College Savings

Mom987 · June 2014

Hi everyone,

If anyone follows Dave Ramsey, we are on baby step 5 (woo hoo!). We have no debt but the house, 6 months living expenses and contribute 15% to retirement. Now is the part to save for college, but I haven't seen a guideline or suggested amount (percentage) to save. I doubt we'll fund college 100% due to scholarships and having kids work to pay part of it, but wanted to see what other people plan on doing.

Thanks!

cbee817 · June 2014

We just set up 2 529 plans for the girls. We put $5,000 in each account- from our state, we get a tax break at $10,000 for married filing jointly per year. We're going to do a one time $5,000 for each again in 2015 and then probably start monthly contributions once DD#1 is out of daycare.

We hope to have $80,000 or so for each- that would cover 5 years at a state school staying home. I graduated in 4 years but had to take summer classes as well, so I'm figuring that would cover 4 with summer or 5 years depending on what they want to do or what classes are offered. DH and I both worked throughout college- 20 hours/week or so.. we kind of expect them to do the same thing but it'll be more for their personal things, not to pay for school.

If they get a good scholarship, obviously they can leave or choose a private school.. but we'll just give them what we plan for. If they have a balance, they can use it for grad school or something.

For undergad, I had a partial scholarship, my mom covered the rest, work paid for my grad school, so my total OOP for a BA in Math, MA in Economics was $1,000 in fees that my work wouldn't cover in grad school. DH has a BA in English, MA in Education and had $37,000 in loans... not terrible, but it took us about 4 years to pay that off. Just hoping to get my girls on the right foot as adults.. I thank my mom all the time for helping me out!

Sisugal · June 2014

We will pay for tuition to a state school - the rest is on them.

hoffse · June 2014

The first step is to research college tuition + fees at schools where you would be willing to send your kids. Check community college, in-state public university, out-of-state public university and private. I also suggest reading about the rate at which prices are increasing. I read an estimate a few months ago that said public school tuition will probably be in the 40's by the time today's babies reach college - that is, if prices continue to grow at the same rate. Obviously that varies based on school, state, etc.

This is something you should keep checking on maybe once a year so there are no bad surprises.

Also check to see if the schools you are looking at require on-campus housing. There's a growing trend toward this, and it's been a major contributing factor toward rising costs.

I'm a fan of 529's for college savings. You can calculate how much you need to start saving per month based on estimated growth, price, age of your child, and how much you are willing to contribute:

http://www.savingforcollege.com/college-savings-calculator/#.

H and I plan to contribute as much as we can. It's just our personal philosophy. If we wind up with a brilliant, motivated child who can get into Stanford or wherever, we don't want finances to prevent them from going. H and I both attended similar institutions, and it was an incredible experience. And no - most students at those schools don't party their opportunity away. Most take it pretty seriously. They had to be serious to get in in the first place.

cbee817 · June 2014

This was the coolest calculator I found- from Vanguard. You can put in an actual school, kids' ages, and with or without room and board to give you an approximate cost. For DD#1, it was $82,000 for DD#2, it was $92,000 for 4 years at the same state school that DH and I went to. Plus you can save the findings as a pdf.

http://www.archimedes.com/vanguard/csp.phtml

hoffse · June 2014

One other thing I suggest - start researching NOW what kids need to do to get scholarships.

Here's a big hint: it's almost never "have a part time job in high school."

I hate to say it, but it's true. My dad is a college prof, and he was pretty tuned into this when I was in elementary/middle school. In high school a lot of my friends had part-time jobs. Their parents required them to work to help pay for college, pay for their gas money, etc. My parents never did. My dad's co-worker (who has a daughter the same age as me) once questioned this, and my dad's comment was, "Her job is school, her extracurriculars, her leadership activities, and volunteering at church. When all is said and done, she ought to earn way more in scholarships than she would have earned bagging groceries." And yeah - that happened. I started college with about $70K in scholarships that I was actually able to use. I was offered another $100K combined at various other schools that I couldn't use. In fact, me and one of my best friends (whose parents had the same philosophy) accounted for half of the scholarships that my entire high school graduating class had offered to them - and my class graduated 210 students.

It's totally possible to work the system - you just have to start early. The big money comes from schools themselves. You can get info on how much students are being offered with various GPA/SAT/ACT stats by reading forums.

