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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think community college makes sense for a lot of students but I think what is discouraging is that it has become the ONLY affordable option for many.  My dad and his siblings worked their way through college (some private, some state universities) working minimum wage jobs in the summer and part-time during the school year.  You simply can't do that now when in-state universities can cost $30k for tuition + room/board.  The options keep shrinking.

https://www.intelligent.com/1970-v-2020-how-working-through-college-has-changed/#:~:text=Fast%2Dforward%20to%202020.,the%20rest%20of%20the%20year.

[/quote]

You can make a big dent by [b]working full time while you’re going to school. [/b]Minimum wage gets you $33k a year. When I was in college, minimum wage got you $5800 a year and tuition plus room and board were about the same. People act like we had it so much better but we really didn’t. Even back then some of us made good decisions and others didn’t.

This said, I don’t want my kids to have to struggle the way I did so I’m prepared to pay but, given that none of mine needs a special program (they aren’t brilliant or driven in a narrow direction), it’s not a free for all. Small private colleges are not on our list. [/quote]

That’s not reasonable.

Also, working your way through college isn’t really feasible anymore.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myth-of-working-your-way-through-college/359735/
[/quote]

But you can still do a large portion of it if you pick the right college. I live in a state where the #2/#3 "state universities" are all in for ~$25K/year and there are 2 other State universities that cost even less (but are probably 3rd tier schools---where the avg SAT is 1050/980).  Minimum wage is over $14/hr as well.  So if a kid works summer and breaks they can earn $10-12K (work 2 jobs to get up to 50-60 hours and earn more).  Work 10-15 hours per week during the school year and the student alone can earn ~$15K towards school.  That leaves $5K in loans and another $5K to figure out.  Sure it's not the easiest, but it wasn't the easiest when I did it earning $4/hr when I went to college. So as long as the student can live at home when not at college and is physically able to work (and get to work---our area has an amazing bus system), then a good college without much debt is possible.  It just might not be the dream plan you had in mind (of 4 years without working)

Point is, there are state schools and others that only cost $20-25K. and those are good schools, just not Tip Top/elite/T50.  Need to save even more, attend CC for first 2 years at a cost of $5K /year.  Just need transportation--my area has at least 15CC within the 3 hour metropolitan area.  So live at home and do CC for first 2 years, or even better if kid is award finances are a real issue, they can take Running start last 2 years of HS and get their AA degree and HS diploma for only the cost of books.  So that wipes out 2 years of college at CC, it's only cost of books.  Then in 2-2.5 years you can have your BS/BA from a state university.  There are ways to do this.  Also you could pick a 2nd tier LA/private university that gives good merit and you are at the 90-95% for scores and get a full scholarship/near full merit award.   
Yes, it might not be at a T20 or T40 school, but there are plenty of great schools that can be affordable.  But the kid needs to know their true financial position in Soph/jr year of HS so they can develop the best list to make college affordable. [/quote]

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