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Nothing wrong with community college for 2 years and then transfer somewhere
That’s the route I did. And 9 years into my career I’m at 175K TC
Yep, I did that too. CC was free because my high school test scores were high and I was able to work my way through college. Graduated in 4 years from a state school, full time student, part time worker. Took on minimal loans and had them paid off in a couple years. I was first one in my family to go to college and was raised lower middle class. I now make an extremely good living in a LCOL area and on track to retire in my early 50s.
at 17, my parents said we provided you a good home, good food and good vacations. the day you leave for college youre on your own. turned out great for me lol. didnt ask for a penny from them since i left for college. went to a public school. applied crazy for scholarships and worked to cover other expenses. graduated in 4 years debt free. loved them for that. made me a responsible independent person. 10 years later, which was 2 years ago....they gifted me my "education savings." got $1M from that education fund that i didnt use because they played tough love and i didnt call their bluff lol.
Are private schools really worth it? blah. Ill never send my kids to private school and ill never pay for more than 50% of their college cost. being an adult is figuring how to survive. it starts with college. lol.
I can tell you from 40 years' accounting experience that private schools are not worth it. (the joke for one private univ near me was "that's where you BUY a degree". Some of the graduates were not very bright, either. Go to a state college if you feel you must have a 4 year degree. If I were starting over, I would look at a trade...they make much more money than many college grads.
Just curious: why do people think they need to shell out for private schools they can’t afford? Public school in my state is a bit over $100k room and board. What advantage do private schools offer other than saddling many families and graduates with even more debt, unless you are wealthy?
I think it really depends on individual student and what they are looking for. Most private schools do not charge the "sticker" price. My child choose private for various opportunities- he received 1/2 tuition for academics. So the private school is only a few thousand more than the public schools. He also had private schools that were 1-2k less expensive than public.
Consider sending him to study abroad. Our schools are way overrated money pits.
I got a few passports for each of my kids and shipping them to schools in the EU. Besides, they have lifetime optionality.
I’ll be saving 95% of your tuition money.
Definitely is an option. Look it up. Denmark has very affordable higher education for foreigners, Germany has free programs.
Trade schools and certifications. Stop trying to send your kid to some college that no one can afford.
Around $300k. They can cover the rest - a little skin in the game is always good IMO.
$300k in 18 years with inflation unfortunately might not pay for it all at some schools especially if they want to be a doctor etc.
We do not believe in paying for our kids college education. That is their responsibility. Our accountant gave us that advise years ago. It’s not the parents responsibility to pave the way, your children need to do that on their own. If you do, you are enabling and that’s the worst thing to do for anyone. Everyone needs to figure out their own path otherwise it’s never truly appreciated. Community colleges are wonderful and do provide better education than a lot of universities, always start there if possible.
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Do you intend to help them financially at any point after 18?
Also I don’t think most families are able to put that much aside! How on earth are people paying for school these days? Prices are insane
Planning $500k for each kid (family of 6). The first one is 5 years away. On track.
We're aiming for $250-300k per kid, we've got an 8 year old and 4 year. Anything for undergrad that isn't covered by the 529s, scholarships, or grants will be covered out of pocket. Anything for grad school will be on the kids if they don't have anything leftover from the 529s.
My public school alma mater is currently ~$200k all-in for out of state, that's what I'm using as a rough benchmark for our 529 target.
Yup. We don't live instate for either of our alma maters, so given the sheer number of good schools that are out of state for us, our alma maters are our proxies for benchmarking out of state $$.
I am thinking at least one million.
What if they decide not to go to college? Now you have put all that money into the 529, what if I could show you a way to build money that can be used for anything even college if they decide to go and it won’t be taxed because it was taxed up front. Would you be open for a conversation?
This is why I stopped contributing to the 529 once it hit a certain number and only contribute to a taxable personal investment account for college now. If my child ends up getting a scholarship or needs less than I expected, at least it won't all be stuck in a 529 plan that can't be used without penalties. $35k Roth rollover isn't enough to cover that scenario.
