Question: those who send their kids to slac or oos schools..

[Anonymous]

How do you pay for slac? Or oos state schools? Like Michigan tuition is 50k out of state. My DS was accepted but we couldn’t justify the cost to attend Michigan when he could just go to UMD for a fraction of the cost. Just curious how do families pay for schools that are over 70k .

[Anonymous]

Save in 529, have cash, have kid do work study/get a job to help pay.

[Anonymous]

We couldn't!

My son applied to several SLACs and got either merit aid or need based aid as our income is low... but the aid only brought the $60,000 to $70,000 cost of attendance down to $42,000 which was still too high for us.

So, he's at UMD with a small merit scholarship.

We don't have $150,000 in his college savings account, but I'm not even sure it is worth spending that much on a college education. I'm really not convinced it is worth $250,000 full pay. But, we also of course didn't pay for private school tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Save in 529, have cash, have kid do work study/get a job to help pay.

Op here..
we did too. Could pay for Michigan but still couldn’t justify the cost of attendance as an out of state student. So i guess my question is how do you justify paying 50-70k for a slightly more prestigious school.

[Anonymous]

We can afford it, but chose not to. Simply not sufficient ROI to justify for us. As my child went through HS we discussed pricing, showed him examples and talked about what we had saved and what we would contribute. And broke down what loans would look like for him. Got him on board early.

[Anonymous]

SLACs (and don't forget about private universities?!) offer need-based financial aid without regard for state of residence. Try their Net Price Calculators to see an estimate. In addition, less-selective SLACs tend to offer merit scholarship "discounts" as well.

That doesn't mean they'll all be affordable; it all depends on the family's financial situation, the school's need formula, and the availability of the school's resources.

[Anonymous]

We paid off our mortgage in 15 years so we have the money. But no way am I spending that kind of money for college. We literally just had that conversation yesterday with one of our kids. They can go, but the difference is for them to pay. And we already in state prepaid for them.

[Anonymous]

The SLAC DD is attending gave sufficient merit aid to bring cost of attendance in line with state flagship and other options. College is still an incredible expense for our household and I wish I was able to save more towards it. Even with the reduced expense I question whether the cost will be worth it in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Save in 529, have cash, have kid do work study/get a job to help pay.

Op here..
we did too. Could pay for Michigan but still couldn’t justify the cost of attendance as an out of state student. So i guess my question is how do you justify paying 50-70k for a slightly more prestigious school.

For us it is not about prestige - it is about fit for a child with a learning difference.

[Anonymous]

I really didn’t see how even the cheapest live at college school was less than $130k overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Save in 529, have cash, have kid do work study/get a job to help pay.

Op here..
we did too. Could pay for Michigan but still couldn’t justify the cost of attendance as an out of state student. So i guess my question is how do you justify paying 50-70k for a slightly more prestigious school.

For us it is not about prestige - it is about fit for a child with a learning difference.

I agree. But so many families send their kids to expensive salc without merit aid or other financial assistance without bringing the cost down to your instate school when they could get petty similar education at the state school. What I don’t understand is how do you justify the ROI for such schools? Especially when kids go to such schools to study history or philosophy. That clearly indicates they will need to go to graduate school as well or law school or medical school. Do people take out loans?

[Anonymous]

Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

+1

What is he studying at Oberlin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

Maybe not for your kid. It is for ours.