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DH's parents paid for his college. My parents helped with living expenses and such, but I paid for college with scholarships, grants, and loans.

We're lucky in that we're able to manage our loans and are pretty well off financially so my college debt hasn't held us back from our real life goals of being homeowners, owning cars, saving for retirement, etc. But we do want to plan ideally for our LO(s) college education. We're saving in both an open ended account and a 529 education account for DS. Hoping to find a balance between support on both ends. In the long run, I do think that money after college to get started on the real world is better off, but I also don't want him to held back by paying off loans for 10+ years either.

My parents paid for my brother's and my university education for which I am forever grateful. We were responsible to get summer jobs and pay for textbooks, clothes, anything else but my tuition was covered. This made SUCH a difference when we were new grads, looking for jobs, starting careers, etc. DH and I will be doing the same for our kids.

We are leaning towards paying for a portion of college. I do not think we will be able to fund 100% of all three children's college funds. My mom keeps saying she will pay for it, but I am not counting on it. If we can swing 50% and our kids can be responsible for the other 50%, that's probably what we will do. It shouldn't hold them back too much.

I do not want to do a lump sum. I don't think loans for maternity leave or travel are smart and I won't support that. Plus i hope by the time she has kids, she is financially stable on her own. As far as house/car goes, maybe when the time comes after college, DH and I will be able to give them a little money, but we will see. It's really not a priority. There is nothing wrong with scrimping by a little in the real world until you make it on your own.

I mean, how many stages of my children's lives am I going to plan on funding? At what point do we let them be 100% financially responsible for their own lives? I feel like I will definitely help with education, but that's as far as I feel obligated! And i don't expect to be in the position to

@blackbird: great question and something i struggle with all the time. my parents weren't able to financially support me which i think has benefitted me in the long run to mature faster, be more financially responsible, etc. however, dh has also had financial support from his parents and even taught me how to be more responsible with money as well.

My parents did not pay for my college, They assisted during my final year but other than that I worked during college to pay for most things. I think this was a good thing and made me take the entire experience more seriously and learn financial responsiblity much earlier

1) student loans are getting increasingly undesirable with heir increasing interest rate.
2) if you make above a certain income calculated on the FAFSA, your child won't qualify for need based grants and loans.

Better to prepare to pay for college, I think.

I don't know where I fall, other than my son will have to pay for some of his college himself. I believe in the concept of being invested in what you are studying for, not just getting a full ride, even if we can afford to pay it all.

Having said all that, though, my son is eligible to attend university for basically just the cost of books/living expenses in in Switzerland and that is my preferred choice. Knowing him,he will refuse to attend.

@Mrs. Jacks: very good point on need-based loans. Parents' income does count towards determining your child's aid, regardless of how much they intend to pay. Universities see it as, "if you have the money, we expect you to use it to help."

My parents helped me, but I still had a job during school, and I still have loans. They did that for all five of us, and they are by no means wealthy. Our education was just put before everything, including cable, vacations, and improvements on the house. It would never occur to me not to help LO get through school.

ETA: I think it's a mistake to say that just because someone had help from parents to get through school, that they inherently value their education "less" than if they had paid for it themselves. I'm very fortunate to have been given the chance to go to my dream school, and I'm acutely aware of how much my parents sacrificed to get me there. If my LO is able to get into his/her dream school, I would want to give him or her every opportunity to go

IF we are able to contribute to their future in anyway it will be towards some kind of career advancement. It doesn't have to be college but it has to be towards career building.

As of now I'm still not sure about what kind of savings plan is best. I'm not entirely sold on 529s.

My parents helped with about half of college, and I got loans for the rest. We did not get any help for our house, and very minimal for our wedding. Based on my experiences, we plan on trying to fund half or more of her college. I really appreciate the things I have (nice house, car) because I worked for them on my own. Education is different, and I have no problem trying to help her out. I doubt we will be able to fund all of it, so she will be expected to look for scholarships and grants, and to work.

Both DH and my parents paid for our university. We will do the same for our kids.

We're saving money...but it's not exactly a college fund. We'll see where DS and other future LO's are during high school with future plans and then make the right decisions at that time.

We will help pay for college.

College

Having parental help for undergrad was HUGE and it allowed me to go to grad school (took out loans), get a good job and save up to buy our house. I plan on helping pay for college (ideally pay for it all if we're lucky).

But I'm sure they will be grateful for any financial contribution that you make to them @lizzywiz

I would pay for the college. I think that would show that we value education and want to make it a priority. From there, they will hopefully have a good job and be able to save up quickly for vacations/car/house with no school loan. That's the way it was done for me, and I think it worked out great.

DH and I really haven't discussed this yet, although paying for LO's college will definitely be happening. But I think one way of motivating them and putting a nice spin on it is that whatever part of their education they are able to fund themselves through scholarships or summer jobs will come back to them in cash once they earn their degree and then they will have that money for when they're starting out. Could be a little or a lot - that's all up to them and how hard they work to get scholarships.

The one thing I would not allow them to do is work too many hours while going to school My brother and I both chose to live at home while going to college and also working 30-40 hours a week, and we both ended up prioritizing the job over school and dropping out. I don't know what I was thinking taking a break from the education I needed to achieve my career goals for a retail job that, while I was getting promoted and making decent money, was never something I wanted to do long-term. I don't want him to make that same mistake.

I know that I was very lucky to have all but $800 of my college education paid for by grants and scholarships. The $800 was paid by my parents, and I was responsible for my books, spending money, and any supplies/printing I needed for class. I earned the money through summer jobs and a work-study.

However, I don't know if I would pay to put my child through college. It depends on our situation as it gets closer. I think it helped me to be more financially responsible knowing that I had to find a way to pay for those things and not relying on my parents to give me money (except for the $800). At the same time, my parents weren't really in a place to pay for my college education, so that's why it's hard for me to know what I would do in that situation.

My parents helped me out financially when I as in school, but I have loans for my education. I also worked part time while I was in school. I would love to be able to pay or at least help pay for schooling so LO isn't in debt when graduating. And her grandparents have already started her an account that will most likely pay for the majority of it, so we will use ours for living/books/ect. expenses or wedding if her grandparents provide enough.

I plan to do for my kids what my parents did for me - we will help research schools and let them know which ones we can pay for, and for ones out of reach they will need to get loans. *BUT* after seeing how cavalier DH was about racking up over $100k in student loan debt, we will be educating them a ton on how the loan payoff will affect their future.

My biggest concern is that I want kids who are able to stand on their own 2 feet after college. DH was basically financially crippled for years because of his loans, and his sister was never pushed to get an education and sponges off their mom to make up for her minimum wage earnings.

I will not be giving them a large gift after college. I don't believe taking out loans means that kids value their education more. I think kids have no idea what they're getting themselves into and wouldn't understand the impact of their decisions until they realize they can't afford to live on their own because their student loans are as much as an apartment payment (like DH).