Donut hole families who are stretching to pay college tuition … are you worried it will be a waste especially with AI

[Anonymous]

Guess what? Just because your son wants to go to a private college doesn't mean that he gets to if you can't afford it. There are plenty of people who can. He can go to a community college for two years and then transfer in state.

[Anonymous]

Not worried. One at ivy one at T15 nonivy, full pay with budget cutting but no loans. The schools' reputations and data on jobs/grad/professional are insanely good. PhD is free, top masters have funding or we could help a little if it is an ivy/top level and absolutely necessary masters. Even T10 med and law have non-need based merit fellowships for top kids(which mine would likely be as top test takers and already 3.9+). Or they can easily payoff law or med loans as we did. NBD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do you have saved, what's your income, and what's your networth? It's all relative. I'm letting my kids go to a private college, but we have $350k per kid in their 529 plans (started early, and the market has been overall very good over the past 15 years).

Just because u have 350k it doesn’t mean u spend it. U can give that money to your children for your grandchildren..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:doom and gloom?

If you have plenty of $ for college, no need to respond here.

Donut hole single mom here (dad exists but is not contributing) with a dc who wants to ED a private college. It is a good school (not Ivy or T10 but we are comfortable with it- and no I’m not naming it) and we are essentially assured admission if dc does ED (a coach referral) with some merit.

Dc has no particular major in mind right now.

I’m so worried about spending a bunch of $ for dc to flounder and to get out to a crappy job market with a useless degree. I think AI will take away many entry level jobs that used to be the way young adults gained experience.

I myself graduated into a crappy job market from a top SLAC and felt like I had to go to grad school. I will not have any money left to help my dc if that happens.

Thoughts? Anyone else feeling this way?

if it is a T25 private or T10-15 SLAC your kid should be ok however please do your due diligence and have an honest assessment of how he or she stacks up compared to an average kid there. Athlete boost can be small or huge: if the kid is not likely to be academically at least average there, it will be hard for them to compete for GPA. More and more college class rigor (courses, major or both) will matter, as will LORs. We are already hearing that from family members who are involved with screening and hiring. He or she cannot just rely on being an athlete to open doors. The only below-average students that seem to get into law, med, top jobs are at the ivy/T10. Below average at even slightly lower ranked T25-T40 is a big drop off in opportunity compared to being above average/standouts at the same places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:doom and gloom?

If you have plenty of $ for college, no need to respond here.

Donut hole single mom here (dad exists but is not contributing) with a dc who wants to ED a private college. It is a good school (not Ivy or T10 but we are comfortable with it- and no I’m not naming it) and we are essentially assured admission if dc does ED (a coach referral) with some merit.

Dc has no particular major in mind right now.

I’m so worried about spending a bunch of $ for dc to flounder and to get out to a crappy job market with a useless degree. I think AI will take away many entry level jobs that used to be the way young adults gained experience.

I myself graduated into a crappy job market from a top SLAC and felt like I had to go to grad school. I will not have any money left to help my dc if that happens.

Thoughts? Anyone else feeling this way?

No. But, bolded shows you are stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you have saved, what's your income, and what's your networth? It's all relative. I'm letting my kids go to a private college, but we have $350k per kid in their 529 plans (started early, and the market has been overall very good over the past 15 years).

Just because u have 350k it doesn’t mean u spend it. U can give that money to your children for your grandchildren..

The reason they have $350k in their 529 plans is that we wanted to give them the gift of a great education and put them in a position to choose the best fit without worrying about cost. Our parents did this for us. I hope our kids will pay it forward to our grandkids. We've try to install a pay it forward mentality, but once they are out of the house and adulting, it's largely out of our control. I am definitely not changing how we've planned because of AI. Even if they decide to become a plumber, college is a valuable experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you have saved, what's your income, and what's your networth? It's all relative. I'm letting my kids go to a private college, but we have $350k per kid in their 529 plans (started early, and the market has been overall very good over the past 15 years).

Just because u have 350k it doesn’t mean u spend it. U can give that money to your children for your grandchildren..

The reason they have $350k in their 529 plans is that we wanted to give them the gift of a great education and put them in a position to choose the best fit without worrying about cost. Our parents did this for us. I hope our kids will pay it forward to our grandkids. We've try to install a pay it forward mentality, but once they are out of the house and adulting, it's largely out of our control. I am definitely not changing how we've planned because of AI. Even if they decide to become a plumber, college is a valuable experience.

+ 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you have saved, what's your income, and what's your networth? It's all relative. I'm letting my kids go to a private college, but we have $350k per kid in their 529 plans (started early, and the market has been overall very good over the past 15 years).

Just because u have 350k it doesn’t mean u spend it. U can give that money to your children for your grandchildren..

