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I hate it I truly truly do! I think there's going to be a movement of more people not going to college. What's that one big company's name who is actaully paying kids not to go to college?? I forgot the name....But any ways I think more people are going to rethink the decision. I know I am currently. I have my associates degree from a community college, and truthfully I'm not sure if I'm going to go back and get my bachelors or not.

@mrbee: That's very true. But I guess just from what I'm looking at in my our area where I live. Most of my friends all have bachelors/masters degrees in fields and our pay isn't much different and we work in the same field. Although my husband is really struggling to find a decent paying job, and he doesn't have a degree so that being said the pay difference is definitely affecting him.

I just really hope that they work something out with student loans. For example is the student after they graduate has been making the payments on time for "x" amount of years, they should be forgiven. Or something to that nature. Give the students some sort of end point in sight.

@mrbee: Yeah, it's scary to think about a 200k college loan for sure. But by then I'm sure there will be loan programs in place that will make that kind of debt somewhat manageable. And obviously if college becomes too expensive for the majority of people to attend, people will stop going and the higher education sector will suffer... and in a country like this, that will force a change. Law schools are already changing like crazy (and many are closing) because of the way the economy and the law sector is going, and I can imagine undergraduate education changing in some way as well. How will schools pay their faculty and taxes if no one is paying the crazy high tuitions? I just choose not to stress about it because it's almost 2 decades away for my kids and I have no idea what the world will be like then. If I knew everything would stay the same and tuition will be hiked 200% with no other changes in place, then yes I'd worry and I'd try to convince my kids not to go to college and just always stay up to date about the latest technology.

This is a concern of mine since my younger cousins are just now entering college, and when I hear how much they're paying, my jaw drops to the floor. Like you, I already thought it was crazy high when I went, what will the numbers be like when our LOs go to college in the future?????? Yikes! I feel like I need to choose between where to put more money - retirement or kid's college fund. And that's for one kid! Oi vey!

Definitely worried about the cost of education and that’s why savings for college for LO is a priority. I can’t imagine how much debt she will incur even with us saving and helping pay for college Even if you are only able to save a little each month, over the course of the next 18+ years it really adds up!

The costs associated with college administration have dramatically increased in the past decade; which is part of the reason tuition rates have increased (while faculty salaries have not risen at the same pace). There are also issues with the way schools set up the rules on what % of fees recovered (from tuition and other sources) have to go directly back into things that are directly student-centered: more faculty, updated classrooms, libraries, etc. An example is where facilities like state of the art meeting rooms are built using tuition money, but students/professors don't get the use the facilities - they are rented out to private parties and the rental fees go back to the school as a whole. That money recovered can then be used for marketing and administrative costs and not directly on education and students. Colleges are basically get gifted capital by students which they don't have to pay back in-kind.

There are also all the new for-profit schools which are insanely expensive (much more so than public universities) and many offer degrees/credit which are not transferrable to actual colleges/universities and offer degree programs for professions which don’t pay enough to pay back the student loans incurred. The rate of default for repayment of loans taken to attend for-profit schools is unbelievable, and that has already had an impact on how much people (even people with very good credit) can borrow for education overall since some companies have stopped lending, or tightened their lending habits. I don’t think (or assume) that my LO will be able to get loans to cover the cost of her college education.

Honestly, I don’t get the “cross that bridge when we get to it, it’s a long time away from now” mentality. If you want your kids to go to college, they WILL have to pay a substantial amount of money to do so, at a definite period of time in the future. A college education probably isn’t going to get any cheaper than it is today (and most likely will be a lot more expensive). I just don't get knowing that and understanding that, and then being willing to gamble on the assumption that "something" will change by then, and not planning ahead yourself.

I am worried but to be honest, just as worried about our retirements.

I never expected help paying and fully anticipated loans. I chose in-state public university for this reason. We will help LO if we are able then, but are not able to create a college fund for her any time soon.

@sorrycharlie: I'm definitely more worried about retirement.

Yeah. College - state college - is probably going to be out of our price range when lo goes. We figure she can go to community for a couple of years and then hopefully find a job? I'm worried sick about it.

@sorrycharlie: @Mrs. Pen: I'm also more worried about retirement. I'm seeing so many people in my parents' generation approaching retirement with zero. They worked hard to be able to afford their life and gifted their kids with huge sums of money for school, weddings, and down payments, and now they are 60+ with no investments and still a big mortgage they're paying for. It's scary because as a 22 year old college grad, you can go out there and make money, but as a 60 year old, if anything happens to your job, you can't make nearly the same amount. No one would even want to employ you, let alone pay you as much as they'd pay a 22 year old energetic, motivated fresh college grad.

I guess this is why I have personally adopted the belief that college and grad school fall on the individual's shoulders rather than their parents! My dad made six figures for decades and after everything he gave to my brother and myself, there's no way he'd have been able to pay off both of our student loans. He got laid off years ago and has been struggling ever since. I can make money for 40 more years but he doesn't have that many working years left in him.

