College savings--GAH!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you budget for other very costly things in life? We are middle-class and save $100/ month per child. I don't want to save more for this because I want to also save for house renovations and vacations. I also don't want my kids to graduate from college with six-figure debt. Do you all have house funds/vacation funds, etc in your budgets?

We don't save for house renovations and vacations (?). We do those things only if we can pay for them out of current income. College savings are much more important to us than renovating the house.

what if your hvac dies on you? Or your roof falls apart? Do you live in squalor until you have the money to repair it? Because I call bullshit.

We have an HHI somewhere around $135K with one child in public school. We are doing our 15% to retirement (until just a few months ago, a great part of that money was into Roth IRAs monthly because my husband's employer did not have a retirement plan, and I put a small amount into a Simple IRA through my part-time employer) and are at about 30% on mortgage. Even with very low daycare costs, we are only able to put $200/month into our daughter's 529. We're trying to figure out currently our best plan of attack for paying for a new roof, because we don't want to drain savings (which we honestly don't have a TON of), but we also can't get a Home Equity Loan (put 10% down on our house a year ago so that we could pay for some desperately needed renovations out of pocket), so we're likely going to have to put it on credit.

There is no way in hell anyone who is NOT fairly wealthy is able to put aside the kind of money that is being touted as "what you need" these days. The average HHI in the US is, what, $50K? How the HELL does one put any money aside after mortgage, daycare, rising gas/food/etc and oh, any healthcare?

I 100% believe this is another bubble. There is no way the rising costs are sustainable when kids are looking at crushing debt when their parents can't pay. Kids coming out of college with student loans comparable to a normal monthly mortgage? How the hell are they supposed to eat? Not everyone starts at 6 figures.

Sorry, tangent, but my point was that we make a very decent salary and are only able to put aside $200/month. We don't have a fancy house, we have one car payment, we take no fancy vacations. If that is the best WE can do, imagine what is happening elsewhere.

I have friends ($110k HHI) who are able to save aggressively for college because each of the parents bought townhouses in the DC area when they were in their 20s. They combined households when they got married in their early 30s (paying down the mortgage balance+refinancing). Now that they are parents in their late 30s, they have a modest mortgage that will be paid off a decade before their first child goes to college. It can be done with a lot of luck and work.

Me and my family? Oh, we're screwed. Sure.

[Anonymous]

DH and I save some, but not much. We're saving $200/month in a 529 for each kid, and started each with $2K at birth. Right now 1 and 4. We focus on our retirement, since there is more time for it to compound. We're likely going to not contribute much to retirement during the college years. Hoping to up the monthly contributions a bit after daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you budget for other very costly things in life? We are middle-class and save $100/ month per child. I don't want to save more for this because I want to also save for house renovations and vacations. I also don't want my kids to graduate from college with six-figure debt. Do you all have house funds/vacation funds, etc in your budgets?

We don't save for house renovations and vacations (?). We do those things only if we can pay for them out of current income. College savings are much more important to us than renovating the house.

Then there is no way you are middle-class. You have tens of thousands of dollars in current income sitting around? Or you don't plan on taking a vacation for he next 18 years? If the answer is yes to either question then I don't think you meet the definition of middle class.

Exactly how much do you spend on vacation? We budget $3,000 a year for vacation and save a bit of that each month. We don't have a home renovation fund - we don't consider it necessary. Our home is only 20 years old, does not need "renovation."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you budget for other very costly things in life? We are middle-class and save $100/ month per child. I don't want to save more for this because I want to also save for house renovations and vacations. I also don't want my kids to graduate from college with six-figure debt. Do you all have house funds/vacation funds, etc in your budgets?

We don't save for house renovations and vacations (?). We do those things only if we can pay for them out of current income. College savings are much more important to us than renovating the house.

what if your hvac dies on you? Or your roof falls apart? Do you live in squalor until you have the money to repair it? Because I call bullshit.

