for college or grad school, wherever they decided to attend.

Does that change your answer?

If your kid had not received this, would you have been willing to pay for private T20? If so, I'd offer to pay for it, minus $25K a year since he can use that money. He can decide whether it's worth that $100K.

If this is a situation where the $ will mean he doesn't get need based aid that he would otherise get, that's a different calculation.

[Anonymous]

So because your kid got the inheritance, you moved your retirement up by 1-2 years? Had you not saved at all for his college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kid would rather use your money instead of theirs? Let them attend state flagship. They are smart, so should you.

OP here.

To be clear, kid not asking and has no expectations.

OTOH, if kid had *not* received this inheritance, we would certainly have offered to help them pay for college or grad school, wherever they decided to attend.

Does that change your answer?

You are playing a silly game of what if. He has a generous inheritance that covers his education plus the possibility of a full ride or merit scholarship money.

I feel like you have a lot of guilt over not contributing to college?