Paying for college costs
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Anonymous
There were many surprises this year with UMD admissions. It is nobody's safety school! |
Anonymous
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We have 529 enough for instate. DC#1 is going to UMD honors in state. Hoping for merit aide, too. I'm so relieved.
DC#2 agrees that going to an expensive undergrad and taking out loans is not a smart move. The ROI on some of the expensive schools is not worth it. |
Anonymous
+1 I heard that even some RMIB students got rejected to UMD in EA. That was shocking to me. |
Anonymous
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We're doing in-State only.
Mom's salary is our "College savings". |
Anonymous
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DD1 is a current college frosh, DD2 is a HS Jr. Our HHI has been around 110k-150k over the last 10 years.
We started 529s when the kids were about 8. We started w/ $25/mo plus more when we'd get an influx (I freelance). Now we contribute $100/mo and a chunk of $1-2k periodically when we get an influx. We hoped to have $40k/year (160k) per kid by the time they finished college. Was hoping for $100k ea by the time they started. Last year's market slide affected everything adversely. DD1 had about 70K and DD2 50k. DD1 got good FA at her reach school. Total cost this year was around $30K. We took max student loan of $5,500 and paid the rest from regular savings. Hoping FA will be similar for next year and market will be better too! Also hoping that some schools will still give a FA break to parents w/ more than 1 in college. |
Anonymous
| We have about $60K saved for our 10th grader. Our plan was to only look at places where COA didn't exceed about $35K a year. (The savings plus the $20k a year we currently pay for private school.) I work at a university in the south with half tuition benefit, so that was also an option. However, my father died last year and left us about $200k. We're planning to make that money available toward our kid's education, so we will have a lot more options now. |
Anonymous
I am a divorced parent who was overwhelmed by the cost of tuition and fees. I couldn't imagine the idea of paying $80,000. Saved very little because the divorce court knew my disposable income better than I did. Luckily, this was reflected in the FAFSA and CSS. I was able to pay for an ivy league degree on cash flow. |
Anonymous
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DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)
I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years. Is that what others have experienced? |
Anonymous
If you could pay of ran Ivy out of cash flow, why weren't you saving? |
Anonymous
I would plan for $60-80K a year for a private or OOS school. We cannot afford that as that is as much as our house cost. We saved for state school. |
Anonymous
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PP.
DC goes to TJ. So he may not even get into UVA/VT for comp sci - therefore planning for OOS!! |
Anonymous
| There are ways to keep costs down, but it probably means not going to an elite school |
Anonymous
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Agree. thats why I was open to a top 50 school.
Main focus is to let DC have a “fun” HS and College experience, but make sure they learn at the same time.. |
Anonymous
Currently a lot of SLACs are at $77K (we were quoted this exact number on many campuses when we toured last summer in the northeast). Georgetown, George Washington and high-COL city unis like U Miami are at around 85K. So for 2026, budget for $90K. At least. |
Anonymous
Child supports runs to 18. At that point, you are free, unless the kid is 18 and staying home. So at 18, you have extra money coming in. |