I did the 4 year Maryland pre-paid tuition for my DS, when he was born (at the time around $38,000). Now expecting a DD and don't have the same cash flow Will probably try and buy 1 year at a time for the pre-paid Maryland tuition.

I anticipate paying for our children's living expenses out of cash flow as they enter college as my husband and I will hopefully both still be able-bodied and working.

Graduate school, if they attend, will be on their own...with support for living expenses.

This is what our parents did for us and so we will repeat the cycle for our children.

Anonymous wrote:The overriding assumption here is that these costs can continue rising indefinitely and the system will carry on much as it has well into the future. I believe there is a decent chance that the current model will break down at some point. It's at least worth considering.

It's already happening at the smaller privates.

My parents paid for college (and most of grad school) for us, and we will do the same for our kids for college. Their 529 accounts can pay for 4 years of private college. What they don't use can go towards grad school.

I worry about many things, but this isn't one. Like one of the PPs, I think it is likely either college costs will decrease or college degrees won't be mandatory for any decent job.

We save around around $3000 per year for my toddler. Grandparents pitch in around $1000. We have a 15 year mortgage that will probably be paid off when she is around 11 and we expect to increase our college savings then and could pay out-of-pocket as well. I don't anticipate sending her to private. It just seems like a poor value.

We are right in the middle of this now. We use HELOC at 3% to pay the big checks $30K (after using savings to pay the other 20K)and then use current cash flow to pay the monthly payment. It's not ideal, but some of our other investments were making 8% and we didn't want to take that out with the HELOC so low. Of course, if the rate starts to go higher, we'll have to figure something else out. Our HHI didn't qualify us for any subsidized loans, which we expected, but private loans were around 7-9% DC is still taking out $5k a year to help, so when done, DC will have a loan of $20k.

PP 14:58 I felt the same way when we first had kids-Wouldn't even dream of not being able to pay 100%, but wow what an eye opener it was when we woke up to how much college has gone up. I stopped feeling guilty when I adjusted my private college tuition costs of the mid-80s would only be $24K today. I'd happily write a check right now for $24k. Instead, we're at twice that. I can't imagine that this can go on for much longer. The college loan bubble has to burst, right?

Anonymous wrote:The overriding assumption here is that these costs can continue rising indefinitely and the system will carry on much as it has well into the future. I believe there is a decent chance that the current model will break down at some point. It's at least worth considering.

Sure hope so! My kid is still in utero, so we have 18 years to go before this becomes relevant. I'm not worried--yet.

I do find it hard to believe that I, whose (public, in-state) college was paid for by parents, would even consider not fully funding my kids' undergrad education, but that might have to be the case. Life was cheaper when I was a teenager in the 90s.

I hate to think of saddling my kids with student loans, but if a bachelor's degree at a state school costs, say, $50K/year 18 years from now, we won't be able to pay for it (and neither will many other parents).

We started 529s a few months before each kid was born. Our oldest is now 5 and once she had $50k in her account we stopped. We have upped what we put in DS account to catch him up. We think we will have 1/3 saved and will pay 1/3 during school (more if we can).

The overriding assumption here is that these costs can continue rising indefinitely and the system will carry on much as it has well into the future. I believe there is a decent chance that the current model will break down at some point. It's at least worth considering.

DH and I were lucky to graduate without loans. We started saving for our potential children's college before they were born. We will have enough for them to graduate without loans. If they go in state, e will probably help out with graduate school. It depends.

No, I don't worry about it. The whole financial reason I never SAH was to pay for my kids' colleg education, and we've saved enough to pay for all of it for both kids.

We make too much for need-based aid, but we haven't been making these salaries for very long, so we don't have just tons and tons of college savings.

We've given the kids a number, and any college they go to has to come in under that number. Most of the cost will come out of current income, with some from college savings and modest loans. I don't want the kids crushed by loans, but I think it's a good idea for them to have some skin in the game.

Our eldest has one more year before college, and her top college choices come in well under her number once likely merit aid is factored in. There are two more kids to go after her, though.

The important thing for us is to manage expectations early in the process. That means discussing money and looking carefully at net price calculators when the kids are just starting to think about what schools interest them.

We don't necessarily rule out schools that are expensive, but there has to be a possibility of merit aid because $60+ is just not doable for us. I'd rather rule out a school early in the process than have my child fall in love with a school, get in, and not be able to attend because of cost.

We'll see how it all works out. Some days I think we'll be okay; some days not.

Anonymous wrote:No, I purchased 4 years of pre-paid college tuition for my DS at a Maryland state school when he was 2 years old, and I'm sure we'll be able to manage to help him with his living expenses.

How the heck does this work?

I would, but I work for a university with 100% remission. I won't force my DS to go where I work but I will explain to him that student loans will impact his future options and that free college (at a top 100 school) is a pretty fabulous deal. We'll probably be able to contribute some but we are prioritizing our retirement so that our son doesn't have to worry about taking care of us. There are no loans for retirement.

My parents couldn't have afforded college for all 4 of us. My brothers joined the military and went on GI Bills. My sister took loans. I got a scholarship for my undergrad and am taking ~$12k in loans for my grad school. It was well understood that I would be responsible for my own college. My parents did help out here and there, paying my car insurance sometimes or giving me $100 when I came home for a weekend.

No, I purchased 4 years of pre-paid college tuition for my DS at a Maryland state school when he was 2 years old, and I'm sure we'll be able to manage to help him with his living expenses.