i need people sharing idea how do they generate income to manage the college fee for their kids.
Probably too late but H and I started a regimented college savings program basically the day each kid was born. We gave up a number of things along the way to prioritize college savings.
Our budget, and the tightening of that budget to meet those costs, was part of the conversation with the kids at the start of the college selection process.
If we let the kid r e a c h to a pretty great school and they were accepted, yet we could not see that our family’s final cost of attendance was going to fall into the realm of what we could do, it could not be done. That happened just once.
Trying to ‘generate’ income at the late stage of paying the tuition, room and board and student portion of the college fees is not … really… a plan.
Many people start saving for college fees years before their children even apply. Others borrow, using federal and private loans, or getting a second mortgage on their house to finance an education. Others still try to live on one salary while the other parent’s salary goes toward college costs.
Many families try to lower the fees by having their children live at home while attending college and working part-time to help with their costs.
Could you be more specific?
We started saving at birth, lived on one salary for years, and had grandparents who helped fund some of the 529.
Had we not had those savings in place, D would have chased merit money at lower ranked schools.
Another option is to start at a community college and then transfer to a college close to home so there are no room and board charges.
New income generation ? Like a job?
The key for me was not to try to generate new income to pay fees I could not afford. I knew my budget was not going to magically increase in the final 12 months leading up to HS graduation.
Instead, I decided how much I could afford in my current financial situation. After all the admission decisions were decided, I reviewed the financial aid documents from each school and instructed my son that he could choose from the universities that fit my budget. Any school that priced our COA above my budget was no longer an option.
College is expensive. Students who have high stats can sometimes (not always) get substantial merit aid. But even that can leave a large chunk for families to pay. Some families are fortunate enough to be able to afford residential college even though their kids don’t have stellar stats. But most kids commute either to a 4 year school or to a community college then a 4 year school.
Pick a school you can afford and avoid debt. Set a budget and stick to it. There’s nothing wrong with taking unaffordable schools off the table.
If you can tell us a little about your situation we may be able to offer better advice. Has your child applied to college?
There are two things you need to do;
- Acquire Money. This you need to do when they are young…save and consider 529 plans (if in the USA).
- Reduce the cost of College.
. 3.1 Strategies for Affordable Colleges
If you are told there is no money, or you don’t know how much money, or there is a limited amount of money you need to choose colleges that are affordable for you family. For your parents, it used to be possible to work your way through college. This is no longer the case.
3.1.1 Financial Need
If your family has financial need (according to FAFSA/CSS, not what you think!), you can get need-based grants.
• Look at Net Price Calculators on colleges to see if you would get need based financial aid.
• Apply to Colleges that meet Full need Google it for a list)
3.1.2 Merit
Another way to get scholarship is through merit scholarships. Merit scholarships are used to attract strong students to a college. Ivy League schools do not give out merit scholarships because all students are strong that go there.
- Look for scholarships
a. Apply to colleges where your stats are significantly above average to get merit scholarships
b. Look for colleges with auto-scholarship based on gpa/sat http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ - Study for SAT on Khan Academy to increase your SAT score
3.1.3 Lower Cost School
Another way to save money on colleges is look for colleges with a lower sticker price. Also you can get credits for almost free in HS and then use them in college and attend for fewer years.
• Look for cheaper schools. In-state public schools are usually much cheaper than private/out of state schools
• Look to get as many college credits as you can in HS.
o Take AP or IB classes and do well on the AP/IB tests so you can get college credit. Find colleges that give extra credit for IB (e.g., SUNY Binghamton). If you have enough you may be able to graduate early. *Unless you want to go to medical school. Medical school don’t want you to fulfill the requirements of Bio, Chem, Org Chem, Physics with AP.
o Your state may have a “running start” or “dual enrollment” program where you can take college courses for free in HS
• Go to community college for two years, and then transfer to a state school
3.1.4 What about Loans?
You really want to avoid taking out big loans to pay for college. Your parents have to co-sign any loan you take over the Federal Direct Loan (Starting at $5500 and going up to $7000 as a senior). Student Loans are one of the only type of loans that cannot be discharged in a bankruptcy.
3.2 Aspects of College to Consider
There are 2000+ 4 year colleges in the USA. Think about the following to narrow down colleges to look at.
- Net Cost.
- Career goal – e.g., Architect, Lawyer, Doctor, Engineer, etc.
- Major – this may often correlate with your career goal.
- Geographic location – how far from home do you want to be? What is the weather like?
- Urban/rural/suburban
- Number of Undergraduates - Big/Small. Do you want a small Liberal Arts College (LAC) or a big State School?
- GPA/SAT/ACT scores
- Faculty Student Ratio
- % of students that live on campus
- % of students Graduating after 4 years
- How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
- Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
- Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
- Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
- Transportation - how would you get home
- AP Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
- Male/Female ratio
- Greek life - what % of students are in greek life. Do you care?
- Parking
- Diversity
- Safety
We weren’t in a position to save one cent for Happykid’s education until the second semester of her senior year in high school. Yes, you read that correctly. At that point, we were able to carve out $500 each month to put into savings with the plan to have enough ready to pay fall tuition at the local community college. Happykid did not have the profile that would have earned her a ginormous merit scholarship. Our EFC was fully four times what we could scrape together out of income. We weren’t in any position to take on parent loans to help pay for her education. That meant that her only option was our local community college.
