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

[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?

This^^^

At $320K a year, you are not getting financial aide. It's good that you are saving for your retirement, but you also have to save for college and at your income level you should be able to do that comfrotably. You start saving now for college, you should be able to find $30k+ per year to put away at that income. Then since you have not saved enough, you look at schools that are only $30-40K/year---you search for lower tiered schools that will give your kids money (if you don't get into your state flagship(s)) .

Let your father/FIL put money for the kid's education. And besides saving you will need to plan to cashflow much of college while they are in college (or find a school that costs less).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Your post is a bit smug, isn't it? Retirement is a priority for most people.

They should be able to save for retirement and college at that income level. You make both a priority and/or plan for your kids to search out merit at lower tiered schools (nothing wrong with that). But they have to assume they are not getting FA for college. So if college is a priority they have to figure it out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have three kids. When I went back to work after maternity leave for each kid, I opened a 529 for then. Each got $250/month automatically deposited into their account. As the kids aged out of childcare, I tried to make lump sum contributions to divert that money to 529s.

Frankly , you don't deserve financial aid because you do have enough for college, you've just chosen not to save. If you were able to pay for childcare and didn't divert those payments to 529s when it was over but instead improved your lifestyle, that's on you.

+1

[Anonymous]

We have a similar income, but it was about 1/3 less until recently. We started at $500/month 529 contributions and increased older DC’s contributions to 1k/month (10 year age gap) when daycare/preschool costs ended. We had enough in 529s for public college, but private became a possibility due to a well-timed low 6 figure inheritance. Once older DC graduates, we’ll increase to $1500 for younger DC. However, we have less in retirement accounts and are late 40s. One of us expects to get a pension and we are starting to invest more outside our retirement. It seems that something has to give whichever way you slice it. We chose public schools k-12, older cars, and cheep domestic vacations, but we are paying 80k/year for private college.

[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.

They are NOT a donut hole. Someone making $320K should have been able to save for both retirement and college and be well positioned at this point. Donut hole is someone making ~$125K in a HCOL area who would have struggled to save fully for college and retirement and own a home, etc. At $320K it's more about their choices that have put them in this position. You can choose the lifestyle or choose retirement/college funds or balance all three things

[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?

Why does it matter? They have saved for retirement and found a way to cashflow college for their kids. Obviously they understand financial management and have made good choices. If they choose to drive older cars, take only driving vacations, eat out only 1x/month, etc in order to send kids to private K-12, that is their choice---seems like they made sound financial choices. They aren't complaining they can't afford college and they are on a great path for retirement.

[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.

They are NOT a donut hole. Someone making $320K should have been able to save for both retirement and college and be well positioned at this point. Donut hole is someone making ~$125K in a HCOL area who would have struggled to save fully for college and retirement and own a home, etc. At $320K it's more about their choices that have put them in this position. You can choose the lifestyle or choose retirement/college funds or balance all three things

Have you ever heard of student loans? Have you ever heard of ...NOT MAKING THAT INCOME FOR VERY LONG? Good lord. Maybe you never went to grad school or paid off loans, but most people do - and most people don't make 320k right out of college. Good grief. NUANCE much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You won’t get FA with your HHI. State school is 40k. Shouldn’t be a problem to cash flow. Private schools can give you merit but with very rare exceptions not the top 30.

I am one of the "irrelevant" posters above. My 2022 high stats but unhooked kid received very few merit offers even in the top 50. The only schools giving her merit (other than Northeastern) were outside the T100. I agree that OP can likely cashflow for just about any school they want to if they keep their spending in check. Hopefully the stock market will rally a bit and help 529 savings (and retirement savings!).

So if you truly could not afford the T50 or T100 schools with their lack of merit, you say you have offers with merit, just outside T100. So at that point, if you can't cashflow college/use their 529, you still have a way to get a great college degree without tons of debt---you take the merit at the school ranked #120 (or whatever) and give your kid the gift of no debt

[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?

Why does it matter? They have saved for retirement and found a way to cashflow college for their kids. Obviously they understand financial management and have made good choices. If they choose to drive older cars, take only driving vacations, eat out only 1x/month, etc in order to send kids to private K-12, that is their choice---seems like they made sound financial choices. They aren't complaining they can't afford college and they are on a great path for retirement.

Eating out only once per month would make me deeply sad. What is a driving vacation?

Everyone is different and has their own priorities, but coming onto this board just to tell someone how behind they are speaks to insecurity or meanness.

[Anonymous]

Kids will be going to Va public universities unless they get decent scholarships at OOS or private schools. We bought Va prepaid college tuition plans (no longer offered) when they were very young.

