<p>My son never had a private lesson for anything, his ECs didn’t cost much, Boy scouts, Civil Air Patrol. No tutors, never needed them. Camp. I was blessed in that the camp he went to for 11 years had a sliding income scale for payment. I could never have afforded full price for that. </p>
<p>Yet we were one of the first people I knew that had a computer and internet access (1995). It was funny because I bought a car the same year for around the same price, $1500 (and had it for nearly 4 years).</p>
<p>The only pieces of furniture in my house (which I bought when I was 40) that I purchased new are a couch and the mattresses and a computer desk and 1 tv. Everything else from the kitchen table and chairs, dressers to the lamps were bought at flea markets and yard sales. My silverware came from fingerhut in 1981.</p>
<p>and thank you BCeagle for trying to understand what it has been like for the “rest of us”…we want our kids to have the best…we try, but we just won’t earn what is required for monthly for all of those “funds”…I am impressed with those of you that figured out how to make it happen!!</p>
<p>We did our best…I think most parents do…The most imporant thing we can teach the kids as they are growing up is what to expect us to do for college. If we need to tell them…sorry…we can’t afford to help at all…to…pick where you want to go…we will be a libraray if necessary:)…the thing is to let the kids know from the start</p>
<p>no doubt…i wish i was one of the parents that told her kids to go wherever they want, yadayadayada…its not us!!</p>
<p>We saved. We basically live on my husband’s income and my paltry income is socked away. We live below our means, run our cars into the ground and take out no loans; except for the mortgage. We have also been lucky, no major illnesses and dh has a decent job. Our oldest graduated after 5 years with no debt from an out state public school. Her ACT score brought down the cost to in state level. Youngest dd is going to private LAC and has a good scholarship. She will also graduate debt free. I consider this to be one of the best gifts I could give them. However, both kids know that it is unusual to graduate without debt. They both are hard workers and are very frugal. I think by watching us save, they have become savers. They are both bargain hunters and love resale stores. Somehow, we have managed to raise two girls who are low maintenance. Their future husbands will be fortunate.</p>
<p>papengena - thanks! My son, raised in the house of ‘without’, a public school education and no prepping of any kind, was smart enough (2250 SAT) to get into NYU and the scholarship gods smiled upon us. </p>
<p>I almost forbid him from applying since I’d heard the FA horror stories and there was no way on the planet I could pay 50K +. Sure he’s got perkins and stafford loans, and I always end up shelling out a few K more than my EFC (NYU is one of the privates that only uses FAFSA) but I tell you there were tears of joy at the table when he opened the ‘fat envelope’ and realized that with a bit of a continued sacrifice on my part, we could make NYU work financially. This is the first time he’s had ‘top shelf’ of anything</p>
<p>wow…sue, it is truly parents that you , that make me step back and look at what we’ve done for our kids!! Not so bad…but you really are an awesome mom…pretty sure you son is very well aware of that:)…good job!!</p>
<p>Did I save? Honestly, not much. For much of the time my daughters were growing up, I was a divorced mom making very modest wages. I put my money into paying for a decent place to live in a good school district, and into finishing my own degree through a weekend college program so that I could aspire to better jobs. That degree took seven years of sacrificed weekends, late nights studying, and scrimping on expenses.</p>
<p>When I did have some extra to put aside, I put it mostly into a retirement fund. I was late in starting to save for retirement (for the reasons mentioned above), and as any financial planner will tell you, you can borrow money to pay for college but not to pay for retirement. </p>
<p>Do I wish I could have saved more for their college education? Of course I do. But I did my best to make sure they went to good schools where they’d have opportunities and excellent college preparation, and I worked my tail off to climb the career ladder so I’d be earning a lot more by the time they started college. I also intentionally sought out work at a college, so that I’d be able to get tuition benefits for them. </p>
<p>So I figure I’ve put a heck of a lot of “sweat equity” into preparing for their college education, even if I can’t point to a big fat savings account waiting for them.</p>
<p>lunitari, Hats off to you! What you did is wonderful. When all is said and done, I think what most of what we want to say is we did our best for our children. Now it is up to them.</p>
<p>We too skipped all these things–sent kids to the local public school (not at all highly rated; we skipped moving to the “good” towns), no tutors, no summer camps, no lessons, no prep. Lots of trips to the library, and out in the natural world, seemed to make up for those things. If those other things were what was needed to get to the “right” college, then it wouldn’t have *been *the right college.</p>
<p>Well garland, I think you achieved an impressive result. </p>
<p>I saved about half the money for two, or all of the money for one, but H needed it for his business which was practically destroyed by 9/11, so we were back to square one.</p>
<p>I agreed to give the money to H because he was so emotionally involved with his business that I think he would have been a broken man without it. I figured that a destroyed father was worse than going to state u.</p>
<p>As it turns out, all the borrowing we did made us eligible for FA, so although I am working two jobs now, we are paying our way without loans.</p>
<p>We saved enough for 4 years at a state school for each kid. Like the OP Onward, both worked and we banked one salary. Our life has been fine. No McMansion, no trust funds, but a good durable house in a good durable neighborhood with a good public school…old durable cars that we hope keep going just alittle longer please. The future is no longer clear with the economy the way it is, but we will survive murky I do believe. Do I regret any of the choices we made along the way…rarely.</p>
<p>When I read about conflicted parents on other threads whose kids have found the perfect college fit that they can’t afford to attend without massive loans, I’m glad that we’ve saved enough to pay for college.</p>
<p>I will admit, though, we don’t have our house set at 64 degrees!</p>
<p>My husband was enlisted military, so my income was always variable and not to be counted on, and we made sure we always “lived” off of his income. This left me a lot of time to spend with our child, which I believe was a great investment on its own-and which I was very lucky to be able to do. Consequent to the moves and the instability of a second income, we were not able to put aside much cash. We did, however, when our son was 3, purchase a house which soon became a rental. Since it was financed with a 15 year note, it was paid for when son was college age. The proceeds from the sale of that house were designated as the “college fund.” However, since son took an appointment to the Naval Academy rather than attending Johns Hopkins or any of the other schools he was accepted to, the house was not sold. When he graduated that house was a gift to him and he now earns the income from the rent.</p>
<p>That should help pay for grad school when he is finished flying for the Navy.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to say, but no I wasn’t able to save for my child’s college tuition. I was a single parent (for 20 years), never was able to afford to buy a home, or even a new car. We made due. When my child was in preschool and then through elementary school I paid for after school care (and school holiday care) so I could continue to work. Life in our 2 person household has always been frugal and smart. I don’t now, nor have I ever, carried credit card debt, and except for my own going back to school as an adult student loans, have no debt. I have a very small amount “invested” in my “retirement” (smaller now thanks to the tanking of the markets).</p>
<p>I think a more important question might be “do you wish you had saved for your child’s education?” - most certainly, but if I am honest, I would wish I had more in my own retirement account.</p>
<p>DD is currently a senior. Our mortgage was paid off 7 years ago. Since we were already used to living without that money, we “pretended” that we still had a mortgage and put that money away in a 529 plan. We did keep money aside monthly for property taxes and insurance - what was previously in escrow. We drive our cars until they die. Have lived in the same modest home for 25 years. Live below our means. It feels good. Also, when DD started looking at colleges, I sat her down had the “talk” about what we had already saved and how much we would contribute yearly to her education. She knew up front - no surprises. We will continue to save for our retirement while she is in college.</p>
<p>Yes, we saved in a 529 which was loosing $1000+/month! We quickly switched the name & money to our first child already in college to stem the losses…The result is our class of 2009 child has no 529 money, but child #1 is covered until graduation.</p>