As luck would have it, she was awarded the only merit scholarship she was qualified for at the CC, and what we had expected to be paying each term there was able to accumulate and help pay for her last two years at the affordable not-flagship state U. If she hadn’t been awarded the scholarship, we probably would have had her borrow the freshman and sophomore year student loans to save and use for the last two years.
If you are looking for additional sources of income to help pay for your kid’s education, then you need to think about what kind of second job you can pick up. Or if only one parent is currently working, what kind of job the other parent can get. There are no magical secrets out there to help you find the money you might need. Just the usual financial things all of us face all the time.
We bought state prepaid tuition plans for our kids when they were around 2. They guarantee tuition at any state university of college. We also put away about $20K each in a 529 plan. The idea was that if we died they could still go.
When it came time for college, kid 1 went to early college for 2 years (Eastern Michigan) and finished off using 2 years of of the prepaid plan. He took some classes at Michigan too. Kid 2 got in to a bunch of schools from nearly free ones (Alabama, with a 5 year scholarship) and some near Ivys like Rice and Vanderbilt. The price was pretty high though , $60-70K/yr, vs Michigan with the prepaid tuition. Kid 2 studied engineering so we nixed the expensive schools and used the 529 for dorm and 1st year apt. , and paid the last few years out of pocket. He had a part time job for additional expenses (food, clothes, etc.)
With the price of tuition and financial aid these days, you are better off either being wealthy or having virtually all of your assets in a retirement fund, which does count toward college available assets. Your typical middle/upper middle class income gets no FA and tuition outside of state schools is pretty high. Non super elite private colleges will often give partial scholarships matching state tuition. But overall, moving to a state with good state schools might be your best overall value for college.
For grad school our kids are both on their own. We both paid for grad school out of pocket while we were working, and when a kid is 22+ they need to stand on their own.
Depends on so many factors. Based on your question I’d say second job or start a small business. Many love the idea of saving since birth. Not many can ( nor want to). I think having enough savings to cover a good portion and them taking the rest out of current earnings is a good approach. But it matters a lot what income level you are in.
BUDGETING. We did it by budgeting everything and using their savings.
We did exactly the same thing that @happy1 did.
We shared our annual budget with each child to inform them about the costs of colleges and gave them a college budget (when they were each freshmen in high school) and had them search for affordable colleges. They could apply to two expensive colleges. If they got enough merit money, great, if not, no go.
We saved $25 per month, per kid in their 529 plans, since toddler age.
We sacrificed luxuries and have put off on repairs that we couldn’t do ourselves.
Limited vacations -camping to save money. We both worked overtime and some weekends.
We made each child work their summers in high school and college to earn money for their incidentals. They took out their own college loans, that they repaid, each year with summer and on-campus jobs.
Each child kicked it into gear at their schools to get good grades and high SAT/ACT scores to qualify for merit monies.
It is about setting limits to what is affordable.
The OP asked their question and hasn’t been heard from since. I wonder if the answers being given aren’t the ones they wanted to hear.
Or maybe the poster wanted to hear something like “I sold MLM products to the parents of my fourth child’s classmates and made a fortune?”
I suspect OP was a foreigner stunned by the cost of American higher education. I’ve heard that tone before “How on earth do Americans pay for this?!?” said a German friend when I showed him what University of California at Berkeley costs. I didn’t have the heart to show him COA at Stanford…
My sister and her husband started small college funds when each of my kids was born. They don’t have children and they had the money for this. My parents also contributed when the kids were born as well. I realize we are quite lucky for this. Other then that H and I put as much as we could in our kid’s college fund each year. Yes, that meant that maybe we took fewer vacations, drove older cars, lived in a smaller car, etc…but we were able to pay for college for both kids. Maybe not full freight at a private college, but 4 years for both kids at state schools is pretty good. That said, we only had our kids apply to schools we could afford to pay for comfortable. We also encouraged our kids to seek out schools that gave good merit aid. Our kids both got some scholarships as well. I realize we come from a place of privilege. As for creating more income to pay for college: maybe take second job if you can? Any extra money you get, use for college?
“The OP asked their question and hasn’t been heard from since. I wonder if the answers being given aren’t the ones they wanted to hear.”
I can’t think of options beyond the panoply of those offered.
I took the OP to be genuine, and at a loss late in the stages of college selection and admissions. Hope he/she returns to explain a bit more about what has prompted them to ask this question and at what point in the process they may be in.
one thing that can be useful is to run some of the college cost calculators on college websites. Sometimes if you have an idea on gpa and test scores you can find out cost and potential merit. Be honest with your child and say this there may be a school you want that we just can’t afford. Research safety schools to help find one that is affordable and a good fit - don’t just go by prestigious sounding names.
In my case I told my daughter she had to apply to at least 1 state school. She could apply to others but we were honest that end price would be a big deciding factor for us. My daughter did two years of full time dual enrollment which we now are pretty certain is going to save 1 year of undergraduate costs. She did not choose de classes for that reason but it is a nice perk. For others doing two years of de can mean graduating in just 2 years which does save a lot of money if your looking for that. If your interested talk to your high school but ours were all free including books. Precorona my daughter had a summer internship lined up that would have helped a lot with the upcoming year’s bill. Hopefully things like that will return.
College is the biggest source of scholarships but high schools give out some every year. One factor in getting them is actually applying. I was surprised at senior night by some kids who got academic awards (no money) and no scholarships. For instance one girl was on winter track, spring track and cross country for 4 years breaking state records and i know academically she did well. I know the family and after the fact they found out she never bothered to apply for any scholarships.