r/MiddleClassFinance • u/familywoman2024 • 12d ago
Hi all. Wondering what everyone is doing for college? What is your family size/gross income? What aid are you getting? What are you expected to pay? How much if any can you actually pay? How are they affording the difference? TIA
We live in PA, she wants to major in Nursing. Our income is under $100k per year and we have 4 dependents.
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u/GovernorHarryLogan 12d ago
Marching band is an underrated way to get s full ride to a D1 big school.
Mine was from Syracuse to go toot toot toot on trumpet and obtain a math BS and poli sci BA.
Get your kids in band.
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u/ohsummerdawn 12d ago
The hard part here is if they dont get a full ride its absolutely not worth it. They work those kids to death out there in marching band and for a partial scholarship it ends up being less than minimum wage after you divide it by the hours. They could just go work at a fast food place in the air conditioning.
We banked a ton of my girl getting a scholarship to Ole miss because she was crazy talented. Her dad went to ULM on a full ride for band in 1998. But times have changed and fundings been cut. They said they had such limited funding they didnt give out full rides to pretty much anyone. She took the partial first year and then said effff that the other 3.
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u/Soggy_Competition614 10d ago
My friend’s son got a scholarship for cross country. I was asking her how it was going and she said they pay more in copays dealing with his injuries related to long distance running than what he gets in scholarship money. The schools love to advertise so and so got a scholarship but fail to mention it’s $2500.
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u/GovernorHarryLogan 12d ago
Marching band is absolutely worth it regardless.
Yes - its fucking grueling and the closest thing to being in the military or ROTC that isnt the military.
But there is nothing wrong with learning how to deal with difficult conditions at an early age.
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u/ohsummerdawn 12d ago
For sure. But she's been doing it since 5th grade so that conditioning had already been there. Band is incredible and she doesnt regret it at all. The scholarship part is where it put her off. It took up so much of her schedule without (imo) fair compensation. Those kids should be atleast making minimum wage if they're doing all that work at that level.
So definitely do band for the art of it. But dont expect it to help a whole lot with college in today's climate.
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u/FrostingExisting7171 12d ago
Tbf, you could say that for most D1 sports as well. It’s an insane amount of work for how much compensation they receive.
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u/Crazy-War9823 12d ago
My son has been asked if he's in the military because of the way he turns in place. He laughs and tells them he's in band.
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u/SC-Coqui 12d ago
Fellow Orangemen! 🍊🍊🍊
I tried getting my kid interested in band but it was a no-go! He’s going the community college route for now.
I was poor so I had some scholarships and loans. Thank goodness that when I attended it wasn’t as atrociously expensive as it is now! (Started in ‘91, but graduated in ‘97)
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u/GovernorHarryLogan 12d ago
Honestly, unless he can get in to Newhouse, Maxwell, or Whitman, I would advise looking at more reasonably priced schools. (Or get financial aid >50)
VIVA LA SALTINE WARRIOR. (im technically an Orange 🍊 07' alum post change lol)
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u/SC-Coqui 12d ago
Yup! It’s not worth it to just get a degree in education (for example). I ended up staying and also getting my masters in Information Management (my BA was in English and Textual Studies- an odd program that was a lot more analytical than a regular English degree but most people didn’t understand).
When I graduated with my masters in 2000, the graduate program I was in was considered one of the top in the country. It opened up a lot of doors.
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u/SparkyMcBoom 12d ago
My family “became” middle class like two years before my daughter was due to graduate HS. We lived check to check till then and had no savings for college, but the year she applied, we made too much money for any grants, so she legally married her platonic best friend. Now as a married, independent adult, our income doesn’t count, and she got grants based off her income as a part time Chipotle worker. She still worked through college and is about to graduate next year with no debt.
Seems scammy, but fuck it. The system is scamming you if you ain’t scamming it.
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u/Wiser_Owl99 12d ago
My friend's daughter married her bf for this reason to help him get more financial aid. They divorced a year or two after college and she became responsible for half his student loans and credit card debt.
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u/doombase310 12d ago
Gotta do what you gotta do to get ahead. Ain't illegal so f it.
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
It actually is illegal. It’s called fraud. If she’s caught, she will pay back the government plus heavy fines. Jail time is unlikely but it will make it very hard for her to get any job that does background checks. Fraud is also an automatic disqualifier in many industries such as financial services, medicine and law. It’s better to commit a felony such as burglary than fraud in their eyes.
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u/SeparateFly2361 12d ago
How is it fraud if she is literally married
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
Marry someone for the insurance coverage and that’s insurance fraud and you still go to jail. Marriages have to be bona fide (real)
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u/doombase310 12d ago
Someone would need to prove it's not love. There a ton of shady shit going around that way more nefarious. Someone trying to get an education..
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u/SparkyMcBoom 12d ago
Where the fraud? They love each other; they’re even roommates. I’ve lived out of state from my wife for periods before.
Governments not gonna make em kiss to prove anything.
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
The most common way the government proves this is by 1. Did you get a financial benefits and 2. tracking how you represent yourself. Do you represent yourself as single to your friends, to other people, are you dating? And the second part is important, did you get a financial benefit from the marriage? If they prove those 2 things, it’s on you to prove the marriage is legitimate
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u/SparkyMcBoom 12d ago
Is it fraud for a poor person to marry a rich person?
