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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
S/O: Did anyone's parents NOT pay for college?
Pumpkin's post got me thinking if I was the only one who's parents didn't pay for college.
If your parents didn't, do you plan to pay for your kids?
My parents didn't pay for my college. They could have, but didn't because my dad's parents didn't pay for his. I'm not sure why that was a valid reason, but that was their choice. I feel like I could have done a lot more with my life and education, but I didn't want to take out a loan so I only got an associates degree. I want to do everything we can to pay for our kids college. Of course, there will be grade requirements and they will have a major picked and stick to it.
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Re: S/O: Did anyone's parents NOT pay for college?
DH's parents didn't. That loan is so close to being gone.
Grade requirements sure, but I wouldn't make them stick to a major. A lot of times people just don't know.
My parents didn't pay for school for me, they couldn't, but i hope to be able to if ike chooses to go.
raises hand
my dad just laughed uproariously when I mentioned it as an idea
Mine didn't. They could have, financially speaking. They did pay for my brother's, which kind of ticks me off, but whatever.
I had some scholarships, and the military paid for the rest. I was determined not to have student loan debt.
We will do what we can for him, and he'll have a grade requirement he'll have to maintain to keep getting money from us, but I can't imagine forcing him to declare a major immediately and stick with it.
FWIW, I let my father talk me out of my chosen major into something more "practical", and it's the biggest regret of my life.
my parents didn't even though they could have afforded to. My whole life, they told me I could go anywhere I wanted to go and they would pay. I was the first person out of any of my immediate or extended family, so maybe they didn't think I would really go. When it came down to it, I had to pay for it all myself.
I plan to pay for all of children's college.
They did not pay for me.
I have savings set up for C but who knows if it will be enough. We do what we can right now.
Mine didn't. Well, they paid for a little (like books each semester), but after I graduated and got my master's degree, I still have $40,000 in debt.
I plan to help pay for my kids' college some. Probably not entirely, but at least half.
I paid for all my own education. And I have a law degree and about $100K worth of student loans to show for it.
We'll pay for undergrad for our kids assuming we can afford to and assuming that they aren't major f'ups who do poorly in school. I don't know if we would pay for grad school. we'd probably help in some regard.
Mine didn't. There is no way they could have.
I will do everything in my power to pay for at least part of DS's college.
Mine didn't. When my parents got divorced, my Dad was supposed to set up a college fund for all of us as part of the terms of the divorce. Fast forward to 13 years later and my dad buys a $100K boat but adamantly refuses to pay for our college. He actually yelled at me each time an acceptance letter came in the mail. I was able to take out loans and went away to school against my Dad's wishes.
I wouldn't wish that on anyone. We will pay for our kids' undergrad education.
Mine didn't, but I still responded to Pumpkin's post. My parents are both from South America, so it's really not part of their culture to save up money for college. I paid for everything myself, and I was a single mother. I applied for a ton of grants though and did work study, so that helped. I also worked the entire time I went to school. Luckily, my son and I lived in an apartment that was dirt cheap. Otherwise, I don't know how I would've done it.
That being said, we have already started saving for college for both our kids. While we may not be able to save up enough to pay for their entire college education, it's important to us to help them as much as possible.
Mine didn't. I got grants, scholarships, and worked three jobs, and graduated with no loans. I went to graduate school on a fellowship, thank God. I would easily owe over $250K if I hadn't.
We are putting some money away to help our kids, but it won't be nearly enough to pay for everything, unfortunately.
ETA: My parents definitely could NOT afford to pay (my dad was unemployed for at least half of my undergrad). We will do as much as we can.
We got some assistance, but our college wasn't paid for completely. I had to take out student loans. They could have afforded more though. To be honest, I saw some of my friends in college whose parents did pay. One pretty much flunked out because her GPA was so low from partying too much. They would constantly give me crap for not going out at night. I was the one paying for my schooling, I was going to be sure that I was going to finish as soon as I could.
I think it really made me realize the value of the dollar. I saw a lot of my friends abuse that since it wasn't coming out of their pocket.
My parents did not pay for college. I worked my ass off to put myself through community college and it took 4 years.
Luckily, I found a job that will pay for the last two years of school to get my BS.
aokiedokie
i had to take out loans to pay for my BA degree. it really didn't bother me though, i've always felt like it was an investment i put towards myself. and now that its done and over with, and there's no more loans to pay, i'm glad i did it.
i will try to help out my kids as much as possible but it will all depend on where we are financially. i see nothing wrong if my kids had to take out loans to pay for college, that's why there are school loans.
My parents haven't paid a dime to support me, schooling included, since the day I turned 18. DH joined the military straight out of HS so that someday he could go. He supported his mom financially for years, though. Lucky her.
DH and I are paying for our own right now (we are both in community college and should transfer to a 4 yr university in a year or so). He gets the GI bill and we pay both schools as we go. I tried straight out of hs but couldn't handle a FT job, stress of living alone, and FT school at that time.
