How did you pay (or how are you paying) for college for children?

[rodi]

My parents paid my tuition fees and books plus about 1/2 of my living expenses of a shared, ghetto neighborhood apartment. (cheap rent). I lived on raman and quesadillas. I had a part time job that paid the other half of my frugal living.

I plan to offer similar to my kids. With the same caveats my dad had:
- 4 year public school. (Mind you in CA public schools include UCSD, Berkeley, UCLA, Cal Poly... so some seriously academic choices, although I went to SDSU - which was not top tier - but my engineering degree was just as valid.)
- books/tuition/fees/legitimate school expenses - 100% paid by me.
- Living - barely subsidence covered by me. No bandwidth for car, partying, eating out in restaurants. Kid can get a job (which cuts into partying time) and ride a bike, bus, or low cost motorcycle (which is what I had) on their own dime.
- Degree has to be something that will result in a job.

Lots of people don't agree with that last one. My dad insisted on it for me - crushing my dreams of being a poli sci major. So glad he did... since that would have meant grad school at minimum, and likely lower income for my adult life. Instead I graduated in a field I'm good at, with income potential from day one of graduating.

My boys already know the rules. Their plan (which is likely to change since they're only 11 and 13) is to go to the same campus and share a cheap apartment. I'm not discouraging this plan.

 

[Donzo]

Both my kids are in college now. State schools. I'm paying about $28,000 per year for both of them together. I expected to pay more but, they both have partial scholarships, live off campus in shared apts and cook for themselves. Room and board on campus can really be expensive (+- $12,000 by itself) I think it is good for them to learn how to cook and maintain their own place early in life.

In 2 years (hopefully) they will both be graduates! They are on their own if they want to go for graduate degrees...for the most part. I have my eye on a nice class C motorhome! I have a cabover camper now, great for weekends or longer in good weather - but cabin fever sets in pretty quick if it's raining out.....need more room!

Must add that they are taking college seriously both have 3.6 or better GPAs.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

Wow $5k/year seems really low. I checked my alma mater (university of waterloo) and tuition is 7k a term (so 14k per year). I think this is about the same as a UC school tuition.

Just checked the U of C's website to confirm what I thought and I was slightly off. For the 2014-2015 academic year, the cost for a full semester (5 courses) is $3,285.14. So, $6,570.28 for a full year. Of that total though, $1,184 is "General Fees" and covers such things as dental, healthcare and other fees that students can choose to opt out of. So, my number of $5K for pure tuition wasn't too far off .

I think Canadian students are complaining quite a bit about how fast tuition is rising year after year but the cost is nothing compared to the States. When I graduated in 1995, tuition was $500 per semester for a full course load!

 

[Senator]

I skipped the kids and opted for early retirement...

My father gave me free rent in one of his duplexes when I went to college. He paid for everything, including utilities. I maintained the place. I paid for my own community college and the 4-year college (UW) when I attended each class. When I dropped a class, it was my dime. I also took out some Student Loans of about $7500. I continued going to school because I did not want to have to start paying the loans back.

I also had some VA money to attend. Not the GI Bill, but a program that gave me $150 per month for each $75 I put in ($225 total per month). I had a job working as a bartender and waiter in a restaurant.

Never underestimate the benefits of having the kids foot some of their own college. If they take a loan out, that is good, make sure you do not co-sign or your retirement may be affected.

 

[seraphim]

Had saved money in a tax deferred account, but ended just paying for it with my wife's paycheck while living off of mine. Didn't invest any new money for five years, but had the tax deferred account left over which had much more money and earned interest. Fortunately he had scholarships based on his talent.

Preferred a private college with excellent vocal training, and total cost was about $36k a year, with room and board.

 

[fh2000]

We are in our peek earning years now. So, DD is not getting any aids. She is a sophomore in a UC school now costing close to $30K / yr.

