Paying for and saving for college - how do UMC people do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At your income level you are way behind on college and retirement savings. We are late 40s and make about $170,000 combined. We don't have "college" savings, but have put money into 401Ks and Roths. We are at $1.3 million in retirement savings and have been able to cashflow private school and now UMD college park. Since we are heading into a recession, your 529 accounts aren't going to grow as much. Be in a position to cashflow and borrow once your kids get into college. You are in the donut hole friend. You are not getting financial aid.

You sound kind of like a jerk, actually. "Way behind"? How do you know how long that income has been what it is and what other expenses exist?

And: Why did your kids go to private school when you make such a modest salary?

actually, YOU sound like a jerk in many of your replies. you ARE way behind based on your stated income and age of your kids.

people making 320 don't get any need based financial aid...ever! if we made 320 we would easily be able to pay college costs out of cash flow, no savings needed.

you need to take a serious look at your budget and start putting an appropriate amount into college savings AND retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At your income level you are way behind on college and retirement savings. We are late 40s and make about $170,000 combined. We don't have "college" savings, but have put money into 401Ks and Roths. We are at $1.3 million in retirement savings and have been able to cashflow private school and now UMD college park. Since we are heading into a recession, your 529 accounts aren't going to grow as much. Be in a position to cashflow and borrow once your kids get into college. You are in the donut hole friend. You are not getting financial aid.

Harsh but true. I sympathize with OP if they were burdened with loans or had other issues which precluded saving/investing for retirement and college. However the net result is the same - you are not aequately prepared for college, unless you can pay cash for in-state. And bear in mind that UVA has a 20% acceptance rate and UMD just went down to 34%. This means getting above a 4.5 weighted gpa (3.9 unweighted), multiple APs, near perfect test scores and solid extra-curriculars. Otherwise they might not get in.

[Anonymous]

Send your kids to schools like JMU, VT, UMD, Towson or UMBC. Reasonably priced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At $320k a year I don’t understand what the problem is. We earn about $150k a year and have been saving since our kids were tiny. They are now 13 and 8 and we have about $120k combined. Still not enough but much more than you have. How much are you saving a month?

+100

[Anonymous]

We are legal immigrants and MD residents. Kids went to public magnet school. At some point we refinanced our home and went from a high interest rate to a low interest rate. We took money out from our home equity and bought the prepaid MD tuition for both kids.

Our strategy was -
- Public K-12, (lucky to be in magnet track)
- Enriching at home (SAHM has two masters),
- In-state college
- Prepaid tuition (peace of mind)
- AP courses for credits (allowed kids to do double majors with no added stress)
- Willingness to go the CC route (did not have to do this)
- Willingness to live at home and commute to save on room and board (did not have to do this)
- NMS scholarship (a generous UMD merit aid of $40K also helped)

We were helped along with the financial benefits of being 30 minutes away from college (no cost for travel, groceries, consumer products),

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t get financial aid. I make 1/3 of what you do. No FA, I pay as I go, and choose state schools.

FA is for people making sub 50k

Uh, no it isn't. Oh dear.

For public universities it is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At your income level you are way behind on college and retirement savings. We are late 40s and make about $170,000 combined. We don't have "college" savings, but have put money into 401Ks and Roths. We are at $1.3 million in retirement savings and have been able to cashflow private school and now UMD college park. Since we are heading into a recession, your 529 accounts aren't going to grow as much. Be in a position to cashflow and borrow once your kids get into college. You are in the donut hole friend. You are not getting financial aid.

You sound kind of like a jerk, actually. "Way behind"? How do you know how long that income has been what it is and what other expenses exist?

And: Why did your kids go to private school when you make such a modest salary?

actually, YOU sound like a jerk in many of your replies. you ARE way behind based on your stated income and age of your kids.

people making 320 don't get any need based financial aid...ever! if we made 320 we would easily be able to pay college costs out of cash flow, no savings needed.

you need to take a serious look at your budget and start putting an appropriate amount into college savings AND retirement.

I just don't understand what inspires people to be so pointlessly jerky, unless it's some kind of deep-seated envy or anxiety over their own financial situation. The question was about how to save for college. Nobody asked for a lecture. Telling someone that they're "so behind" is helpful -- how? It's simply not: It's a way to make yourself feel somehow better.

On a broader note: Life is to be lived. You could die tomorrow. You could get cancer or a horrible illness. Many people spend their healthy incomes on things like family trips, experiences, etc. Loans exist for college but not for life. Not everyone has the same narrow and stringent priorities.

