Anonymous wrote:Most parents scrape money together from all corners - 529, cashflow, grandparents, teen jobs, small scholarships, work study, and LOANS. Whatever you hear on this forum is IDEAL and I would follow everyone’s advice, but it is not typical.

We are using all those methods to patch it together - merit from the college, scholarship from my job, grandparent contribution, 529 pre-paid, kids required to contribute from summer earnings and work during the school year, student loan and cash flow for private college. If my kids don’t want loans or to work during the school year they have to go in-state or a school with enough merit that it’s almost the cost of in-state.

Community college isn’t even pocket change anymore.

Although I have figured out that an out of state community college tuition would be cheaper than trying to take a couple classes at our in state local university before enrolling full time for a subject our local community college does not offer.

Start a Ponzi scheme.

Anonymous wrote:Have “well-funded” 529s started when they were babies. But not sure that we even have enough in the eldest’s for next year! He’s a junior. The costs are outrageous. But I admit we haven’t considered u of Maryland. I’m old ( went to college in the 70s) and a snob. Go ahead flame me

To be a snob, you need the $$$$ to pay for the highly rejective snob school plus all the money for tutors and “enrichment” and starting the kid’s nonprofit, etc. Money makes the national awards happen—training, driving/gas, coaching, equipment, camps. It all costs money.

If you don’t like UMD, they won’t cry. Plenty of people want the spot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are def not wealthy. Our older one got a full ride at Hopkins. So we were able to pool his 529 and therefore even consider sending the younger one OOS

$400k for 4 yrs. Hope stock market cooperates. Otherwise, its going to be tough.

If your younger one is close to graduating, you shouldn't have much of it in the stock market.

Agree. only ~25% is exposed to the market. Most of 2022 was in cash. New money goes into stock, so that averages out nicely.

Agree. He can go to UC San Diego but not SDSU, I hope!

And any UC costs atleast $45K in tuition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

I would plan for $60-80K a year for a private or OOS school. We cannot afford that as that is as much as our house cost. We saved for state school.

+1 In high col places like CA, you can expect about $70k/yr.

Unless you are wealthy, it's not worth it.

San Diego State University is like 20K + room & board out of state.

SDSU is likely NOT what people are thinking about when they say OOS T50 school, because it's far from that (#151 this year). Yes, it's easy to not pay more than 25-30K if you go in the 100-200 range and have a decent student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is paying from "cash flow"?

That you are able to pay from your day-to-day income, not drawing from savings.

I am a divorced parent who was overwhelmed by the cost of tuition and fees. I couldn't imagine the idea of paying $80,000. Saved very little because the divorce court knew my disposable income better than I did. Luckily, this was reflected in the FAFSA and CSS. I was able to pay for an ivy league degree on cash flow.

If you could pay of ran Ivy out of cash flow, why weren't you saving?

Based on what they stated about FAFSA and CSS, I'm going to guess they got significant aid and owe very little to the university.

Anonymous wrote:We are def not wealthy. Our older one got a full ride at Hopkins. So we were able to pool his 529 and therefore even consider sending the younger one OOS

$400k for 4 yrs. Hope stock market cooperates. Otherwise, its going to be tough.

If your younger one is close to graduating, you shouldn't have much of it in the stock market.

We are def not wealthy. Our older one got a full ride at Hopkins. So we were able to pool his 529 and therefore even consider sending the younger one OOS

$400k for 4 yrs. Hope stock market cooperates. Otherwise, its going to be tough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

I would plan for $60-80K a year for a private or OOS school. We cannot afford that as that is as much as our house cost. We saved for state school.

+1 In high col places like CA, you can expect about $70k/yr.

Unless you are wealthy, it's not worth it.

San Diego State University is like 20K + room & board out of state.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

I would plan for $60-80K a year for a private or OOS school. We cannot afford that as that is as much as our house cost. We saved for state school.

+1 In high col places like CA, you can expect about $70k/yr.

Unless you are wealthy, it's not worth it.

"Parent Plus loans here. I was a single mom for most of my kids' childhoods so there was no chance of savings, as much as I wanted to do it. My oldest got 2/3 of her tuition in merit aid and I let her take a small loan, but I cover $10k/year in loans. My middle child starts next year and my guess is I'll end up borrowing about the same amount again for her too (they'll overlap for a year). It's not my ideal situation but I'd rather have them graduate owing as little as possible."

Not sure what you mean by a small loan for your DD. But you should max out the student loans before borrowing with Parent Plus Loans or anything private. The rates and terms of the student fed loans are the best you can get, especially compared to parent and private loans. If you're concerned about her holding debt upon graduation, you can always contribute toward those loan payments when they come due.

Parent Plus loans here. I was a single mom for most of my kids' childhoods so there was no chance of savings, as much as I wanted to do it. My oldest got 2/3 of her tuition in merit aid and I let her take a small loan, but I cover $10k/year in loans. My middle child starts next year and my guess is I'll end up borrowing about the same amount again for her too (they'll overlap for a year). It's not my ideal situation but I'd rather have them graduate owing as little as possible.

Anonymous wrote:DC goes to college in 2026. How much does it cost for an OOS Top 50 school/yr ?( we will not qualify for aid)

I was budgeting $50K ( so $200K for 4 years) - but some schools have tuition alone at $50k ( eg UCLA is $46k) per year

So total cost seems to be close to $70k to $80k, which equates to $300k-$350k for 4 years.

Is that what others have experienced?

Looking at schools around 40-50 rank, I do think some can bring it down to around $50k. DD was offered merit at Mount Holyoke and Dickinson to be about that (I think those are somewhere in the 30-50 range in the liberal arts ranking). Her favorite ended up being ranked in the 70s range and costs us $30k/year vs. $70k sticker price.

Universities in the 40-50 range are a mix, some give merit (Brandeis, Case Western, Tulane) that could potentially bring the cost down. But no guarantee they will offer the same 5-10 years from now. Merit is a tool to attract higher tier students and schools successful at that will rise in the rankings and eventually give out less merit because they don't need to give as much. College pricing is a game.

We gave our kids a max budget of $40k and we don't qualify for need aid. They had plenty of options they were happy with. Good but not elite-college-competitive students.