I’m really surprised how many people don’t save for college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Ummm...so I don't think the OP is talking about someone saving $18K per year per kid.

+1 you should have a minimum of 400 K if this money is in an interest-bearing account

That is correct and that won’t be enough when my kids go to college in 10 years. That’s $100k per year. Private colleges are currently $85k. So I’m exactly who op is talking about. Someone who will not qualify for aid and not be able to fully fund their UNDERGRADUATE education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

You are saving 18k per year so you are saving for college. You may be a little short and not qualify for aid but it doesn’t sound like you would limit your child by telling him/her that a certain university is out of your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Ummm...so I don't think the OP is talking about someone saving $18K per year per kid.

+1 you should have a minimum of 400 K if this money is in an interest-bearing account

That is correct and that won’t be enough when my kids go to college in 10 years. That’s $100k per year. Private colleges are currently $85k. So I’m exactly who op is talking about. Someone who will not qualify for aid and not be able to fully fund their UNDERGRADUATE education.

Your children are not going to have to fund half a million in loans. Come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Adding to PP's poignant description, I will add that it's a shitty country that makes people choose between enjoying their hard-earned income, and tightening their belts to send the next generation to earn their expensive degrees.

Other wealthy nations subsidize universities and lower tuition costs. The USA should do the same.

Oh geez here we go again. Clueless. Here’s a thought - you could simply take the 15% in additional income tax that you would forfeit in said nameless romanticized country, pop it into a 529 for 15 years and you’d be good to go. Then once junior is in college, you could spend the rest of your life enjoying that extra 15% which you would NOT enjoy in your glorified wealthy nation because you would be charged 45-50% in income tax FOREVER.

Signed someone who has lived in those countries.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. Stop trolling.

I’m not trolling. I’m genuinely surprised how shortsighted people are with relatively high incomes. If you had a lower income, you would qualify for financial aid.

I’m specifically thinking of people who dress well, drive nice cars, vacation often, kids do expensive extracurricular activities, maybe go to private school. They have UMC lifestyles and didn’t save for college.

Like, literally didn't save, or did save enough to be full pay at a private college?

I don't know anyone like that that doesn't have some college savings set aside.

But I know many many many families who vacation and have kids in premium activities but didn't also manage to squirrel away $500K+ to send to kids off to private colleges. And I don't find that surprising at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Adding to PP's poignant description, I will add that it's a shitty country that makes people choose between enjoying their hard-earned income, and tightening their belts to send the next generation to earn their expensive degrees.

Other wealthy nations subsidize universities and lower tuition costs. The USA should do the same.

Oh geez here we go again. Clueless. Here’s a thought - you could simply take the 15% in additional income tax that you would forfeit in said nameless romanticized country, pop it into a 529 for 15 years and you’d be good to go. Then once junior is in college, you could spend the rest of your life enjoying that extra 15% which you would NOT enjoy in your glorified wealthy nation because you would be charged 45-50% in income tax FOREVER.

Signed someone who has lived in those countries.

PP you replied to. Ha! Sorry, I'm FROM a European country and I can assure you that your calculations are wrong. University is free there. My taxes would not be that high. However, my marriage is here, my job is here, etc,and now the kids want to go to school in the US. We are lucky we have the money. But the USA is the "first world" nation that has the most inequitable distribution of wealth, the weakest safety net and no universal access to affordable medical care. It should fix that if it truly wants to be civilized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

1. How many kids?
2. Some colleges are more than 80K a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Adding to PP's poignant description, I will add that it's a shitty country that makes people choose between enjoying their hard-earned income, and tightening their belts to send the next generation to earn their expensive degrees.

Other wealthy nations subsidize universities and lower tuition costs. The USA should do the same.

But it is not always rainbows and unicorns in other countries. The European model does allow for gov't subsidies for university but guess what? Not everyone gets to attend one. Students are tracked in high school (or younger) and those who score well attend and those who do not or are late bloomers, well, no university for them. The US system has plenty of flaws but only having a restricted number of seats is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

I did not save for my kid but I fully expected him to get a very generous merit aid that he got. So, we pay for his meals. Which comes to a few thousand a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand saving for college.

