Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 13:19     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Graduate school is hard to plan for depending on the field and program, so we're concentrating on providing for undergrad. if there's leftover money that can be applied to grad school, great. Law/medical school is a whole different ball game than a masters in education, for instance. And in many science programs, research and teaching assistantships can cover all tuition costs plus provide a small stipend.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 12:57     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:My parents paid most of my college, and a small portion of graduate school. We intend to pay all of college and graduate school for our five children.


DH worked and borrowed his way through college and graduate school with no help from his very low income single parent. That is part of the reason DH wants to pay for our children's schooling.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 12:53     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
My parents paid most of my college, and a small portion of graduate school. We intend to pay all of college and graduate school for our five children.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 12:49     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
My undergrad inclusive of housing/tuition/fees cost about $125k. I paid for $35k of the tuition and housing/fees with scholarships (private ones that I applied for) and loans, my parents covered the rest. I also was on work study and used that money to pay for my books. I funded any extras with summer jobs.

I covered law school 100% on my own.

We hope to cover tuition/housing/fees for our kids 100% for undergrad. They can pay for their own books and incidentals through part time or summer jobs. We will not fund grad school.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 12:21     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

point is, I'd rather give $200K in tuition payments to a 21 year old than an 18 year old.


then you have immature 18 year olds.

I was in college at 17 and done by 21. Graduated with honors. Moved out of my parents house immediately. Went to grad school PT on my own dime at 24.

You're just extending the length of time you are supporting them. Or you're making them the property of the gov't, who has the right to send them at a young age into the line of fire on a whim.



Also, I think it's better for a lot of kids to have continuity in learning- it doesn't work well for some to just "take off" a few years and then jump back into school. Subjects like math build on previous knowledge, and if you suddenly have four years between senior year of high school pre-calc and university calculus, well, that's tough.

My parents didn't have much saved for my sisters and I- I don't fault them as i know they did the best they could on their income. Tuition also increased a lot in the time we were growing up. My one wish was that they guided us a bit more on the reality of taking on so much student debt- and that they hadn't taken out so much in parent loans themselves (which they would never have been able to pay back without our help). I'm 34 and finished paying off the loans (mine and theirs) last year but my younger sister has a long way to go and is a teacher.

So my goal is to have enough saved for a 4-year public college, but also to instill the kids with a greater dose of reality/financial responsibility. I felt like my debt really tied me down for many years and I don't want that for my kids.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 11:39     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

point is, I'd rather give $200K in tuition payments to a 21 year old than an 18 year old.


then you have immature 18 year olds.

I was in college at 17 and done by 21. Graduated with honors. Moved out of my parents house immediately. Went to grad school PT on my own dime at 24.

You're just extending the length of time you are supporting them. Or you're making them the property of the gov't, who has the right to send them at a young age into the line of fire on a whim.



great for you, jackass.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 11:27     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
My parents paid about 75%, I paid the rest. Yes, I will pay all of it for my children.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 11:19     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:

point is, I'd rather give $200K in tuition payments to a 21 year old than an 18 year old.


then you have immature 18 year olds.

I was in college at 17 and done by 21. Graduated with honors. Moved out of my parents house immediately. Went to grad school PT on my own dime at 24.

You're just extending the length of time you are supporting them. Or you're making them the property of the gov't, who has the right to send them at a young age into the line of fire on a whim.

Anonymous
Post 04/28/2014 08:17     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My parents paid for my education. I was not a particularly serious student and I had an art major, not because I had dreams of being an artist but because it was fun. My mother was a trailblazing systems engineer in her day (so stem before stem was cool) and her advice to me was to study something that interested me and success would follow.

I am now a successful lawyer doing work in the public interest. My way was roundabout but had my parents not supported me through college it would have been a much tougher road and I might not have gotten here.

I will not demand my kids have it all figured out at 18 and I will support them with what I think they need.


How did you pay for law school?


I worked for a few years between undergrad and law school and had direction by the time I chose that. I paid for it with loans and by the time I went to law school I did very very well, and received merit aid following my first year so almost 2/3 of my debt was from my first year.

I have to say, having a few years off between undergrad and grad is a good thing in my book, by that time I had significantly more direction than my classmates and I REALLy appreciated having the schedule of a student again.