And something else: It's 100% possible to study for the SAT. Anybody who says it's not either didn't try it or didn't stick with it long enough for scores to improve. You simply have to figure out what kinds of questions are lowering your kid's scores and then address those areas. I'll never forget my dad chewing me out about my driving the morning of my last SAT. He used a word I didn't know, I asked him to define it, and it showed up on the exam.

Mom987 · June 2014

cbee817 said:

This was the coolest calculator I found- from Vanguard. You can put in an actual school, kids' ages, and with or without room and board to give you an approximate cost. For DD#1, it was $82,000 for DD#2, it was $92,000 for 4 years at the same state school that DH and I went to. Plus you can save the findings as a pdf.

http://www.archimedes.com/vanguard/csp.phtml

Thanks!

vlagrl29 · June 2014

I'm going to be the odd one out here, but I didn't want to chance anything with a 529. You can only use them on your kids schooling and if they don't go to college you can use it on your own schooling, but we are so done with college. Right now we have money for DD in a minor savings account. When we get more in it we will probably put it in CD's or possible a money market account. I paid for my own school so we aren't really saving based on how much we think it will cost.

Mom987 · June 2014

vlagrl29 said:

I'm going to be the odd one out here, but I didn't want to chance anything with a 529. You can only use them on your kids schooling and if they don't go to college you can use it on your own schooling, but we are so done with college. Right now we have money for DD in a minor savings account. When we get more in it we will probably put it in CD's or possible a money market account. I paid for my own school so we aren't really saving based on how much we think it will cost.

That's a lot how we are. We aren't that interested in 529, so we will just keep it in normal savings or money market accounts like you mentioned. Plus we will probably have the house paid off by then, so hope to really ramp up savings by that point.

CuriousKiddosMama · June 2014

We are doing an educational savings fund- which I don't think Dave is a fan of, but it makes sense based on my research and stories from friends. Its the Texas tuition promise fund, and we buy tuition credits based on current years tuition cost. We contribute $250 a month, and our goal is to fund at least 1/2 the cost of college for our kids. If tuition doesn't go up too much in the next couple years, we should have 1/2 saved for DS by the time he's 3.
The state has set up 3 different levels of tuition units, based on inexpensive, medium expense and expensive state schools. We went with the medium level. So if DS starts at a community college his 2 years that we save will last 3+, if he starts immediately at an expensive state school what we save in this account will probably last 1.5+ years. If he doesn't go to college we can transfer it to a sibling, and if for some reason it doesn't get used we can withdraw the money. It is in the market, but not in a fund of our choosing so the performance may not be fabulous, but with the cost of tuition going up, we felt like this was a great option for us.

hoffse · June 2014

AprilH81 said:

No kids yet, but if you have a 529 doesn't that count as money in the kids name that would then lower their potential financial aid package?

Someone was telling me that they saved for their kids education by using some combination of savings/mutual funds and maybe something else but it was in the parents name. Since it was an asset of the parents they weren't required to pay out the whole sum for the first year and then that money was used to supplement the scholarships and financial aid package.

I'm probably not explaining well, but he made it sound like complete sense.

Granted, it's been a while... but last time I checked FAFSA takes into account the parent's assets too for financial aid purposes. So regardless of whose name it's in, it will be counted. Students are expected to pay a higher percentage of their assets toward college than parents, but for the most part the formula still tends to make kids from upper middle class families mostly disqualified from aid.

My dad is a college prof at a public school. My mom worked as a tech specialist for a public school system. After taking into account their assets and my assets, I was "granted" $3,000 in aid (in the form of work-study) from schools that at the time cost $45,000/year.

So yeah. I'll take the tax savings of the 529's until the rules change.