Also, college ROI isn't what it once was overall. You may want to reconsider what you're paying for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send your kids to schools like JMU, VT, UMD, Towson or UMBC. Reasonably priced.

This. You’ll have enough for an in-state school, or maybe they will have to get some loans, or they can work to help out with the cost.

[Anonymous]

I do find it sad and baffling that otherwise intelligent people are writing sheeple-style checks for inflated tuition so their kids can...do what?

Several of my savviest friends have kids in state schools or in the trades, happy as pie and making buckets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At your income level you are way behind on college and retirement savings. We are late 40s and make about $170,000 combined. We don't have "college" savings, but have put money into 401Ks and Roths. We are at $1.3 million in retirement savings and have been able to cashflow private school and now UMD college park. Since we are heading into a recession, your 529 accounts aren't going to grow as much. Be in a position to cashflow and borrow once your kids get into college. You are in the donut hole friend. You are not getting financial aid.

You sound kind of like a jerk, actually. "Way behind"? How do you know how long that income has been what it is and what other expenses exist?

And: Why did your kids go to private school when you make such a modest salary?

actually, YOU sound like a jerk in many of your replies. you ARE way behind based on your stated income and age of your kids.

people making 320 don't get any need based financial aid...ever! if we made 320 we would easily be able to pay college costs out of cash flow, no savings needed.

you need to take a serious look at your budget and start putting an appropriate amount into college savings AND retirement.

I just don't understand what inspires people to be so pointlessly jerky, unless it's some kind of deep-seated envy or anxiety over their own financial situation. The question was about how to save for college. Nobody asked for a lecture. Telling someone that they're "so behind" is helpful -- how? It's simply not: It's a way to make yourself feel somehow better.

On a broader note: Life is to be lived. You could die tomorrow. You could get cancer or a horrible illness. Many people spend their healthy incomes on things like family trips, experiences, etc. Loans exist for college but not for life. Not everyone has the same narrow and stringent priorities.

Also, college ROI isn't what it once was overall. You may want to reconsider what you're paying for.

Very true but saddling your kids with loans right out of the gate is a huge disadvantage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do find it sad and baffling that otherwise intelligent people are writing sheeple-style checks for inflated tuition so their kids can...do what?

Several of my savviest friends have kids in state schools or in the trades, happy as pie and making buckets.

You have a right to feel as you feel of course but no one truly knows where the money for tuition comes from in any family. I am sure that friends wonder how we are somehow paying the tuition bill for our kids when it is a grandparent who insisted on leaving a legacy of education support who is now writing the checks. It is no one's business but per your post I am sure they wonder and feel "sad" for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At your income level you are way behind on college and retirement savings. We are late 40s and make about $170,000 combined. We don't have "college" savings, but have put money into 401Ks and Roths. We are at $1.3 million in retirement savings and have been able to cashflow private school and now UMD college park. Since we are heading into a recession, your 529 accounts aren't going to grow as much. Be in a position to cashflow and borrow once your kids get into college. You are in the donut hole friend. You are not getting financial aid.

You sound kind of like a jerk, actually. "Way behind"? How do you know how long that income has been what it is and what other expenses exist?

And: Why did your kids go to private school when you make such a modest salary?

actually, YOU sound like a jerk in many of your replies. you ARE way behind based on your stated income and age of your kids.

people making 320 don't get any need based financial aid...ever! if we made 320 we would easily be able to pay college costs out of cash flow, no savings needed.

you need to take a serious look at your budget and start putting an appropriate amount into college savings AND retirement.

I just don't understand what inspires people to be so pointlessly jerky, unless it's some kind of deep-seated envy or anxiety over their own financial situation. The question was about how to save for college. Nobody asked for a lecture. Telling someone that they're "so behind" is helpful -- how? It's simply not: It's a way to make yourself feel somehow better.

On a broader note: Life is to be lived. You could die tomorrow. You could get cancer or a horrible illness. Many people spend their healthy incomes on things like family trips, experiences, etc. Loans exist for college but not for life. Not everyone has the same narrow and stringent priorities.

Also, college ROI isn't what it once was overall. You may want to reconsider what you're paying for.

Very true but saddling your kids with loans right out of the gate is a huge disadvantage

A student can only take out up to $27,000 total in their own name without a co-signer. There haven’t been payments due on them since March 2020

[Anonymous]

Shouldn’t you have planned this out before you had kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn’t you have planned this out before you had kids?

Oh deer.

[Anonymous]

OP did you have student loans to pay off earlier in life? What is your spending now?