I think that an undergraduate degree is for most people (leaving out the outliers like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates) required for having options in life. I want to give my kids options. I do not expect them to be slackers, but I also do not expect them to be perfect.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2014 22:00     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:18 is too young for college. Kids should work or travel or join the army or something first. Grow up some.


that's all well and good, but if they travel, it's probably on mommy and daddy's dime. If they work, it likely isn't in a well paid job as HS diplomas don't get you very far these days. And joining the military? Um, yeah. My husband went that route and doesn't even want to HEAR it as an option for his kids. It was good FOR HIM at the time, but that was before 9/11 and Iraq and all of that mess. Do you REALLY think sending an 18 year old out to fight in the desert is less difficult than college age-wise?

Now, I will say the military worked out OK for my husband as he got out before having to go to a warzone (just barely, though) and then went to college funded in large part by his GI Bill benefits. It took him 10 years to finish his degree PT (we got married and had our first child in the midst of all of it), but he did finish and didn't have more than maybe a couple hundred dollars in credit card debt for books and such. He was working a good job in defense/security because he had clearances from his military days and it did give him an in with the defense types. When he finished, he had his military record on his resume plus I think 8 years of FT work. So, it does work out for some. But I don't know if the story would be the same if his timing had been off by just a couple years. Shit, he would probably be dead.


point is, I'd rather give $200K in tuition payments to a 21 year old than an 18 year old.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2014 21:41     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
I just want to add that the tremendous , tremendous increase in the cost of higher education is further expanding the gap between the haves and have nots in this country. At this rate there will only be 2 classes in America, the super wealthy who can afford to educate themselves a diet offspring, and the poor who won't even be able to afford an associates degree, much less grad school.
We cannot let this continue to happen, it is out of control.
Education should not be something only afforded by the 1%.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2014 21:28     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Parents paid 100% of all undergrad. Parents paid for 75% of graduate school expenses (so that I had so responsibility too, though they had the funds). Parents and my husband and I have 529s for the kids, in a combined amount of about 200k PER child. Oldest child is currently almost 9. The goal is that my children's higher education expenses will be covered by these plans.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2014 21:05     Subject: Re:Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:18 is too young for college. Kids should work or travel or join the army or something first. Grow up some.


that's all well and good, but if they travel, it's probably on mommy and daddy's dime. If they work, it likely isn't in a well paid job as HS diplomas don't get you very far these days. And joining the military? Um, yeah. My husband went that route and doesn't even want to HEAR it as an option for his kids. It was good FOR HIM at the time, but that was before 9/11 and Iraq and all of that mess. Do you REALLY think sending an 18 year old out to fight in the desert is less difficult than college age-wise?

Now, I will say the military worked out OK for my husband as he got out before having to go to a warzone (just barely, though) and then went to college funded in large part by his GI Bill benefits. It took him 10 years to finish his degree PT (we got married and had our first child in the midst of all of it), but he did finish and didn't have more than maybe a couple hundred dollars in credit card debt for books and such. He was working a good job in defense/security because he had clearances from his military days and it did give him an in with the defense types. When he finished, he had his military record on his resume plus I think 8 years of FT work. So, it does work out for some. But I don't know if the story would be the same if his timing had been off by just a couple years. Shit, he would probably be dead.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2014 20:55     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Anonymous wrote:Maybe one of the things we need to focus in is lowering the cost of education. It just seems crazy to me that people have to figure out how to pay ridiculous amounts of money for an education that... well is no necessarily worth it in my opinion.
What are they going to get that we did not get 20 years ago except a bigger bill. And I think it's a bit much for anyone tell anyone that they have to finance grad school for their kids, whether they can afford it or not. At some point, baby bird needs to leave the nest.


+1

I paid for grad school on my own. I had worked a couple years when I decided to go for a master's. At that point, I decided to go the state school route(Mason) because I didn't feel that paying 4X the cost at GW., Georgetown or American was worth it in the long run. Wound up getting some tuition assistance (continued working FT while attending class at night) plus put some on credit. Probably should have applied for loans, but what a pain in the ass all THAT paperwork is. Paid them off pretty quickly anyway.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2014 20:31     Subject: Did your parents (step or otherwise) pay for your college? Will you pay for your kids?
Maybe one of the things we need to focus in is lowering the cost of education. It just seems crazy to me that people have to figure out how to pay ridiculous amounts of money for an education that... well is no necessarily worth it in my opinion.
What are they going to get that we did not get 20 years ago except a bigger bill. And I think it's a bit much for anyone tell anyone that they have to finance grad school for their kids, whether they can afford it or not. At some point, baby bird needs to leave the nest.