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Why are you paying for your kid’s college…? They can work and take out loans like a normal person.
My daughter graduated summa. She had a scholarship that covered 80%. I paid for her apartment and expenses. She has not started grad school yet, and she’s discouraged because of the economy. That being said, I will pay her student loan payments.
My grandmother was a real estate agent and paid for each of her children’s college by selling one house per semester. My mother was a c-suite and paid my and my siblings’ tuition with her annual bonus. She didn’t pay for my law school, which I’ll pay off this year five years into practice (~$210k). For each of my kids, I put $5k into their 529 up front plus $500/mo. I’m hopeful that this will be enough to cover their undergrad, but I kind of share my mom’s view that grad school should be on them. I’m also hopeful that the cost of tuition for both undergrad and grad school will be brought down over the coming decades - the OBBA is certainly helping to cap it.
I wouldn’t let your financial planner freak you out about this and, if they are, get a new planner. Always save for your own retirement and healthcare first. As for your kids, I went to state school and then got a full ride for law school. If your kid isn’t getting scholarships, they shouldn’t be going to law school - it’s a scam right now based on simple economics for average cost of attendance and average salaries upon graduating. What in the world could your kid possibly do to justify $1.2m in graduate school costs, plus whatever you paid prior to that? …and your kid is, what, five?
Just as an aside, I was at Wells Fargo Private Bank and am now at an asset manager - neither of which would ever say something so stupid to me as a scare tactic of “well, you’ve got two kids and it’s going to be $5M of school before they ever amount to anything, better save $6k per month forever or it’s over.” You create savings targets that are realistic for you and they model them as future available cash flows. Most financial planners are also scammy and trained on US average incomes that they’re supposed to extrapolate, but it doesn’t really work that way with returns and strategies.
Crazy idea - you could let your kid(s) make their own life choices (which may not include that much education/debt)
and to be clear the “failure” in my comment is my child having to take on 100s of thousands of debt because I decided not to make saving for them a priority, not that going into another line of work and not education is failure.
You make your kids cover grad school
A3 - my point isn’t so much save those exact amounts, but save/cover what is reasonable for you, properly explain loans and scholarships etc to kids as early as possible, and put some responsibility on the kids while giving them some amount of guidance and support throughout. And maybe under promise/over deliver on the finances lol (like I said though, not sure if covering the $50k was always the plan or if my dad just saved up some of his bonuses while I was in college then decided to help a little more after graduation)
Encourage them to consider community college, and transferring to a state school. Americas greatest value
Welcome to the hellscape that is our reality.
You can open a 529 plan and make sure to put money in every year, even if you are not able to max out. Grandparents can also contribute and instead of toys, you can ask relatives to contribute for birthdays and holidays. If you are financially able, I would only plan to pay for college. This is what I did with my child. I told my kid up front that we would only pay for college and that my child will need to pay for any grad school.
I think you focus on saving for retirement and put whatever you have left to invest into the college fund. Then when they’re 16 tell them what you have saved and that they’re responsible for the rest through loans, scholarships, grants, part time jobs. State school is a good option. I think that’s what most people do?
This 100%. Max put your 401k contributions, then save any extra for college. You can borrow for college, but you can’t borrow for retirement.
Work themselves to pay part or all of it. Scholarships. Loans. GI Bill. Many options. (Sure, mommy/daddy is an option, but this surely isn’t the only option lol.)
Maybe just move to Europe? Seems easier and cheaper. Because if school is that much, just imagine the cost of housing and healthcare in 20 years.
Not a Mecca. But certainly has more affordable universities.
Based on your use of the 17-year forecast, I presume your child is 1 year old. Dont you think it's a little early for you to be planning for them to go to law school...?
I’m not, it’s just a yard stick. No way I can save for medical school. If they want to do an MBA or some sort of professional certification or other healthcare profession, marking it to law school is probably in the ballpark (nursing/PA). If they want to do nothing, they have a nice down payment for a house and will hopefully stay close to me in this VHCOL area.
My parents paid for 2/3 of college, my scholarships and work study paid for the other 1/3. I paid for all of private law school graduating in 2000 with $130K in debt. I was an active duty JAG for all of it, and I made too much by the time they started doing loan forgiveness or too far down repayment road. I paid all of it off on my own on a government salary in 17 years, and saved plenty. Plan for your kids college, but why plan for their law school if you have no idea that’s what they want to do? They’ll figure out the how…if they want it enough.
You’ll get most of the way there if you and your spouse each superfund the 529 (5 years up front) now and let it ride in an aggressive growth portfolio. But I echo everyone else in questioning your plan to cover law school. I would not encourage my kid to go to law school, and if they listen to me at all, they’ll think about ROI of any post-college education, including the ability to pay for it.
I just want it to be an option. Maybe they go for another degree, maybe it goes to pay for a house, doesn’t matter.
Starting at age 6, my kid wanted to be a patent attorney. I said to become an engineer first, and work in that industry for a couple of years before starting law school.
The private college under consideration was about $70k per year for tuition. State college was less than $15k; the private college had a slightly better reputation, but not anything worth a $55k annual delta.
Between summer internships, scholarships, and a slight contribution from my spouse and me, my kid graduated debt-free, Magna Cum Laude, and had offers for three different six-figure jobs. No law school applications yet, but by that point, I anticipate that the same strategy will bring a similar result.
Highly likely college in the remote future will be unrecognizable..Curricula is being pulled back, PhD programs cancelled, online and artificial intelligence making extraordinary inroads. Best to save reasonably for what the future may bring, but those dorms may not be there 17 years from now and education may take place in a manner not even imagined now.
My parents paid for 2/3 of college, my scholarships and work study paid for the other 1/3. I paid for all of private law school graduating in 2000 with $130K in debt. I was an active duty JAG for all of it, and I made too much by the time they started doing loan forgiveness or too far down repayment road. I paid all of it off on my own on a government salary in 17 years, and saved plenty. Plan for your kids college, but why plan for their law school if you have no idea that’s what they want to do? They’ll figure out the how…if they want it enough.
This is just the start.