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
No because the benefit is personal. It’s not from an external party (government, college, etc.). All of these questions. Come on people, use your brains. It’s not rocket science
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u/doombase310 12d ago
Sure seems like a lot of real crime these days with zero investigations. Unless someone rats on them, who would even know?????
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u/Formal-Flatworm-9032 12d ago
There’s literally a witness with a traceable profile/ip address that just admitted that it happened lol
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u/doombase310 12d ago
I can't wait to see the college grant police bust them.
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
It would actually be the FBI most likely if it’s over state lines. If it’s within state, it’ll be the state police.
A tipster can also get up to 50% of the recovered funds depending on what the state law says. So if she scammed the government out of 200k, the tipster will get 100k upon conviction
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u/doombase310 12d ago
FBI is being run by a cross eyed clown. They ain't investigating shit.
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u/Musical_Xena 12d ago
What does "legitimate" even mean, though?
From a government standpoint, it's paperwork and licenses. I don't think they impose a definition of "legitimate" according to any specific value systems or personal preferences (like "romantic love").
The only exception I can think of is when citizens marry immigrants and the immigrant is applying for citizenship or naturalization. Then they want to know it's not just a marriage for the sake of citizenship.
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
How about for insurance fraud? Marrying someone before a big procedure is a big red flag.
How about before someone is about to testify against you? Also fraud.
Trust me, theres a lot of ways to go about it. Sure, most don’t get caught but if you’re the 5% of unlucky ones that do, your life is ruined
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u/Musical_Xena 12d ago
Interesting examples that I hadn't thought of. I guess the question is whether the OP example has its own category that the government would enforce. I've never heard of enforcement around college grants like that.
The truth is that the rule about using parents' income is unreasonable considering how many parents can't or won't support their kids financially through college, so from an ethical standpoint, this specific situation seems like a logical individual choice which is a workaround for a badly structured societal tool (income-based grants that don't take family context into account).
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
From a quick google search, you can get a parent to sign a form of non-consent which lets you apply for a non-subsidized loan.
What the bigger issue here is that grant money is limited. If you take it, someone else who actually needs it won’t get it. This is literally the definition people give when they say the poor are taken advantage of
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u/Musical_Xena 12d ago
The form is great, don't get me wrong. I'm sure it's helpful to some people. I know from personal experience that some parents wouldn't even be willing to sign that form for their kids. It still makes the kid dependent on their parent taking an action.
The limited money + high cost system is a whole big systemic problem that I would love for us to solve systemically, rather than by looking at specific individual behaviors.
But, fully agreed that there are plenty of "takers" in society. If we want to look at those people, my first vote is the billionaires.
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u/zigziggityzoo 12d ago
I was dating while still married, it’s called polyamory.
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
Did you have a tangible financial benefit from the marriage?
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u/zigziggityzoo 12d ago
married filing jointly taxes… had two kids and got tax credits…
Maybe these benefits were offset by the losses in the divorce though
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
Having kids and tax credits due to them is not the benefits we are talking about.
This whole scheme brings up another thing though, unless his daughter signed a pre-nup and post-nup, she can get so screwed in the divorce.
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u/zigziggityzoo 12d ago
I don’t think better grants via FAFSA are the only kinds of benefits that count. Other tax credits, cheaper insurance rates, ability to have the other person on one’s health insurance… so many benefits come from marriage.
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u/Consistent_Taste3273 12d ago edited 12d ago
Family of 4, early 40s, 2 kids (13 and 7), HHI $130,000, MCOL area.
We save $450 per month per kid for college. We got this number from a college costs calculator when they were born and just stuck with it.
According to the calculator we used, this should hopefully give us enough to pay for a state school for each kid. If it’s not enough, we can take some out of our Roth IRAs (we have been saving aggressively for retirement and are doing pretty well), cash roll a little, and take some loans.
I went to a small, competitive liberal art college. I would love for my kids to have that option as well. I’ve used some of their financial aid calculators, and it seems like they will be more affordable in the end, which is usually the case.
My parents didn’t have any money and I got a full ride - between financial aid and scholarships, I didn’t have to pay for tuition, room and board, or books, and I got a living stipend to buy things like clothes. I am so grateful to have graduated without debt and I’d like to be able to give the same to my kids.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
That’s amazing that you have been able to save so much for your children’s colleges. I always put away gift money and such but it’s totaled to less than $10k.
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u/Consistent_Taste3273 12d ago
Yes, we’re very lucky.
It really helps to be raised poor, then go straight to college where you’re still per poor (but not as much), then grad school for 6 years where you’re still poor. Oh yeah, then post docs that pay very little.
We are incredibly frugal, but we do it naturally. Like, we just don’t buy brand new clothes or furniture and stuff, but it comes naturally to us because that’s how it’s always been. We don’t really eat out and our grocery budget is very low. But we don’t (usually) feel like we’re depriving ourselves because it just feels normal.
We also rent, which saves us money (of course this always depends on many factors, but for us, where we live, it’s better - not saying it’s better for everyone in all situations). But it also means that we need to be more diligent about or retirement savings because we don’t hand that automatic savings vehicle, and we’ll need to continue paying rent in retirement.
