How do most middle to UMC families pay for college?

[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]

Anonymous wrote:we did 529s as soon as the kids were born with a goal to have 50% 4 yr in state college tuition saved. Somehow our financial advisor got us to 60%. Child 1 graduated in 3 years at UMCP with us giving help throughout to end with no debt. Child 2 went to MC first 2 years saving us alot of money so she graduated with no debt also. After graduation, Child 1 lived at home 4 years and saved enough $ and got scholarship to go to law school on her own, graduating with no debt. It can be done.

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]

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]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the hell are people going to afford med school?

Most med school students have doctor parents, it's sort of a family trade. It is very hard to become an MD from a LMC family. The truly exceptional ones get full ride at Cleveland or NYU, but still need around 40k-60k for postdoc or highly competitive residency matching. I guess they don't think we need a lot of MDs now, if people will die from Medicare and Medicaid cuts.

My niece has doctors as parents and her medical school loans total $500k.

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

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]

Anonymous wrote:The new cap on student loans is worrisome.
As in, not poor enough for significant aid and not wealthy enough to painlessly pay in full.

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.

[Anonymous]

I for the life of me do not understand how this country let college cost be determined by parent income. Middle class and UMC are in no more financial position to pay for college than those making 50-60k a year, unless those MC and UMC forewent houses, cars, etc. - which would undermine a large portion of the economy. The fact that the equity in my home is considered accessible to pay for college is ludicrous. The whole system is broken, very broken.

[Anonymous]

That's how the put upper middle class back in middle class and keep the status quo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I for the life of me do not understand how this country let college cost be determined by parent income. Middle class and UMC are in no more financial position to pay for college than those making 50-60k a year, unless those MC and UMC forewent houses, cars, etc. - which would undermine a large portion of the economy. The fact that the equity in my home is considered accessible to pay for college is ludicrous. The whole system is broken, very broken.

Agree, but UMC can afford to save for in state tuition. We did for 2 kids, and our HHI never went above $350K. And we have a house, and two cars albeit not pricey cars. We also saved a good amount for retirement. No, private schools.

I guess we lived below our means to achieve all of this.

[Anonymous]

529 contributions since birth. My older kid is now fully funded for any private school. Still working on the younger kids. No family help - my family paid for all my education through grad school, and DH had a full ride for undergraduate and MBA (via consulting). We were committed to keeping the momentum going by saving for our kids.

[Anonymous]

- Maryland Prepaid Tuition Trust. - For both kids, 5 years each. We paid 100K in all.
- Generous Merit scholarship covering full tuition from UMD - steller stats, MCPS magnet
- Stuff like apartment rent, travel abroad, socializing, food etc from our normal cash flow - I would say 50K for 4 years for each kid.
And there was a lot left in the MD Prepaid Tuition Trust - so we converted it to Roth for kids.

All in all, I would say that we have paid around 50K for room and board and other expenses for each kid over 4 years each. So, including the Prepaid tuition - around 100K for each kid. Double major for both. High demand STEM majors. Money earned interning was ploughed back in the kid's investment accounts.