We are not saving for college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question here - if your parents' income is too high for financial aid, can't you still get loans? No one wants to do this, but it seems like the reality for most these days.

I come from a truly poor background, and I still had to take out a good amount of loans.

Every student is guaranteed a certain amount of student loan each year (regardless of what your parents have). My parents could afford my college tuition, but my dad made me take out a student loan each year nonetheless - he felt that I needed to have some "skin in the game". The deal was that this wasn't just 4 years of free playtime on his dime, so if I graduated with a 3.0 GPA or higher, he would re-pay all my student loans as a graduation gift. If I did not graduate with said GPA, I would have to pay back these loans on my own (they weren't huge loans but would have been a burden on my entry level salary). It did work as an incentive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question here - if your parents' income is too high for financial aid, can't you still get loans? No one wants to do this, but it seems like the reality for most these days.

I come from a truly poor background, and I still had to take out a good amount of loans.

Every student is guaranteed a certain amount of student loan each year (regardless of what your parents have). My parents could afford my college tuition, but my dad made me take out a student loan each year nonetheless - he felt that I needed to have some "skin in the game". The deal was that this wasn't just 4 years of free playtime on his dime, so if I graduated with a 3.0 GPA or higher, he would re-pay all my student loans as a graduation gift. If I did not graduate with said GPA, I would have to pay back these loans on my own (they weren't huge loans but would have been a burden on my entry level salary). It did work as an incentive.

Wow, this is exactly my plan for DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you saving for retirement: if you have any chance at all of being eligible for financial aid, I hear the colleges will take anything you saved in a college account, but they will leave most or all of your retirement account because they know you are nearing retirement by the time your kids go to college.

I can confirm this is correct. Most financial aid formulas don't look at assets in retirement accounts, so it is in your best interest to fund these as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]It's really not a big deal. I'm another who had zero saved for college, working class parents.[/b] I got into the school of I wanted but the FA package meant loans of $17K a year. Instead, I took advantage of DC residency and chose an out of state public university. I worked through college and graduated with about 12K in loans. My work experience (and degree) landed me a nice job at a Top 10 Most Wanted Employer.

Nobody I knew expected their parents to pay for school yet all of my friends from similar backgrounds are doing very well for themselves. I didn't realize that parents who werent wealthy paid for college until I'd graduated!

Your kids don't have to work through school like I did, but I just didn't like loans. 6k of my loan balance was from my first year when I didnt work and I was turned off. My good friend opted to go community college and then UMCP. For MD and VA residents, you're very fortunate to have community colleges that feed into good public universities. Nobody cares where you started and its a lot cheaper. I'm seriously considering this option for my kid.

Does anyone else think its insane that parents are expected to save for almost 20years in order to afford college?

I'll start backwards from your post....yes, I think it's insane that parents have to save for 20 years to afford college. And, there is NO way you'd be able to send your kid to out-of-state with DC benefit without having them rack up extreme debt. UofM is $25K/year for DC residents, so that's 15K/year not including housing or living expenses. Other top publics, UVA or Michigan are $50K (for everything) out of state. So, your kid would be taking up loans up to 4-10x more than what you did. So, to end, it's a big deal and will limit their choices (unless you luck out and fees return to earthly standards).

[Anonymous]

I love living in DC. Son is in a great charter school, and receiving an excellent education. Alas, I think that once he reaches sixth grade, we will have to sell and move to MD or VA. There is no way we can afford out-of-state tuition rates. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]It's really not a big deal. I'm another who had zero saved for college, working class parents.[/b] I got into the school of I wanted but the FA package meant loans of $17K a year. Instead, I took advantage of DC residency and chose an out of state public university. I worked through college and graduated with about 12K in loans. My work experience (and degree) landed me a nice job at a Top 10 Most Wanted Employer.

Nobody I knew expected their parents to pay for school yet all of my friends from similar backgrounds are doing very well for themselves. I didn't realize that parents who werent wealthy paid for college until I'd graduated!

Your kids don't have to work through school like I did, but I just didn't like loans. 6k of my loan balance was from my first year when I didnt work and I was turned off. My good friend opted to go community college and then UMCP. For MD and VA residents, you're very fortunate to have community colleges that feed into good public universities. Nobody cares where you started and its a lot cheaper. I'm seriously considering this option for my kid.

Does anyone else think its insane that parents are expected to save for almost 20years in order to afford college?

I'll start backwards from your post....yes, I think it's insane that parents have to save for 20 years to afford college. And, there is NO way you'd be able to send your kid to out-of-state with DC benefit without having them rack up extreme debt. UofM is $25K/year for DC residents, so that's 15K/year not including housing or living expenses. Other top publics, UVA or Michigan are $50K (for everything) out of state. So, your kid would be taking up loans up to 4-10x more than what you did. So, to end, it's a big deal and will limit their choices (unless you luck out and fees return to earthly standards).