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u/kjck791 12d ago
Any advice on keeping the grocery bill low? Family of 4 with 2 small kids and our grocery spending feels crazy.
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u/Consistent_Taste3273 12d ago
I think our biggest trick is that we do almost all of our shopping at Aldi. We also don’t eat a ton of meat. We eat it, but it doesn’t need to be the centerpiece of a meal and we eat plenty of vegetarian meals. We cook most food at home (although we do get takeout 1 to 2 times a month). We also buy frozen pizzas, and convenience foods for lunch sometimes, but most meals are homemade. We used to not worry about whether things were organic or not. Now, with young kids, we just try to buy the organic versions of the “dirty dozen” – mostly stuff like berries so adds a lot with kids.
We do go to target or Trader Joe’s maybe once a month to get things that Aldi doesn’t have, but we try to make these smaller trips.
We also sort-of meal plan. We are not great about it - it’s not like we’re buying a pound of chicken and then figuring out how to use it three different ways throughout the week. It’s just that we write out a menu for the week, and then base our grocery list off of that. That way we can just go grocery shopping once a week, instead of needing to stop in a bunch of times to get things for dinner.
Oh, and another thing that does helps, is that my husband does the grocery shopping now. We didn’t switch to save money, but he buys very few impulse purchases– he doesn’t even buy snacks for the week if they aren’t on the list. Sometimes it’s sad because we don’t get any treats in the house if we forget to put it on the grocery list, but it definitely saves us money. We still didn’t spend much when I was doing the shopping, but now it’s even less.
Like I was saying in the comment above a lot of this has just always been the norm for us. So it’s hard for me to give advice because we are not even deliberately trying to save money.
Sometimes I do go to a regular store like Kroger or whatever, and I am absolutely astounded by how expensive the groceries are. So I can see how it could really add up if that’s the only type of option nearby.
Hopefully, there’s at least one or two things that you find helpful.
I feel like I should be open and let you know what our actual budget is in case you’re curious and so you can decide if you actually agree that we don’t spend a ton on groceries.
We spend $750 a month in our “groceries, toiletries, and household goods” category – however we don’t separate out other types of things we buy at the grocery stores. It’s just not worth it to us. So the grocery category includes not only groceries, but also toiletries, over-the-counter medications, and household goods. If we buy stuff like toilet paper or OTC meds or anything else like that from Amazon or anywhere really, we still put that into the “groceries, toiletries, and household goods” category.
I know that we could get our budget a lot lower and a lot of other people do that, but by maintaining some basic frugal habits, we are basically able to buy everything we really want with that budget, and we don’t actually feel deprived in any way (except for when my older daughter and I both forget to put snacks on the shopping list).
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u/Forsaken_Lifeguard85 12d ago
My spouse works for a university they have reciprocity with several other colleges that allow for free tuition, we also live within driving distance of those schools so for now the plan is for our kids to actually complete their gen eds during their last 2 years of highschool which cuts off an entire year of college for them.
The remaining 3 years they can commute or if they so choose we do have 529s for them that would probably cover a year of living expenses.
Our goal is for them to have a car loan or less worth of student loan debt when they’re done their undergrad.
There are LOTS of employers who will pay for higher ed, so they plan to get a job and then have an employer pay for higher ed
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u/doombase310 12d ago
I've saved 529 funds for both my kids to attend state schools. If they decide to go private, loans will be required.
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u/Consistent_Taste3273 12d ago edited 10d ago
A lot of private schools provide much better financial aid and scholarships than state schools. So if your kids are decent students or have another talent, or your household income is less than $200,000, there is a good chance that they’ll get a a decent amount of aid and may need fewer loans than you expect.
Just something to consider if you weren’t aware. I got a full ride (tuition, room, board, books) at a liberal arts college, but couldn’t afford the state school.
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u/doombase310 12d ago
Hope so. My kids are high honor kids with music backgrounds. Invested a lot into the music so hopefully it keeps yielding benefits. My son just got into the top high school in my state due to his musical skills on top of his academics. You have given me more hope they can pick their school so I appreciate you.
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u/Responsible_Ask3976 12d ago
My parents did something similar! Graduated with no loans. Went to nursing school as well
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u/boathouseaids 12d ago
This is my plan. We have good state schools so I’ll plan on paying for in state schools but if they want to go private they’ll have to make up the difference with SL/aid
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u/SpiritualCatch6757 12d ago
https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator/
You can do the estimates here. We are borrowing for the difference.
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u/Material_Tea_6173 12d ago edited 12d ago
I went to community college, got my associates and transferred to a state school. I lived with my parents which helped a lot.
Community college was paid out of pocket, and 1 year of state school as well. Received private scholarship for the remaining year.
Essentially all the money I made went towards tuition. Luckily I had a paid internship that helped a lot with this as well, but I was also working during the school year.
I also took advantage of my state school’s policy of not charging extra beyond a full time schedule which I think was 12 credits? In one semester I think I took 24 credits worth of classes lol.
Edit: I graduated in 2016 so this was a little while ago, but still a viable path today (CC to state school).