KatieCutie05 · June 2014

My husband and I agreed that we will not be paying for all of our kids college. Right now I'm thinking I'll pay 50% of a 4 year tuition at a state school. They will be required to work and get scholarships to pay the rest. Loans are not an option or they will lose our financial support. We are far from that step but right now I plan to save in just a mutual fund so its in our name and can be used for whatever we want in case our kids decide to be stupid. Lol

Wulfgar · June 2014

We started a 529 plan for our son. I am really tempted to tell the grandparents that we would rather have contributions to the 529 account instead of a ton of toys for our son. We have a small house that isn't set up to have a lot of storage room and we have a damp basement that has a low ceiling so no chance of turning that into living space. Once we get our attic fixed this will give us more room and if we have another boy in December they can live their and we will have a play room.

vlagrl29 · June 2014

Wulfgar said:

We started a 529 plan for our son. I am really tempted to tell the grandparents that we would rather have contributions to the 529 account instead of a ton of toys for our son. We have a small house that isn't set up to have a lot of storage room and we have a damp basement that has a low ceiling so no chance of turning that into living space. Once we get our attic fixed this will give us more room and if we have another boy in December they can live their and we will have a play room.

I love that idea! Our house is roomy with plenty of storage, but the amount of toys DD has drives me nuts! All the toy clutter and messes she makes give me anxiety. I'm a bit OCD. Can't wait until we finish off the basement so I can throw all her toys down there. Right now it looks like she has taken over our family room.

uncreatedsnow · July 2014

hoffse said:

AprilH81 said:

No kids yet, but if you have a 529 doesn't that count as money in the kids name that would then lower their potential financial aid package?

Someone was telling me that they saved for their kids education by using some combination of savings/mutual funds and maybe something else but it was in the parents name. Since it was an asset of the parents they weren't required to pay out the whole sum for the first year and then that money was used to supplement the scholarships and financial aid package.

I'm probably not explaining well, but he made it sound like complete sense.

Granted, it's been a while... but last time I checked FAFSA takes into account the parent's assets too for financial aid purposes. So regardless of whose name it's in, it will be counted. Students are expected to pay a higher percentage of their assets toward college than parents, but for the most part the formula still tends to make kids from upper middle class families mostly disqualified from aid.

My dad is a college prof at a public school. My mom worked as a tech specialist for a public school system. After taking into account their assets and my assets, I was "granted" $3,000 in aid (in the form of work-study) from schools that at the time cost $45,000/year.

So yeah. I'll take the tax savings of the 529's until the rules change.

Yep. This. All assets and income of the household. Both the parents and the student count in the FAFSA.

Also, for those saying they don't plan on funding their children's college, beware that the most a college freshman can take out in loans in solely their name right now $5500. EVERYTHING else is either in the parent's name or requires a co-signor.

I'm a huge fan of making students invest in their own education, but wouldn't want anyone to be "shell shocked" when tuition is due. I would much rather save, and make a personal loan to the student than to sign for a private loan or Parent PLUS.

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

hoffse said:

One other thing I suggest - start researching NOW what kids need to do to get scholarships.

Here's a big hint: it's almost never "have a part time job in high school."

I hate to say it, but it's true. My dad is a college prof, and he was pretty tuned into this when I was in elementary/middle school. In high school a lot of my friends had part-time jobs. Their parents required them to work to help pay for college, pay for their gas money, etc. My parents never did. My dad's co-worker (who has a daughter the same age as me) once questioned this, and my dad's comment was, "Her job is school, her extracurriculars, her leadership activities, and volunteering at church. When all is said and done, she ought to earn way more in scholarships than she would have earned bagging groceries." And yeah - that happened. I started college with about $70K in scholarships that I was actually able to use. I was offered another $100K combined at various other schools that I couldn't use. In fact, me and one of my best friends (whose parents had the same philosophy) accounted for half of the scholarships that my entire high school graduating class had offered to them - and my class graduated 210 students.

It's totally possible to work the system - you just have to start early. The big money comes from schools themselves. You can get info on how much students are being offered with various GPA/SAT/ACT stats by reading forums.

And something else: It's 100% possible to study for the SAT. Anybody who says it's not either didn't try it or didn't stick with it long enough for scores to improve. You simply have to figure out what kinds of questions are lowering your kid's scores and then address those areas. I'll never forget my dad chewing me out about my driving the morning of my last SAT. He used a word I didn't know, I asked him to define it, and it showed up on the exam

**STUCK IN THE BOX**

While having a part time job is not something most colleges look for for scholarships not working isn't an option for many students, and does add lots of other kinds of value.

I worked 1 job during the school year and 2 in the summer from the time I was 16 and on. I also managed to stay involved in Student leadership organizations, bane, chamber music, and spent 30 hours a week at the ballet studio. I was an honor role student, got high marks on 3 AP tests and studied for SAT and SATII. I entered college with a good work ethic and understanding how to balance a job with extracurriculars and studying.

