UMD seems a fine choice. Is she in Honors with merit?
My friend works at the Smithsonian American History - she told me only PhDs and top management are paid anything that can support a family. So either your daughter does research, but then has to go all the way to a PhD, with the time and investment it requires, or she branches out and gets something in marketing or business. We made the more expensive choice, but that's because we have a net worth in the 1%. I would never pay 60K a year with your income and assets. |
Not sure how UMD CP for at least a third of 60k equals almost free. 20k per year is not almost free, but I'm obviously poorer than you.
Either way I'd make her chose UMD. |
State. It matters less where she goes to undergraduate school than where she goes to graduate school. |
I hope you left out a portion of your retirement accounts in your OP, because... yikes. On no account should you take on college debt, or shunt what should be going to retirement into a fancy college. |
Which T10 school? |
State school. I had a similar choice (although I would have taken loans) and it was by far the best financial decision I’ve made. |
We just made it to this income level after climbing for the last ten years. Got out from under student loans and saved the cash and retirement. Started late obviously. Here we are! Just in time to jump into the donut hole. |
+1 It matters, especially in the arts. Had I not attended a T-10 Ivy, I would not have received a full merit scholarship for the PhD (T-10 school), which resulted in exceptional training and led to highly quality research then a tenured professorship. A state school would not have positioned me well for success in a challenging and highly competitive field, which unfortunately often depends heavily on both prestige and quality of training. |
No way should you pay $60k a year for your kid to pursue an arts degree! |
Agree 100! Housing market was not kind to us. Interest rates and housing prices shot up. |
+1. We have similar stats to your family, OP, but we own our home and have a little more in retirement. We receive more than half tuition via FA. |
I'm not PP - but I have a friend (in 30's) who had her loans forgiven after working for the federal government fo 10 years. There's a very prescribed process for this. I think you need to apply for the program (probably as soon as you start working for the federal government) and I believe you have to pay religiously on time for the entire 10 years. I"m not sure how the loan payment freeze periods work (or if they screw your 10 years of on time payments requirement). Anyway - the friend had been paying and now the rest of the loan is forgiven. |
To clarify - the friend was the STUDENT who took out loans for college and that student went to work for the federal govt after they graduated college. It was Not the parent who was a fed. |
Based on your situation, you cannot afford to take loans. There is nothing wrong with state school. |
Brown University |