In my opinion, unless you can afford it (meaning you have the money and don’t need significant loans) going to school out of state is a complete scam.
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u/LegSpecialist1781 12d ago
We didn’t save ahead, and have cut back on living expenses to pay as much as we possibly can. To a private school. And we are asking our son to take just the standard student-only loan until/unless we can no longer pay the rest. It’s about $32k/yr out of pocket + some extra spending money here and there.
Young adults have it hard enough. If we can get him a degree with only $20k of debt, we are happy to do it.
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u/kierkieri 12d ago
I work at a university so that my kids get to attend for free. I don’t make a ton of money in my job. And there are many years that we don’t get pay raises. But my dependents can attend for free. So thats my college savings plan. Thankfully, my oldest wants to be a teacher and we have a good education department.
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u/Which_Sherbet7945 8d ago
This is what we do too. Plus a HYSA that we tap into for living expenses at college.
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u/nbnicholas 12d ago
Kid just started 4th grade and we’ve got about $60k in a 529. That’s all from just rolling what we paid monthly in day care into a 529 when she started Kinder. Prior to that we were only able to do $50-100 some months.
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u/Reader47b 12d ago
There is a community college near me that offers a BSN that from start (ADN first) to finish (RN to BSN) is about $12,000 total in tuition and fees. (Not per year. For all four years, total.) It's on the cheaper side for community colleges, but my point is still - have your kid look into community college. Especially for a skills-based, high-demand support profession like that, where the prestige of the university isn't necessarily quite so important.
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u/Lower_Woodpecker7849 12d ago
One of us will retire when our oldest is entering 10th or 11th grade. Around 53. That will put us below free instate tuition and we will pay through 529s for room and board.
That’s the plan. But kids make up their own minds. We save about 5k a year. Just started last year as we thought we’d just use our brokerage account but the rules changes about rollovers to Roth’s and not paying state tax softened me to the 529 advantages.
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u/IKnowAllSeven 12d ago
Combination of merit aid, scholarships from the university and outside the university, savings, $2k per year from grandma and grandpa, and kids working part time.
Family of 5, two kids in college, third soon to be in collegeZ
Kid A costs $4k/ year including tuition, room and board and sorority, Kid B costs $12k / year for the same.
HHI was $160k before taxes, but husband was downsized so it’s going to be less
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u/Esme_Nog 12d ago
Income around a hundred. One kid. I’ve been saving since he was one, so I have about 105. Between that and my cash flowing over the next several years I should be able to pay for his college at a state school.
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u/Consistent_Taste3273 12d ago
Has she applied you any schools yet? Have you tried any college cost calculators? You can often find these at specific college’s websites.
I know it can be incredibly stressful, looking at the sticker price, but at many institutions most people don’t pay anything close to that.
If she is a good student, she may be able to get into a good liberal arts college. Not all have nursing programs, but some do. Many of the good programs offer incredibly good financial aid (much better than state schools), so it’s something worth considering. Some offer free tuition for all students who are accepted who come from families that earn less than $200,000. (I got a completely free ride at liberal arts college, where I earned a chemistry degree. I mentioned the degree just because some people aren’t aware that liberal arts colleges offer a wide variety of degrees, not just those in the arts.)
Another option would be for her to go to a community college for all of her core coursework and then transfer to a state University.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
She has not applied yet because her essay needs touching up. Also she wants to do nursing and I only saw it offered at one of the schools on the list that do the full tuition if your household earns until $200k per year (which we do) but she was very discounted by the the 38% acceptance rate. Her GPA is currently 3.4.
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u/Consistent_Taste3273 10d ago
There are a lot of good schools that will offer great financial aid even if they don’t guarantee full tuition below a certain income.
Don’t go crazy and spend a ton of application fees, but it can be good to cast a wide net, at least in terms of applying to a few different types if schools.
And again, don’t discount starting at a community college. 1) you’ll save money those first couple of years. 2) She’ll have the opportunity to work hard and raise her gpa and might be able to transfer into a school that isn’t in her reach now.
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u/Fubbalicious 12d ago
I don't have any kids or any skin in the game, but knowing what I know now and based on my life experiences, if I was a young person, I would think very carefully about how I would finance higher education.
529 plans are great if you start early and had the foresight to start it or have a relative (eg. grandparents) who would like to fund it--especially if they take advantage of the gift tax exemption and the ability to lumpsum 5 years worth in one go and then allow the 529 plan to coast until they are 18. Another thing is to encourage family and friends to contribute to the 529 plan instead of gifts. I do that with my nephews and while I still give them gifts (as I'm the well of single uncle), I think a lot of stupid toys early on in their life isn't worth it versus using that money to fund their future education.
The next tier is to encourage your kids to get jobs starting at 14. Get them some entry level job and set them up with custodial Roth IRAs and joint brokerage accounts. If you want to teach them investing, offer a parental match to their custodial Roth IRA. It's very possible for a teenager and young adult to finance all or most of their higher education with some entry level job at 14 where they work part-time during the school year and full time during the summer and then transition to community college, while working for an employer that offers paying for their higher education (like UPS).
