Parents pull back on college spending

[Dave_Berry]

"A study released Monday by the country's largest student lender shows parents spending less on college costs and students shouldering more of the burden, a trend that demonstrates how families are strategizing to cut college expenses."

Are you pulling (or have you pulled) back?

Parents pull back on college spending, study finds | Nation & World | The Seattle Times

[MyLB]

Interesting. In our house I'd say yes and no, but I think it has more to do with individual circumstances. For our oldest, it was all "hey isn't this college hunt exciting!" We didn't put any parameters on it, other than he needed to maintain the minimum GPA required to keep his merit aid (which was good but not great). The middle had a specific major in mind, and ended up at an OOS public that is turning out to be just as expensive as oldest's LAC. Ouch. For youngest, we're really trying to set a spending limit. Part of this is a change in finances (loss of one of our jobs for about a year), part is we're tired of the big bills, part is youngest is not as academically strong.

Anyway--I guess we won't know if youngest is indeed significantly cheaper until next spring (hs class of '13), but we certainly have costs much more in mind this time around.

[sally305]

We are definitely being extremely conservative with our spending. Even though we have enough in college savings plans to cover our firstborn's costs (he received very generous merit aid, so the net cost is pretty low), we are having him take out small loans each year. That way if the costs are higher for his younger sister, we can use some of the residual in his accounts to help her afford to go.

We've also already talked about Thanksgiving and pretty much decided he will have to stay near his college. It's an annoying time to travel, it's expensive, and he will be back a few weeks later for a month anyway.

[BCEagle91]

We've funded our kids fully and will continue to though son is working full-time and can pay for finishing his MS on tuition reimbursement. The last few years have been good for us financially.

[maidenMom]

only one kid - doing it how she wants - glad I can (barely) make it happen with no loans for either of us.

[ellemenope]

This is the first year that we've actually gone through the process of getting a health insurance waiver. So I guess we're spending less...

[Pizzagirl]

I haven't changed my philosophy, but it has definitely been a trend, even in some of the wealthier neighborhoods in this area, to either "restrict" the kid to U of Illinois or tell the kid - 2 years at comm college and then go elsewhere - in families where in the past the expectation would have been go spend 4 years away at a private college. I can't say it's a bad strategy, though. I'm glad I don't have to place that restriction on my kids, but it's not like I think that restriction is really the end of the world - there are few places you can't get from U of Illinois (cue the usual boring but-you-can't-get-into-investment-banking nonsense, to which my response is who cares).

[MD Mom]

Our kids contribute and will contribute to their educations by attending schools where they were awarded merit money. So they are not paying for their college, but are in a way contributing. Lucky us, we pay the rest and ask little of them other than to maintain GPAs and therefore scholarships.

[annasdad]

We believe that it is our responsibility to pay for a college education for our kids. It is irresponsible, IMO, to bring children into a world where a full life pretty much demands a college education, then at 18 to say, "Sorry, you're on your own."

What we do NOT believe is that it is necessary, or our responsibility, to pay for a college education that is beyond our means, given that there are dozens of affordable alternatives, even for lower-middle-class families such as ourselves.

Our daughter knew starting out the college search process what the budget was. When decision time came, she chose the lowest-cost alternative, even though she had acceptances to two more expensive schools that would have been within the specified budget. Because she made that decision, it means that she will graduate with no debt, and there will be money available to fund a semester abroad, summer terms, or extra semesters - in other words, to pay for enhancements to her education that would not be possible had she chosen a more expensive school. And the quality of the education she will get at her chosen school is just as good as the quality of education at either of the other two - because, after all (ready for this?), it's what the student does when they get to college that's truly important, not where the student goes.

[ellemenope]

it has definitely been a trend, even in some of the wealthier neighborhoods in this area, to either "restrict" the kid to U of Illinois or tell the kid - 2 years at comm college and then go elsewhere - in families where in the past the expectation would have been go spend 4 years away at a private college.

I've noticed this at our nearby high school...the kids who are going to private colleges got serious scholarship money. Parents are up in the air about their jobs, economy, college costs, etc. People are definitely being more careful. Glad that I only have one year left of tuition...

[charlieschm]

I've told my kids to not get emotionally attached to any one college - keep a completely open mind until you find out what the net cost will be, so you can compare.

[annasdad]

in some of the wealthier neighborhoods in this area, to either "restrict" the kid to U of Illinois

Given the state's current budget woes, that's becoming an option in only the "wealthier neighborhoods." In many neighborhoods, most people could not afford to send their kid to UIUC or UIC, or for that matter, to any state school - at least not on a sleep-away basis. The second option you mention, two years at a CC then transfer to a lower-cost four year, is the only financially responsible choice for more and more families. In our lower-middle-class rural community, the number of kids going to the state schools (NIU, EIU, WIU, SIUE) is declining, and the number going to CC is going up.

[ucbalumnus]

Is this a surprise? It would not be surprising if many parents simply have less money now than the parents of several years ago had to offer their college students.

[PackMom]

We didn't have to "pull back" because we were already there to begin with.
Told both kids we had enough saved for them to attend an instate public univ. and graduate debt free.
We live in NC and have a good state system w/ reasonable costs (compared to others I've read about here on CC). We also didn't want them to take on debt but told them if they could get merit money elsewhere so they could still graduate debt free, it was fine by us. Both chose the instate option.

S1 had a full ride so he had a sizeable amt. left in his acct. when he graduated. He recently used some of it to buy his first house.
S2 had no scholarships. He still has a small amt left in his acct. to get started in life. S2 graduated in May and like so many others is unemployed. I'm so glad he doesn't have school loans hanging over his head right now to add to the pressure of the job search.

[texaspg]

Paying fullfare at a private school for next 4 years.

However, wondering if the ridiculous increases in price tags in a stagnant/bad economy over several years will put a crimp on what to do with our second kid.