I genuinely don't get saving for college for kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of colleges that offer merit aid and full tuition scholarships. I don't understand anyone who pays full out-of-pocket tuition. And, your child does not have to go to an elite LAC or Ivy League college to get a good job or do well in life. We have twins and don't have a 529 plan for either. One student has received lots of merit aid offers and a chance for a full tuition scholarship at one school. The other will likely go to a state school. We will pick up the rest through some investment funds.

You don't want others to judge you so don't judge them. If the possibility of going to an expensive school w/o loans is important to them, it's important to them.

At least they were honest and said they didn't understand.

[Anonymous]

Even with merit aid, a private will likely cost you $30K/year out of pocket. If you can “pay as you go” during the college years, don’t sweat saving now. Just know that unless your HHI is pretty low, the only need based aid you’ll get are loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of colleges that offer merit aid and full tuition scholarships. I don't understand anyone who pays full out-of-pocket tuition. And, your child does not have to go to an elite LAC or Ivy League college to get a good job or do well in life. We have twins and don't have a 529 plan for either. One student has received lots of merit aid offers and a chance for a full tuition scholarship at one school. The other will likely go to a state school. We will pick up the rest through some investment funds.

So you have saved for college - just not in a 529.

No, we liquidated an asset.

[Anonymous]

My parents paid for my undergrad degree from a state school in PA. We were out of state, but it was very reasonable. I remember my mom telling me that her parents paid for her and in turn she was paying for mine. She only asked that if I should ever have my own children that I do my best to do the same.

FWIW my DS is currently a junior at an OOS school. When he entered our 529 had a value of <$90k. We still have $23k left to cover the next three semesters. Very reasonable IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of colleges that offer merit aid and full tuition scholarships. I don't understand anyone who pays full out-of-pocket tuition. And, your child does not have to go to an elite LAC or Ivy League college to get a good job or do well in life. We have twins and don't have a 529 plan for either. One student has received lots of merit aid offers and a chance for a full tuition scholarship at one school. The other will likely go to a state school. We will pick up the rest through some investment funds.

So you have saved for college - just not in a 529.

No, we liquidated an asset.

Ummm potato, potatoh. If you have a plan to "pick up" money to pay for college from an asset you earned and kept, that is saving for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was a first generation college student. I worked really hard in HS and got decent scholarships for college. I primarily had merit-based aid, with a small amount of need-based aid and then student loans. I went to an expensive school. Costs worked out roughly as such:

40-45 k total
25 merit-based aid
5k need-based aid (Pell grant)
2k work study
10k student loans

I worked a lot in college and took out loans. It took me about 10 years to pay back the 40k and it never felt particularly onerous. I went to grad school via a program that paid for my degree entirely.

In my husbands case he had a full ride to a comparable school for tuition and his parents paid 10k/year for his room/board. He also has advanced degrees but did a combined ba/ma program and transferred in with a lot of credits so it ended up not costing much extra.

Our child is young but very bright and I believe she will be similarly high-performing in high school. We make more money than my family did, certainly, but we don't have dedicated college savings. I guess I am expecting my child to get a lot of merit-based aid and then figure we will be fine paying the rest.

I don't get why we would save 300k or whatever when I fully expect her to get merit aid. And if somehow she fizzles out and doesn't get merit-aid, then I would expect her to go to a cheaper school.

Am I missing something?

Yes, education is the one thing no one can ever take away from your child.

I grew up poor like you I went to college with merit help. That is not as available as you think.

I firmly believe in a college education (of course some kids trade schools totally fine as well ).

Unlike my neighbors I do feel Community college is fine as a way to start. Most state schools also great. No reason in my mind to spend money on out of state schools.

[Anonymous]

We will probably cash-flow it and just do enough 529 to get the state tax deduction and little extra for giggles. I prefer that money stays in regular brokerage account in case we decide to go back to Europe and live do kids uni there. USA is looking weirder day by day, not sure if our orange man is just the beginning or the end of the insanity.

[Anonymous]

We helped our son get his dorm set up, paid for school supplies, and make the obligatory Costco run when he comes home for breaks. During his sophomore year we allowed him to bring a car to campus. We paid about $1,000 for AP tests when he was in high school. We did not pay for his tuition or rent. He will graduate from University of Maryland next weekend in 3.5 years - yeah! He took out $27k in loans.

