Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:58     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you what my family will do.

We have decided college debt for undergrad is a bad investment, and to send DC to the best school we can afford from savings and cash flow. We have a designated college fund. It can pay for an in-state public.

We have also decided that other investments like retirement and housing and savings need to happen too, so we won’t be selling the house to pay for a Bachelors Degree.

We have decided that we would like our only child to have an inheritance if possible and that includes things like real estate and cash.

We have decided not to set limits on courses of study, if you want a puppetry degree or whatever that’s fine since the plan is to come out of undergrad with no debt and there is always grad school for a professional degree.

Finally, we have decided to be honest and open about these goals with our child and let them know exactly what we have to spend.

I wish you calm and peace when making this decision with your child.



Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:58     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
State school. She will likely need grad school, correct?
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:57     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
DC was accepted to a T10, her dream school, but we ended up with little financial aid. We would have to pay about 60k per year. DC can go to UMD CP for at least a third of that and will likely have other lower cost options at less competitive schools. DC is in the arts but otherwise undecided. She may pursue arts or museum work down the line.

We are in our early fifties with relatively low retirement savings (300k). We have a down payment saved up for a house (about 250k). No other debt or money. We live in the DC area. We rent a small house.

HHI is now about 200k, in public service careers. It took us a while to get to this level. No inheritances or major increases in salary expected.

She is our only. We want to set her up as well as possible, especially since she is leaning towards a soft major. We want her to have the benefits of a strong degree down the line. We are struggling with whether to pay for the T10. We don’t want her taking on the debt. But we know retirement needs to be our priority.


You should have purchased the house last year. I gather your $250k down payment is sitting in a taxable account so is fair game. If that was house equity, it would not have been included and you would have received much more need-based aid.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:56     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:The way to set her up as well as possible is to minimize both loans and the chance that she will have to support her destitute parents in retirement.


this is the correct answer.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:55     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Unless you have a forthcoming pension, your retirement funds are quite low. Unless a rich relative swoops in, I would strongly lean toward in-state.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:53     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Talk to her but I'd pick UMD and pay for graduate school. Where is all your money going?
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:52     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:The way to set her up as well as possible is to minimize both loans and the chance that she will have to support her destitute parents in retirement.


you were much more succinct than me!
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:52     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t sound like you can afford the T10. Did you run the aid calculator before she applied?


not OP but I'm full pay, knew the price way ahead of time, and we still consider the pluses and minuses. what colleges think we can afford and what we're comfortable spending are not 100% in sync.

Being smart about money is how people making 200k end up w the assets that put them into the full pay bucket.

to OP - how old are you? if you work for the government, loans you take out could be forgiven in full if you work for 10 years post kids graduation. SO if you're 50 or younger, maybe this works. if you're 60, probably not.


Huh? Where are you getting loans will be forgiven. I’m a Fed.

I’m the same age as OP and don’t understand how there is so little in retirement. I have $1.6 million in my Fed TSP alone. I started contributing as soon as I started my career. My husband has his own retirement as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:49     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
The way to set her up as well as possible is to minimize both loans and the chance that she will have to support her destitute parents in retirement.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:47     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t sound like you can afford the T10. Did you run the aid calculator before she applied?


not OP but I'm full pay, knew the price way ahead of time, and we still consider the pluses and minuses. what colleges think we can afford and what we're comfortable spending are not 100% in sync.

Being smart about money is how people making 200k end up w the assets that put them into the full pay bucket.

to OP - how old are you? if you work for the government, loans you take out could be forgiven in full if you work for 10 years post kids graduation. SO if you're 50 or younger, maybe this works. if you're 60, probably not.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:47     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
Anonymous wrote:
DC was accepted to a T10, her dream school, but we ended up with little financial aid. We would have to pay about 60k per year. DC can go to UMD CP for at least a third of that and will likely have other lower cost options at less competitive schools. DC is in the arts but otherwise undecided. She may pursue arts or museum work down the line.

We are in our early fifties with relatively low retirement savings (300k). We have a down payment saved up for a house (about 250k). No other debt or money. We live in the DC area. We rent a small house.

HHI is now about 200k, in public service careers. It took us a while to get to this level. No inheritances or major increases in salary expected.

She is our only. We want to set her up as well as possible, especially since she is leaning towards a soft major. We want her to have the benefits of a strong degree down the line. We are struggling with whether to pay for the T10. We don’t want her taking on the debt. But we know retirement needs to be our priority.


OP, did you have a convo with your DC prior to applications? Given your financial situation, it doesn't seem as if full pay should have ever been on the table. Your DC should take UMD or any competitive merit offer, excel, and apply to graduate school where she may be able to find some funding (but its the arts, so the chances are much more remote). It would not be wise for you as parents to go full pay and not wise for her to face the prospect of taking care of both parents for possibly multiple years as a single kid saddled with student loans.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:46     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
PP here, to clarify I mean that the student takes out the loans with low interest rates.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:45     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
I think a T10 school is worth it. Is it not a thing to take out loans for school anymore? Took out some loans for undergrad and then substantial loans for law school. Seems like it is a worthwhile investment but I would only do it for a top school with name recognition.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:43     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free
It doesn’t sound like you can afford the T10. Did you run the aid calculator before she applied?
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2024 16:40     Subject: Donut family: Pay for T10 or go to state for almost free

DC was accepted to a T10, her dream school, but we ended up with little financial aid. We would have to pay about 60k per year. DC can go to UMD CP for at least a third of that and will likely have other lower cost options at less competitive schools. DC is in the arts but otherwise undecided. She may pursue arts or museum work down the line.

We are in our early fifties with relatively low retirement savings (300k). We have a down payment saved up for a house (about 250k). No other debt or money. We live in the DC area. We rent a small house.

HHI is now about 200k, in public service careers. It took us a while to get to this level. No inheritances or major increases in salary expected.

She is our only. We want to set her up as well as possible, especially since she is leaning towards a soft major. We want her to have the benefits of a strong degree down the line. We are struggling with whether to pay for the T10. We don’t want her taking on the debt. But we know retirement needs to be our priority.