@Gatormama and that’s at a mid tier LAC with a decent merit award.
Sobering huh.
It’s crazy for people to wrap their brains about college planning when you are young and have babies. My father in aw was a financial planner and grilled us on the importance of saving at a young age and living beneath your means. My wife and I bought into it, and we forced ourselves to sock away a lot of cash over the last 18-20 years for a college fund. We opened a 529 plan when the kids were born ( maybe before then) and I remember thinking it was crazy and I’d rather do other stuff with the cash. But we didn’t. Kept the same modest house. drove modest cars with lots of mileage etc. I’m really glad my father in law beat that philosophy into us, it is an amazing feeling of relief to not have to worry about tuition costs along with the stress of the admissions process.
I feel bummed out when I read about some of dealing with the stress of trying to figure out how you are going to pay for it!! I hope it works out for you all.
On a sad note, my father in law who managed to save a lot of $$ and have a successful career did not live long enough to reap the benefits of his hard work and enjoy his savings. I think about this a lot too. He had the financial ability to do lots of cool things but didn’t get the chance. So, I struggle with the balance of it all. I think once we get the kids settled, and figure out some sort of longer life plan, I do not plan to live as modestly. We’ll try to partake in some things we’ve held off on doing before we get too old.
I agree, @RightCoaster – and then Life Happens and a family faces helping aging parents, which means less is saved for college (and retirement) to assist parents with things like Alzheimer’s, having a parent move in with the family, etc. There are no easy answers.
Seriously, we were paying more for daycare when we had a toddler and an infant than we were for our mortgage! Socking away another $1000 (or $2000 once the second came along) was just not remotely within the realm of reason. We do have 529 plans, but really only seriously started contributing to them when D17 was around 12 and D19 was around 10. It really wasn’t possible for us before then. Luckily for me, I work in an industry that’s generous with stock and bonuses, and even luckier that the stock of one of the companies I worked for spiked after I had vested a fair number of shares. We’d totally be up the creek without both of those things occurring.
ETA: We live in a high-cost region, our house is modest (but valued ridiculously high for what it is), and we drive our modest cars into the ground. If there’s one financial vice it’s the reliance on take out far too often. I really don’t know how people less fortunate than we have been manage.
Yeah, we are definitely in the Life Happens camp. LOL.
We (which became I, and then we lol) started saving when the kids were born and did save a decent chunk of change. But with 4 kids…you can only save so much without cutting retirement savings short. We did NOT save the million dollars the government things we should have for the 4 kids. But our retirement fund is in fabulous shape and my H has a nice pension, which frankly does mean I have a small amount of loan tolerance if it is needed.
I also fall into the camp of no school is worth a quarter of a million dollars+. Because really those schools that are a quarter of a million today…will be over 300K for for years by the time our 2019’ers get there. Even if I could pay that much, I would not.
Life does happen. I’ve been laid off twice and divorce kills savings plans/traction (as do deadbeat dads lol). I’ve also seen it (life) cut really short and personally I’d rather see my kids get a decent, solid education at a more reasonably priced school…and have taken those family vacations and have those memories.
Our ETA… We also live in a high-cost region, our house is relatively modest (but valued ridiculously high for what it is), and we also drive our modest cars into the ground. Our financial vice it is travel and music lessons but I don’t see them as vices. I see them as investments in my family’s culture and shared experiences and have zero regrets. In addition to not knowing how people less fortunate than we have been able to manage I am staggered by the volume of schools with the 55-70k sticker prices that seem to have no shortage of applicant and many of these schools do not meet full need or do not offer merit monies, or both! It makes me sad as all it really does is make the gap even wider.
@OrangeFish I don’t post on this thread very often although I have a D in the Class of 2019. My D from the Class of 2015 was like yours and got sick of Latin. She made it to Latin 3 and then quit. That happened to coincide with her high school Latin teacher retiring and not being replaced, so we had her GC note that Latin 4 wasn’t an option. When she got to college (Pomona) she switched to Spanish and enjoyed the fact that the college class moved at a much faster pace than high school and she could practice conversation at the college’s language center. My D from the Class of 2019 hates foreign language and has some dyslexia. She tried French and quit after one semester. Latin is slightly easier for her but now the school district only has Latin online. So she did Latin 1 online last summer and I hope she can manage Latin 2 online this summer. I don’t know if she’ll make it to Latin 3 but I doubt it. Our in state universities only require 2 years of the same language so she can always go instate and I expect we can find other options that will accept 2 years.
Thank you, @Corinthian – it’s good to know D19 is not alone. 
I also have a S19 who is not into languages. He will drop French after this year (his school requires 3 years of one language or two years of two languages for an “advanced” diploma. I think most of the kids who continue on to AP in our school just really think they need to have as many APs as possible and that is certainly not my kid. He really dislikes language (including English!)
Despite our best efforts to save, we ended up with enough for about one year plus one summer at D16’s OOS public. We’re fortunate that she has a larger 529 set up by a grandparent, and should have enough for the remaining 3 years if she holds on to her small scholarship and graduates more or less on time. S19 will be strongly encouraged to go in-state and is probably much more willing to do so compared to D16, who didn’t even apply to a VA school. He’s not willing to have any discussion about college at this point, though, so who knows?
When I first opened Coverdell ESA for S17 right after his birth, the yearly contribution limit was $500 per year =))
That contribution limit soon rose to $2000 per year (it still is) but that still is not even close to 1K per month. :))
I received a reminder recently that we cannot contribute to Coverdell any more once S17 turns 18. :!!