We don't know what our financial future will hold, but we plan to help as much as we possibly can (assuming kids are good students, want to go to school, etc). DH's degree is in IT and should give him higher earning power. We both intend to get at least bachelor degrees, although I don't know for sure when I'll go back to work. We live within means and helping DD and future kids with school is near the top of our priority list.
My parents didn't pay for mine and I am still paying off my loans. I don't plan to pay for my kids education either mainly because I didn't get mine paid for and it made me a more responsible adult. Because I was paying for it myself, I chose to live at home and commute instead of paying for room/board. I also studied harder and got better grades because my money was funding my education.
Many of my friends used their four year education as an all-inclusive paid four year vacation and they all barely squeaked by with grades, skipped classes (as in never showed up until it was required to pass) and partied from Thursday to Sunday. I am not in anyway saying all kids who go to college on their parents dime do this, but I was more responsible because it came out of my pocket.
I am also proud of the fact that I paid for it myself. I may help my child out here and there with fees/books, etc., but my retirement needs to be taken care of before I start forking over money for college and I don't think that will be "all set" by the time my kids are in college. My kids can take loans for college and I cannot take a loan for retirement.
Jacob 3.23.08 * Grace 7.22.09 * Eli 7.26.11 * Annabelle 1.18.14
Mine didn't pay tuition, but they helped with some of my books and housing costs for the first two years. The last two years, I was on my own. I worked all through college and usually had two jobs during the summer. I never had the expectation that they would pay for college and learned a lot of responsibility budgeting for things myself. DH's parents also didn't pay, but he went to school on the GI bill.
We also plan on helping with college, but won't pay for everything. We put all of DS's birthday money in a savings account and will encourage that in the future. In a few years, we may start making a monthly contribution once I go back to work and things aren't so tight.
My parents always told me they had a college fund for me. When I graduated, I found out it was like $1,000. My mom already co-signed a bunch of loans for my brother and couldn't afford any more and my dad didn't want to help because I decided to go to a university a few hours away instead of the CC near home. (Best decision I ever made, BTW.) So I paid for all of mine minus $1,000. DH paid for all of his.
We hope to help as much as we can, but since we plan on having a big family, who knows how much that will really be.
My parents couldn't afford to pay for my tuition, but when I was low on funds for books, my dad would offer to help with what he could.
I am starting DS's "college fund" in the upcoming weeks. I would like to give him everything I couldn't have as well as what I did.
my parents paid for both my and my sister private colleges. they also paid for 2 years of dental school for me. i then paid for another 2 years of ds and then paid for my residency. my husband really lucked out b/c they paid for his school, his dental school, and all his residency. We have money saved for college for our lo already and continue to put money there. my inlaws also have a college fund set up for her.
i know i am very lucky. i completely understand if you(parents) can';t afford to pay for college but if you have the means and don't- that baffles me!
i was just thinking the same thing. my DH's parents paid for him to go to college, but not law school, even though his dad is a surgeon and could have paid for it (we both went to a state school for law school). but apparently it is ok for his parents to go on big vacations every year. total BS in my mind...
Mine refused to pay unless I went to the school of THEIR choice, which was a religious university and none of us are religious. It was also 500 miles from where I grew up but right down the road from where they were retiring to. And I iwas nformed I had to live with them all four years of school. Yeaaaah. I waited a few years and put myself through. It was tough but I did it.
I hope DH and I are living back in Europe when its time for K to go to school because higher education is cheaper where he is from. And I fully intend on paying as much as we can for her.
My parents did not. I will be paying my college loans until Allie is in college.
My grandmother has already set up a trust fund for Allie's college.
My parents couldn't have helped me pay for going to college even if they'd wanted to. But, I wasn't really all that interested in continuing school (and didn't), so it ended up not being a big deal.
DH's parents set up college funds for all of their grandkids and put $ into it annually, we're adding some too but for some reason it's really a big deal for FIL to be a big part of it, so we let him. He has 8 grandkids... good thing he can afford it :P
I just hope DH (or FIL, if he's still around then.. he's 70 now) isn't disappointed should either of the kids be like me and decide that school really isn't something that interests them. I didn't really end up needing it and took off and moved up in high tech fast, but I know the climate is changing as far as that goes. We'll see.
My parents paid for all but one year, which I am very thankful for. I went to a small private school and that one year cost me $28K+. I will be paying loans until I am 30.
If we are in a position to help our children through school, we definitely will.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
No, not only did my deadbeat mother not pay for my college, she royally effed up my full ride for me.
My parents paid for all of college (I was responsible to work during the summers for my "extra stuff" money). They did not pay for graduate school, but that was more my suggestion than theirs. Since they had paid for me to go to a private university for 4 years, when i could have gone to the state school for free, I felt that it was only right that I take the burden of grad school on myself. I have about $85,000 in student loans.
As for DS and future children - we will definitely pay for college and for as much of grad school as we can, assuming that the kids are doing their part and working hard, etc. If I'm able to financially provide for them to do that, then I really want to - I want to take away the obstacle of money so that they can focus on all of the other obstacles they'll encounter!
I would have let my dad know that he isn't paying, he doesn't have a say in the major!