I worked to fund the costs associated with my extra curiculars, and in college (I held 2 jobs most years) I was able to make loan payments while I was still in school. working was never not an option, and I'm greatful to my parents that I graduated with very few depts to them, was able to make a good down payment on a car, and entered the adult world understanding how to manage my money.

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

hoffse said:

AprilH81 said:

No kids yet, but if you have a 529 doesn't that count as money in the kids name that would then lower their potential financial aid package?

Someone was telling me that they saved for their kids education by using some combination of savings/mutual funds and maybe something else but it was in the parents name. Since it was an asset of the parents they weren't required to pay out the whole sum for the first year and then that money was used to supplement the scholarships and financial aid package.

I'm probably not explaining well, but he made it sound like complete sense.

Granted, it's been a while... but last time I checked FAFSA takes into account the parent's assets too for financial aid purposes. So regardless of whose name it's in, it will be counted. Students are expected to pay a higher percentage of their assets toward college than parents, but for the most part the formula still tends to make kids from upper middle class families mostly disqualified from aid.

My dad is a college prof at a public school. My mom worked as a tech specialist for a public school system. After taking into account their assets and my assets, I was "granted" $3,000 in aid (in the form of work-study) from schools that at the time cost $45,000/year.

So yeah. I'll take the tax savings of the 529's until the rules change.

also this! I did not qualify for financial aid my first 2 years of school (untill my sister was also headed to school) it was because my Parent's home value was so high, the financial aid person basically told my parents that we didn't qualify for aid because they could take out a home equity loan to pay...this was 2005...not sure if that still happens.

hoffse · July 2014

GDaisy it's interesting to hear from you on this. I actually had a few part-time jobs in college which helped pay for part of it, but I never worked in high school. I took tons of AP classes, and I had too many extracurriculars to work and keep my grades high.

A lot of parents rely on scholarships and assume that part-time work "counts" when colleges consider students while granting scholarships. It really doesn't, which is unfortunate. There's just nothing particularly unique about a high school kid who has a part-time job. Colleges want to see that your grades are stellar, and in your spare time you are doing something to save the world or whatever. I probably shouldn't phrase it that way, but it's true. They give money to people like my H's cousin who was doing AIDs research through the CDC as a high school sophomore and has been to Africa multiple times. She got a full ride to Penn. Nobody was surprised when she got the scholarship.

I think it's great when students can balance part-time jobs with everything else they need to do if they are really seeking scholarship money. Parents just need to realize that their kids need to be doing other things too that are resume builders. Students have to set themselves apart in some way. Joining a couple clubs and working just aren't enough anymore.

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

yes, however there are some families that simply can't support the extracuriculars their kids are involved in...there was no way my parents were spending a couple hundred dollars on pointe shoes each month, paying a few hundred dollars for dance classes each month, paying for flute lessons, and putting gas in my car so i could get myself to school at 6:30 am for clubs, and then to the dance studio when school was out (I have no idea how i did it all...I often didn't start homework until 9:30 or 10pm and would be up until 1 or 2 am every night). we'd be talking $800 a month just so I could participate in extracuriculars...I think my parents saw the job as the way that I got to do the extracuriculars that I wanted to.

my brother and sister also played expensive sports...so there was absolutely no way any of us could have done what we did if we didn't work. I'd say that your H's cousin is an exceptional case, I applaude her for having the means to be able to pursue something so important at such a young age, unfortunately I don't know how fair it is to advise against encouraging high schoolers to get part time jobs, it may not be a path to a scholarship, but it is certainly a good step in helping teens learn the "value of a dollar" as well as important lessons in money management.

Xstatic3333 · July 2014

On the job thing-I agree that it's not the path to a scholarship, but think it can be the first step to a post-college job. In grad school I supervised lots of undergrads in the lab where I worked, and you could easily tell by work ethic, punctuality, attitude, etc. who had worked before and who hadn't. It was a good stepping stone job with in-our-field experience, and those who did well there tended to get hired or a grad fellowship right after graduation.

