Money saved when son or daughter goes to college

[TrinSF]

Oh, we've saved a lot! We went from being a 4 person household to just 3 of us. The thing is, even though son was 1/4 of the household, he ate 1/3 of the food! As a result, we've cut our grocery bill by a third. He also ate a lot when we went out to eat, so we've saved that. Water bill is less (he liked long showers). I don't pay for a cell phone for him any more, that's $50 a month. I no longer buy school lunches, that was about $75.00. Toiletries, incidentals, occasional money for movies -- none of that is our problem any more.

All told, my recent estimate is between $300-500 per month gross savings. Even after spending maybe $100 a month on him -- mailing little gifts, stuff like that -- our household has probably saved about $2000 since he left home.

Our situation is different than other parents because he has a full ride, so I don't pay for much at school, and he does not visit frequently, and pays for part of that out of his grants.

I have been doing the math on this one because I'm trying to demonstrate to my partner that subsidizing my son's spending summer away is more cost effective than having him sleeping on the couch eating our food at home. :-)

[orchestramom]

Our yearly outlay for D's music EC is close to $10,000 (totalling up all activities: lessons, youth orchestra, summer festival, European concert tour, instrument maintenance and repair...).

But iIt's not going to be saved so much as redirected into college expenses!

[HarrietMWelsch]

Since D is the sole occupant of the third floor of our house, and it's on a separate heating circuit, I suppose we save a little there, in the winter. And I know I buy less laundry detergent, since the dirty practice gear or uniform she generated nearly every day of the year now gets washed at (or by, hooray!) the college, and the water bill is lower too thanks to fewer loads of laundry and fewer showers. I think we buy less orange juice too. Getting her home for one or two visits a year is a cheap train ticket (I pay for holidays); moving her at year's end/beginning is a tank of gas.

With two still at home I can't say life is actually less interesting. Of course we, like everybody else here, miss who our college kid is as a person. On top of that, for me, a piece of what's missing is (for lack of a better term) female companionship - it's just me in a sea of guys, here. Goodness knows I like guys but I miss my girl a lot.

[calmom]

A lot for me.

For both kids it was around ~$1800 savings to remove them from the car insurance, something I could do as they were out of state attending colleges without cars.

With my son it was $50 off the weekly food bill (something I am reminded of every time he comes home to visit & the grocery bill zooms right up again)!

My daughter had been driving her own car (which I owned), so when she went to college, I gave my car to my son and took her car - more savings for me to be down to 1 vehicle rather than 2. She commuted daily to school, probably paying at least $40-$50 for gas weekly - so those expenses were gone. Given the high commute expense I had been giving her a rather generous allowance when she was in high school -- I think I was giving her $100/week -- when she went off to college I dropped the allowance. (I pay for tuition & housing, the rest comes from her own earnings over the summer + work study or other jobs).

I also made changes to my kids' health insurance to cut down the premiums -- basically opting for a higher deductible as their routine expenses & visits would be covered at the college health clinic.

Plus there are all sorts of incidentals like restaurant meals or movies that are expenses I would pick up when the kids were home but don't have when they are gone, and I also dropped to the cheapest Netflix plan.

[mathmom]

I doubt we save much. No more paying for APs and SATs! But Mathson wasn't a big eater, and earned his own spending money. I'm sure we use less electricity as his computer was always on. I thought flights to Pittsburgh would be less expensive, but prices are higher either because of vacation time, or because my husband wants him to arrive at times that are convenient for him, rather than ones that are easy on the checkbook!

[maysixxmom]

"Life is generally a little less interesting." Wow, JHS, you speak the truth!

[condor30]

would say we've saved on water and electricity costs (fewer showers in the house and less laundry).

[garland]

We definitely saved a ton on food budget. Hot water, electricity, and like others said, those incidentals you pay for when they're home. I'd say a couple hundred a month, at least. Last year we got the whole 2000 tax credit; I think it was a little less this year, maybe 1600? Nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure.