Yes, it worries me a lot. In 18 years when LO is going to school, will I be able to help out? My parents were able to help out a bit, and I still have 26k in loans. Do I start saving for college, knowing that the 10-15K i might be able to save will pay for very little? Do I encourage LO to follow non-college avenues? It weighs pretty heavily on me, and although I will start a college fund, I will also be very realistic with LO and make sure they know the pros and cons of college vs. technical school/junior college/military, etc.

This is a huge concern in our household. DH and I want to pay for most of our kids' college education, and the cost of it is literally what makes us question how many kids we can have and it is the reason I will probably never be a SAHM.

DH went to Baylor and when his sister was considering it last year, it had literally doubled in cost from the time he was there (about 6 years from when he graduated to when she would have attended). Salaries for college graduates have definitely not doubled in that time. Generally, there is more money still for prospective students who come from extremely low-income families, but I know many assume that they won't be able to get funding because they just don't know about the options. Personally, I worry most about the middle-class students whose parents make to much for them to qualify for all the assistance but don't make nearly enough to pay for their children's colleges without taking out an astronomical amount of loans.

Just typing this has literally made my stomach hurt to think about how we're going to afford to put two through school at the same time. Our kiddos are definitely going to get a lot of talks about earning scholarships!

ETA: I paid for college myself by working full-time and taking out loans, so I know that it is possible, but I really don't want my kids to be burdened the same way I was. I missed a lot of the "college experience" and have a ton of debt now. I do think that kids should be responsible for part of their education though because it's for their benefit and I think it makes them take it more seriously.

@Thehistoryofus: My husband's parents did something like that in Virginia. He and his twin sister both ended up going to in-state, public schools and it completely paid for their college degree. I think they're definitely worth looking into! I'm not sure if this is the same thing you're talking about, but I think for them it entailed putting money into a special account over time, so you're basically paying for college gradually rather than all in the span of four years. Hope that makes sense!

It is a concern, but I think it will be manageable, along with our retirement. College is very expensive. But it's a priority. We both went to college and have good paying jobs. There is no reason why we can't set aside some of our salary to pay it forward. I want my kids to go to college and not be heavily burdened by debt. I'm all for in-state public schools...someone who went to MIT does not make that much more than I do! BUT if my kid wants to go to college for something fluffy, I definitely want to educate them on the issues with obtaining a degree that won't actually pay the bills any more than a non-degreed job would.

I think a big issue is that people don't pick and choose colleges or majors wisely. They're 18 so it's hard to...but I think that's our responsibility as parents. They just go...I think there needs to be more counseling on the financial burdens of college. If you go to a school that is 60K a year and you get out making 30K a year...that's a bad investment, in my opinion. And college is an investment.

DH had his education 100% funded for by the military. There are options out there, but a lot of parents may not want to entertain them.

While my alma mater's cost has gone up, it is still about 20K a year. I consider that an affordable option nowadays.

@yoursilverlining: wow, that is seriously scary.

someone we know has a son who got into his top choice (an ivy league school) and deferred his acceptance one year. He then spent his freshman year at a state school and took every course of his core requirements, then transferred to the other school, to save money. I thought this was such a great idea. Of course he missed out on his freshman year experience, but what a mature, smart kid to do so.

We are motivated to start saving now since the Canadian government will grant $500 if you deposit $2500 (per year) into a Registered Education Savings Plan. I'll happily set that aside for a 20% return, way better than what my investments are giving me. Our plan is to have our kids pay into the RESP when they are old enough to work, but at least we gave them a head start (the power of compounded interest!). By the time they are ready to go college, the amount saved should cover their tuition/boarding but i'm sure it would cover only one year's worth at an American college.

DH did his Phd at a UC school, but with scholarships, stipends, grants, etc. he only had an $8,000 loan by the time he graduated, which is amazing since he was an international student. He was really lucky because in his 2nd year, the student union lobbied in order for tuition to be waived in non-coursework years.

@mrs. wagon: Do all US universities offer that? Unfortunately, it's not the same in Canadian universities, even at the top ones.

@mrs. wagon: Yeah, it is scary! They really prey on people who feel like college is a good idea with the promise of a quick-finish education and then a great career. I think they also prey on young adults who don’t really have any concept of money (which was/is most of us at 18!) and downplay the ramifications of taking out $40k+ in loans; and what that means as a monthly repayment for 20 years.

What your friend’s son did is so, so smart (and something I wish I had done!). My LO can attend my husband's college for free; but we don’t want to push her decision for college based on that fact. I would though, push her to take core courses there and then transfer to her college of choice!!!

@caffeinated: oh!! again, I have no idea and I'm pretty sure it differs from school to school, but the three schools Wagon Sr. has worked for (BU, Harvard, and Tufts) have offered free or highly discounted tuition for classes for everyone in his family (himself, his spouse, and his children) as part of his benefits! Of course this doesn't include things like dorm rooms and meal plans, but obviously a discount or free tuition is huge!!

My school (Boston College) definitely offered this because a friend of mine's mom got a full time job in the dining hall and he went for free (and lived at home off campus).

@mrs. wagon: That is really good, especially since those are great colleges. Only a couple of universities offer it here in Canada. I told DH he has 18 more years to bring this up with during collective agreement bargaining!

@caffeinated: The Florida postsecondary system actually has a program that if you get your AA from a florida college you are guaranteed admission to a florida university.