Tuition is getting up to $75k at top private schools +15-30k living expenses depending on location
So ~$400k all in at list price -- then probably throw in 2-3%/yr at least for projected inflation based on year back from entry -- so easily in the 500k+ range by the 2040s
Realistically even wealthy families will have to go with loans & you can continue to help your kids with payments in their 20s so you dont have to save everything up front
I just checked the costs to study in Italy. 2 of my kids have Italian residency (no citizenships yet but that’s being worked on as well). However, in this case Italian citizenship is irrelevant as we secured a set of 2 EU passports each. The other 2 have only one each which is sufficient as well.
At a public Italian university:
* €500–€3,500/year total is common.
* Sometimes lower.
* Medical school tuition doesn’t exceed €8,000 and that’s for non-resident.
Meanwhile in US:
* $80,000/year to major in “post-colonial interpretive dance trauma studies.”
* Plus lifelong debt slavery.
* Plus parking permit.
* Plus emotional support bureaucracy.
Different civilizational models.
I’m shipping all 2 of them to boarding schools and then straight to unis. All in, I don’t expect to spend more than $100,000 for all 4 over 5 years.
My British MBA in Finance run @ £45,000 for my US passport. But the EU guys in class paid theirs on a credit card!
The cost to study in Lombardia for a public uni and resident is €140.
Feeling screwed yet?
So glad more people starting to realize this!
Costs realistically may come down - number of 18 year olds is declining each year
$0. Our financial advisor told us, unless you’re maxing out your 401K’s, don’t put any money away for education. You can borrow for education, but you can’t borrow for retirement. This always stuck with me and made perfect sense. We focused on increasing our retirement funds and made other investments that will provide us with passive income. That income should provide us with at least $60k a year, which currently the plan is to use to fund our children education. They’re 5 years apart so not expecting much overlap.
However, as with most gifts there will be strings attached. I have to approve what they’re getting their degree in. For example, I’m not paying for an expensive university for a degree that will not pay well. Just like an my investment, I want it to pay off for them in the long term. Some may think this is harsh, but my parents made me think about my major in terms of what I would do after I graduated., I promptly decided to major in a field that had a great outlook for getting a well paying job that also had expectations of growing.
35k, state school, scholarships got us thru 4 years with money left. Totally depends.
I mean my husband and I (met in college) graduated with a collective 18k in student loans from our state school because of scholarships. I just think things have changed so much and setting up the kids to start adulthood with six figures in debt is unfair
Can I have some money to put in my kids 529? 😭😭 $250k per kid not enough? Wow yall make most of us feel poor
aiming to have 300 each, and we will need to cover some of the difference out of pocket and with loans. the public v private decision is a personal one. I’m entirely public except for grad school, and my kids have been educated entirely in private schools since kindergarten. where they go to college is going to be entirely based on their interests and where they are accepted. public / private are both options.
I went to both a private university and once I finished, I got my masters from a public university. Both were great and neither was "not needed." I get it. Its the internet and people want to sound hollier-than-thou but the truth is its all about what your parents can afford and what you are able to contribute. I had both academic and athletic scholarships for 9 different schools so it wasn't too large of an issue. But also my parents raised 8 kids and I am 8 years the youngest so they had a ton of time to make things right once I came along. It also helped that my 3 oldest siblings were already into their careers and helped out if needed. I didnt need "tough love" from going to college. I got that from age 6-18 because my dad required all his kids to work construction wth his company. If you were 6, you went to work during the summer up until you graduated HS. And it wasn't that I was sitting and playing at 6...he made you tote hammers, nails, paint buckets, roofing shingles(i could only carry maybe 3 or 4 lol) and all that. Once I turned 12, I was cutting pvc pipe, using pain rollers (spilling paint 😆) and even running the skill saw. My dad was from the 1940s so he didnt believe in casual work for his kids. Once we hit 16 that is when the fireworks really started and we did a LOT of the heavy lifting right alongside his employees. Even my sister's did manual labor although once they were seniors in HS, they didnt work with him that last summer before or after their senior year. They had regular part-time gigs by then.
So yeah. Its not some hidden sin to go to a private school and public school isnt some great thing either. I did both and graduated from both. I dont get the internet shaming that goes on with some humans as if someone should be embarrassed to say they could afford a private college.