Those are home repairs not renovations. We have replaced both the roof and hvac in the past few years. Yes, we have an emergency fund and an emergency home repairs fund. We do not have a fund filled with tens of thousands of dollars for home renovations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you budget for other very costly things in life? We are middle-class and save $100/ month per child. I don't want to save more for this because I want to also save for house renovations and vacations. I also don't want my kids to graduate from college with six-figure debt. Do you all have house funds/vacation funds, etc in your budgets?

We don't have funds for anything. We have general savings and pay what we need to. We don't have a vacation fund as we don't really take vacations. We set is as a "debt" and just pay as you would a car note or mortgage. $100 is great if that is what you can afford. Anything is better than nothing. We do major house stuff as we can. Some years we do more than others but the college fund is a huge priority and we forgo other stuff to save.

[Anonymous]

We save $250/kid every two weeks. We opened each account a few months before our kids were born, which I think made it easier, as we never missed the money once the kids were born. We make right now about $165,000, but were making $115,000 when we started.

We'd like to pay for everything, but not sure what will happen. I've heard aiming to save 1/3 before schools starts, pay 1/3 while in school, and have the kids borrow 1/3 is a good way to go.

We also put all money our kids get as gifts into the 529s. They are 1.5 and 3.5 so don't even know what it is to get money. This probably equals an extra $500 a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ironically you don't have to save if you make insert a certain amount due to grants and siding scale s. I feel like a sucker knowing that probably half of the tuition I will be paying will be given to another student who's parents didn't save.

I save, but +1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ironically you don't have to save if you make insert a certain amount due to grants and siding scale s. I feel like a sucker knowing that probably half of the tuition I will be paying will be given to another student who's parents didn't save.

I save, but +1.

We save + another!

[Anonymous]

Anyone else think its sad that people are sacrificing vacations altogether or enjoying their money for 18 years to afford college? That says the price of tuition is unrealistic and too high. If we were discussing mortgages, we'd call this being "house poor" or buying more than you can afford.

I contribute $1K a year currently, and will increase to $4K next year. 50K a year is absurd for tuition and fees. I remember being so happy when I got accepted into my dream school. That is, until I saw that I was $18K out of pocket per year. I opted instead to go in-state public and today, in my late 20s, I'm SO glad I did. And still ended up with a great job that my peers envy.

Are you ok with shelling out 200K for college for a child who ends up being a teacher making 50K with a masters? Or how about a daughter who works for 5 years and then becomes a SAHM? Wouldnt the local college have done the same? Does saving for college come with strings attached?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else think its sad that people are sacrificing vacations altogether or enjoying their money for 18 years to afford college? That says the price of tuition is unrealistic and too high. If we were discussing mortgages, we'd call this being "house poor" or buying more than you can afford.

I contribute $1K a year currently, and will increase to $4K next year. 50K a year is absurd for tuition and fees. I remember being so happy when I got accepted into my dream school. That is, until I saw that I was $18K out of pocket per year. I opted instead to go in-state public and today, in my late 20s, I'm SO glad I did. And still ended up with a great job that my peers envy.

Are you ok with shelling out 200K for college for a child who ends up being a teacher making 50K with a masters? Or how about a daughter who works for 5 years and then becomes a SAHM? Wouldnt the local college have done the same? Does saving for college come with strings attached?

There are outstanding public universities in this country - and around the DC area, paricularly in VA - and we are going to do our best to pay for DD to attend one of those. If she wants to go to private university, good for her. But we will make it very clear she'll have to make up the difference between our college savings and the tuition with scholarships, loans, and jobs. I hope she opts for the former.

And yes, I'm with PP. I went to a fantastic public university for undergraduate and an excellent pubic for grad school too. No loans to speak of and was able to land a job where many of my colleagues are still paying off their college loans and will for some time (I'm in my late 30s). Private tuition is for the rich and it's a mystery to me how it continues to rise with no discernable increase in the quality of education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else think its sad that people are sacrificing vacations altogether or enjoying their money for 18 years to afford college? That says the price of tuition is unrealistic and too high. If we were discussing mortgages, we'd call this being "house poor" or buying more than you can afford.