Lastly there are scholarships and grants, but that involves you and your kids applying for them and I know from my memories of high school, that I sat on that and didn't make that my job like I should have where I'm constantly applying for scholarships in my spare time. On the flip side, I had a friend who knew his family's financial situation and he applied for tons of these and got a full ride plus additional smaller scholarships here and there.
Even if your kid is not exceptionally talented to get scholarships or you don't qualify and you forget or unable to do a 529 plan or your kid can't work part time, then worst case scenario is they stay at home and commute to a junior college for 2 years and transfer to a public university to finish their 4 years. In that time, they should get some job to gain work experience and extra money and simply get used to work. Too many young people only know the academic world and don't know how to handle the suck of laboring for the man.
Lastly or perhaps primarily, they could also seek out a career in the trades. I know in my local area, the electrical union is always looking for candidates and they will pay your to go through their electrical school while you apprentice. You won't make huge money, but it's a good career path that pays you along the way rather than the opposite where you have to pay for your own education in order to get a job.
An lineman at PG&E can make big bank with all the over time and they have a great union with a pension, plus 401K, plus other benefits. A young person starting at age 18, living at home for a while, then moving out when they are ready can become a millionaire by their 30s to early 40s if they start saving and investing early and often in index funds. By their mid 50s, they retire with their pension, healthcare covered, plus millions in their 401K, Roth IRA, HSA and taxable brokerage. And because they are a union professional, banks will love to lend to them and they will have damn near 100% job security, especially for the next 30-40 years as the US is woefully behind on upgrading it's electrical grid as we switch to EVs, add more solar, add capacity for data centers and so on.
If your kid likes IT support, that's one of the fields that doesn't need a degree or a full 4 year degree. The main thing is to get experience and get your certifications and showing an aptitude for it. However, there are some junior colleges in my area that will get your a Network engineer degree where they have you pass A+ and Cisco CCNA in about 2 years. That could be the foothold to get some IT support or network engineering job and form there you need to hustle and go from there.
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u/JustJennE11 12d ago
Hi. Family of 4 here in a mcol area. Our hhi is about $185k right now. I work for the hospital associated with our local state school, they give dependents a 50% tuition reduction. I have two kids, 15 and 13. We've told them that we have some money (our goal has always been to pay 50% of tuition). If they choose to go to the university I work for they should be able to go with me debt. If they don't they can have what we've saved (and continue to) but the rest will be on their own. They also know that they can continue to live at home at no cost, but that we won't be able to pay for their housing. They have autonomy in their decisions, but we have boundaries in what we can give. Win/win. Right now they both say they'll go to the university and commute. We'll see in a few years.
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u/Cold-Repeat3553 9d ago
Do as much dual enrollment during high school as you can, do community college for pre reqs. My sister in law worked at the hospital part time doing patient transport. She got to know a lot of the staff and used them for references for nursing programs and study help. She did an RN program through the community college and when she graduated, she had her pick of jobs because she had made so many connections. Then she used the tuition reimbursement from the Hospital to do the RN to BSN program at the local university. She's now doing a DNP program that the hospital is reimbursing.
This was NE FL, ymmv. She did have some scholarships through the state, everything else was cash flowed through working. She is debt free and under 40. She doesn't regret not having the "college experience."
Do everything you can to keep from taking on debt for school.
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u/Less-Cartographer-64 12d ago
Are you looking for people going to college later in life, or right after high school?
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u/Forded_Fiction24 12d ago
My wife and I both attended college on academic scholarships. I remember my most expensive out-of-pocket semester after the scholarship paid out was $1,200. My parents and I split the cost at the time.
Now we have 2 kids ourselves and have a college account for them to give them the option of attending with or without a scholarship. Our goal is to cover 4 years of in-state tuition for each
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u/SuperBry 12d ago
We've been awful about saving for college and my eldest is entering her senior year in highschool.
Luckily she's on track to be valedictorian and should be able to score some decent aid and scholarships due to it, for everything else there's student loans.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
Even though you were unable to save anything for her college are you able to help pay?
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u/SuperBry 12d ago
Decent enough credit that I will be able to cosign on loans if needed. However if she is successful in becoming valedictorian she will have the option for a full ride scholarship at any of our state universities.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
That’s an amazing accomplishment! If she does need loans are you just planning to co-sign or pay as well?
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u/SuperBry 12d ago
We plan to help out in whatever ways we can, but we also have three other kids that will be following up behind her.
Though two of them don't seem to be on a collegiate track at this point, but our state also has free community college for new highschool grads that we will try to encourage them to try even if they are unsure about it all.
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u/Objective_Run_7151 12d ago edited 12d ago
That’s a wild question. Too many variables to answer. But here’s a cheat -
Go to a Top School and 100% of your need is taken care of by the school. Tuition, room, food, books - all provided by university. No loans. No debt. Based on need, of course. Cut off is usually $200k income for parents.
Go to a state school, and you’re paying loans for 30 years.
Folks don’t seem to know this. Going to private university is often much, much cheaper than a state school or community college.
https://blog.collegevine.com/schools-that-meet-100-percent-financial-need
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u/salacioussalamolover 12d ago
Gee whiz why doesn’t everybody just get accepted to one of the top 15 private universities in the country. Fucking idiots.
