I genuinely don't get saving for college for kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re going to get flamed for your opinion here but I agree with you.

Same! I don’t see how spoon-feeding children does anyone good.

classic excuse. you are not the first to use it, not the last one either.

[Anonymous]

I disagree, as I had limited options based on scholarships and I want my children to have more options. But you do you. I am saving aggressively for mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:okay? DH and I were excellent students (I had a 1540 SAT and straight As)... no college aid whatsoever. My parents made too much (150k). My instate school was 15k a year and out of state schools were 45k a year. My parents paid it all though.

DH had 75-80k in student loans. We lived in a den (no closet and 4 other roommates) for several years to pay them off and save for a downpayment. It was doable, but if we both had that much, we wouldn't have been able to pay them off. As it was, it pushed our children back into our 30s since we didn't want student loan debt and daycare.

1540 wasn’t on the two-section test though with the new SAT, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:okay? DH and I were excellent students (I had a 1540 SAT and straight As)... no college aid whatsoever. My parents made too much (150k). My instate school was 15k a year and out of state schools were 45k a year. My parents paid it all though.

DH had 75-80k in student loans. We lived in a den (no closet and 4 other roommates) for several years to pay them off and save for a downpayment. It was doable, but if we both had that much, we wouldn't have been able to pay them off. As it was, it pushed our children back into our 30s since we didn't want student loan debt and daycare.

1540 wasn’t on the two-section test though with the new SAT, right?

LOL. SAT used to be a two section test before it went 3 then back to 2

[Anonymous]

I went to college for free on a merit based scholarship. Large state school, offered to 9 kids a year. My college still offers the same scholarship and it is even more competitive (larger class size, fewer slots) and it now covers about 25% of annual costs.

Merit aid isn’t what it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was a first generation college student. I worked really hard in HS and got decent scholarships for college. I primarily had merit-based aid, with a small amount of need-based aid and then student loans. I went to an expensive school. Costs worked out roughly as such:

40-45 k total
25 merit-based aid
5k need-based aid (Pell grant)
2k work study
10k student loans

I worked a lot in college and took out loans. It took me about 10 years to pay back the 40k and it never felt particularly onerous. I went to grad school via a program that paid for my degree entirely.

In my husbands case he had a full ride to a comparable school for tuition and his parents paid 10k/year for his room/board. He also has advanced degrees but did a combined ba/ma program and transferred in with a lot of credits so it ended up not costing much extra.

Our child is young but very bright and I believe she will be similarly high-performing in high school. We make more money than my family did, certainly, but we don't have dedicated college savings. I guess I am expecting my child to get a lot of merit-based aid and then figure we will be fine paying the rest.

I don't get why we would save 300k or whatever when I fully expect her to get merit aid. And if somehow she fizzles out and doesn't get merit-aid, then I would expect her to go to a cheaper school.

Am I missing something?

Justification to be a selfish person.

[Anonymous]

My DD is graduating from her private university this fall with no debt and has been offered a great full time position for after graduation. She thanks us all the time for the saving that allowed her to have that education and has been a diligent successful student throughout. We are thrilled we were able to give her that start in life and can’t think of anything better to spend our money on. If (big if) you can do that for your kids, I think it is a great investment in your family’s future.

[Anonymous]

Nothing is wrong with any of these opinions or options. Every family has to do what makes sense for them. Spoiler alert: it will all work out if the kids develop their own ambitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing is wrong with any of these opinions or options. Every family has to do what makes sense for them. Spoiler alert: it will all work out if the kids develop their own ambitions.

And if not, you just wasted a quarter of a million dollars.

[Anonymous]

This is all a joke. US college is simply too much money, for too little return. The debt is crushing. Something's gotta give.

[Anonymous]

OP, here's the rub. As long as college isn't free in this country, there is a huge probability of you having to pay for your child's college. And to that effect, people are saving, to have their bases covered.
The only people who don't need to save for college are the rich ones. We have relatives like that who can afford to pay full freight at any college for their two kids. Too bad said kids aren't particularly bright so an out-of-pocket Ivy isn't on the table but that's another story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all a joke. US college is simply too much money, for too little return. The debt is crushing. Something's gotta give.

It’s a great game theory exercise- the vast majority can’t afford it so they save for 20 years and saddle their kids with decades of debt. But as long as people are willing to do that, nothing changes. If states disfavored (or just capped) 529s or if the feds capped loan amounts or allowed loans to be discharged in bankruptcy you may see some downward pressure on tuition, but any state that goes first screws it’s kids and politicians who propose capping loans would get attacked

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much vitriol! I have been accused of not loving my kids, buying luxury cars, being too stupid to have received merit aid myself and more. Just so many baseless assumptions.

Thank you to those who offered more nuanced thoughts.

To be clear, I "accused" you of NOT buying the luxury car. The colleges that offer merit money to strong students are the less selective, less prestigious schools. Most of those are fine choices, as are the schools that don't offer merit, for those who want to pay for that status. As I said, no judgment either way. I'm puzzled that you took offense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much vitriol! I have been accused of not loving my kids, buying luxury cars, being too stupid to have received merit aid myself and more. Just so many baseless assumptions.

Thank you to those who offered more nuanced thoughts.

To be clear, I "accused" you of NOT buying the luxury car. The colleges that offer merit money to strong students are the less selective, less prestigious schools. Most of those are fine choices, as are the schools that don't offer merit, for those who want to pay for that status. As I said, no judgment either way. I'm puzzled that you took offense.

the schools that offer enough merit aid to get a good (who knows how good OPs kid will end up) student to the point that they can get through 4 years on just work study and federal loans are non-existent

[Anonymous]

Educational debt is modern chattel slavery, or at least indentured servitude, and the complexity and lack of transparency in college pricing verges on criminal. I worked like a dog in dangerous, low-status jobs to pay for college. Borrowed money for professional school and it was a very good investment, but the amounts involved were laughably small compared to the life-mortgages people come out of school with today. If you have the money, it is irresponsible not to provide your child with help building their future.