Paying for college (poll)

Lucky_N_Love · June 2011

I think sometimes the stress of how many kids to have/not to have relates back to how expensive it is to raise kids now and then paying for schooling for them down the road. So I started wondering what other people's thoughts were on paying for college.[Poll]

Moesten · June 2011

Other: Each month we contribute (generously) to moderately aggressive mutual funds set up for our kids' college. As college time comes closer we will switch them to less aggressive funds. Whatever is there when they go to college is what they have to work with from us. Any excess will have to be paid via scholarship, grants, loans, and/or their own work.

My parents paid for my bachelors which was a blessing but no limits were put on where I could attend. So I didn't give it any thought when I went to an expensive private college. In total my bachelors degree cost my parents in excess of $100,000, and this was in the mid-1990's so do some adjustments for inflation and tuition increases and that amount would be pretty outrageous in today's dollars. I think it's absurd they allowed me to spend so much with so little thought.

I paid for graduate school myself through loans and a research assistantship.

Missbollinger · June 2011

I voted other because although DH and I plan on contributing generously to our children's education, we also have 'other' sources that will probably pay for the majority of it.

tiffyr0se · June 2011

We will help pay, probably for half. We both learned through our own college experience that most kids will take their classes and grades more seriously if they are responsible/contributing to their own education. If they want to go to a pricey private school, they better get some grants.

KristenBtobe · June 2011

We are saving, and the kids will have a trust from my grandma.

megan1019 · June 2011

We are paying for it. We started a 529 for Nolan the week he was born. It was VERY important to the both of us to pay for his college. Mine was taken out by loans, Kevin's bachelor degree was paid for & half of his law school by his mom. We both have student loans in our 30's. It's not something we want Nolan to have to deal with.

kel716 · June 2011

Other: We will pay for some but not all. I am a strong believer in the power of the student writing that first check with several digits in it. I remember writing that first check to Miami vividly and coming to grips with how expensive it was going to be. So, our plan is to have B and any future siblings pay for some of it, take out loans for some of it, and we'll help with some of it through our savings, etc...

The other potential is DH works in higher ed... should he still be doing this at that point in time and that institution offers tuition remission/exchange for dependents at that point in time, we'll probably take advantage of that benefit. There are some big IFs in this plan, but it is in the back of our mind.

ETA: We will utilize public schooling for K-12, and pay for daycare as needed. I know for some the cost of schooling includes private schools for K-12, and that dollar amount is out of the question.

Ttimes3 · June 2011

Moesten:
Other: Each month we contribute (generously) to moderately aggressive mutual funds set up for our kids' college. As college time comes closer we will switch them to less aggressive funds. Whatever is there when they go to college is what they have to work with from us. Any excess will have to be paid via scholarship, grants, loans, and/or their own work.

This.

It's much the same way in which my parents/I paid for my undergraduate degree. That said, I knew the total $ amount that I had to work with and, thus, decided to stay home, take a nice scholarship (to make up the difference+), and attend state university. To be sure, there are MANY times that I look back and regret not having the same "college experience" that many of my friends had; however, not owing a dime in student loans usually makes those feelings quite fleeting. Also, I believe that making a decision like that, at the age of 18, was a great life lesson, built character, and established the roots of my financial mind. But I digress...

escape1st · June 2011

Other. My parents paid nothing for my college education, neither my bachelor nor masters degrees. It still irks me that they didn't pay for anything, not even books. With that said, DH and I plan on paying for our child(ren) undergraduate degrees. While I work at a university and do get tuition remission for my children now (SB5 may kill that deal), I want to offer my kids the opportunity for an education that my parents did not offer me.

teacherjess · June 2011

It is important for us to pay for some of our children's college. We will not be able to pay for all of it, but we are hoping to pay for a large amount. The rest will be in loans or, depending on the situation, a trust.

stillwaiting12 · June 2011

I am also an other. I plan to do what my parents did, which is let our child know they will be responsible for paying for school and that I will help them out where needed and where we can. I went to community college (uc clermont) because that is what I could afford. I still received a bachelors degree that says uc on it. Choices like that are ones that my children will need to make. All that being said, we already have a pretty large fund set up for a car/college/wedding etc... I figure we will continue to contribute to that account until adulthood and at that point use the money where necessary. I hated having to work to pay for college. But now that it's all said and done, I am glad my parents did it the way they did because it made me appreciate the help they gave and forced responsibility on me.

allobosc · June 2011

We want to contribute to them as much as we can, and contribute to a fund for them now. However, they might take different educational directions than the traditional college route, so I don't want our desire to add children to our family to rest on just the decision of "how are we going to pay for school"...now $$$ in general definitely crosses our minds when deciding to have more kids or not. I know for us, in general making the leap from 2 to 3 worries me b/c I don't want to take away from other opportunities that we want the other 2 to have. We had always planned on having at least 2 kids though.

It is also more important to me right now that DH & I have our retirement set up for us. I don't want to burden my children with financially having to take care of us so we're contributing more towards us right now vs. their schooling.

Lucky_N_Love · June 2011

Wow lots of good insight and food for thought. Thanks. I guess I should answer my own question. We are planning on saving money for our kids with the goal to pay for all of their college education (at least a first degree whether it is assoc/bach/certificate) I guess it is hard to say how much money we will have saved up in 17 years but we hope it is enough and that is what we are planning on.

I was lucky that my parents planned/made good choices in the market and there was enough money for me to go to school and had about $2k left over at the end that I either put towards our wedding or our house i don't remember. My brother had a chunk of money as well and he started going to community college so he may have more left over at the end than I did. DH's family was a bit different and he paid for most if not all of his school. I think this is why he only obtained an associates degree. I am SO thankful now that I don't have any debt to worry about and feel that I need to give that same advantage to my kids. Though it is scary to think of saving $100,000 per kid....Ahhh!

cops_wife · June 2011

We're an other too. We're saving, but it's unlikely we'll have enough saved to fully fund a four-year degree. My parents also had money saved for me, but not enough to fund four years at an expensive private school. I grew up knowing I had better get a scholarship, in part because they considered my high school tuition an investment so they wouldn't have to pay for college. So I chose between the two schools that offered me a full-tuition scholarship, and my parents' college savings paid for our wedding.

Truthfully, I expect the same for our kids. If they aren't offered scholarships, then they'll probably have to take out loans or apply for grants or financial aid. But I was very motivated by the other things my college savings could be used for if I got a scholarship to college, so I hope the same will be true for our children.

curlypie1 · June 2011

My parents lent us interest free funds to cover our tuition and we were expected to work while attending classes and pay it off before the new quarter began. I'm not saying this method comes without fault since I was exhausted working 20-40 hours a week while going to school full-time. We were discouraged to take on education loans while in school and I didn't owe a dime when I graduated with either of my two degrees.

My hope for our children is for them to take on some of the responsibility that I can now appreciate and also offer the assistance they may need to complete their goals. The problem with my parent's plan in my opinion is it forced me to take a route I wouldn't have otherwise for my education, due to cost. If our kids have a true passion for a particular career path, we want to make that happen for them and will hopefully be able to provide the assistance they need.

Ttimes3 · June 2011

curlypie1:

The problem with my parent's plan in my opinion is it forced me to take a route I wouldn't have otherwise for my education, due to cost. If our kids have a true passion for a particular career path, we want to make that happen for them and will hopefully be able to provide the assistance they need.

This is an excellent point.

asphire · June 2011

Ditto Moesten and TTimes3.

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