SecondCor521
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Inspired by the "Alternatives to 529 plans" thread and my oldest child turning 13, I've been looking at college costs.
I'm aware of the College Board annual report on the costs of college, and I've read that document for several years running. What I'd like help with here is knowing what the actual out of pocket costs have been for people here on the board. You are real people, so your responses will help me validate and better understand the anonymous College Board statistics.
I have three kids: 13, almost 8, and 6. I'd like to save enough in their college funds to pay for the average out of pocket costs for tuition, room & board, books, and fees for a 4 year public university. As a proxy for this, I've been using the College Board's enrollment-weighted average TRBF cost for 4 year public universities, which is $12,796 (see page 5, table 1, column 9, row 2 here).
It seems this number is too high, because it doesn't take into account grant and education tax credits. After adjusting for that, the number drops to $9,700 (page 16, figure 8d).
But if I want to let my kids choose a private university, the number more than doubles to $21,400 (page 15, figure 8b).
My undergraduate alma mater, where my oldest wants to go, has a sticker price of $41,335! The other school I look at is Stanford, where my sister went, which is $46,586!! Apparently most Stanford students get aid and most graduate with very small loans.
So if you'll indulge me, what is your number for the average annual amount of money you actually had to fork over to your child's university while they were pursuing a bachelor's degree full time at a 4 year school? I want to include tuition, room & board, books, and fees. I want to exclude any savings you got on your taxes (like the Hope and LLC credits). I also want to exclude thinks like plane tickets, pizza, beer, pocket money, etc.
Also the name of the school would be helpful as well, and whether you think private education is worth it or not would be good. I've attended two private universities and one public university; I would say the quality of the private schools was better, but not four to five times as good.
2Cor521
I'm aware of the College Board annual report on the costs of college, and I've read that document for several years running. What I'd like help with here is knowing what the actual out of pocket costs have been for people here on the board. You are real people, so your responses will help me validate and better understand the anonymous College Board statistics.
I have three kids: 13, almost 8, and 6. I'd like to save enough in their college funds to pay for the average out of pocket costs for tuition, room & board, books, and fees for a 4 year public university. As a proxy for this, I've been using the College Board's enrollment-weighted average TRBF cost for 4 year public universities, which is $12,796 (see page 5, table 1, column 9, row 2 here).
It seems this number is too high, because it doesn't take into account grant and education tax credits. After adjusting for that, the number drops to $9,700 (page 16, figure 8d).
But if I want to let my kids choose a private university, the number more than doubles to $21,400 (page 15, figure 8b).
My undergraduate alma mater, where my oldest wants to go, has a sticker price of $41,335! The other school I look at is Stanford, where my sister went, which is $46,586!! Apparently most Stanford students get aid and most graduate with very small loans.
So if you'll indulge me, what is your number for the average annual amount of money you actually had to fork over to your child's university while they were pursuing a bachelor's degree full time at a 4 year school? I want to include tuition, room & board, books, and fees. I want to exclude any savings you got on your taxes (like the Hope and LLC credits). I also want to exclude thinks like plane tickets, pizza, beer, pocket money, etc.
Also the name of the school would be helpful as well, and whether you think private education is worth it or not would be good. I've attended two private universities and one public university; I would say the quality of the private schools was better, but not four to five times as good.
2Cor521