In terms of scholarships, I think the #1 factor there is just grades. I got a full tuition scholarship to a good school for undergrad. I had a mix of part time jobs (which I actually had to fight my dad to take-he had the "school is your job" mentality) and typical extracurriculars-nothing too exotic-but I also had a near-perfect GPA and took the most challenging classes my school offered. I'm pretty sure that's what did it. I also targeted my applications to schools slightly below the most competitive I might have had a chance for, and I think 2/6 offered great scholarships.

I feel pretty strongly that some work in high school is important, but also think, to the extent it's possible, that kids should try to find work related to their career goals (if they have them at that point). H actually strongly agrees with my dad's POV that kids shouldn't work in HS, so we'll see how that goes...

uncreatedsnow · July 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

hoffse said:

AprilH81 said:

No kids yet, but if you have a 529 doesn't that count as money in the kids name that would then lower their potential financial aid package?

Someone was telling me that they saved for their kids education by using some combination of savings/mutual funds and maybe something else but it was in the parents name. Since it was an asset of the parents they weren't required to pay out the whole sum for the first year and then that money was used to supplement the scholarships and financial aid package.

I'm probably not explaining well, but he made it sound like complete sense.

Granted, it's been a while... but last time I checked FAFSA takes into account the parent's assets too for financial aid purposes. So regardless of whose name it's in, it will be counted. Students are expected to pay a higher percentage of their assets toward college than parents, but for the most part the formula still tends to make kids from upper middle class families mostly disqualified from aid.

My dad is a college prof at a public school. My mom worked as a tech specialist for a public school system. After taking into account their assets and my assets, I was "granted" $3,000 in aid (in the form of work-study) from schools that at the time cost $45,000/year.

So yeah. I'll take the tax savings of the 529's until the rules change.

also this! I did not qualify for financial aid my first 2 years of school (untill my sister was also headed to school) it was because my Parent's home value was so high, the financial aid person basically told my parents that we didn't qualify for aid because they could take out a home equity loan to pay...this was 2005...not sure if that still happens.

It does happen. As a financial aid administrator I don't advocate it. You are basically securing the chances of your 17-18 year old's success at school with your house. People do it all the time though.

uncreatedsnow · July 2014

hoffse said:

GDaisy it's interesting to hear from you on this. I actually had a few part-time jobs in college which helped pay for part of it, but I never worked in high school. I took tons of AP classes, and I had too many extracurriculars to work and keep my grades high.

A lot of parents rely on scholarships and assume that part-time work "counts" when colleges consider students while granting scholarships. It really doesn't, which is unfortunate. There's just nothing particularly unique about a high school kid who has a part-time job. Colleges want to see that your grades are stellar, and in your spare time you are doing something to save the world or whatever. I probably shouldn't phrase it that way, but it's true. They give money to people like my H's cousin who was doing AIDs research through the CDC as a high school sophomore and has been to Africa multiple times. She got a full ride to Penn. Nobody was surprised when she got the scholarship.

I think it's great when students can balance part-time jobs with everything else they need to do if they are really seeking scholarship money. Parents just need to realize that their kids need to be doing other things too that are resume builders. Students have to set themselves apart in some way. Joining a couple clubs and working just aren't enough anymore.

This isn't entirely true. I serve on several college scholarship committees and every one of them takes part-time work into account. One very much so.

I am a huge fan of extracirriculars and even more so good grades, but a part-time job can be invaluable in certain situations and showing that you can balance a job, extracirriculars and grades is huge. Two out of the three, not so much.

I think keeping a child from working is a huge disservice to them, their future and their work ethic, especially if said child WANTS to work. Why discourage that?

hoffse · July 2014

uncreatedsnow said:

hoffse said:

GDaisy it's interesting to hear from you on this. I actually had a few part-time jobs in college which helped pay for part of it, but I never worked in high school. I took tons of AP classes, and I had too many extracurriculars to work and keep my grades high.

A lot of parents rely on scholarships and assume that part-time work "counts" when colleges consider students while granting scholarships. It really doesn't, which is unfortunate. There's just nothing particularly unique about a high school kid who has a part-time job. Colleges want to see that your grades are stellar, and in your spare time you are doing something to save the world or whatever. I probably shouldn't phrase it that way, but it's true. They give money to people like my H's cousin who was doing AIDs research through the CDC as a high school sophomore and has been to Africa multiple times. She got a full ride to Penn. Nobody was surprised when she got the scholarship.