DS is about to go in UC also. Already received one acceptance; still waiting for others UCs. He just filled out FAFSA last night. Looks like he will not get any aids. We just filed out FAFSA for the formality.

We put $200/month for each of them since they were born. Later years we put $400. So, they both have enough in their UTMA accounts for 4 year UC.

Graduate schools? Well, they will have to help themselves.

 

[34rlsa]

I just want to commend all of you who have made it possible for your children to complete a college education. You are exceptional parents... congratulations.

 

[jollystomper]

Our goal was to pay for our kids college and give them the gift of graduating without any debt. We also sacrificed so that we would not have any debt either. We were fortunate to see a good 9 or so years ahead of time that odds of getting financial grants would be slim, so we cranked up the savings/investing towards that goal.

We were aided by the timing of the 1990s bull market; our oldest entered college in 2003 so in 1999 we started moving money to cash to cover at least the first 2 years. It was tough to do that at the time with all of the market hoopla but we were fortunate to realize that a lot could happen in 4 years.

Our youngest is now in college and we will be able to comfortably pay his remaining bill. The gap between him and his older siblings gave us time to build the college fund back up. All told we will spend $300K-$350K for our kids college education. We regret that one child did not finish. He was not disciplined enough to handle college at the time, but he was the only one to receive a large scholarship so the financial damage was not as bad as it could have been. He's now talking about going back to get his degree (he would be entering as a junior somewhere), but now at his age (27) he will have to figure out how to fund it.

 

[aja8888]

I paid my own way through undergraduate college with help from the G.I. Bill (Viet Nam era veteran) getting $222/month. Got my Engineering degree and an MBA on my own as parents were poor.

Both daughters went to community college for two years and then a state college. I paid some, they had jobs. We funded an apartment for them for the last two college years.

 

[photoguy]

I think Canadian students are complaining quite a bit about how fast tuition is rising year after year but the cost is nothing compared to the States. When I graduated in 1995, tuition was $500 per semester for a full course load!

I was paying ~2k for tuition in 95. I guess waterloo is more expensive than other schools (must be to pay for the hideous buildings).

I also notice they charge different tuition now depending on major. Arts is 1/2 of engineering, accounting is a little more (9k per term).

 

[Turboslacker]

Got three kids and not paying for their advanced schooling. My parents each paid their own way and I did too. Most of my relatives as well. It's simply the independent work ethic we were raised with.

I just don't buy into this belief that parents should pay for their kids college years.

 

[Katsmeow]

Three kids.

Oldest went to community college for a semester, living in the dorm (yes, some CCs have dorms) at our expense. After that, he decided that higher education was not for him so did not continue. At the time he went, DH had just retired and I was semi-retired earning enough money to cover the expenses out of cash flow.

Second oldest graduated high school young and started CC at 16 so lived at home. He is on what I call the 6 year plan to graduate college, partly due to changing majors and partly due to ADHD and dysgraphia and needing a lighter course load. He transferred to a state university last spring. It is within driving distance so he is still living at home. He will mostly move up there in the fall. We have also paid for this as above. I'm working less hours now (extremely part-time, negligible income) so before this spring started we set aside part of our portfolio in cash/near cash to cover the higher expenses until kids get out of school. He knows that graduate school will be on him if he were to go in that direction.

Our youngest graduated high school in December (we homeschooled high school) and is now full-time at the CC. She does not want to attend an academic university and is taken a career oriented course of study that will result most likely in a certificate (alternatively, she could go an extra semester and get an associate's degree. She hasn't decided yet whether to do that). She is living at home and we are paying for her school as above.

 

[davemartin88]

Paid cash from savings, schools chosen were in line with our ability to pay. Community colleges to start, the finished at larger, public universities. Younger son stopped after a couple of years and then went back on his own while working and his employer paid for his tuition.

 

[LOL!]

Kid's university participates in a monthly tuition payment program, so it just becomes another no-interest credit card bill in our online bill pay out of our checking account. That along with a monthly allowance covers things.

