If you are saving for your LO's college education and they decide not to go to college, will you still give them their money? If not what will you do with it?
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If they were going to vocational school or needed it for something to educate themselves, probably. If it was just giving the money away?
No. I think hubby and I would buy a retirement house in Sardinia or something. lol -
I guess I would consider putting it towards their down payment or wedding or maybe their kid's education? Oh, maybe save it for when they really need it. Or I know some kids like the take a year off to figure stuff out. I might consider putting some of it towards that.
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I wouldn't just be like, "Oh, well here's several thousand dollars." I'd keep it for the next big event in their lives that I would want to help with financially. If that were getting married or buying a house, or something similar. I'll be honest, I believe pretty strongly in education, so I wouldn't actually tell them probably. They'd have to learn that AFTER they made whatever decision and were firm in it. Not just "I'm tired of school so I'm taking a year off."
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I wouldn't do anything with it for several years at least, since lots of people who are not ready for college at 18 are ready later on in life. If it was clear they were never going to go, I would not just give them the money for whatever they wanted it for. We would use it to help with a house or investment property downpayment or something like that - we would definitely not give it to them for something like a wedding.
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I would continue saving it in case she changes her mind. Or put it towards her wedding. We'll need it for something I'm sure!
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if I were saving expressly for college or their education and they decided not to go, the money would be MINE!! heh heh. I'd probably just put it aside and spend it on their wedding though.
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I will mandate that my LO goes to some sort of post-secondary institution. Unless my kids show extreme talent in some area that can provide an income right out of high school, they MUST go to college.
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Well honestly it would really depend on HOW you saved the money. If you had it in 529 account you can't use it for anything other than education expenses without paying a penalty tax. And if you had it in an UTMA or UGMA account that money becomes the child's asset when they turn 21 whether you like it or not. So it can be a little tricky. If I was saving money outside of one of those vehicles I would probably keep the money. I would still help with other things I would normally help with (paying for a wedding, a down payment, etc) but the money wouldn't be directly applied to that. You don't get to have a bigger wedding from mom and dad because you decided not to go to college.
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@Rubies: Us too.
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I think it would depend on what their reason is for not going to college and what they are planning to do instead of going to college. If I think their reasons are good and they are doing something worthwhile, then I would give them half the money then, and maybe save the other half for their wedding or first house. If I think they are being lazy, then I would keep the money.
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I will expect that my kids to some sort of post-secondary education (vocational/trade/university/college), any money set aside for that would be expressly for that use. If they don't use it within 5 years of graduating high school, I would use it for myself!
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I would save the money and help her out with buying a house later and maybe some for a wedding. But she better have a damn good reason for not going to college. I definitely expect her to go.
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ugh, not sure. i don't think my husband will accept it. not sure what you can do with a 529 plan if you don't have college to spend it on....
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This (sort of) happened with my husband. My in-laws saved for his college from the time he was a baby. However, by the time he was ready to go to college, they could easily pay his tuition out of regular cash flow so they did that instead. My in-laws still gave us all the money that they had in savings for my husband's education. We used some of it for putting a down payment on our house and have the rest in savings.
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She doesn't have the option NOT to go to college, trade school SOMETHING past a high school education. I'll be damned if I save money for education then spend it on a wedding. Priorities! After she graduates college, I'll use some left over for a house down payment as a gift, but it has to be something solid.
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It would depend on what they are doing and their maturity, if they aren't going to college because they want to sit around and be lazy then no, they wouldn't get the money. Even if they don't go because they start working I would probably hold onto the money for a couple years to make sure they don't blow it as soon as they get their hands on it. There will be requirement for that money college or otherwise. If they do go it college I will expect them to go to class and get good grades and not pay for their partying. They will have to have a job to earn spending money as well as make visits home if possible. If it's not for college it will probably go towards a house but I won't tell them that until after they have bought the house.
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We'd probably save it for a wedding gift or something. Maybe take a nice vacation
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I think we will probably use a 529, so there wouldn't be any way to not use it for education without a hefty penalty. It would probably go to the next child if they do go to college!
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I'd probably put it into my retirement fund. I intend to pay for my kids to go to college so they don't have to have student loans. If they don't go to college, I'm not going to just give them money for no reason.
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I would still give it to them but use it for another life event, lime a wedding or towards a house. In my mind the money is theirs. I would definitely give it to them if we had more than o e child and one did decide to go to college. It wouldn't be fare for us togve so much money to one child and nothing to the other just because they decided not to go to college. I want to try and treat my kids as evenly as possible in the future.
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Umm... disown her? Just kidding. Seriously though, college is kind of a non-negotiable in our family. I would make it clear that the money is meant for her education, so if she needs some time off before college to mature a bit, then we could use some of the money towards that goal. But I wouldn't fork it over for non-education expenses like home purchases or weddings.
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I"m with @andrea: There better be a damn good reason he's not going to college! If there is one (and I can't really think of one right now), I would save it for wedding or downpayment for a house.
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I agree with @skibobrown. I am just not sure what I'd do if it turns out my son isn't much of a student. I would hate to force him to attend college and have him be completely miserable and/or set him up to fail. I'd much rather him be a tradesman in something that he loves than send him to a four year college where he scrapes by and is deathly homesick.
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The kid will be an adult so I can't make him/her go to college. But I can't imagine raising a kid that wouldn't chose that either, just because it's so valued in our family and kids tend to mirror their parents.
I would probably tell the kid the money is only for education (and like someone pointed out, there are big tax penalties for using it on something else). But if later on the road they've proven they have made good choices, I might use that money to help them out with a house purchase or something. Or for a grandkid's college savings account!
If they have a full scholarship somewhere, they can have the money after graduation. Unless their siblings need some help padding their savings accounts! In that case they can have something like a car or help on a down payment in exchange for saving all that tuition money!
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I love some of the above comments!
Post-secondary education is a non-negotiable in our family too. We fully expect LO to become a professional athlete (i have high hopes!) but he will still be expected to continue with his education.
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If my kid didn't go to college, their earning potential would be highly limited, so I'd have to save it myself to provide them a trust for when we aren't around anymore. Having said that, higher education is mandatory in our family... So hopefully we won't run into this unless one of them is like a highly talented ballerina or a professional athlete in an arena that was time sensitive... In which case they can go to college later.
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@Mrs. Jacks: If by some miracle our kid doesn't inherit any of our genes and can be a pro athlete, and it was in football (which wouldn't happen since we won't let him play! Or her, really. Well, no, she could play as kicker) we would REALLY encourage them to finish before entering the draft. Basketball is a little more time sensitive since they are recruited after freshman year, but probably same anyway.
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@jedeve: Yeah, it's a bit pie in the sky since academics was my thing, not athletics... but our youngest doesn't have our genes, so who knows?! The only genetic advantage we've given is for snowboarding and most people can't make a living at that!
I was thinking that touring for ballet should happen before college, since they retire at such an early age. (One of my high school classmates was a prima ballerina, is the only reason I know any of this).
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I feel awfully out of place in these threads! I didn't go to post secondary (well, a year of bible college, but not career related) and I don't regret it. I'm an artist and no one can tell that I'm self taught instead of an art school grad. I might be a bit farther along in my career, but I would also be way in debt. There are different ways of becoming a successful and happy person.
I am saving my daughter's child benefit taxes in an education account. If they use it for school they get the money I saved, plus a bunch of it is matched by the government. If they don't use it for school they only get the money I put in (plus interest). I hope to raise them to be strong, intelligent women who find their best path in life, and the money is theirs to do that with.
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