You named probably the 3 most expensive public universities for out-of-state students to prove your point? My DC isn't attending ANY school, public or private, that costs 50K a year out of pocket in today's dollars. A bachelor's degree isn't worth the $$$ considering options elsewhere and ROI today. Additionally, your figures exclude any grants or scholarships from the school. Even if DC chose to do community college (pay as you go) and 2 years at UMCP out of state, thats still a total of 50-75K (not factoring her 529 or any sort of free money from the school) vs over $200K going the route many DCUM parents are planning to go.

[Anonymous]

OP,

There is no need to feel guilty when you are doing the best you can, and it sounds like you are doing well. You are not in the hole, financially. You have a retirement fund and an emergency fund. You are doing better than probably 90% of America!

I think it's great that you are saving $50 here and there. Can you be more systematic about it? Can you sell some unused items on Craigslist or eBay? Can you stash away birthday and Christmas money? Are you couponing and shopping the best deals so you can put extra grocery money toward college? Do you shop secondhand? Can you do surveys online? Even a little bit each week will build up to thousands of dollars that will be helpful 18 years from now.

I am putting away $2000 per year for my child - that is $38 per week. We have dones this since 2002, so for 11 years. Her account is worth about $30K. Sure, it won't pay for 4 years of college. But at this rate, and assuming 5% return, we will have hopefully about $60K by the time she enters college in 2020. All because we put away $38 per week every week.

If you break it down in small pieces, it doesn't seem like much. Break it down even further and it's about $5.50 per day. Is there $5 per day that you are wasting that can be put toward her fund?

[Anonymous]

2 kids in college at private SLACs. Tuition, room and board at each school is 57K. We pay out of pocket 10K for one and 12K for the other. On the payment plan it's less than 2K/month. We don't have a college fund. Kids borrow 3,500/year in subsidized loans and the rest is scholarship plus need-based aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 kids in college at private SLACs. Tuition, room and board at each school is 57K. We pay out of pocket 10K for one and 12K for the other. On the payment plan it's less than 2K/month. We don't have a college fund. Kids borrow 3,500/year in subsidized loans and the rest is scholarship plus need-based aid.

14k in student loans is nothing to pay back, so kudos! I came out with 12k in SL debt and pay $69/month. Owe less than 5K now at 29. You guys definitely did something right!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]It's really not a big deal. I'm another who had zero saved for college, working class parents.[/b] I got into the school of I wanted but the FA package meant loans of $17K a year. Instead, I took advantage of DC residency and chose an out of state public university. I worked through college and graduated with about 12K in loans. My work experience (and degree) landed me a nice job at a Top 10 Most Wanted Employer.

Nobody I knew expected their parents to pay for school yet all of my friends from similar backgrounds are doing very well for themselves. I didn't realize that parents who werent wealthy paid for college until I'd graduated!

Your kids don't have to work through school like I did, but I just didn't like loans. 6k of my loan balance was from my first year when I didnt work and I was turned off. My good friend opted to go community college and then UMCP. For MD and VA residents, you're very fortunate to have community colleges that feed into good public universities. Nobody cares where you started and its a lot cheaper. I'm seriously considering this option for my kid.

Does anyone else think its insane that parents are expected to save for almost 20years in order to afford college?

I'll start backwards from your post....yes, I think it's insane that parents have to save for 20 years to afford college. And, there is NO way you'd be able to send your kid to out-of-state with DC benefit without having them rack up extreme debt. UofM is $25K/year for DC residents, so that's 15K/year not including housing or living expenses. Other top publics, UVA or Michigan are $50K (for everything) out of state. So, your kid would be taking up loans up to 4-10x more than what you did. So, to end, it's a big deal and will limit their choices (unless you luck out and fees return to earthly standards).

You named probably the 3 most expensive public universities for out-of-state students to prove your point? My DC isn't attending ANY school, public or private, that costs 50K a year out of pocket in today's dollars. A bachelor's degree isn't worth the $$$ considering options elsewhere and ROI today. Additionally, your figures exclude any grants or scholarships from the school. Even if DC chose to do community college (pay as you go) and 2 years at UMCP out of state, thats still a total of 50-75K (not factoring her 529 or any sort of free money from the school) vs over $200K going the route many DCUM parents are planning to go.

I thought your point above was that you weren't saving for college? It may seem that I'm arguing, but I really wouldn't count on your kids (or mine) getting any grants or scholarships. Would be great if they did, because then the college money I'd saved would be a windfall. I just think that we can't assume that our kids are going to be as fine as we were getting out of college.

[Anonymous]

OP is right
You have no obligations to your children after they turn 18.