If you are not financially well off, should you discourage moving away for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would not be able to afford without saving, things like flights home nor are we financially in a place to add an additional vehicle for taking to school.

Would you discourage going away for college?

You should be clear with your child about your constraints

But, assuming that your child is a bright student who’s good at turning things in, can do well even when not using AI and is getting good grades: you should encourage your child to apply to a wide range of schools that sound great and see what happens.

Even rich kids with great stats should apply to the nearest state university, because anything can happen.

But even broke kids with so-so stats should consider applying to a few dream schools if they want, because anything can happen.

Maybe some schools that are expensive and far away will provide enough aid to make paying for travel easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Living on campus is a huge waste of money in general.

Except for growth, independence, autonomy, adulting, - yup total waste.

I come from Europe where most kids don’t go away for college. We’ve been adulting just fine.

Spending 4 years at an all inclusive in your parents’ dime is not adulting.

If you haven’t realized the difference between child rearing practices in the US compared to Europe then you haven’t fully acclimated. Surely you know our kids are far more coddled here than a child raised in Hamburg. And that’s why so many of our coeds go away to college as a rite of passage.

No, I haven’t fully assimilated and I never will, so my US born and raised kids are not over coddled. Don’t you love the diversity of US?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We would not be able to afford without saving, things like flights home nor are we financially in a place to add an additional vehicle for taking to school.

Would you discourage going away for college? [/quote]

I would highly suggest that if you are financially precarious, as we have been previously (not have 6mo emergency funds, possibly living paycheck to paycheck) that you NOT commit to a college that you cannot reasonably drive to in the car you own at the time.

So no, do not commit to a school that you cannot easily fund (without hardship) getting that kid back in an emergency situation. Covid, injury, natural disaster or more mundane things like a kid’s poor planning, lack of friends near you for rides, insane fuel costs driving up bus prices- these all affect you financially in an unpredictable way.

However, there are high-end schools with great financial aid programs that can include stipends for traveling to and fro (whether they cover the actual cost or just lump you some random amount is another story.). So don’t cross anything off the list until you see the offer but also don’t get your kid’s hopes up.

We are a $200k earning household in a low cost of living area (so “rich” for here) and are sending our kid a plane-ride away to a school that considers our income to be “low” enough for ~50% off aid but not low enough for travel stipends. This travel will be adding a few thousand dollars a year that we cannot use a 529 plan to pay. With everything having increased in price ~100% in the last 5 years this “few thousand” that should be no big deal has been added to by the “few thousand” increase in our car ins & home ins, joined by the “few thousand” increase in food costs and the “few thousand” increase in gas costs and now we are at an increase in spending of ~ $15k a year.

We are old, so we cannot assume that our income will increase over his college journey if you are young maybe that is another factor to consider.[/quote]

You have a high income. Good brag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids don’t need a car in college. They can take a bus, train, plane or you go get them. Get a rewards credit card for flights.

Thanks PPs. Due to previous credit issues during homelessness, we do not qualify for credit cards.

The concern for me right now is providing assistance in getting home if there’s not a friend from the area or someone going our direction as a PP noted.

see what kind of financial assistance you get

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Living on campus is a huge waste of money in general.

This.

[Anonymous]

Living on campus is less expensive some places and more expensive other places - when compared with living in rented off-campus housing.

Living at home is almost always lower cost (in a small number of cases transportation costs might be high enough to change the calculus).

Living on campus first year can be an important aid to making friends and finding/joining a study group.

[Anonymous]

I went across the country to school. My parents were broke and because I didn’t have money to go home on breaks I did a lot of couch surfing. In hindsight, the experience was a double-edged sword, I became extremely driven by the poverty and ultimately successful but I also made some terrible decisions out of desperation.

[Anonymous]

I had two friends at different universities who lived in the dorms first year, then moved home for the final three. Saved them a ton of money, and they still made lots of friends. One even met his wife on a class.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are staying in state and thus will be in driving distance. This is what we can afford.

OP, if your kid wants a car and you can’t buy one, they need to buy one. Do they not have jobs right now?

[Anonymous]

Yes, how do you plan to pay for it?