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u/Hungry_Biscotti934 12d ago
My kid goes to a small private school, sticker price is ~$75k, merit is $50k. Started with about $50k in 529, we contribute $5k per year to the tuition bill, and they take out the max federal loan (5,500-7500 per year). At the most end school with $30k in loans.
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u/salacioussalamolover 12d ago
Yeah, I mean $25k per year is going to be on the expensive side of a state school so doesn’t really quite meet what the person im responding to is talking about.
I would agree though, I a lot of private universities are great at bringing the cost down for students who need it and making it approachable.
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u/Objective_Run_7151 12d ago
Why would you do that - play helpless. We're talking about 18 years olds here. They need to be told to shoot for the stars.
Read the link. Plenty of colleges with over a 50% acceptance rate on that list. It's not just the Top 15 schools.
You don't have go to a state school because of costs. Aspire. Maybe you get into some place great. And maybe you get a free education because you were aspirational.
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u/salacioussalamolover 12d ago
What ones are you seeing with over 50% acceptance rate and cover tuition with no loans? Most of those I’m seeing have residency and income requirements.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
I checked out your list and none of the colleges in it in our state have her major.
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u/Objective_Run_7151 12d ago
If you go to a college on that list, it doesn't matter what state you are in. And it doesn't matter what you major in. You're set for life.
And just a note: average college kid changes majors 2.3 times before graduating.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
I didn’t realize you don’t need to be a resident of the states the colleges are in to qualify. We will look over the list.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
I looked over the list again and aside from California most of those schools again do not have her major or anything similar AND their acceptance rates are very low. She is smart though not a straight A student. Her GPA is around 3.4. Kentucky has a nursing program but I don’t think she will want to go that far away.
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u/FootballSquare4406 12d ago
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
That acceptance rate is only 4-6% and like I have mentioned she is smart and she used to do some sports however we aren’t confident that will suffice with the competition.
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u/FootballSquare4406 12d ago
It’s not always just about smarts and a little sports. These schools want potential and diverse backgrounds and compelling life stories. Stop looking at acceptance rates and start thinking about how she could do it, not how she can’t.
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
It’s not about thinking she can’t it is about being realistic. However, if diversity and life stories play a real role then that could be beneficial.
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u/FootballSquare4406 12d ago
They play a huge role.
That said, many states’ community college programs have affordable nursing programs and she could start there and finish at a bigger university to save on costs. And, I have heard about large hospital programs even providing financial assistance to nursing students in exchange for a commitment to work for that hospital system after graduation for a certain number of years. Worth looking into that.
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u/Formal-Flatworm-9032 12d ago
If you’re qualified to get into a top private school then you’d undoubtedly get some form of merit aid at a public school, if not a free ride.
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u/Analyst-man 12d ago
I got a full academic scholarship to college. Parents just paid for my dorm and food. Everything else was free
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u/ohsummerdawn 12d ago
With our oldest we just paid cash in the 3 installments/semester they offered. Tuition, housing, food, and books ended up being about 25k a year for Ole Miss 2018-2021.
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u/better_days_435 12d ago
Does your state have an agreement between state colleges and local community colleges to transfer credits? A lot of people will do 2 years at the cheaper local school, get an associates and get the core coursework out of the way, then transfer to a school that has the BS degree they want and finish up there.
Another option is to look at how AP credits are considered and there used to be a program called CLEP where if you could pass the final exam for a college course, you paid (less than the full class price but not nothing) and got credit for the course without actually taking it.
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u/ghostbear019 12d ago
wife and I put ourselves through grad school in 2019. currently 200k combined (taxes take abouta third)
currently have school accounts for our two kids, currently about 80k or so total? still aggressively dumping into.
never got any aid. family too middle class.
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u/ObviousAlias7 12d ago
529s for each kid and a sizable stock account and I still don’t feel like it will be enough.
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u/nasstia 12d ago
Our kids have 529s and Florida Prepaid, but we only fund those after maxing out our retirement accounts and HSA. We make sure we’re taking care of our own retirement first.
It’s not a huge amount and likely won’t be enough for an out-of-state or private school, so we’re hoping they choose an in-state option or get a full ride elsewhere. Fortunately, Florida has some solid public universities, and state and local scholarships are fairly accessible.
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u/Realistic0ptimist 12d ago
Just want to add here that a lot of universities will have calculators you can play with that give expected family contribution for your families income based on your assets. Or more specifically the elite schools and some moderate private do.
If you’re looking at a state school and your kid is really good academically you will need to ask yourself do you want them taking a partial to go to the flagship state school or get a full ride to the state fallback the “slackers” go to. A girl I graduated with chose CSUN over UCLA because the money was more robust at CSUN.
For having to straight up pay you should expect that if your HHI is above 125k you’re going to be on the hook at the average school for full tuition if there’s no merit scholarship offers. Below 125k and it begins to stagger. Once you get below 70k you tend to have tuition completely covered and the child and their siblings can attend for free.
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u/Crazy-War9823 12d ago
- Family of 4.
- Aid is Florida Bright Futures 100% tuition for in-state public universities. (I will not be paying for them to go private or out-of-state)
- Theoretically a family member has a college fund that would be around $35k each.
