Cash instead of tuition?

If you were a full pay family with a kid who wasn’t thrilled about the idea of college, are there any circumstances where you’d give them access to their college fund money without going to college?

Not a chance- education is an investment. No college= no financial support of any kind

No. College can wait, invest the money, keep it for when maturity happens.

No. And, I’m pretty sure if my son knew getting a pile of cash was an option instead of college he’d be all over that.

For some kids trade school would be something I’d consider.

I had one friend who’s oldest tried college for one year and it didn’t work out, they gave him the remaining college funds to purchase a house. He has a job and no rent and rental income for the rooms he rents out. That’s how they are investing in his future and it’s working for them.

I know this is a college forum but there are more ways than college to invest in a child’s future. I recall a family in FL that had two children with Down’s syndrome they took the money she would have spent for college and bought a small business for them to work at, ice cream shop maybe? I thought that was a great idea.

No way.
Education is an investment.
If they have concrete plans for something instead of college, I would cautiously support that, rather than give them a 6 figure amount.

It depends. If the kid was independent and had a job, and was self supporting, I would probably give him the money for something like the down payment on a house or something like that…maybe by age 30.

College isn’t for everyone. Some folks become successful taking different routes. And success is defined differently for some than for others.

But i would likely wait until age 30 or so…because by then the decision about higher education likely would have been made.

I wouldn’t keep the money intended to benefit my kids for myself, or my other kid.

If I think my 17-yo is not ready for college, then I would say he is not ready to receive the money. It will be his, just not yet. ?

I’d pay for trade school, or else set the money aside for a decade in case they change their mind.

But straight up cash? No.

I would only pay for something that I felt was as productive and as likely to lead to a good future as college would be. Trade school is one option. Another option is of course to hold on to the college money, and see how they feel after a year or two out of school.

Graduating from university with money left in a 529 plan is a somewhat different issue, but is also something that a few parents need to deal with.

“I wouldn’t keep the money intended to benefit my kids for myself, or my other kid.”

This is how we feel too. We saved the same amount for each kid. The youngest isn’t thrilled about school or college. If he doesn’t go to college then that money will stay invested and be there later on. We would be happy for it to be used for a house downpayment a few years down the line. Or if he can come up with another suggestion we would be prepared to consider it (say he wants to set up his own business for example).

It’s no different to letting his sister keep the unspent money from her 529 because she got a large scholarship. We aren’t handing the money over in cash all in one go but will certainly give it to her for grad school, a house downpayment or something similar. Or even if she needs support after college while she tries to get a ballet company position.

Is this a reference to Bill Gates ?

No way. He’s not mature enough yet. Keep it invested. Maybe set up a trust. Make a plan for the future. Dip into the money as needed to support a future plan. Of course, college is not for everyone but having a plan for success would be important here.

I guess it might depend on who you view the money belonging to. I consider all the 529 money mine to help me pay for their college. I wasn’t sacrificing all these years for house down payments or big weddings and if when they’re all done there is money left I’m going to treat myself. Maybe buy a car less than 15 years old or go on a vacation…more than likely there will be nothing left though.

They also both have UTMA accounts and that will be theirs no matter what, but the Grands funded those, not me…and they have no idea it can be used for anything else.

@cshell2. Totally agree. It’s my money until proven otherwise. ??. Sure it’s allocated for both the kids for college. We will see how much if any will be left over. One might go to graduate school. If so then it all gets put in one pile to help that kid out.

There are many paths to a working career. I don’t think of it in terms of some kind of lump sum. But I support my kids (including one who has taken many long breaks from school) when they do volunteering or interning, take a workshop or get a certificate, or any other pursuit that contributes to a resume. Employers are often impressed by experience, not just academic credentials.

Work experience, even at lowly jobs, can also prove work ethic and maturity and can often help in securing a better job. The time spent on that lowly job may mean some need for parental help.

To me, attending college or not attending college is not some kind of moral issue where only the college attendees get funds. College just doesn’t work for everyone.

I think it depends on what the kid wants to do instead. Timing would be important too. I doubt I’d give my kid the $ at 18 in case they changed their mind about going to school later. but I also know lots of kids who would have been better off going into a trade than college. I would certainly give seed money for a well thought out business or for a downpayment for a home for a kid who took a mature, non college, route.

I would lump trade school with college and would happily pay for that, but probably not a business. Too much of a gamble for me. If they wanted to just start working in one of the many factories around here, fine, they can live at home to save money as long as they contribute to the household. It’s a LCOL area so they could save up for a house down payment pretty quickly living at home for a few years.

I really hope neither one chooses that last route though, because that’s what I did and life was pretty rough. Maybe I would feel differently if I had a lot of money, but I’m a low income single parent that has over twice my annual income saved up for college for my kids to hopefully raise them above the worrying about paying the bills level I was at a lot. If they’re not going to take advantage of that, then no, they don’t get to use it for a year of backpacking in Europe when I haven’t even been overseas.

I don’t think my kids would ever expect the money for anything but school anyhow. I know the oldest wouldn’t. Maybe the 9 year old is my entitled kid. :smile:

I would not mind at all putting the money aside in an investment account for my kid, as long as I felt comfortable that my kid would not take out the money and spend the principal in future. I even suggested to my kid that he should consider attending an Honors Public school for free without any stress, take classes without regard to GPA and really study 4 years for the love and curiosity of learning, learn some practical skills about Investing, and invest $300+k that would have been spent for 4 years of HYPSM private college. Instead, he chose to attend one of HYPSM. But one very fortunate thing was the $300k invested during last 2 years turned into $500k! So far, the private college is being paid from profits. Bad thing is, of course, had our kid gone to an Honors Public college for free, he could have had anywhere between $600k and $700k waiting for him (not to spend but to continue to invest) in his investment account upon his undergraduate graduation. But I do believe the motivation to offset the high cost ($70K per year) of a private college might have been a big reason I paid so much attention to investing my kid’s money. IMO Govt should allow tax deductions for college tuitions.

I think I already instilled in my kid’s brain that investing is just as important as working hard to become financially free.

This is what trusts are for. You make dispersal of the funds contingent upon age or some other milestone, but do not hand over the money to an 18 year old.