Two more payments left for the oldest, but youngest starts next year. At least both were not in college at the same time.

 

[Idnar7]

Two daughters three years apart. Deal was I would pay first three years and they would take Stafford loan for last year and any grad school. Tuition and fees were reasonable. Housing, cars, insurance were not. Food plans are front loaded so you pay 2/3 for first semester, 1/3 second. Rented them an apartment their last few years. At the end I had 60k debt which took years to pay off. Both got great jobs before graduation.

 

[InParadise]

Paying for college can be a controversial subject, and the following is what we personally have decided to do and is in no way intended as judgement on others' plans.

I paid my own way through school, living in an apartment since parents moved into an RV full time and retired when I left the nest. Missed a lot of what I consider to be valuable networking time by not living on campus, grew up way too fast, took me much longer than if it had been funded, particularly having to pay for an expensive Boston apartment. (Would have moved to a lower COL for college had I understood that concept.) Was saddled with a ton of debt that required me to head for the highest paycheck right away, indeed starting work the day after my last final.

I want more for my kids. We are going to be retiring early, leaving the workforce when Youngest graduates high school. Will be downsizing, but have made it very clear they will always have a home base. Are paying for their undergrad as long as they maintain a 3.0 GPA. No 3.0 and they will have a debt to us to repay the $$ spent, which will be forgiven if they graduate with a 3.0 avg GPA. Because of our income and savings, kids don't even qualify for deferred loans. We didn't feel it fair to impose their need to pay for school when no tools to do so. We have made it clear that our paying for their college is their inheritance...don't blow it. Have resisted telling them what to major in, though have used influence to guide them towards better paying degrees, particularly for Youngest who at first wanted to major in music, but now thinking engineering of some sort with a music minor. Insist on a school that views an intern/coop experience important, which has already resulted in a well paying gig for Eldest after his Freshman year, making $1,000/week. They get to keep that money for their expenses, to fund their Roth, and to save the nest egg they will need post college for car/apartment/etc. We pay tuition/room and board, all other expenses on them...clothing, toiletries, fun stuff, books, you name it. We do still pay medical/insurance costs, but car insurance up to them.

Eldest chose the public school route because that was one of the top schools for the degree he wanted to pursue. Unfortunately, we don't live in that state, so we pay close to 3X what in state pays for tuition. Net result $40K+/year. Encouraging him to take as many semesters abroad as makes sense in pursuit of his degree. We are charged in state rates when he studies overseas, semesters that are still taught by his schools profs. Actually hoping Youngest want to go there too...it is on his list...in which case we will buy/rent a place in that state to set up residency and decrease costs by about half. This will work for this school, though will have to pay full price for first year. Other schools may vary, but if he chooses a state school in a different state we will examine those schools too.

We are looking at keeping our taxable income under $50K, (retiring when Youngest graduates high school,) which might allow us to file the Simplified Needs Test with Fafsa that ignores assets in determining EFC, (Effective Family Contribution.) FinAid | FinAid for Educators and FAAs | Simplified Needs Test Chart Not sure how to get around the cap gains/sched D requirement, or what that will give us, and am more curious to see how it goes rather than depending on it. May simply decide against the hassle, particularly if getting in state tuition rates, and spend those years maxing out Roth Conversions for low tax bracket. Note that some private schools have their own method for determining EFC, not completely depending on the FAFSA.

OK, that was way too much. I try to think outside of the box while resisting letting the tuition tail wag the dog.

 

[poorcarver]

When our two were born we were clear that our obligation included preparing them for life educationally as well as physically and so forth (that is being good parents). That meant that we moved to the suburb with the top rated educational system in the metro area, which meant that we lived very frugally in a small house in the rich man's town. Fine.