[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.

They are NOT a donut hole. Someone making $320K should have been able to save for both retirement and college and be well positioned at this point. Donut hole is someone making ~$125K in a HCOL area who would have struggled to save fully for college and retirement and own a home, etc. At $320K it's more about their choices that have put them in this position. You can choose the lifestyle or choose retirement/college funds or balance all three things

Have you ever heard of student loans? Have you ever heard of ...NOT MAKING THAT INCOME FOR VERY LONG? Good lord. Maybe you never went to grad school or paid off loans, but most people do - and most people don't make 320k right out of college. Good grief. NUANCE much?

Yes I went to grad school---got mine fully paid for with a nice stipend as well. I chose to attend somewhere that I wouldn't need $100K+ in debt for grad school. Also paid off almost $100K in debt from my partner and my own undergrad (majority was my partners). We did it in a little over 3 years, by continuing to drive crappy cars, live in modest apartments, not take fancy vacations, etc. We scrimped to get rid of that loan debt before we changed our lifestyle. Basically lived off of less than one salary and directed everything else towards the debt and then continued living that way until we had 20% to put down on a modest home. Knew education was a priority for any kids, so started saving once they were born. And set a lifestyle to accommodate the need to save for college and our retirement.

So unless they just started making 320K, they likely have been gradually getting there and have been making over $200K for years (just a logical assumption). Make the right choices and you can save at that income level.
Really, most people making $320K could cash flow $20-30K/year for college. So start saving that now and by the time the kids are college age, they should have enough combining savings to cash flow a decent school.

[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?

Why does it matter? They have saved for retirement and found a way to cashflow college for their kids. Obviously they understand financial management and have made good choices. If they choose to drive older cars, take only driving vacations, eat out only 1x/month, etc in order to send kids to private K-12, that is their choice---seems like they made sound financial choices. They aren't complaining they can't afford college and they are on a great path for retirement.

Eating out only once per month would make me deeply sad. What is a driving vacation?

Everyone is different and has their own priorities, but coming onto this board just to tell someone how behind they are speaks to insecurity or meanness.

Well taking loans of $200K+ to pay for my kid's undergrad would make me deeply sad. Yes everyone has their own priorities. But if your priorities include "luxuries" then you can't complain you don't have enough to pay for college. Plenty of people making $150-200K manage to fund college for their kids, by adjusting their priorities.

Driving vacation is going somewhere that's a 6-8 hour drive from your home---no airfare needed, no car rental needed, basically a way to get away have a nice vacation but affordably.

[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?

Why does it matter? They have saved for retirement and found a way to cashflow college for their kids. Obviously they understand financial management and have made good choices. If they choose to drive older cars, take only driving vacations, eat out only 1x/month, etc in order to send kids to private K-12, that is their choice---seems like they made sound financial choices. They aren't complaining they can't afford college and they are on a great path for retirement.

Eating out only once per month would make me deeply sad. What is a driving vacation?

Everyone is different and has their own priorities, but coming onto this board just to tell someone how behind they are speaks to insecurity or meanness.

I didn't read it as mean but just as showing what is possible. That poster probably started saving at 22, though. OP might have done grad/medical school.

[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?

Why does it matter? They have saved for retirement and found a way to cashflow college for their kids. Obviously they understand financial management and have made good choices. If they choose to drive older cars, take only driving vacations, eat out only 1x/month, etc in order to send kids to private K-12, that is their choice---seems like they made sound financial choices. They aren't complaining they can't afford college and they are on a great path for retirement.

Eating out only once per month would make me deeply sad. What is a driving vacation?

Everyone is different and has their own priorities, but coming onto this board just to tell someone how behind they are speaks to insecurity or meanness.

Not the PP but we eat out around once a year. A driving vacation is you put the family in the car. You drive to see family. Your vacation lodgings are free because you stay with family.

[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?

Why does it matter? They have saved for retirement and found a way to cashflow college for their kids. Obviously they understand financial management and have made good choices. If they choose to drive older cars, take only driving vacations, eat out only 1x/month, etc in order to send kids to private K-12, that is their choice---seems like they made sound financial choices. They aren't complaining they can't afford college and they are on a great path for retirement.

Eating out only once per month would make me deeply sad. What is a driving vacation?

Everyone is different and has their own priorities, but coming onto this board just to tell someone how behind they are speaks to insecurity or meanness.

Not the PP but we eat out around once a year. A driving vacation is you put the family in the car. You drive to see family. Your vacation lodgings are free because you stay with family.

Do you like your family?