Anyone have any advice on summer programs? We would not be having our S19 go to any program thinking that it would increase chances of admission to any particular college. I totally understand that colleges like to fill their summer programs partly because it helps make money for them during their “downtime”.
That being said, I feel like he should attend a program on a college campus (possibly one on our very tentative list) so that he can start seeing what college is like. I think it would help him make more informed decisions when we start making the real list. I think it would force him to be a little more independent. He’s up for it. Seems like most programs I’ve seen are three weeks long. I would love to find something more like two weeks or even one week.
S19 is also completely unsure of what he may want to major in. I know these kids are just sophomores. And I know many students head off to college unsure of their major. When he chose his high school classes as a freshman, he was most interested in science. Then, he didn’t love Bio and he’s just liking (not loving) Chem this year. He’s ruled out CS since he’s taking AP Comp Sci this year and hates it. He’s also ruled out engineering although he’s a strong math student and will take BC Calc as a junior next year. He’s looking forward to an Earth Science class next year and is somewhat interested in politics so I was thinking of trying to find some sort of Environmental Science program for the summer. Or maybe a debate or writing program. All kids need to be able to speak and write well and he likes that stuff too. He says he’d be happiest if the program was not all academic (with lots of homework, etc) and included downtime and other activities.
We’d probably keep him in the Midwest somewhere but east coast or Midatlantic states might be ok too. Thoughts?
S19 is not likely to do a summer program this year. Not sure about next. There are some competitive ones out there but I’ve not dug into it at all as his schedule is a bit in flux around some scouting things and a family trip and I need get my arms around it.
I think if you go into it with the right mindset (independence, exposure to a learning area) and don’t expect it to boost their application it can be fine or a good thing, if the kid is truly interested in it. In many ways it’s a pricey summer camp but on the flip side, kids need something to do in the summers!
Of our 4 kids we have only done it with one kid, my S17. He did a 1 week long class that was in his major area of interest. It was a 1 credit class though I don’t really expect him to get credit for that anywhere but the school he took the class at (which is his financial safety). He felt the following.
- It was definitely a class. Lots of homework, presentation time, etc and was work.
- He enjoyed the work, it was in his area of interest and still is.
- There was not much in the way of downtime or activities, in his mind. Looking at the schedule from my perspective there was but he had hoped for a more true college experience, i.e. a bit more freedom on their own to wander campus and town and it was very very scheduled with check ins and oversight. Which frankly it has to be from my perspective.
- He learned a dorm is a dorm is a dorm and no longer has "cool dorm" as a priority as he looks at his schools. He lived in a triple for a week (which made me claustrophobic looking at it) and realized how little he was in there and it really didn't matter all that much. He connected with one of the roomates who was taking the same class, not so much the other one.
- He loved the professor (tenured faculty of the school) and that was a wonderful connection for him.
- He still liked the school enough after a week there (dorm food and all) to apply. It's not his first choice but that is largely as it's relatively close to home.
Your S might like the class mine took, International Energy and Environmental Policy. It was a nice mix of policy and energy science. However it was west coast so that won’t help. Shop around. They can be ridiculously expensive.
SD14 spent a number of weeks on campuses for soccer ID camps so we felt, to some degree, she had enough exposure and frankly didn’t have time for an academic camp. She did end up at a college she attended an ID camp at so that was a very good route for her.
My son19 might do a weeklong engineering program where he stays in the dorms for the week. I’d like him to get some insight as to what engineering is like in college.
He’ll probably also do a couple of soccer camps at schools of interest. He did a few last summer and liked that.
Clemson University has quite a few summer programs . My son’s have never attended any summer camps other than scouts .
D19 now clearly knows she needs to save for college and has therefore asked to not go to any summer programs at colleges. She plans to attend a day program for four weeks offered by our school district; it’s four weeks of various classes in the arts and she loved it last summer.
D17 did summer camps in her summers after sophomore and junior years (the first clearly a profit center for the hosting university, the other a grant-funded competitive-entry camp), and they were useful for figuring out what sort of college she likes, confirming her preferences in majors, and so on. D19, on the other hand, will go to camps more closely related to what is effectively her most serious hobby (playing the oboe) if she goes to any summer camps at all.
It’s all a matter of figuring out what approach is best for each kid, really. We had worries about D17 being able to handle heading off on her own (and her summer camps gave her and us much-needed confidence about that; that’s not a worry for D19.
Not really any sort of conclusion or even solid advice, but there’s my experience.
I hear you, @homerdog! D19 was thrilled with Chemistry as a freshman. After taking APChem this year, she can’t wait to be done with Chemistry. I have started to look at them as “weed out” courses. She can narrow down her options this way. We are thinking of a short summer program of a week or two related to her ECs and/or her previous job she had to leave to make some time this year.
Thanks, all, for the replies so far. Yes, @collegeandi, I think it’s terrific when kids start ruling out options even if they are surprising. S19 was so excited about AP Comp Sci and he’s still can’t believe how much he hates it!
I’m secretly happy that he’s ruling out CS and engineering. I was an engineering major before I changed majors and it’s such a weed out situation. S19 is a kid who will want to feel a little success at the start of college. He’s our oldest, and youngish for the grade even though he shines academically. He’s not super outgoing and a little naive, so going away to college and getting creamed in Organic Chemistry and Differential Equations would not be good.
https://www.utoledo.edu/pharmacy/prospective/summercamp/index.html
http://www.lvc.edu/academics/summer-community-programming/health-biomedical-sciences-camp/
U Toledo offers a pharmacy camp in the summer.
Lebanon Valley has a health & biomedical science camp
Kids in PA can attend PFEW
You could check out local universities and what they might offer.
http://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/pre-college/
Carnegie Mellon pre-college