DD was first. She shopped for upper rank (think 40-80 place on the national college ranks rather than 1-40). Based on her record she looked like a very good candidate was easily accepted to several she liked and negociated between them for the best deal. We paid around $10k per year for housing, incidentals and all the rest of it. For her part she graduated Summa, Phi Beta Kappa. That is she got the message. She is now married to a PhD chemist, appropriate house with a graduate degree of her own and a solid profession she enjoys.

DS always wanted to have a job during HS. We would not allow it, his job was resume building, get thte best grades you can get, dig into your interests and learn to excell. He did, went to college rated 10 on the national scale, and did and ROTC scholarship which covered all tuition and books and paid a stipend. His college gives free tuition to ROTC scholarship holders. Plus he had a job with a college "consulting firm" so he graduated cash positive. He also was Summa, Phi Beta Kappa. He is close to being done with his commitment to the Army and will go to grad school in 2015.

Bottom line, best possible elementary and HS preparation led to best possible college which led to excellent outcome. Our total outlay, around $50k. Plus as a family we had a superior experience living with the rich guys paying most of the tab (they pay most of the property tax in our town).

 

[jollystomper]

Got three kids and not paying for their advanced schooling. My parents each paid their own way and I did too. Most of my relatives as well. It's simply the independent work ethic we were raised with.

I just don't buy into this belief that parents should pay for their kids college years.

It is just a matter of perspective and one's background .

My parents were immigrants without any college when they came to the U.S. (my mother did not get her high school equivalency until after all her kids got their college degrees), but in their view education was the "great equalizer" for opportunities. They sacrificed financially to see that we got the best educations we could achieve. Seeing their sacrifice made my siblings and I want to make the best of the education opportunity, and that motivated us towards our accomplishments.

We have continued to try to instill this in our children, although it is different when they haven't directly experienced the difficult times growing that we did. Some adjustment is required in what we do and what we expect from them, to make them not take things for granted. It has worked for our kids, but for some has taken longer than others to understand this (they had to go through their own "difficult times" to see this).

 

[Mulligan]

I just want to commend all of you who have made it possible for your children to complete a college education. You are exceptional parents... congratulations.

I wouldn't consider mine and Ex's payments 100% altruistic in nature. I believe DD would be perfectly happy to stay at either parents house the rest of her life and be taken care of. Kicking her out to go to college and paying for it, seems a potentially cheaper proposition than the former.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Back in 1981 when DD (33 yo) was an infant, I emptied the plaster of paris coin bank that was shaped like a cat and walked down the street with the change and bought her a $25 savings bond. A few years later I started paycheck purchases of savings bonds starting at $50/month and working up to $150/month.
When I started saving for DS1 (28 yo), I opened UGMA mutual fund accounts for each DD and DS1 and continued paycheck savings for each of them.

I saved enough for 2 years community college and 2 years state university. When it came time for DD to start she and I went to the bank and spent over an hour signing and cashing in the huge stack of savings bonds.

DD and DS1 both went to community college for several years. DD went to state university for a year or two. Neither finished with a degree. I made it clear that when their money ran out they were on their own for paying for education.

Flash forward to DS2 (17 yo) and DS3 (10 yo). Plan to use 401k money to fund their college. Never put a dime in their names. If it looks like they are not succeeding in college, funding gets cut off. (so I say, probably).

I expect DS3 to be successful in college but I am not sure about DS2 since he is struggling with high school.

The responsibility I took on was to pay for 2 years community college and 2 years state university. Anything beyond that I expect them to fund somehow.

I had an intense discussion one time with a man from Lebanon. He feels obligated to fund his daughters' undergraduate and graduate level educations up to the doctorate level. He called me a bad parent for not doing the same. He explained that from his culture, if you were successful financially, you were obligated to do such, regardless of the consequences for his own financial future. He also had 75% of his 401k in company stock. I wished him well.

