Multiple children / paying for college?

[Anonymous]

We have four kids, the oldest just entered HS this year, and the youngest is in late ES. Looking down the barrel at sending four to college in rapid succession (assuming all four go), how do families manage this financially? We are putting as much away as we can (still have to pay for their expenses now so we can't put that much away), we rent and don't have a huge savings but have about $10-$15,000 for each child for college, but the thought of taking out loans to cover the differences for four kids is scary. How do families with multiple children swing college for all of them (assuming none are Einstein and get full rides)? How does this work at all for families with multiple kids in college at the same time? No idea how to start to get ready to deal with this, so any others with experience with this please share.

[Anonymous]

Are you ok with them working the summers and learning frugality from your example?

[Anonymous]

Take all of the money you have saved and put it into a Roth. Since it is retirement it will not be considered as part of your financial aid equation.

Start now understanding the options - are any of your children interested in a Service Academy? Do any local high school programs off special programs with a local university to take college classes (not APs)? For example, School without Walls in DC has a partnership with GW.

Do some college calculators to see what your family contribution will be so you can plan for it.

Understand your child because sending your child to the cheap school that does not fit your child is throwing money away.

If any of your children are interested in technology / programming, take java classes now and start freelancing. They can make 60-100K a year without a degree if they have a portfolio of work. They can work for a few years, put aside a lot of money and pay for their own school in cash.

[Anonymous]

Well, the good news is that you saved something! The FAFSA also accounts for having multiple kids in college at once and the kids at home. At one point when I went to college there were 4 of us in college at it helped a lot with the financial aid

But ultimately each of your kids is going to have to make a smart financial choice and pick a school that won't require much debt. That probably means a state school. Community college to a 4 yr college can be a good route too.

I definitely do not recommend you taking out loans yourself, or private loans. The kids should make it on their own federal loans and nothing else.

[Anonymous]

Please go read college confidential's parent forum. It's best to start now so you have time to get enough information to make smart decisions. The first thing I would advise is to get a plan in mind and be open with the kids about what you are up against and what you hope will happen. There are many options out there. You could insist each child attends two years of community college and promise to pay two years of the final four year college. You could pay full for the first with the demands that younger siblings are supported through college by the older ones. This used to be common but I don't think it's realistic in today's world. You could have them do dual enrollment in HS to cut down on time away at college. The list goes on and on but college confidential has heard it all and proposed every alternative so that really is your best resource.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take all of the money you have saved and put it into a Roth. Since it is retirement it will not be considered as part of your financial aid equation.

Start now understanding the options - are any of your children interested in a Service Academy? Do any local high school programs off special programs with a local university to take college classes (not APs)? For example, School without Walls in DC has a partnership with GW.

Do some college calculators to see what your family contribution will be so you can plan for it.

Understand your child because sending your child to the cheap school that does not fit your child is throwing money away.

If any of your children are interested in technology / programming, take java classes now and start freelancing. They can make 60-100K a year without a degree if they have a portfolio of work. They can work for a few years, put aside a lot of money and pay for their own school in cash.

strongly disagree about the "cheap college" thing! Expensive private colleges can be really crappy. A good community college and transfer to a solid bachelors program can be a great route to go.

[Anonymous]

What is your HHI? The Expected Parent Contribution goes down per child the more children are in college. So, your children will qualify for more financial aid when there is more than one of them in college at the same time. However, loans are part of that financial aid. I would concentrate on schools that give the most merit aid and in state options.

[Anonymous]

ROTC, or, if they're not competitive enough for that, GI Bill.

[Anonymous]

Community college for 2 years and then transfer to a state school. Kids have to take out loans. Kids work to help pay for expenses.

[Anonymous]

The very first thing you need to do is estimate what your expected family contribution will be when your oldest is ready for college. Fill this out as if your oldest is a senior in high school:

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml

This gives you an idea of what colleges will expect your family to pay per year for college. Know, however, that very few colleges guarantee to meet expected need--and colleges also differ in how they will estimate your need. Still, this gives you something to go by.

The other thing to know is the borrowing limits. Under federal rules, students can borrow up to $5500 for their first year of college, up to $6500 for the second year, and up to $7500 for each year beyond that, up to a maximum total of $31k. Beyond that, students will need a parent to borrow or to cosign for them. Many people believe it is reasonable to expect students to shoulder some of the burden of paying for college, but it is a mistake to borrow too much. One common guideline is that a student shouldn't borrow more for college (in total) than he/she can expect to make in their first job out of college. By that calculus, IMO borrowing a total of $20-$30k seems reasonable.

The paths your children take depend on too many factors for people to give advice without much more information. Can you afford your EFC? Is it more or less than what your in-state public options cost? What kind of student are we talking about--a candidate for an elite college? or a B student? What kind of degree is the student seeking (engineering, liberal arts, accounting, teaching)? Are you willing to have your child borrow money and if so, how much? Do you have a quality community college nearby with a proven path to a four-year college? (Not an issue in the DCUM area, but very much an issue in some areas.) etc. etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

We also have four kids. We considered college when talking about having them.

[Anonymous]

We put $4000 per child per year into 529 beginning with each child birth. We have 2 in college now. Total cost is about $60k. We take $20k out of 529 each year and fund $40k from current income. Hopefully enough left by the time 4th gets there and no way we could do this with $60,000 per year schools. Should work fine if all stay in-state. They are likely on their own for grad school but by that point we will have funded way over half a million dollars.

[Anonymous]

That's the kind of thing you think about when you have that many kids. They will have to take out loans or scholarships or community college.

[Anonymous]

Explain the value of good grades that can get them full rides at certain schools

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com

[Anonymous]

With several in college at once you'll likely qualify for some financial aid. Consider also state schools, merit-based scholarships from slightly less (but still excellent) competitive schools.