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Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A lot of parents (and grandparents) just pay cash along the way and many let the kid take out $5k yr in loans. It’s really not that uncommon. Uncommon is this internet myth that everyone has a fully funded 529.
$5k/year is acceptable (20K for college), but why take it if you don't need to? Why saddle your kids with loan payments if you can afford not to?
I get that most do not have a fully funded 529. If we didn't my kid would work hard during all breaks (just like I did) and work part time during university (just like I did with 2 intensive majors that I did)---note my kid will work during summers, but wont be required to work PT in college. But as responsible adults, if you are making over $200K/year, you can most likely find a way to save something, except for extreme circumstances. I don't get why people waste $$ on non-essentials when they have not saved for college. When daycare ends, funnel that $$$ into a 529. Because your kid will not likely get financial aide, so why not plan and make your family life easier for kids at college age?
$20,000 in bachelor's degree loans if your kid is majoring in business, engineering or nursing is totally insignificant. It's peanuts. And also, if they plan to pursue something in the public sector, that will be forgiven.
Yes those degrees should be able to pay back debt. However, one can also argue that for engineering and nursing where you go doesn't really matter that much. For nursing what matters is passing the NCLEX. For engineering what matters is completing an ABET accredited degree---engineering degree from anywhere will have you decently employed afterwards. So if you can go somewhere without debt, there really is no need to accrue even $20-30K for the degree.
We're not talking about $100k in debt and taking a chunk of equity out of the house. In the grand scheme of things, $20k-30k in undergrad debt to give your children a superior dating, social and professional network is well worth it. But you can go ahead and send your own kids to some laughing stock where most of their classmates fail out or take six years to complete bachelor's studies. Crummy colleges bribe you with merit and various other low-bar automatic scholarships to offset the fact that your kid will be spending four years around nitwits. There is no such thing as free lunch.
There are always people who go out of their way to say how much college name doesn’t matter. I don’t know if they truly believe this, if they have a chip or they can’t afford it.
We went to good college and grad schools and plan to send our kids to the same and can easily pay for it. Maybe if the pp studied harder and went to a better college, met someone better to marry and had better career prospects, their kid wouldn’t have to choose a worse school due to money.
Oh I can afford it thank you---fairly certain I could not "have married better" by your definition (HNWfamily by age 40, UHNW family before age 45, none of it is family money). My kid will be full pay at an $80K school, and kid turned down a $40K merit/scholarship at a similarly ranked school that wasn't the right fit. I state this as someone who can and will pay for whatever school my kids want, already have a trust set up for any future grandkids for education and for my kids aspirations (be it PHD, medical school, etc.) and $$ set aside to assist kids with first home, etc.
Oh and both spouse and I attended Top 10 schools for undergrad and another top 10 school for graduate school (graduated with a 3.95 from a T10 in engineering with 2 intensive degrees, so not an easy feat, especially when there was no grade inflation at my university 30+ years ago). So been there done that, and yes, I truly believe that there are plenty of schools that are as good if not better than the T10/T20 schools. I'm where I am today because of my work ethic and what I do at my job---obviously I'm damn good at it. As is my spouse. I worked hard to get here and where I went to college had little to do with it.
And the dating pool/socialization pool at top colleges is filled with a variety of people---some of whom are rich, entitled kids and that's not really who I'd want my kids "socializing with". I dated many like that when I was in college, but prefer hardworking, more down to earth. For now, my kids have a very down to earth set of friends and don't expect much---they prefer to live like "normal college kids", ie. ones who have to hold a summer job and can't spend $200 every weekend going out (not that I'd fund that anyhow).
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