 

[aja8888]

I wouldn't consider mine and Ex's payments 100% altruistic in nature. I believe DD would be perfectly happy to stay at either parents house the rest of her life and be taken care of. Kicking her out to go to college and paying for it, seems a potentially cheaper proposition than the former.

A good move, but based on my experiences, return appearances for lengthy periods happened. Not because of lack of education, but because of divorces..... Always keep a spare bedroom furnished (or maybe more than one).

 

[LeavingOhio]

I appreciate all the responses.

Some of them surprise me.

For example, my wife and I (she works half time) make right on $90,000 a year, and we qualify for HUGE financial aid provided by the schools we are looking at for our now HS junior daughter (we also have an 8th grade son). For example, most of the schools use all of the following to figure yearly cost:

Tuition
Room and Board
Books
Travel
Personal Expenses

With all of those things considered, the schools we're looking at all range from about $58,000-$62,000 per year. BUT, based on financial need only (using their online calculators), our costs are down to anywhere from $11,500-$14,000 per year.

We are actually going to let our daughter take a small loan to help...that will be her contribution. A loan of $3500 per year is figured in, so she would graduate with $14,000 in loans...that seems reasonable and acceptable to me, and who knows, depending on how things are going, we might help her pay those off when she's done (perhaps a nice graduation present).

So, our cost is expected to be anywhere from $8,000 to $10,500 per year. When you consider that $1300 of that is for "personal expenses" which we would be paying if she still lived at home anyway and some of that is for "board" which we would also be paying, this seems very doable to me.

One of the ways to get that type of financial aid is to make sure not to have a ton of liquid cash. So, we had started to accumulate some, so we did something about that...replaced the siding on our house now (it needed it soon) rather than wait until after she starts college, and we're going to pay our lone car loan off a year early...it's at 0% interest, but we don't want the extra cash sitting there in our bank account, because the university will just take it. Any additional extra money we accumulate from now until our financial awards are given next year will be thrown at the mortgage.

I don't want to cheat anyone, and we will be truthful about how much money we have (not going to hide cash in a jar somewhere and say we don't have it), but we will use the rules in place to our advantage.

The weird thing about all this college researching is that for my family, it costs significantly less to send my daughter to an Ivy League school or several other top-tier schools than it would be to send her to a mediocre private school and even most state schools. Ivy League schools don't give athletic or academic scholarships...it is all based on financial need.

Here's a list of colleges that meet 100% of demonstrated need (many of these have online calculators where you can get a very good estimate of the amount you will have to pay):

Colleges That Claim to Meet Full Financial Need - US News

Also, if the loan you get is a subsidized student loan (most are), then the government pays the interest while you are in school, so if you take $14,000 in loans while a student, it's just $14,000 on the day you graduate. If you have that money then, you can simply pay it off and never have to pay interest.

 

[34rlsa]

Originally Posted by 34rlsa View Post
I just want to commend all of you who have made it possible for your children to complete a college education. You are exceptional parents... congratulations.

I wouldn't consider mine and Ex's payments 100% altruistic in nature. I believe DD would be perfectly happy to stay at either parents house the rest of her life and be taken care of. Kicking her out to go to college and paying for it, seems a potentially cheaper proposition than the former.

There is more to enabling your kids college education than paying the bill.
Not all parents encourage higher education after high school.

 

[InParadise]

It will be interesting to see how closely your actual payment correlates with your anticipated payment. Then again, we've always been of the ant version of people, doggedly preparing to meet our obligations and then being penalized for it. No doubt the way you structured your assets helps. Sometimes it is not so smart to be prepared.

 

[NanoSour]

We're not quite there yet, but our ER plan is for 20K/year in todays dollars for the eight years we'll potentially have kids in college. Oldest is a HS freshman and still hasn't communicated post HS intentions. We've always set the expectation that college is in their future, but the final decision is theirs. I'm sure we'll be on that bridge before long and hopefully 20K/year will handle it. We're thinking 2 year CC and then transfer to state schools.