Reply to Is anyone not saving to pay for all of their kids' college?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In reality, after working 2 years or more post college grad, no one cares where you graduated. It’s how you performed in real world - the determination, the motivation, drive, passion and perseverance that will take you far.[/quote]

And that is why CC with transfer to an in state 4 year is totally good plan.  Pick something you can afford---high debt is not worth it. 
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Agree.  [/quote]

Or choose to save some for your DC education.  It doesn't have to be for $80k/year for college.  If you have $100K saved per DC, that's 25K/year.  That plus a kid working summer/breaks and Part Time while in college (10-12 hours/wk) and you could afford $35K/year.  Add in $5K of loans each year and you can afford $40K/year and only have $20K in loans, which is an affordable amount for most degrees.

If you start today with a 5 yo( so let them be out of daycare), you need to save $600/month to have $100K when they reach college age; I get that college might cost more then, but it's still a great start.  So continue using your daycare costs and transfer them to 529 savings.  Even better, put more than $600/month now so you can cut back when the kid is older and might have more costly activities.  Really a 5yo after school activities can be limited to $50/month and your kid won't be missing anything, if you can't afford more.  Ask grandparents to gift xmas and birthday gifts as at least 50% cash to the 529---your kid won't miss an extra $200+ of "toys".  What better gift could you give them than money for college?

Key is to look at what your DC plans to major in.  If they will only make $30-40K when starting out, they might not want higher loan amounts.  If it's STEM/Engineering, then $30K is more doable.

We are lucky that we were able to save and our kid is attending full pay a T30 school that's ~$80K/year.  We can cash flow/have it in the 529 so it's ok.  Kid turned down a T40 school they didn't like as much (great school and my DC would be fine there, but the first choice was a much much better fit for them) that gave $40K/year merit.  They picked the better fit.  But if we couldn't afford the more expensive school, my DC would be attending the 2nd choice school.
I was in that position 30+ years ago, but my parents were poor so I was able to attend a T10 school and come out with $10K in loans, so it was cheaper than any in-state school and something I could afford as an CS/engineering major.  And I busted ass to pay those loans and my husband's ($50K+) off within 18 months after finishing grad school.  Lived like a college/grad student (crappy cars, crappy furniture, no vacations except drive somewhere for 2-3 days) for a few extra years to just get rid of them.  So I've been there, done that and paid our loans (over $60K+ some 35+ years ago).

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