How are normal people paying for college?

[Anonymous]

^^ They didn't all get to attend the college they wanted to attend but...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgo kitchen renovation, any other renovation thet's a want rather than a need. Forgo new cars. Do this for 18-12 years.

This is pretty much what we lived with, as well as starting 529s once they were born. Currently have 2 kids in in-state universities. We saved enough for roughly 75% of their overall college expenses. The rest we are paying as they go. No student loans.

OP here. We never thought to do any needed renovations other than basic repairs, only as needed, frankly. I forgot where I am, in "everyone-has-to-have-a-white-kitchen-land". Car is 12 years old. That old enough for you? Lots of incorrect assumptions on this board.

Amendment: Assuming one knows the meaning of sacrifice.........how does one pay for college?

Frankly, we started saving when we got married. It wasn’t specifically ear marked for college until we had kids, but it was in the mix. We saved more from the getgo (when I got pregnant) and saved through this year with our youngest’s last payment due this month.

[Anonymous]

We saved 120K for each of them and expect to pay about 45K a year. Plan to work until age 68+.

[Anonymous]

You go to the least expensive college or the one that offers a scholarship to bring down costs. Pay for part of the tuition with loans, and part with any money the parents have saved. Student works, but that really only makes enough to cover books and some food.

[Anonymous]

My dc are in college now as one a sophomore and one will start next year so may not be relevant if you are 10 yrs out since the amounts will be quite different.....

Current in state tuition for 4 yrs is about 100k. We saved since birth smallish amount until I went back to work (about late elementary age of the 2 nd dc). At that point, we could put away about 1500 for 529s and still fund our retirement. That’s basically what my salary went to. However, we were not house poor, did not have fancy cars, and did not travel internationally ( before I went back to work.) Also, we were able to buy a typical colonial right before the market went crazy in early 2000 so we lucked out in that regard (and then never moved/ traded up).

I will say we have$ in college accounts to pay for two in state tuition but one wants to go abroad. It is cheaper in cost and also only three years! This is driven by child but don’t overlook. So many of us buy in to this idea of only the top US schools but at end of day it’s what you do with your education and life and not name of university.

My dc has humbled me. They can hold their own in any academic, sport, music, art, social circle and have decided to do it differently. Wants no part of the craziness and has found a wonderful place for them.

[Anonymous]

Community college for two years then transfer.
Or take military rite.

Op, what answer are you looking for? There’s no pot of gold under the rainbow if you didn’t save. Another way to do it is take out loans to the hilt, including home equity, and make sure the kid knows they must pay it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is going to have to work her way through college. I am not going to be able to pay for it for her.

If she can get a job for $70K a year (the cost of tuition alone) without a degree, then why would she go to college?

What college's tuition is 70k? Serious question.

Almost all prominent SLACs and well-known universities. Northwestern is $79k not including airfare from east coast; northeastern $75; Duke almost $80; Harvard $75; Princeton $75 etc. add in the expense of flying several times a year plus family trips makes it well over 80k a year. Google “cost of attendance ——-“ and insert school name.

Maybe total costs... But not "tuition alone".

does the difference matter? Especially if freshman are required to live on campus, you're paying the cost to attend

I just think when someone says tuition alone they mean tuition alone. so I was surprised to hear there were colleges that expensive. There aren't. That's all. Take care!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is going to have to work her way through college. I am not going to be able to pay for it for her.

If she can get a job for $70K a year (the cost of tuition alone) without a degree, then why would she go to college?

What college's tuition is 70k? Serious question.

Almost all prominent SLACs and well-known universities. Northwestern is $79k not including airfare from east coast; northeastern $75; Duke almost $80; Harvard $75; Princeton $75 etc. add in the expense of flying several times a year plus family trips makes it well over 80k a year. Google “cost of attendance ——-“ and insert school name.

Maybe total costs... But not "tuition alone".

does the difference matter? Especially if freshman are required to live on campus, you're paying the cost to attend

I just think when someone says tuition alone they mean tuition alone. so I was surprised to hear there were colleges that expensive. There aren't. That's all. Take care!

If it’s money required by a college to attend, then the college is that expensive- it doesn’t matter how they label it or parse it

[Anonymous]

My DD ended up with three final options: a VA public out of state rate with DCTAG and very small merit, one private with modest merit and one private with 1/2 tuition merit and only a requirement of 2.0 to keep $s all 4 years. There was only a small cost difference between the public and the private with 1/2 tuition scholarship and that private was highest rated in her major and better fit for some reasons related to medical accommodations, so that’s where she enrolled. It took every penny of college savings, a local 4 year competitive scholarship, a local first year scholarship, her own jobs all 4 years and a $22k loan from my 401k. If she had gone to the public, the loan probably would have been only about $7k instead. She’s graduating this summer. Along the way, she also received scholarships for special winter and summer session programs. Wouldn’t have known about those extra opportunities at the private as part of planning re choice, but they were a real benefit. It took a lot of piecing together, wasn’t easy, but it worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is going to have to work her way through college. I am not going to be able to pay for it for her.

If she can get a job for $70K a year (the cost of tuition alone) without a degree, then why would she go to college?

What college's tuition is 70k? Serious question.

Almost all prominent SLACs and well-known universities. Northwestern is $79k not including airfare from east coast; northeastern $75; Duke almost $80; Harvard $75; Princeton $75 etc. add in the expense of flying several times a year plus family trips makes it well over 80k a year. Google “cost of attendance ——-“ and insert school name.

Maybe total costs... But not "tuition alone".

does the difference matter? Especially if freshman are required to live on campus, you're paying the cost to attend

I just think when someone says tuition alone they mean tuition alone. so I was surprised to hear there were colleges that expensive. There aren't. That's all. Take care!

If it’s money required by a college to attend, then the college is that expensive- it doesn’t matter how they label it or parse it

Right, and when someone says a cost represents tuition alone, I think we need to pay that cost plus more. It's not a matter of parsing. It's a matter of saying the wrong thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is going to have to work her way through college. I am not going to be able to pay for it for her.

If she can get a job for $70K a year (the cost of tuition alone) without a degree, then why would she go to college?

What college's tuition is 70k? Serious question.

Almost all prominent SLACs and well-known universities. Northwestern is $79k not including airfare from east coast; northeastern $75; Duke almost $80; Harvard $75; Princeton $75 etc. add in the expense of flying several times a year plus family trips makes it well over 80k a year. Google “cost of attendance ——-“ and insert school name.

Maybe total costs... But not "tuition alone".

does the difference matter? Especially if freshman are required to live on campus, you're paying the cost to attend

I just think when someone says tuition alone they mean tuition alone. so I was surprised to hear there were colleges that expensive. There aren't. That's all. Take care!

If it’s money required by a college to attend, then the college is that expensive- it doesn’t matter how they label it or parse it

Right, and when someone says a cost represents tuition alone, I think we need to pay that cost plus more. It's not a matter of parsing. It's a matter of saying the wrong thing.

+1. The PP who wrote "If she can get a job for $70K a year (the cost of tuition alone)" was incorrect. They meant the cost of attendance.