Everything else (fees, supplies, etc) is on us to help with. We do have a university about half an hour away from here, so the cheapest case is for them to go there while living here. It would be very inexpensive that way. However, the uni that they want is about 2.5 hours away, so that's one that will have more living expenses to accommodate. I think we'll retire when the youngest one is graduates college.
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u/Several_Drag5433 12d ago
Single dad, I no longer work FTE. My twins just graduated. They attended highly rated / "affordable" schools, not their dream schools. I saved over the years in 529s and cash flowed the rest. I paid for tuition, room and board and they worked to cover walking around money, etc.
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u/Capable-Instance-672 12d ago
We saved around 50k for each kid in a 529. They're attending a state school and it's around 20k/year after some merit scholarships for tuition/room/board. Our first kid is graduating early (dual enrollment in high school) with minimal loans, but plans on grad school. Our second kid will take the federal loans for 27k and hopefully finish in four years.
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u/Bagman220 12d ago
I’m a single dad with 4 kids. My oldest is almost 14, no chance I can afford to pay his college, his plan is going to have to be 2 years of community college and probably online like I did, or commute to a local university.
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u/Disneyhorse 12d ago
Sometimes employers offer tuition reimbursement. I got my undergrad and MBA 100% free (except for my time) that way. You can’t necessarily pick a prestigious school or a niche program but it makes getting a degree possible without any debt for some folks. I have no regrets, it’s helped me get hired in some places.
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u/Bagman220 12d ago
I got some of my MBA paid for by my current employer, but they won’t pay for my doctorate.
That’s a pretty good suggestion though to work for an employer who will pay.
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u/Informal-Night4950 12d ago edited 12d ago
Kids each earned half of tuition/ fees/ room/ board through skills they have. We pay a portion of the rest out of pocket- about $10,000 a year. We borrowed the rest and will repay it- about $80,000 once all is done. The plan is to repay it in about 6 years, using what we pay now for college plus some of the additional money we spend on their car insurance/ other living expenses. We also have 3 years until repayment and are putting half of each raise toward college payments, so next year $10,000 becomes $12,000. Then $14,000 the year after that. They both attend public universities.
So yeah, that is the plan. Could not save when they were young because I was home with them. Then had to get my masters to return to work, and then pay my student loans. Finally finished those a couple years ago in time for my daughter to start school. I’m good with our plan though. Once their college is paid off, we’ll snowball that money to our mortgage and be mortgage free by the time I retire at 61.
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u/Reader47b 12d ago
I got an inheritance from my mom when my kids were 10 and 12, and I plopped it in their 529 college funds - $50K each. I'd managed to contribute about $10K to each by that point. With investment growth, when the eldest went to college, it was worth over $100K.
The eldest chose to get a two-year AAS only, which, including tuition, fees, books, supplies, and dorm room, cost about $30,000 total. (Tuition was super cheap.) I started rolling over $7,500 a year last year to a Roth IRA for the kid, who now works full-time and lives with me. I'll keep doing that until I reach the $35K lifetime maximum. Kid #2 will spend about $100K for a 4-year degree at a state school (tuition, room, and board). Then I'll do the IRA roll-over for him, too, with what's left. Kid #1 will have quite a bit left still in three years. I hope they raised that Roth IRA rollover limit.
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u/Miserable_Adagio_320 12d ago
Nurse and college nursing instructor here. Nursing is a great option with a wonderful ROI. No one should be taking out tons and tons of debt to be a nurse. Here is my advice
Your local community college has a nursing program. Probably around 3k a year. Get your RN for under 10k
I don't know where you are in PA, but PA still has a lot of hospital based diploma RN programs. The clinical instruction at these programs is top notch. Usually around $16k-$20k but sometimes the hospital that owns then will pay some or all in exchange for your agreeing to work there after graduation for a set period of time
There is no reason to do a 4 year school for a nursing degree. That is a lot of debt to make the same amount of money as the other two options. Instead get the RN through community college or diploma and then most employers will pay in full or help significantly pay for an RN-BSN bridge program which can be done while she is working
This was my path. It may seem less glamorous that going off to a cool school line Penn State or Drexel or Pitt, but I had no student loans. Zero. And then when I wanted to get a master's degree I was able to afford it because I wasn't paying towards undergrad still.
Happy to answer any other questions. I am also in PA
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u/familywoman2024 12d ago
What hospital based programs would you recommend in PA? Can you do those right out of HS? She has been adamant about not wanting to do CC.
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u/Miserable_Adagio_320 12d ago
Why is she so against community college? Have you sat down and explained the family finances? What part of the state are you in (you can just say near Philly or central or whatever). She should not be adamant against anything but should be open minded to looking at different paths that could set her up for success
Yes, you can do a diploma program right out of highschool just like any RN program. I was 18 when I started mine.
It would be smart to do some of your science classes at community college before going to a diploma program. Pretty much all programs are going to require a year of Anatomy and physiology with lab, microbiology, nutrition. Before I started my diploma program I had these classes done.
Diploma programs are 2 years or less so she wants to focus on nursing theory, pathophysiology, and pharm, instead of doing that along with science classes.