We just pay for it out of our income.

We only make $250 but $60K / year is not that big of a deal once your kid did private school for 12 years. It’s just part of the budget.

1. How many kids?
2. Some colleges are more than 80K a year.

2

One goes to UMCP (which is cheaper than private school) one goes to a school that is $70K but we only pay $40K

Each kid takes out student loans (5K/year) basically hoping for loan forgiveness. That worked for one kid so far.

We will pay the rest if we have to. Interest free loans are just smart money.

[Anonymous]

MYOB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

Adding to PP's poignant description, I will add that it's a shitty country that makes people choose between enjoying their hard-earned income, and tightening their belts to send the next generation to earn their expensive degrees.

Other wealthy nations subsidize universities and lower tuition costs. The USA should do the same.

Oh geez here we go again. Clueless. Here’s a thought - you could simply take the 15% in additional income tax that you would forfeit in said nameless romanticized country, pop it into a 529 for 15 years and you’d be good to go. Then once junior is in college, you could spend the rest of your life enjoying that extra 15% which you would NOT enjoy in your glorified wealthy nation because you would be charged 45-50% in income tax FOREVER.

Signed someone who has lived in those countries.

PP you replied to. Ha! Sorry, I'm FROM a European country and I can assure you that your calculations are wrong. University is free there. My taxes would not be that high. However, my marriage is here, my job is here, etc,and now the kids want to go to school in the US. We are lucky we have the money. But the USA is the "first world" nation that has the most inequitable distribution of wealth, the weakest safety net and no universal access to affordable medical care. It should fix that if it truly wants to be civilized.

I call BS.

Here are tax rates of countries in EU
Finland – 56.95%
Denmark – 55.90%
Austria – 55.00%
Sweden – 52.90%
Belgium – 50.00%
Slovenia – 50.00%
Netherlands – 49.50%
Ireland – 48.00%
Portugal – 48.00%
Spain – 47.00%
Luxembourg – 45.78%
France – 45.00%
Germany – 45.00%
Greece – 44.00%
Italy – 43.00%

Here are tax rates of counties you are lucky to have left
Cyprus – 35.00%
Malta – 35.00%
Poland – 32.00%
Latvia – 31.00%
Croatia – 30.00%
Slovakia – 25.00%
Czech Republic – 23.00%
Estonia – 20.00%
Lithuania – 20.00%
Hungary – 15.00%
Romania – 10.00%
Bulgaria – 10.00%

You are wrong.
at least your kids have it right.
When they enroll in college, you’re welcome to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so I guess I’m ‘one of those people’. I’m a single parent that’s made 200+ since my kids were born. I save $1,500 per child per month and - guess what - that’s still not enough.

Why? Why, you ask? Why am I not saving more? Because I want to retire at 62. I want to live in a modest house and travel internationally. I want to support my kids in their (expensive) activities. I want them to live independently at an amazing camp in Maine 4 weeks every summer so they can meet people outside our suburban town. I want to enjoy dinners out with them, and theatre, and fun days at the spa.

So yes, op. My measly $1,500 will not be sufficient and we will not qualify for financial aid. But you know what? I was raised with a work ethic that allowed me to pay off 6 figure debt. This is not what I want my kids to face, but if they do, I’d like to think they have the work ethic and possibly my support to pay it off.

You are saving 18k per year so you are saving for college. You may be a little short and not qualify for aid but it doesn’t sound like you would limit your child by telling him/her that a certain university is out of your budget.

She will if she did not start saving early enough. So her kids will have enough for a state school, they may not have enough for a current $80k/year school. But that is ok. her kids will have options and she is obviously saving well.

[Anonymous]

I plan to be retired when my first gets to college age. Not really saving specifically for college. Will also not have much funds in liquid accounts. Net worth would be in real estate. Income when Retired will be 40k, so we should get a good financial aid package. 2 kids 2 years apart.