I don't trust VA 529 prepaid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I don't think they'd cost less. They'd just jack up the price if it became really common. In fact, I'm pretty sure most universities that offer online degrees cost the same or more.

Did you read the article? The online CS degree from Georgia Tech is $6,600 — far less than the $45,000 on-campus price. The worst case scenario is that they will offer 2 price options like Georgia Tech but only allow you to use the prepaid semesters to buy online options. If my DC want to take the other option to have on campus experience, I will need to pay extra to upgrade to the "Cadillac plan". That said, it's all hypothetical. All I want at the end of the day is to have better investment returns to to finance college educations for my DC. They are only age 1 and 3 now.

What will end up happening is the smart students who take technical degrees like computers and engineering will opt for the cheapest online version while not attending the school and avoid social and partying. In fact they might free up time to start working early. Imagine college being for education only.

[Anonymous]

We live in MD and did not go for the prepaid plan either for similiar reasons (concern not good value). I never thought about the online component. My concern was that if the plan administrator couldn't keep up with higher costs then we wouldn't get good value. I thought of the state of pensions and social security.

[Anonymous]

Only reason to pay higher prices for something you can get cheaper.

1. More fun
2. Connections

If you can get your kid a job that they are sastisfied with after they get their degree, 2 is taken care of. If they are going to live at home while in college, 1 is taken out of the equation.


My parents were immigrant and I needed to work my ass off for a 4.0 in HS to get scholarships.

Borrowing money to live on campus was worth it to me.

[Anonymous]

I don't trust the VA 529 pre-paid plan either, but it is because I think there is a risk that it will become insolvent before my kids go to college. This has already happened in several other states, Illinois is the one that comes to my mind.

If the state can't get the return on the money you give them that they expect, or if college costs rise faster than they expect the plan won't have enough money to cover the costs of college. At this point it is unclear what happens, maybe the state government will make up the difference, but in many states they are not obligated to do so.

[Anonymous]

My children will be commuting to college on jetpacks.

[Anonymous]

We didn't do it because 1) I didn't trust VA not to 'change the rules" at some point in the future and 2) I think online education is going to decrease the tuition and I don't want to overpay. It is stressful.