I think it's great when students can balance part-time jobs with everything else they need to do if they are really seeking scholarship money. Parents just need to realize that their kids need to be doing other things too that are resume builders. Students have to set themselves apart in some way. Joining a couple clubs and working just aren't enough anymore.

This isn't entirely true. I serve on several college scholarship committees and every one of them takes part-time work into account. One very much so.

I am a huge fan of extracirriculars and even more so good grades, but a part-time job can be invaluable in certain situations and showing that you can balance a job, extracirriculars and grades is huge. Two out of the three, not so much.

I think keeping a child from working is a huge disservice to them, their future and their work ethic, especially if said child WANTS to work. Why discourage that?

I think it depends on the school/scholarship you are shooting for. Frankly, the only way I got money from Vandy was by absolutely killing the SAT. They couldn't have cared less about a part-time job. The year I applied the various college forums made it very clear that Vandy basically had an SAT threshold... you broke that threshold, you got money. If you didn't, then you were out of luck. All the other stuff played into which scholarship they gave you and how much. So what did I do? I studied my ass off (ahem: work ethic!) and broke that threshold.

I just think parents need to weigh it. Kids can't do everything, and sacrificing AP classes, grades, SAT scores, or that thing that a kid really excels at that makes him/her "unique" for a part-time job is rarely going to pay off when looking at really serious scholarship money.

I also think that part-time jobs are not the only things that teaches work ethic, financial responsibility, etc. There are dozens of ways to teach those lessons. Ask any parent of a kid who is a seriously competitive athlete, musician, etc. if their kid doesn't have great work ethic.

BlueBirdMB · July 2014

Wow… I guess I grew up in a VERY different family than most of you. My mother's parents were dirt poor at the time she started college (series of layoffs and they were burning through their small savings). She went to college on 100% financial aid- loans and grants. Her parents paid back every loan themselves because college was that important. She was a straight A student and then continued on to get a masters (she did pay for this herself) and became a very high powered woman for her time. My grandparents paid back the loans and never regretted their decision to do this for both of their children. Their parents had paid for them to go to college, which gave them a head start in life.

My parents had the same deal with me that my mom's parents had with her- they would pay for college any means possible. I got straight As and did get scholarships (all academically based), but my parents paid for the rest. I worked through college, but my parents wanted me to focus on school, so I didn't work many hours and that went towards things like books. It gave me a wonderful head start in life- the same one my mother and her parents got. I bought my first new car at 22 years old, a house at 24 years old, and, most importantly, I had the money to save and build a business. I never could have started my business if I had had student loans and I wouldn't be earning the type of money I earn without having started that business.

My husband and I have already started setting aside money for college for our unborn child, which is why I looked at this thread- paying for college for our child is important to us so that they get the same head start in life that we did. Obviously we will have to save far more money than my parents and my grandparents did- proportionately college is so much more expensive, but we will find a way to pay for college, even if it is paying off loans ourselves. I look at it as "paying it forward".

Asking kids to work a part time job… how much does that REALLY pay for? Not a lot. Is working tons of hours to make it worth while worth giving up good grades? To me, school is their job.

Xstatic3333 · July 2014

BlueBirdMB said:
Wow… I guess I grew up in a VERY different family than most of you. My mother's parents were dirt poor at the time she started college (series of layoffs and they were burning through their small savings). She went to college on 100% financial aid- loans and grants. Her parents paid back every loan themselves because college was that important. She was a straight A student and then continued on to get a masters (she did pay for this herself) and became a very high powered woman for her time. My grandparents paid back the loans and never regretted their decision to do this for both of their children. Their parents had paid for them to go to college, which gave them a head start in life.

My parents had the same deal with me that my mom's parents had with her- they would pay for college any means possible. I got straight As and did get scholarships (all academically based), but my parents paid for the rest. I worked through college, but my parents wanted me to focus on school, so I didn't work many hours and that went towards things like books. It gave me a wonderful head start in life- the same one my mother and her parents got. I bought my first new car at 22 years old, a house at 24 years old, and, most importantly, I had the money to save and build a business. I never could have started my business if I had had student loans and I wouldn't be earning the type of money I earn without having started that business.

