Reply to Is It Really Gonna Cost $280K? OMG

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]DD got in to Northwestern and she is over the moon.

If we continue to save $1K a month, we should only be $35K short for the 4 years of tuition.

Still it's SO MUCH $! Am I the only one that feels this way?  My DD has brought it up more than once to me.  I tend to be okay about money issues.  Just want to make sure I am not missing anything.

TIA[/b] [/quote]

Dear OP - I think the costs are going to be higher than you may think based upon your post.  Costs of attendance at NW (I have no affiliation or position on Northwestern) are now $76,000 a year, as is common among many of the private colleges and universities.  That means a commitment of $300,000 for four years assuming you did not or will not receive any form of financial aid.  Then, as a PP pointed out, there are the incidental fees which really do add up (I have two students in college right now).  Those include travel fees, airline costs, shipping stuff, buying dorm stuff, clothes, greek memberships if you are into that, costs for eating out with friends or partying . . . the list goes on and on even if your child is frugal as ours are and make wise choices.  Then there are study abroad in addition to tuition should your child do that.  Then please understand that more than 65% of our nation's students are not finishing their degrees in four years, especially in the larger universities where they can't get the classes they need.  One of our children will take six years to finish.  So now you are talking about the possibility of spending to at least half a million in tuition, room and board, and ancillary fees.  Finally, if you don't have much money stashed away for this, as most of us donut hole families do not because we are taking care of still-living parents and trying to put money away for retirement and have suffered financial setbacks along the way, the money you make to pay for tuition and costs is taxed first before you pay the school.  That means you may have to make $750 - $900K in order to pay the half a million (we're in the top bracket).  This is why both of our children are in in-state schools.  It sounds like you have some savings so that's a good start, but do some real number crunching if this is an EA decision, not ED.  Look hard at applying RD to your in-state schools wherever you may be and remember that you are paying those fees in after-tax dollars.  Talk also with your child.  Undoubtedly they will want to move off campus at some point - that was not financially viable in the case of one of our children and they had to stay in the dorms.  Neither had a car with them on campus (more costs).  A wise friend (widow) took her daughter in with her to talk to their family financial advisor who ran over the numbers in front of the daughter between an in-state school and a private school and demonstrated that with the money left after the father had died unexpectedly, the private was not a viable option.  Best of luck to you![/quote]

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