A post I’ve written about how much parents pay for college is generating a good discussion among my friends. Mindsets are changing, at least from what my generation typically thought about how we’d pay for our children to pursue higher education.
My parents paid for my four-year degree. I’m ever thankful, sincerely. I’m an only child, so that had a bit to do with it, I suppose. You can read the full story on Parent Society.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Have you put children through college? How did you handle it financially? How are you planning for your children’s future education?
I’ve had this discussion with a few friends lately too at the realization that we will not be able to pay for our kids to go to college in the same way that our parents did for us. So if they want the full college experience they’ll have to put themselves in debt or they’ll sacrifice the college experience for a less expensive degree. Either way I’m sad that (at least as of now) I won’t be able to provide that for them.
It does offer a lot of stress for the average family, Jessica. I still believe in higher education, no matter our age, but the ways in which we obtain it are changing, to be certain.
Hi, I think your post on the other site is really a great topic to plan for and know how you want to handle. I tried to comment there, but it only allows Facebook integration, which I don’t enjoy for commenting. Personally mine was part parents, part scholarships & part work and I loved having a job during my college years. But jobs for college kids these days can be harder to come by depending on location. Also, the cost is so much higher and the same % I was able to come up with I think would be unrealistic now for an 18 year old.
Thanks for continuing the discusssion here, Laura. I am living the stress of how to pay for our two oldest daughter’s college and we know we need to go through it all again in 9 years and 14 years. I’m thinking what we will use what we have saved in tax free funds, scholarships, grants and part-time jobs for them is the only realistic approach. Oh, and choosing the schools wisely and those may not be close to their first or wish-list choices.
My parents told my sisters and me around 9th grade that they would pay for 2/3 of our college expenses and we would pay the remaining 1/3. (Scholarships and grants counted toward our part)..
Know what this did? Prompted us to work and save through high school and college, and gave us ownership of our college educations. It also caused us to look at both benefits and costs. We all got through in 4 years. We took our schooling seriously (you could spot the trustfunders who didn’t place any value on their being at college because really, it DIDN’T have value to them) and we all learned to do schoolwork first, work-work second, and party with the time that was left over.
I hope to raise my kids with similar priorities.
Lori, I really like your parents system! I also completely agree with the ownership theory. Thanks for sharing, I hope we give others ideas.
Great post, Rajean! It won’t let me comment without signing in or doing so through Facebook, which isn’t something I do. So…I’m letting you know here that my parents didn’t pay a dime for my private college education, and I worked my TAIL off. The scholarships I had were all contingent upon grades, so I had to do well. There was only a tiny bit my senior year that wasn’t covered by scholarships and I was able to do a govt. loan for that. I think there needs to be a balance, though. I’d love to provide for Claire’s education, but I want her to earn it. I think any money we send her way will be contingent on grades, too.
Thanks so much for weighing in here, JoAnn. I feel better when I hear of other parents who haven’t handed the education out on a silver platter. It is one thing to have the means to afford to do so, of course, but I do feel there is such value in working your way through it.
It’s complicated. My two got put through college by their dad paying tuition and me paying room and board. My husband two were able to file under their mom so many of their expenses qualified for student aid. Very complicated indeed!
I think complicated is becoming the norm for paying for college these days. We do what we must. I appreciate your comment and sharing!
I’m sort of hiding my head in the sand on this one to some degree, but I know it’s going to be ugly. I’m hoping for a lot of scholarships because I simply don’t have an economic situation that would allow for my husband and I to fork over multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars for the wee ones to attend private universities. I’ve told them they have to do public or get scholarships. And we’re saving, but it will never be enough. I do want them invested in their future and hoping that helps provide them with the right work ethic to get into and out of college. But there’s no way anyone will be able to pay for college with the 15%+ increases in tuition ever year. The U of Illinois now costs what my private university did 15 years ago. It’s scary.