The reason they have $350k in their 529 plans is that we wanted to give them the gift of a great education and put them in a position to choose the best fit without worrying about cost. Our parents did this for us. I hope our kids will pay it forward to our grandkids. We've try to install a pay it forward mentality, but once they are out of the house and adulting, it's largely out of our control. I am definitely not changing how we've planned because of AI. Even if they decide to become a plumber, college is a valuable experience.

+ 1

A much better value is a state flagship and give them the rest to invest.

[Anonymous]

A kid who wants to ED a college but has no idea about a major basically is looking to check into a resort.

She should at least know why she wants to go there from an educational perspective not just Instagram and TikTok reasons. Give her that assignment and have her make a list of schools at different price points.

Her future.

[Anonymous]

OP, your DC needs to go to college. The issue is how much can you afford to spend. Don't pay more for a school that you're not even sure if it will result in higher earnings for your kid.

We told DC that we would pay for a T10 or else the athletic & merit scholarships needed to be significant. Some of these SLACs cost just as much as an Ivy but they're not worth the financial sacrifice for us.

There are D1 and D2 schools that offer a combination of athletic and merit scholarships. Plus your State's schools.

I mean this gently, but if your kid isn't at the level of earning a significant athletic scholarship, then you're essentially paying an extra $40-60K per year for your DC to enjoy playing on a team.

Some of these expensive D3 schools are for rich kids who are excellent students and good (but not top) athletes. Or for needy kids who receive significant aid. They don't necessarily yield better career outcomes than a good State school.

We had to tell DC no to these schools also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worry in general about the future, especially as it relates to my kids. AI is a concern, but also climate change, politics, unaffordable housing, etc. We're full pay at a Top 20 school. Sometimes I feel like a sucker -- it's a huge amount of money -- and yet I also feel like this is a no-strings-attached gift I'm giving to my kid.

If you already have it saved, and also fully funded your retirement and didn't take on other debt to do so, that is what the $$$ is for. Use it for that purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do you have saved, what's your income, and what's your networth? It's all relative. I'm letting my kids go to a private college, but we have $350k per kid in their 529 plans (started early, and the market has been overall very good over the past 15 years).

As you should. As long as you also adequately saved for your own retirement, that is why you have college funds.
Only reason not to let them attend an expensive school is if they would want graduate school/professional school. In that case, I would make sure they understand the costs of med school/law school and how it would be most beneficial to attend undergrad for a lower rate and have more to use for grad school, so they can minimize debt (because you don't have enough for $90K undergrad and grad school)

but otherwise, that is why you created college funds for your kids. So they do have options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guess what? Just because your son wants to go to a private college doesn't mean that he gets to if you can't afford it. There are plenty of people who can. He can go to a community college for two years and then transfer in state.

dont be drastic!

A kid can attend a 4 year State University or private university that offers merit. You just have to go 1 tier below the reach (to targets and safeties) and your kid will get merit at many schools. My top student got merit at 3+ schools in the 30-65 range, including CWRU with $42K (the top merit award that is automatically given out without applying for more scholarships) so the cost would have been about $40-45K each year. Had a State U ranked in the 120s that would have cost only $15-18K with merit, and our state flagship (ranked about 50) that would be only $30-35K.
All of that without even "searching for merit". Had we needed it, they could have easily gotten more in the 50-120 range for schools.

You can also use AP credits to reduce a semester or 2 at college. Your kid can earn $10-15K in a year (summers, breaks, and 10-12 hours per week during the year) to contribute to college, and then take the $5.5K yearly in fed student loans.

You don't have to go into debt for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you have saved, what's your income, and what's your networth? It's all relative. I'm letting my kids go to a private college, but we have $350k per kid in their 529 plans (started early, and the market has been overall very good over the past 15 years).

Just because u have 350k it doesn’t mean u spend it. U can give that money to your children for your grandchildren..

If you managed to save it, and still are set for retirement (as you should be if you saved that much), then why not use it?!?!?! Most likely someone who has done that can add $30K to the account once their kid graduates college and is off the payroll, and that $30K will be a great start for future grandkids as it grows for 25+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worry in general about the future, especially as it relates to my kids. AI is a concern, but also climate change, politics, unaffordable housing, etc. We're full pay at a Top 20 school. Sometimes I feel like a sucker -- it's a huge amount of money -- and yet I also feel like this is a no-strings-attached gift I'm giving to my kid.

If you already have it saved, and also fully funded your retirement and didn't take on other debt to do so, that is what the $$$ is for. Use it for that purpose.

DP - we have more than enough for private college but instead we are paying for instate undergrad and giving significant help with grad school, home down payment, wedding, and max 35k transferred from 529 to Roth IRA. We believe this is a much better investment for our kids than paying for Wake Forest over UVA.