[Anonymous]

By definition not every student can get aid. Scholarships for some students are subsidized by the tuition of other students.

Don’t assume your kids will get scholarships, and ANYTHING you personally experienced will be 10x more competitive for your kids because tuition costs have risen exponentially, and admissions and scholarships are more competitive for them than it was for you (simple mathematics — their generation is bigger, and a larger percentage of them are going to college)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was a first generation college student. I worked really hard in HS and got decent scholarships for college. I primarily had merit-based aid, with a small amount of need-based aid and then student loans. I went to an expensive school. Costs worked out roughly as such:

40-45 k total
25 merit-based aid
5k need-based aid (Pell grant)
2k work study
10k student loans

I worked a lot in college and took out loans. It took me about 10 years to pay back the 40k and it never felt particularly onerous. I went to grad school via a program that paid for my degree entirely.

In my husbands case he had a full ride to a comparable school for tuition and his parents paid 10k/year for his room/board. He also has advanced degrees but did a combined ba/ma program and transferred in with a lot of credits so it ended up not costing much extra.

Our child is young but very bright and I believe she will be similarly high-performing in high school. We make more money than my family did, certainly, but we don't have dedicated college savings. I guess I am expecting my child to get a lot of merit-based aid and then figure we will be fine paying the rest.

I don't get why we would save 300k or whatever when I fully expect her to get merit aid. And if somehow she fizzles out and doesn't get merit-aid, then I would expect her to go to a cheaper school.

Am I missing something?

1. The most elite schools don’t offer merit aid, only need based. I went to an Ivy and they only offered need based aid and I am pretty sure that that is the case amongst all ivies. You likely make too much money for need based aid.
2. There are state tax benefits to investing in a 529. So if you are anticipating contributing any amount, which it sounds like you are, it’s pretty stupid to do it the way that you are planning on doing.

And of course life is long and you never know what you don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Ivies & other top schools do not offer merit based aid, because it's so competitive already..
everyone who goes there is smart!

Your child isn't going to get need based aid because you probably earn too much, OP.

Now what of your big plan?

Are you gonna saddle her with upwards of $100,000 in debt, that will follow her for the rest of her life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivies & other top schools do not offer merit based aid, because it's so competitive already..
everyone who goes there is smart!

Your child isn't going to get need based aid because you probably earn too much, OP.

Now what of your big plan?

Are you gonna saddle her with upwards of $100,000 in debt, that will follow her for the rest of her life?

Do car payments saddle people for life? I see $50k cars whipping past all day long. They could get a perfectly serviceable car for $5k but they don’t. I had student loans. Paid them off in ten years. Wasn’t a big deal and wouldn’t trade my experience. I get that debt should be accumulated with great caution but people treat their debts differently. Omigod college debt is the devil then click on Amazon and buy $100 of junk.

[Anonymous]

^ Yes it's a gift. Why saddle them with loans when you can afford to help them.
Instead of clicking on the $100 Amazon junk, save up for their education - all about priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Yes it's a gift. Why saddle them with loans when you can afford to help them.
Instead of clicking on the $100 Amazon junk, save up for their education - all about priorities.

I meant the kids buying crap on Amazon. Sweatshirts and laptop stickers and god knows what else. I think I’d rather have them pick the college they really want than graduate without debt and blow their money on the nonsense. At least debt demands some responsibility and sense of money’s meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivies & other top schools do not offer merit based aid, because it's so competitive already..
everyone who goes there is smart!

Your child isn't going to get need based aid because you probably earn too much, OP.

Now what of your big plan?

Are you gonna saddle her with upwards of $100,000 in debt, that will follow her for the rest of her life?

Do car payments saddle people for life? I see $50k cars whipping past all day long. They could get a perfectly serviceable car for $5k but they don’t. I had student loans. Paid them off in ten years. Wasn’t a big deal and wouldn’t trade my experience. I get that debt should be accumulated with great caution but people treat their debts differently. Omigod college debt is the devil then click on Amazon and buy $100 of junk.

You do know that some people don’t have car payments right? I am not from a wealthy background and have had a license for 15+ years and have never had a car payment. Like you can just pay for a car cash. Also if you lease a car there’s no debt with that either right? And btw it’s much, much easier to get out of consumer debt than for student loans (which are not dischargeable in bankruptcy).