If you’re a parent, did you help your kids pay for college? Or if your kids aren’t adults yet, do you plan to pay for their college? I’m curious because a month or so ago, I answered this letter from a woman whose husband plans to retire right smack in the middle of their daughter’s college years. She’s worried they won’t be able to pay the expected family contribution as a result. https://www.thepennyhoarder.co…ghter-college-plans/
I got a few letters from readers who were annoyed by my response. They said kids aren’t entitled to have their parents pay for their college, which is a totally fair point. I guess the bigger problem is that our financial aid system expects parents to contribute to their child’s education unless very specific circumstances apply, like the child is at least 24, married, in the military, they have dependent children of their own, etc. (The full list of criteria for being considered an independent student for FAFSA is here: https://studentaid.gov/apply-f…lling-out/dependency)
One thing that would be interesting to know is how long ago the husband made this plan. Had he been planning to retire at 65 for the past decade, maybe they could have set aside more money in a college fund or encouraged their daughter to take courses for college credit so she could finish her degree faster. But if he only recently made the decision, obviously the options are a lot more limited.
So for those of you who are parents: Have you set any rules about how much you’ll pay for your kids’ college? Would you delay your retirement so you can pay for college?
My parents helped pay for my college (thank you thank you!), so I’m setting aside a little each month to do the same for my son. On top of that, the plan is to open a 529 college savings account for him this year.
I am still paying on my own student debt (at 52!), and cannot help out much. He has been encouraged from day 1 to look to the trades, scholarships, and other means of funding his education without many loans. It’s not fair, I know, but it is reality.
I have no children, but back in the day when I attended college, my parents helped all they could. Mainly I depended on scholarships and low interest rate loans. In grad school I relied upon research assistantships for income.
Yes I am 100% appreciate this concept. But we also have to check where our kids spending our money? Are they spending their money or beneficial things or not?
My 2 sons were not college material, 1 of them tried 1 course and it was not for him. Now they both have jobs doing mechanical work, 1 for a dealership and 1 in an autobody shop.
My husband’s son went to college and got a degree, his father did not pay for his college, but kicked in when there was a need. He now drives for Uber and Lyft.
I did pay for the college courses for our granddaughter and she decided it is better to be a snowflake and quit the radiology prerequisites she was in. Now she works as a receptionist for a veterinarian.
He told our son that we would pay for a bachelors degree, anything more would be on him. He took out student loans in his name but we paid them; as a result when He received his bachelors degree, and his loans were paid, he was able to begin his career with a perfect credit rating!
He told our son that we would pay for a bachelors degree, anything more would be on him. He took out student loans in his name but we paid them; as a result when He received his bachelors degree, and his loans were paid, he was able to begin his career with a perfect credit rating!
That’s great to hear! I hope to do the same for my son, but that’s about 16 years off into the future.
As a former university sociology instructor, I want to quote from our soc.101 text, “as a parent, the best inheritance you can leave your child, is a paid for college or trade school education.” My parents were divorced neither graduated high school but the paid in full my BA. My husband’s parents were WW2 vets and the used those funds for their BAs , MA, and 1 PHD. They paid for my husband’s 2 degrees. We began saving for our kids BA degree when our oldest was in pre school and we had not adopted our middle daughter or birthed our youngest. Their college was paid for as log as they did not marry. They all graduated with BAs in 3 years. Yes, they went to summer school. Student debt is so prevalent and a paid for education so scarce, our youngest called home late one night her last semester . Her friends all had huge debt and could not believe she had none. They assumed she just had not been told. I assured her she had no debt, and we were not paying debt for her college. Our text stated that as parents, our job was to see that our children were equipped to support themselves. If my drop out parents did it for me, that was the least I could do for my 3 girls.
I’m in the second year paying for my daughter’s BS in Gainesville, FL. She’s a biology major intending to go to PA (physician’s assistant) school afterwards. I DID save money for her college throughout the years, but elected to pay off my mortgage last year with that money instead.
I had to get a second full-time job, but I am keeping ahead of her college expenses. No loans. My goal is to get her out of college loan-free AND with enough money to place a 20% (at least) down payment on a house.
Of course, the easiest way to get God to laugh is to tell him your plan. We shall see if it works out.
We paid for private schools for both our kids. Saved since they were babies. Our tuition was paid from our parents or scholarships. Both kids worked to get scholarship money . Both graduated with no debt and were able to begin life with a job, and pay their rent, with a little help for the first few years.
I was the first person in my family to go to college and I did not receive any help from my parents. In fact, my parents expected family contribution worked against me because i couldn’t get any non-loan financial aid when I started going to community college at the age of 19 (out on my own but not according to the formula). Looking back, I feel like I appreciated my education so much more because I had to pay for it myself. As a parent, I have a little bit saved for my kids. I had intended to save more for them but pivoting due to two preschoolers put a pause in that. Now my oldest is in 3rd grade and my youngest is finally in kindergarten so i can get back saving. In regards to the original question, as the saying goes you can borrow for college but you can’t borrow for retirement so I’ll do the best I can saving for my kids college but won’t let it derail my retirement plans.
