Comments on: Paying for your kid’s college education

By: Weekly Roundup: Guess where I’m going this weekend at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:04:40 +0000

[...] Financial Prosperity says Don’t Pay Your Children’s College Education. You’ll see my own take on this from back in January of this [...]

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:24:58 +0000

EEK! Sorry Single Ma. I fixed the link. Sorry it wasn’t correct when I first posted this or you would have gotten more traffic. I see JLP didn’t come in and complain about it

By: Single Ma

Single Ma — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:06:17 +0000

Hey Clever Dude

It’s nice to see we finally agree on something. Even though the link to my article is actually a link to JLP. LOL

By: kitty

kitty — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:03:15 +0000

I think parents should help if they can. I was fortunate to get scholarships because we were poor – recent refugees with nothing, but if parents earn more than a specific amount of money, it’s difficult for kids to get enough in scholarships to cover the tuition. With some scholarships the eligibility may be determined based on merit, but the amount will still be determined based on parents’ income and their “expected contribution”. A friend of mine’s daughters both got merit scholarships, but when it came to determining the amounts, they got the absolute minimum – $2000 for each of two scholarships – because parents were earning too much.

I think if parents are poor, there is nothing they can do, but then children may be able to get enough in scholarships/subsidized loans/work-study to cover the cost. But if parents are well-off, it is irresponsible not to help their children because their children aren’t on equal footing with children of poor parents. Parents’ assets prevent their children from getting both scholarships and subsidized loans yet they don’t want to help. As a result, children end up getting private student loans and often start their careers with a lot of debt.

As to going to cheaper colleges – it depends on your field of study. In some fields school you went to is more important for future career, in others it is not as important.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:04:29 +0000

I am so 100% with you CD. My parents paid for 85% of my college. But I came out of that experience thinking how much I took College for granted. I never tried for scholarships because my parents support was practically assumed. That’s why I resolved to pay half of my children’s college. I figure this way, they will know that it’s something they want, and therefore they will work harder for it. If they fight the need to go to college, well then,.. I don’t know what I’ll do. But I want to support them without giving them everything.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:57:53 +0000

Thanks for including my post. It was good to have my parents’ help, but I also know I couldn’t have gone where I did without all the scholarships and such.

It’s very admirable that you want to help pay off your parents’ loans. I think that’s excellent–especially since your education helped you get a good job.

By: Jim ~ mydebtblog.com

Jim ~ mydebtblog.com — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:12:38 +0000

I think parents should help pay for college if they can. My parents did not pay for my college and I had to put their tax information on my FAFSA form. I only qualified for so much financial aid because they have a farm, so obviously they should sell their assets to pay for my college, right? They kept their farm and I had to pay for school. I used all my savings, was lucky to get scholarships, grants, and take on a relatively low amount of student loans. I’m still paying those loans but my credit card debt is a bigger concern. It would be easier if I could have graduated debt free, but that isn’t the case. College is a great thing but it is difficult to get your start and manage the debt load. It is my intention to properly save for college one day when I have kids. I would hate to refi my house or take on loans, or have them take on loans to pay for school like I did.

By: UltraRob

UltraRob — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:02:17 +0000

My parents didn’t pay for any of my college and didn’t help me figure out anything for it. I went to the local state college so I was able to live at home. That helped with housing expenses but it hurt me because my parents had quite a few assets so I couldn’t get financial aid. My parents charged me $20 a week which probably barely covered my food. I was fortunate that I did well in school and did get some scholarships. I was also working construction on weekends and long hours in the summer. I graduated without any loans but I hadn’t been able to pay my $20 to my parents the last year. My dad kept track of it and made me pay it after I graduated.

I want to help our kids pay for college but I also want them to have to figure out how to pay for part of it so they understand it costs. I will help them with figuring it out. I think giving a total free ride makes them not appreciate their education and not take it seriously.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:57:13 +0000

Along those same lines..with what we know now about college and what it costs, why can’t parents be disciplined enough to set aside money each month for their children, earmarked for college? There are so many ways to save tax free these days….I realize there are some parents who are struggling these days and may not be able to do that…at least not right now…but what happened to personal responsibility in our society? We always seem to expect someone else to get it done for us…same goes for retirement. Social security is NOT a retirement plan! One less trip to a restaurant a month can pay for a kid’s college! May I suggest two years at a community college and then apply to an in-state GOOD school…VERY affordable, easier to get in, easier for your kid to work the kinks out before getting serious AND you get your diploma from a recognized school with no mention of doing “community college” time.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:35:52 +0000

I was fortunate in that my parents paid for most of my University stuff. They paid at least 3 years of fees, housing, and gave me a small allowance to cover food and bills and books and so on.

If I have children, I will probably expect to do more or less the same. In the UK there are fewer scholarships, less variation in tuition price, and almost all funding is means-tested and ends up with cheap government backed loans. I suspect/hope that I too would be making too much money for any kids to qualify for grants, and they would deserve the opportunity to go to Uni.