Anonymous wrote:My parents couldn't afford to pay my tuition for college. My dad did pay my rent and covered the cost of books, which were a good $800 at least a semester. Rent was $380 a month for my share of our apartment's rent. (Three roommates.) The deal was, he would cover that if I got a part time job to cover miscellaneous expenses (in other words, alcohol). The thing is, I'm from Georgia, where they have the HOPE scholarship, and when I entered college, if you had a 3.0 GPA, the state would pay for your tuition, and would continue to pay it for 4 years as long as you maintained a 3.0. Really, it was a great deal. I lost HOPE 2 years in (partied too much; after being on Dean's List my first 2 years, I dropped to a 2.97 and lost HOPE by 3/10ths of a GPA point, like an idiot) and the agreement after that was, I would take out student loans. I felt and still feel that was fair. I blew a free ride, so I had to pay. I took out student loans totaling about $18,000 for the remainder of my time in college, and started paying those back after graduating. It's not the end of the world. DH and I will probably do something similar for our kids when they go to college, but am I going to kill myself to make sure I have $250,000 saved up by the time they're 17 so they can graduate debt free? Nope. I don't think contributing to your own college education is a bad thing at all.

Anonymous wrote:My parents couldn't afford to pay my tuition for college. My dad did pay my rent and covered the cost of books, which were a good $800 at least a semester. Rent was $380 a month for my share of our apartment's rent. (Three roommates.) The deal was, he would cover that if I got a part time job to cover miscellaneous expenses (in other words, alcohol). The thing is, I'm from Georgia, where they have the HOPE scholarship, and when I entered college, if you had a 3.0 GPA, the state would pay for your tuition, and would continue to pay it for 4 years as long as you maintained a 3.0. Really, it was a great deal. I lost HOPE 2 years in (partied too much; after being on Dean's List my first 2 years, I dropped to a 2.97 and lost HOPE by 3/10ths of a GPA point, like an idiot) and the agreement after that was, I would take out student loans. I felt and still feel that was fair. I blew a free ride, so I had to pay. I took out student loans totaling about $18,000 for the remainder of my time in college, and started paying those back after graduating. It's not the end of the world. DH and I will probably do something similar for our kids when they go to college, but am I going to kill myself to make sure I have $250,000 saved up by the time they're 17 so they can graduate debt free? Nope. I don't think contributing to your own college education is a bad thing at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents were public servants and told my sister and me that they could pay for 4 years at an in-state university. If we wanted to go somewhere else, they were willing to contribute the same amount of money (= to 4 years in state) towards that school and the rest would be on us. I chose the latter, so I ended up with a lot of scholarships + my parents contribution = no loans. My sister took 4 years at state u. = no loans. I still think those were the greatest gifts they gave us but they certainly weren't obligated to pay.

Ohmigosh-- are you my sibling? I posted below you.

Anonymous wrote:You have to remember that whatever parents are *able* to contribute is considered in calculating the student's financial aid (unless you want to go to the trouble of having the student declared independent). So if the parents are able to contribute, and choose not to, then they are actively choosing to burden their child with student loan debt.

Anonymous wrote:If the parents have the means--yes they should.

DH came from a poor working single mom and had to take loans to pay for his college.

I came from a middle class family of 3 and my dad promised to pay for the 2 daugthers (had one brother) wedding in full (not extravagant crazy affairs--but very elegant) and 4 years in-state tuition (out of state we would have to take the difference in loans). He also lectured on the quality of the va state univ. and the idiocy of taking a loan from an equivalent out of state (if I got into an ivy that would be somethign different).

I will pay for my kids university (and I dont have the in-state requirement that my parents imposed on me). My oldest just finished K and his 529 is already 'pay now' if we want it. We have essentially already set enough aside for both of our kids.

Loans are now the new bubble that the housing market once was. I will not saddle my kids with them. They will have to pick credible majors and work hard. My dad's rules were if the grades dropped $ was cut off and if we didn't go to college we were out of the house at 18. I think those were good rules.

A minimum 4-years university tuition is definitely the responsibility of a parent with means.

Anonymous wrote:My parents were public servants and told my sister and me that they could pay for 4 years at an in-state university. If we wanted to go somewhere else, they were willing to contribute the same amount of money (= to 4 years in state) towards that school and the rest would be on us. I chose the latter, so I ended up with a lot of scholarships + my parents contribution = no loans. My sister took 4 years at state u. = no loans. I still think those were the greatest gifts they gave us but they certainly weren't obligated to pay.

Anonymous wrote:"Should" isn't really the right question to ask, I think. Paying for undergrad tuition is an enormous gift you can give your child, if you are able. It's not a right or an entitlement, even if you can afford it.