MS parents: How much have you saved for college (529, etc.)?

[Anonymous]

I am glad you have the money to live in such a good school district. Not everyone does. The school where I teach and the one my DS would attend are middle of the road schools. Things are different there. Admin doesn’t want to touch enforcing the no cell phone policy because it would probably take up half of their day. Students know that teachers are not allowed to touch their personal property so they take advantage. We can assign homework but it doesn’t count in students’ grades so very few students do it. We have the same grading issue that MCPS has so students have figured out how to do the least amount of work for the highest grade. An A doesn’t mean much as a result. We have to write up individual remedial plans for each student who failed assessments. I have 140 students. Many of them just don’t study or do the work. If you tell admin this, they will tell you that it isn’t the student’s fault he/she failed. Um,yes it is. I feel I didn’t study for a test and didn’t do any homework, nobody would’ve pointed the finger at my teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have not saved any and have focused on saving for retirement. We are selling a piece of real estate and should receive about $430K. Will use some of that for tuition when our twins are ready for college in two years.

We are in the same bucket, maybe 30K saved for our 8th grader. We've prioritized retirement. It sounds selfish, but all the books recommend prioritizing retirement over college.

[Anonymous]

6th grader - $113K
8th grader - $116K

[Anonymous]

Virginia prepaid is funded. Approx 100k in the invest and growing for my 2 kids to share when the time comes. Will pay whatever difference out of regular income.

[Anonymous]

This post makes me anxious! How do you all save that much? We’ve had many setbacks in the last few years between medical bills and unemployment. Some days I feel like I can barely keep my head above water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post makes me anxious! How do you all save that much? We’ve had many setbacks in the last few years between medical bills and unemployment. Some days I feel like I can barely keep my head above water.

Breathe. Where there's a will, there's a way. Many people with no savings still manage to make their way to a degree, so stop paying attention to those for whom the path may be easier.

[Anonymous]

About $200K for 6th grader and $135K for 4th grader. Fortunate to have had big bonuses and stock which I set aside for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$160,000, sixth grader. I just checked, and my kid's current favored destination costs $75,000, all in, per year. So I guess we're behind as well.

Not really. You have two years covered and can probably save another year plus. Cash flow the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post makes me anxious! How do you all save that much? We’ve had many setbacks in the last few years between medical bills and unemployment. Some days I feel like I can barely keep my head above water.

I think more people are in your situation than are willing to admit. They just won't post it on DCUM.

The old adage of putting on your own oxygen mask first applies here. YOUR own retirement funding and overall financial stability is way more critical and important than funding your child's college account. Your kid can get loans. They're for sure not going to support you while you're in retirement, so you better take care of that first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post makes me anxious! How do you all save that much? We’ve had many setbacks in the last few years between medical bills and unemployment. Some days I feel like I can barely keep my head above water.

I think more people are in your situation than are willing to admit. They just won't post it on DCUM.

The old adage of putting on your own oxygen mask first applies here. YOUR own retirement funding and overall financial stability is way more critical and important than funding your child's college account. Your kid can get loans. They're for sure not going to support you while you're in retirement, so you better take care of that first.

+1,000!

Loans, community college, work programs, scholarships, ROTC, etc. There are many options to help with costs. Shore up Mom and/or Dad's finances and retirement first and foremost.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We have 20,000 so far and I know we are very behind. How much do you have and what is your strategy?

As a point of reference for you:

My DD is OOS, at a state school. She is finishing up her sophomore year. We started out with $80K, she has $14K left in her 529. As you can see, not nearly enough to get her through even one more semester.

Would the $80K have been enough to go to an in state public college?

Yes, but not by much. We're in California where in-state tuition is high AND where schools tend to give preferential treatment to OOS/OOC students - so she would have likely had to go OOS or go to a lower-tier public than where she is currently.

NP. I’m in California too, that’s such a bummer to hear. I know the UC’s are competitive to get into, but I actually thought only UCLA and UCB have a significant percentage of OOS students. I hate that they’ve gotten so expensive

My cousin from CA started at Harvard, wanted to come home. Couldn't get into Berkeley as a transfer from Harvard. Went to local CC, then UCB.

California PP here. I'm a native Washingtonian, have only been in CA for 6 years. Because of how ridiculously competitive it is to get into pretty much any UC school, it is very common to see many HS grads go straight into community college and then matriculate from there into their 4yr UC of choice. I know that in the DC area going to CC is considered a "scarlet letter" - but out here it is not at all seen that way.

This Forbes article is a good example of what I'm talking about:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenmoon/2018/11/15/uc-admissions-why-being-an-out-of-state-student-might-just-work-in-your-favor/#2f5ee17527bd

Yeah, I’ve noticed about 30-35% off all seniors from my nearby CA high schools go straight to CC.

[Anonymous]

Senior - $169k (based on her school choice this should cover 4 years)
Freshman - $143k

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We have 20,000 so far and I know we are very behind. How much do you have and what is your strategy?

As a point of reference for you:

My DD is OOS, at a state school. She is finishing up her sophomore year. We started out with $80K, she has $14K left in her 529. As you can see, not nearly enough to get her through even one more semester.

Would the $80K have been enough to go to an in state public college?

Yes, but not by much. We're in California where in-state tuition is high AND where schools tend to give preferential treatment to OOS/OOC students - so she would have likely had to go OOS or go to a lower-tier public than where she is currently.

NP. I’m in California too, that’s such a bummer to hear. I know the UC’s are competitive to get into, but I actually thought only UCLA and UCB have a significant percentage of OOS students. I hate that they’ve gotten so expensive

My cousin from CA started at Harvard, wanted to come home. Couldn't get into Berkeley as a transfer from Harvard. Went to local CC, then UCB.

California PP here. I'm a native Washingtonian, have only been in CA for 6 years. Because of how ridiculously competitive it is to get into pretty much any UC school, it is very common to see many HS grads go straight into community college and then matriculate from there into their 4yr UC of choice. I know that in the DC area going to CC is considered a "scarlet letter" - but out here it is not at all seen that way.

This Forbes article is a good example of what I'm talking about:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenmoon/2018/11/15/uc-admissions-why-being-an-out-of-state-student-might-just-work-in-your-favor/#2f5ee17527bd

Yeah, I’ve noticed about 30-35% off all seniors from my nearby CA high schools go straight to CC.

What a broken system!

[Anonymous]

I'm in CA and there was a new law that caps out of state %s at the UCs now. I think it is pretty much back to being equally hard to get in OOS vs in state. But it is really hard to get in to a UC (except the new one) so you can't count a UC as a given at all. My dcs will hopefully end up going to state schools in other states that are either part of the western state exchange or that give a lot of merit aid for high achievers. We really want them to get in and out of college in 4 yrs and that is also very difficult at UCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in CA and there was a new law that caps out of state %s at the UCs now. I think it is pretty much back to being equally hard to get in OOS vs in state. But it is really hard to get in to a UC (except the new one) so you can't count a UC as a given at all. My dcs will hopefully end up going to state schools in other states that are either part of the western state exchange or that give a lot of merit aid for high achievers. We really want them to get in and out of college in 4 yrs and that is also very difficult at UCs.

Also same for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, it is up there with a UC for how hard it is to get in to I think, particularly in the CS and engineering majors.