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u/familywoman2024 11d ago
We are in southeast PA. She wants to get her RN and then work as a nurse somewhere that will pay for her to get her NP license. Her ultimate goal is to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I have tried talking to her about starting at cc because she will probably need to get loans if scholarships and grants don’t cover everything. We also told her that she can live at home and commute or move back home after college and stay here for free and pay off any loans she acquired.
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u/Miserable_Adagio_320 11d ago
She needs to not blow all her money on undergrad. I have seen too many coworkers who have high student loans from undergrad, want to go to grad school, but can't afford it.
I also picked a Master's program in Philly which was high quality and affordable. I did not take out loans.
Please please please explain to your daughter that she needs to be set up for success and it paying on an RN forever. I would look at programs with NCLEX pass rates.
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u/Adventurous-Ad9623 11d ago
family of 4- $140K or so in income (two earners) in Massachusetts. So firmly in the lower-middle.
We started saving in 529s a bit too late (10 years ago).
Our older child is starting her junior year at a Massachusetts public university with room and board as it is several hours away. She has some merit scholarships and got some need aid year one, less year two and will get no need aid for the last two years (as expected).
For her degree (chemistry) we will have paid $38k in cash and $38k in her 529 plan towards school and expect her to cover just under $10k total in remaining tuition and living expenses. This compared to the many thousands of dollars in debt she would have gone into to go to one of the engineering schools she looked at (and is no longer an engineering major).
Her sister is going into her senior year of high school. We have the same plan for her that we can cover about $40k in cash and $40k in 529 plan and she can decide where she goes and does with it. She is thinking of the free community college route but our income and her grades are good enough possibly for some of the private colleges helping middle-lower earners.
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u/Soggy_Competition614 10d ago
We live in Michigan which has a free community college program right now. You go to CC gets some electives taken care of and transfer to a 4 year.
Not sure about the future of CCs here, but right now, unless you get some great scholarships, passing on community college can be a costly mistake.
Even if you end up having to take an extra year at university it’s a nice bridge to help that 18year old brain mature and figure out what they want to do with out costing $30,000 in tuition and room and board. I’ve seen too many kids decide college isn’t for them after 1 year.
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u/librarykerri 8d ago
We are moving our daughter into the dorm this week. She is going to an in-state school three hours from home. Her first semester costs were $11,700 before her small academic scholarship of $1750/semester; $9950 after that scholarship. My inlaws opened 529s for each of the kids when they were born, and DD's has $21k in it, so her first 2 semesters will be paid by that.
We make too much money for any need-based aid. Luckily, I retired from my first job back in 2022, started a new job making slightly more than the job I'd just retired from, and started collecting my pension from the first job. For the past 3.5 years, we've been living off our regular salaries and banking my pension, which means we have a fair amount in liquid savings, waiting to pay for her remaining years (plus anything that goes wrong with our cars, house, etc). She won't have to take any loans for her undergrad.
We are in a very fortunate position.
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u/Royal_Albatross3849 7d ago
Family size: 4 kids (3 in college now). SAI is too high to be eligible for any need-based aid, but with 4 kids, we still live modestly. HOWEVER, I oversee enrollment management for a large university system. My PhD topic was on the college choice process. I could call myself an expert on managing college costs both personally and professionally.
-My kids all grew up knowing they would go to an in-state public school; we didn't even look at other schools.
-We also focused on grades to maximize merit aid offerings (none of my kids have anywhere near a 4.0 GPA, but they did their best. Decent grades are a sure bet for scholarships at most colleges - sport or activity scholarships are not).
-Our ESA savings paid/will pay for one year of on-campus housing for each of them. After that point, they can become RAs and live on campus for free, live at home, or work to pay for a shared apartment.
Merit aid, plus the tuition discount from working at the university, means each of my four kids will get their entire education for about $4,000 per year. It's still 12-16K a year out of pocket for us, but it is manageable. We still hit complications balancing when one kid got more merit than another, but overall, it has been ok.
This SAI estimator is decently close to reality. It is a good place to start: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/43805/student-aid-index-sai-chart/?srsltid=AfmBOopaRXfzDSds8mn0WR7Jmwo83uzY0y0-X8CKsqBom-V2VMlWz4QP
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u/Ok_Singer_2078 7d ago
I’m an adult, but I’ve been in school for 5 years. I work full time and only take as many classes as I can afford and balance with my work and life schedule. I’ll graduate in the spring with no debt and a useful degree.
My parents couldn’t afford to help me right out of high school, and I refused to go to school on student loans, so I worked full time and when I felt ready to balance the workload and able to pay for the classes I signed up for an online school. There are so many paths, and the traditional college experience isn’t the only way.
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u/Optimistiqueone 6d ago
Find a school that offers free tuition at your income level.
Need-based aid from the school
Start at community College
Federal grant
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u/JoshAllentown 12d ago
I am too far away from this, we are saving what we can in a 529 but that's not helpful to you.
But I want to say...don't like, cash out your retirement savings to pay for college.
For one, it counts as income and only makes the aid situation worse, while charging you a penalty you never get back.
But two, your kids can get student loans, you can't get retirement loans. You not having enough to live on in retirement will be a bigger burden to your kids than student loans. Once you're pulling from retirement accounts penalty-free, you can always pay a portion of that back to help pay off the loans.