-
@Madison43: My education was financed through scholarships, KEES money, and federal grants. My parents only had to pay $800 and that was because I couldn't pay for both books and those four semesters on what I made in the summer. I also had a federal work-study to pay for my day to day expenses. I did not own a car and I lived in campus all four years. I attended a state school.
I expect my kids to apply for scholarships and grants. If we can help, we will, but I am not planning to pay their way.
-
We are not saving money for it. We work hard, we try to save money, and when the time comes we will support the girls as much as we can, however we can.
-
We aren't yet saving for LO's college. We'd like to help if we can, but haven't been able to set up a regular saving plan. Any money she receives as gifts goes into an account that I expect to turn over to her when she graduates high school.
-
@Eminthevalley: this is our plan, 1/3 saves, 1/3 pay as we go (or borrow as parents), 1/3 paid by child.
We save a small amount each month right now, to be increased as daycare costs go down. Not sure if we are totally on track because it's hard to predict college costs in the future.
-
We don't make enough right now to think in terms of goal amounts. It's more... how much can we afford to put away? Okay we'll do that. I don't think we'll be able to pay for all of college, not even close. But hopefully we can have a chunk to help.
-
I'd love to pay for college, but...daycare first. If I could put the amount we pay into daycare into savings every month after they're in school, I feel like they'd be set up pretty nicely!
-
@avivoca: I have a similar background as you. Dorms, state school, work study, grants. My parents didn't/couldn't save a penny. My mom would help out a bit with books, car insurance or meal plans when I needed it.
-
@Freckles: I saw the results of the poll and thought there was something I missed!
We're Canadian too and we live in a major city with two Universities and various other post secondary options. I figure she can live at home, go to one of those schools, and for what we pay now for childcare, we should be able to pay for school no problem.
-
I voted 50k but we are in Canada. Current rates for higher end schools here (one of top 25 in the world) is only 10k a year for a Canadian with other top ones for the county about 7-9k. There are also scholarships available from the government and universities so here is hoping for smart kids!
-
I've been setting aside a little money for her each month and will continue to do so. If she chooses a university here (we live abroad), tuition is free. The norm is to take a gov't subsidized loan for housing and living expenses. I think we'll follow the norm let her do it on her own (interest rates are low). If she decides to take that route, then we'll likely spend the money on a big graduation trip or contribute to a new car for her.
-
I hope she'll attend our research Uni here on scholarship. We had parents that financially abused us, so I'll be honest and upfront about everything. I think there is value in her working for everything (and she can always live here). That is my unclear answer!
-
We just save as much as we can but don't really split it up beyond retirement (401(k)/pension contributions) and regular savings/investments. As long as the money is there eventually, we don't particularly care whose name is on the account. There's no tax benefit here to having a 529, though the state is in the process of setting one up and it's not really clear what's going to happen to the old "pension-style" college fund here. DD has a couple hundred shares in there, so we'll see. I had hoped to buy more shares as daycare costs went down, but a) they froze contributions for a couple years and b) every time DD moves up a room and it should theoretically be cheaper, the rates go up soon after so we're paying almost as much now that she's in the preschool room as we were when she started as an infant. So much for savings 🙄. The plan is to pay for as much as we can and let her take out a manageable amount of loans so she learns how to pay them off.
-
Where the money will actually come from changes every couple of years as DH reviews where we have savings and stocks. The end goal amount has remained consistent, which is $300,000. Split between two LOs and that becomes $150,000 each. A few of you mentioned the budget plan of 1/3 (parent) saved, 1/3 (parent) pay as you go, 1/3 student. When I think about daycare and likely private school tuition that pay as you go piece doesn't seem so daunting since we are already saving on top of that.
-
@Mrs. Cotton Candy: Our exact plans too!
-
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: How much do you plan to contribute per month or per year in order to get there?
-
@ShootingStar: we are maxing out our IRA contributions, so that's $11k a year. DH set up an account for himself last year, but I have been contributing to mine since my early twenties.
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
55 comments