When you can’t do it all, how to save for college?

[Anonymous]

We currently have a HHI of about $180k. We have a DS who just finished his first year at an OOS school. We didn't limit choices to in-state, but rather discussed the fact that if a school was too expensive we would have to look at others. The OOS school ended up not costing much more than in-state and in a few comparisons is actually less.

[Anonymous]

Encourage your kids to get an ROTC scholarship. There is no service commitment for freshman year, they can quit and don't have to pay anything back!

[Anonymous]

We didn't save for college. No 529s, nothing. We were naive and stupid. We thought we'd qualify for FA. Ha. No.

Our kids are going in state. No other choice. Smart kids, good grades, but merit aid isn't high enough OOS to equal in-state tuition.

They got into competitive SLACs, but without merit aid or FA, they had to turn them down.

My advice: save as much as you can now, but don't sweat it, as long as you have good in-state options. Our DCs got scholarships too, which helped. Donut hole, indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who wrote that 20 years ago college cost $50K, where did you go to college? I graduated in 1997 from a private college and it was MAYBE $25K with room and board. I remember my mom writing a check for maybe $8-9K per semester plus I had my couple thousand dollars per semester of student loans.

We graduated mid-90's.. I went to a private in NE and then to a state school then back to an expensive private for graduate school. My sibling went to Ivy's and top graduate school in their field. They were $40's-50's except the state that was about $25K.

20 years ago was 1999. I graduated from an Ivy in 2002. The tuition and room and board in 2002 was around 33k. Not 40-50k.

Tuition in the mid 1990s would have been around 25ish, going up a thousand a year on average.

You should be able to google this information easily. I don't think the Ivies crossed the 40k threshold till 2005ish. Its amazing, startling really, how rapidly they have gone up in such a short time.

This is undergraduate. Professional programs would have been more expensive and perhaps this is what you're remembering.

Most Ivy's are at or close to 100K. NYS has a requirement you have to disclose all hour years of costs to incoming students. My daughter got than info from Fordham, Syracuse and even GWU and American as she was a NYS resident at a time so out of state schools had to disclose. She graduates 2022. Tuition in 2022 is crazy high. My other child is in going in to 12. Class of 2024. You dont want to know expensive schools tuition in 2024. Pretty much every IVY over 100k and every decent private school over 90K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Encourage your kids to get an ROTC scholarship. There is no service commitment for freshman year, they can quit and don't have to pay anything back!

How do you go about getting this type of scholarship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Encourage your kids to get an ROTC scholarship. There is no service commitment for freshman year, they can quit and don't have to pay anything back!

How do you go about getting this type of scholarship?

They need pass the physical as well as major in something they want- like engineering.

[Anonymous]

ROTC = Brain Washing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn't save for college. No 529s, nothing. We were naive and stupid. We thought we'd qualify for FA. Ha. No.

Our kids are going in state. No other choice. Smart kids, good grades, but merit aid isn't high enough OOS to equal in-state tuition.

They got into competitive SLACs, but without merit aid or FA, they had to turn them down.

My advice: save as much as you can now, but don't sweat it, as long as you have good in-state options. Our DCs got scholarships too, which helped. Donut hole, indeed.

Exactly. No need for all this friggen hand wringing and presumptuous finger pointing regarding whether someone spent too much on their house or what the particulars of their pension are. OP, you do need to save, and the more you save, the more options your children will have. However, as others have pointed out on this thread, there are ways to get your kid through college on a much more modest budget. It can be done, and then there is the fact that there is no guarantee your kid will even go to college. My daughter went, graduated in 4 years. Son is going for an associates at CC and working in a creative field where he has a special talent and a degree is not imperative. Of my kids' friends, most went to college, but one went straight into the family's very successful business, two went to trade school, one is taking nursing prerequisite classes at CC and will enter full university program from there, one went into the military, and three dropped out due to mental health/not good fit/stress issues. One of them works as a waitress (was at W&M) and the other as a barista. The third is taking a semester off. The waitress had the most set aside for her college than anyone else I know. She says loves what she does, doesn't miss the stress and pressure and has no intention of going back to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ROTC = Brain Washing

Not really. The first year teaches exciting subjects like the military pay system, basic customs and courtesies, and how to march. If you're in AFROTC you might even get to play ultimate frisbee!

Classes are taught by officers who usually are on campus getting their masters, while leadership labs are taught by older cadets. It's basically a guest tour of the military.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Encourage your kids to get an ROTC scholarship. There is no service commitment for freshman year, they can quit and don't have to pay anything back!

How do you go about getting this type of scholarship?

https://www.petersons.com/blog/getting-rotc-scholarships-for-college/

Typical commitment is around 4 hours a week as a freshman. Staying up late to party is rather difficult when you have early morning PT.

[Anonymous]

Be careful about following some of the advice posted. For example, earning DE credits can lessen the time spent in college, and that MAY cost less $. However, MANY colleges give less FA to transfer students than to incoming frosh. If you have enough DE credits, you may be a transfer. The $ saved by DE covering one year may be less than the amount of FA you'll lose out on for the 3 years you attend.And, it's a LOT harder to get into many colleges as a transfer student than as a freshman. Plus, taking DE credits can have other ramifications if you want to go on to grad or professional school, especially med school.

Before taking ANY CC courses--in high school or after--check to see which 4 year colleges the CC has articulation agreements with. These agreements cover which courses the 4 year college will accept and the necessary grade to get credit. For example, you might take organic chem and get a C. You might discover that the 4 year college won't accept credits for that course at all or that it will only accept them if you have a B grade or better.

Planning on taking 2 credits every summer at a CC? LOTS of colleges limit the number of off campus credits you'll get credit for--it's not at all unusual for the # to be 2. And, remember, even those that do accept them do not accept ALL CC credits. It is especially hard for someone who has finished 3 years of college to get credit for CC courses, as those are supposed to be classes in the first 2 years. Other colleges won't accept CC credits earned while you're enrolled in the 4 year college towards courses needed for your major.

Please understand that I am NOT saying that you can't make the DE path work. Lots of people do. it tends to work best if the plan is to transfer from a public CC to a public or local 4 year college in the same state--because these are the colleges there will be an articulation agreement with. Know about them before you enroll.

[Anonymous]

Most Ivy's are at or close to 100K.

Uh, no. Dartmouth, e.g., ~$75K now, all in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most Ivy's are at or close to 100K.

Uh, no. Dartmouth, e.g., ~$75K now, all in.

Let's estimate how many years till it hits 100k? If the Ivies more than doubled in twenty years (30k to 75k), at this rate of increase how long will it take for a typical Ivy (or other top colleges) to hit the 100k threshold?

A new question for the SATs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Most Ivy's are at or close to 100K.

Uh, no. Dartmouth, e.g., ~$75K now, all in.

Let's estimate how many years till it hits 100k? If the Ivies more than doubled in twenty years (30k to 75k), at this rate of increase how long will it take for a typical Ivy (or other top colleges) to hit the 100k threshold?

A new question for the SATs?

If they're 75K now and they keep going up about 4% per year, they'll hit $100k in 7 or 8 years.

[Anonymous]

You're currently paying for daycare. Isn't that pretty close to a state school cost on a per annum basis? Just take that money and allocate to college cost. You will likely have a few years before you actually are paying college costs so put it in 529, then just keep paying. Unless your daycare is free it should be a good chunk of the puzzle.