How do most middle to UMC families pay for college?
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Anonymous
That is a family choice. I know plenty of doctors and others in tech who fully pay for med/law school for their kids. They start by overfunding the 529 with intent that there will be grad school/professsional school at some point |
Anonymous
This exactly. Lots of savings and realistic expectations given to children. |
Anonymous
Combination of 529 and cash-flow, plus loans and 10 month payment plan each year allows us to make it sort-of work. We've eliminated some fun things we had planned (DC is at a private school with scholarship dollars, so not terrible, but in an expensive COL and more than the in-state tuition we thought we'd be paying) but have them rescheduled for after graduation.  . Private school location makes more sense for her major.
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Anonymous
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Community college first two years. I have enough money in 529 to pay for that, but will probably just cash flow it. It was a mistake to put any money into 529, because my own investments did 10x in half the time. I never needed a tax deduction. I was a lower class who jumped into UMC skipping MC.
I can easily withdraw $80k a year from investment nearly tax free as HH. The older kid will do their own taxes and should get tuition credit and savers credit back as they are working and contributing to Roth. We will not touch 529 or they can't take the tuition credit. 529 is useless for us right now. |
Anonymous
+1 Also, you expect your kid to get a job during breaks (and PT during the year possibly) My kid can earn $10-15K/year working summers/breaks at basic jobs. Add in 10 hours/week PT during the year (something on campus) and they can contribute $10-15K yearly. In state is ~$30-35K, so now you only have $20K left. Take the ~$5K in federal loan and parents need to help with $15-20K at most. That's $80K needed in the 529 and/or partial cash flow each year. Not that difficult for a UMC family to achieve. In fact most kids don't need to work the full $15K to do it |
Anonymous
| In-state schools only unless they get significant OOS merit to cover the difference. Their 529s should cover it with minimal active contributions during the college years. They are in HS and MS but they know what a terrible idea it is to go in debt for undergrad. Grad school? We’ll see if they have anything left over and discuss it then. |
Anonymous
very very smart. Impressive. We didn't start 529 till later, when kids were 6 and 9 (shame on us). We contributed $10K per account per year for both accounts for the past 10 years. One is in college at UMDCP with merit. They had a ton of credits going in, so they are getting a dual degree, and +1 masters. All for $120K, so DC will have $ leftover. DC# wants to go oos, and they have some money from their grandparent. If we combine the 529 with their money, they can go oos + 2 years masters while living at home. We told DC we are not getting loans. Alternatively, they can go to in state for 2 years and transfer oos. We've had this discussion with DC. |
Anonymous
| Saving in 529 from birth plus grandparents help. No scholarships = sucks, and no funds for grad school. The caps make no sense. I don’t know how folks will be able to attend professional schools. It’s almost like they are trying to kill off education for everyone but the elites. |
Anonymous
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Well, we did not fund a 529 when our kids were born - one now in college and one going to be a junior.
Kid in college went to in-state school that was relatively inexpensive. We had sufficient savings to cover tuition without loans. They are switching to local community college and living at home, so much less expense there. Other child is on track to receive full scholarship for athletics, so we are ok there for now. |
Anonymous
| We pushed our three kids to choose in-state public. One kid did community college for two years and then transferred. It saved a ton of money. |
Anonymous
The median doctor salary across all disciplines in the DMV is $275k. I am not sure if it is a "family" choice more that certain doctors can make millions while plenty of pediatricians and GPs don't make much money. |
Anonymous
| 529 starting from birth like everyone else does. We also get 50 percent tuition remission from DH’s job. |
Anonymous
We used 529 savings, bonuses and took some out from roth IRA. We were funding 529 for state school, weren't prepared for private schools. Immigrants so weren't familiar with the system. |
Anonymous
| Our kids did get full merit at state school but private schools they attended gave 50% merit. |
Anonymous
| Tuition is expensive but so are living expenses in dorm and apartment plus car expenses add up. |