Reply to Parents of little kids: What are your college savings goals?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thanks for responses, everyone. Interesting to see that the amount of uncertainty in this makes it hard for most to really feel confident about their planning (so we're not alone).

My philosophy has been that if we can get a good amount of it covered, that there are other avenues available to make up shortfalls (private loans, paying out of pocket, etc). I saw my sister get into her #1 private liberal arts college and then not get the financial aid she needed. It was pretty devastating for her as well as my middle class parents. She went to her #2 school, and has a very successful career now. I opted for the ROTC path and got a full ride and felt pretty good about not putting myself or my parents into any kind of debt - but I don't want to make my kids do that unless it's something they decide on their own. I wound up taking some small loans for grad school, which I'm still paying - but they're not much of a burden. [/quote]

OP, I posted above, but you're not alone.  Unless you're wealthy and can easily afford to pay everything, these are hard decisions.  My parents paid for my out of state, private undergrad (which I absolutely loved), but I learned much later they did it to their own financial detriment.  So now, in his 70s, my dad has almost no savings and is living in income-controlled housing, because he told me I could go anywhere for undergrad, rather than involving me in the decision.  Much as I loved my college experience, I don't know that it was worth the enormous stress of worrying about him at this point in our lives (with a HHI similar to yours, but three kids to save for).  My mom thankfully inherited a good bit from her parents and will be fine (they're divorced), but when they are old enough, we will explain to our kids that while we will help pay for their college, we put our retirement first for specific reasons.

So, yeah.  It's not easy.  We're also not willing to work jobs that would pay us a ton but require long hours.  We're lucky to have the HHI and things we do have, of course.[/quote]

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