A couple people have listed school costs to suggest that savings are illusory, but I think that's missing the point--we all know and love to bewail the huge costs of school and its peripheries, but it's good to remember that the total isn't really (or wasn't for us) the college costs themselves; it was somewhat less balanced by the admittedly small savings and credits. Every hundred or thousand saved meant real money for us.

[paying3tuitions]

S made sure we adopted a "free" SPCA dog to cope with empty nest. The dog eats more than S ever did, and needed obedience school. S took him to the lessons and trained him well, so that part was cool.

[fireflyscout]

Maybe it's because the senior year is so expensive, but it does seem like we are saving money.

[Lafalum84]

Saving on food, definitely. Fewer loads of laundry as well. Taking DS off the car insurance will save about $700. Also not giving him a weekly allowance & lunch money (saving $25/week).

[Chedva]

These sound like the same illusory "savings" as are touted in the car commercials ("Take the money you save and invest in a CD"). They're not "savings"; you're simply spending less than you would otherwise. The "savings" all of you are talking about are wiped out by the costs of college (except for those on full rides or other serious scholarships/grants). You may be paying less because some costs were removed, but the bottom line is that college costs.

[Chipmoney]

These sound like the same illusory "savings" as are touted in the car commercials ("Take the money you save and invest in a CD"). They're not "savings"; you're simply spending less than you would otherwise. The "savings" all of you are talking about are wiped out by the costs of college (except for those on full rides or other serious scholarships/grants). You may be paying less because some costs were removed, but the bottom line is that college costs.

That's definitely true, but I would imagine the majority of people calculate the costs of college without adjusting the household budget first.

[calmom]

Chedva, it is important for those of us living on tight budgets to look at these costs because they make a huge difference in what we can afford in terms of college for our kids. I mean, $1800 saved in reduced care insurance premiums translates into being able to take a PLUS loan with payments of $150/month (about $12,000) - or it might simply mean being able to say "yes" to a college where the financial aid has come up $2500 short.

For me it is important so that I can avoid borrowing - and paying interest - on more than I actually need. I really do have to look at that bottom line: how much money will I have left over at the end of the month? How much of that can go to current tuition and/or loan payments?

It also is important in terms of making the college choice in the first place. Sometimes the college which seems like the best bargain may entail extra costs because of these incidentals. For me the biggies were car & health insurance. On another thread a parent posted about how great the benefits are with the UC Berkeley health plan -- apparently it pays $1000 toward wisdom teeth extraction. If a parent knows their kid will need the surgery.... well, $1000 is nothing to scoff at.

I'd like to add one more thing. I saved a bundle down the line because my son became independent and paid for his last two years of college, and supported himself -- without my help. So don't assume that the parent is necessarily the one paying for college. Many parents have kids like my son who are paying their own way while attending public schools, or kids who have earned full ride scholarships or have money through programs like ROTC or Americorps. Some who are on very tight budgets may have -0- EFCs and have the colleges meeting the full cost through grants and loans made to their kids.

So before scoffing at the idea that there could be "savings" when the kid goes off to college, please keep in mind that many parents are indeed in situations where the savings are real.

[soozievt]

For us, it was a bit like calmom is saying. I don't add up what we save on food and all but we did consciously consider the fact that we no longer would be paying for extracurricular activities/lessons (we spent a lot on those and my kids were in many things) or summer programs (they went away every summer) and we earmarked what we spent on those activities toward college. Yes, of course our expenses are way more now but simply we did take that chunk we no longer have to pay for and put it toward figuring in how much out of pocket we could put toward college in a given year and then took out Parent Plus loans for the rest. We didn't add up savings on things like food, though I do spend less on food in our budget. I'm sure that is easily eaten up by other things we have for expenses now....just visiting and going to their events at college costs money (for example, one of my kids is performing at Lincoln Center next weekend and of course I must see it and the tickets are expensive, travel and lodging as well....).