I contribute $1K a year currently, and will increase to $4K next year. 50K a year is absurd for tuition and fees. I remember being so happy when I got accepted into my dream school. That is, until I saw that I was $18K out of pocket per year. I opted instead to go in-state public and today, in my late 20s, I'm SO glad I did. And still ended up with a great job that my peers envy.

Are you ok with shelling out 200K for college for a child who ends up being a teacher making 50K with a masters? Or how about a daughter who works for 5 years and then becomes a SAHM? Wouldnt the local college have done the same? Does saving for college come with strings attached?

There are outstanding public universities in this country - and around the DC area, paricularly in VA - and we are going to do our best to pay for DD to attend one of those. If she wants to go to private university, good for her. But we will make it very clear she'll have to make up the difference between our college savings and the tuition with scholarships, loans, and jobs. I hope she opts for the former.

And yes, I'm with PP. I went to a fantastic public university for undergraduate and an excellent pubic for grad school too. No loans to speak of and was able to land a job where many of my colleagues are still paying off their college loans and will for some time (I'm in my late 30s). Private tuition is for the rich and it's a mystery to me how it continues to rise with no discernable increase in the quality of education.

Many private schools can be cheaper than public ones because they have merit aid, and not just for A+ students. If you are strategic about the application process and choose schools that offer merit aid, for which your child is very comfortably qualified, you may well find that the price is well within reach and often cheaper than the local state university.

The sticker price is not what everyone is paying.

I speak from experience.

[Anonymous]

New poster here... HHI is $135k and while child is in daycare we contribute about $100/month. Here's the thing- both DH and I went to private and public universities in VA (private for both of us for undergrad, public for grad). It's all about how you guide your child. Neither of my parents went to college and didn't know the first thing about scholarships, legacy applications, etc. Now that I have been through the gauntlet myself I know better than to let my child have to pay the full "tuition" amount. While we plan to contribute in larger amounts, I do feel my child(ren) needs some "skin in the game"... they need to (with guidance) apply for scholarships (more than 20) and put forth a full effort to understand the financial ramifications of their choices after graduating. I won't allow them to take out loans- but they will contribute whether by earning scholarships or a part time job, etc. Just handing over a 529, bank account, or prepaid tuition and saying "have fun" to an 18 yr old is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I would never give up our vacations to save for college. Last summer my 6 yo daughter was taught how to skin rabbits and foxes, set snares, and handle guns responsibly up on geemaw's farm. they don't teach you that in any college, and its going to be a heck of a lot more use than any book learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster here... HHI is $135k and while child is in daycare we contribute about $100/month. Here's the thing- both DH and I went to private and public universities in VA (private for both of us for undergrad, public for grad). It's all about how you guide your child. Neither of my parents went to college and didn't know the first thing about scholarships, legacy applications, etc. Now that I have been through the gauntlet myself I know better than to let my child have to pay the full "tuition" amount. While we plan to contribute in larger amounts, I do feel my child(ren) needs some "skin in the game"... they need to (with guidance) apply for scholarships (more than 20) and put forth a full effort to understand the financial ramifications of their choices after graduating. I won't allow them to take out loans- but they will contribute whether by earning scholarships or a part time job, etc. Just handing over a 529, bank account, or prepaid tuition and saying "have fun" to an 18 yr old is ridiculous.

First, this post is positively schizophrenic - "My kids must be adults and take financial responsibility for college . . but I won't allow them to take out loans." So are you forcing them to be responsible adults, or are you helicoptering over them, vetoing the very financial decisions you want to force them to make? Because this sounds a lot like "be an adult and take responsibility for your education . . . as long as you do what I want you to do."

Second, and I've said this before in a different context, if the only way you can get your kids to understand the importance of college and the implications, financial and otherwise, of their decisions is to make them pay for a portion of college, you have failed as a parent long before the tuition bill comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never give up our vacations to save for college. Last summer my 6 yo daughter was taught how to skin rabbits and foxes, set snares, and handle guns responsibly up on geemaw's farm. they don't teach you that in any college, and its going to be a heck of a lot more use than any book learning.

I can't decide if this is satire or serious. I also can't decide which woudl be funnier. Well done!