My husband and I have already started setting aside money for college for our unborn child, which is why I looked at this thread- paying for college for our child is important to us so that they get the same head start in life that we did. Obviously we will have to save far more money than my parents and my grandparents did- proportionately college is so much more expensive, but we will find a way to pay for college, even if it is paying off loans ourselves. I look at it as "paying it forward".

Asking kids to work a part time job… how much does that REALLY pay for? Not a lot. Is working tons of hours to make it worth while worth giving up good grades? To me, school is their job.

I think these are family-specific personal decisions in many ways, but I will say that I don't see a job and good grades as an either-or. I had both, and so do many others. I do also agree with @hoffse that big time extracurriculars are a great way to build a work ethic, too.

For us, we will save some for our child's college, but will likely not be able to pay in full for a private school. We are both onlies, and want to be OAD, and that means retirement needs to be our priority. In our income bracket we'll be able to help, and maybe cover the difference between scholarships and our local state school, but my H's beloved alma mater? Not without scholarships or loans.

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

@Xstatic3333 good grades, extra curriculars, and a job are definitely not exclusive.

vlagrl29 · July 2014

I liked having a part time job while I was in my last year of high school and all the way thru college. I felt like I actually had a bit of money to hang out with my friends and I was able to buy my first car with it.

Keeptruckin · July 2014

I am so happy I am Canadian now lol! Our university costs are so much lower. We currently contribute 100 a month, plus add all the extra money from birthdays, etc. Our daughter is 6 and we have 13,000 saved. The calculator I used accounts for inflation, etc. we also get some grants through having the money in an registered education savings plan. Basically the government gives us 20 cents on the dollar. When I just ran the calculator DD will have a surplus of 15,000 after paying for a 4 year degree. When I did the US calculators I would need to save almost 800 a month!

CuriousKiddosMama · July 2014

BlueBirdMB said:

Wow… I guess I grew up in a VERY different family than most of you. My mother's parents were dirt poor at the time she started college (series of layoffs and they were burning through their small savings). She went to college on 100% financial aid- loans and grants. Her parents paid back every loan themselves because college was that important. She was a straight A student and then continued on to get a masters (she did pay for this herself) and became a very high powered woman for her time. My grandparents paid back the loans and never regretted their decision to do this for both of their children. Their parents had paid for them to go to college, which gave them a head start in life.

My parents had the same deal with me that my mom's parents had with her- they would pay for college any means possible. I got straight As and did get scholarships (all academically based), but my parents paid for the rest. I worked through college, but my parents wanted me to focus on school, so I didn't work many hours and that went towards things like books. It gave me a wonderful head start in life- the same one my mother and her parents got. I bought my first new car at 22 years old, a house at 24 years old, and, most importantly, I had the money to save and build a business. I never could have started my business if I had had student loans and I wouldn't be earning the type of money I earn without having started that business.

My husband and I have already started setting aside money for college for our unborn child, which is why I looked at this thread- paying for college for our child is important to us so that they get the same head start in life that we did. Obviously we will have to save far more money than my parents and my grandparents did- proportionately college is so much more expensive, but we will find a way to pay for college, even if it is paying off loans ourselves. I look at it as "paying it forward".

Asking kids to work a part time job… how much does that REALLY pay for? Not a lot. Is working tons of hours to make it worth while worth giving up good grades? To me, school is their job.

I have to take exception to this. As I know somebody else pointed out, these things are not exclusive. I had straight A's and worked 20 hours a week- over the summer I did 40+ an overtime they were willing to give me. As a result I was able to pay for my school almost entirely. I did take out loans my last semester when I decided to move to complete my student teaching in Texas because of job opportunities there.
Now having said that, we do hope and are saving to pay for at least 1/2 of DS college expenses, and will hopefully be able to do that with any future kids we have too. And I understand that working part time is no longer going to pay for college either, but you can work and get good grades!

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

The other thing to point out is that I believe that when determining my aid-eligiblity with FAFSA etc. ALL assets my parents had were fair game...equity in their house as well as their retirement savings...I'm doubting things have changed since 2005...anyone know differently?

uncreatedsnow · July 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

The other thing to point out is that I believe that when determining my aid-eligiblity with FAFSA etc. ALL assets my parents had were fair game...equity in their house as well as their retirement savings...I'm doubting things have changed since 2005...anyone know differently?

That is true.

College Savings

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