Paying for college

First, understand what you are willing to contribute. This should actually be done a year of two before your child begins applying. (I know it’s a bit late for this now). Let your child know what you will contribute so that it can be discussed as part of the application process.

For your current situation file your FAFSA asap. It not only is required for your child to borrow money from the Stafford loan program but is often used by universities to determine need based aid and in some cases other scholarships.

How to pay for college.

Your student:

Stafford Loan
Scholarships (University and Private which are usually small amounts but any helps)
Need based aid. This is another reason the FAFSA is so important.
Earnings from summer jobs or working while at school. Most university jobs will be done by work study students (it’s a need based program that you have to qualify for), however, many other places will hire students to work. Not fun but it can cover spending money.
Internships/Co-ops. Some majors especially engineering offer co-op programs which help a lot in offsetting the cost of attendance. The money is not counted towards FAFSA income.

Parents Contribution:
From current income. Check with school about payment plans.
From savings. If you have a 529 or other savings it can be used.
Gifted money. If you have grandparents (etc.) that want to contribute that can happen. Remember though it’s voluntary and most don’t contribute.
Loans. Parent Plus loans are the easiest but also can be the most restricting. They make it easy to borrow more than you should. Private loans are also available. I understand Discover has/had some good education loan opportunities.

I went in with the attitude that any money I contributed was money we contributed. I did not expect to be reimbursed by my child. Don’t give in to promises that the money will be paid back. Your child can’t guarantee that. Second, education isn’t free nor does it cost the same to everyone.

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Us as well; we saved for almost 2 years before DD graduated and had always planned on cashflowing the rest. The $ amount/month we currently use has been used for various things over the years, like building a solid emergency fund, saving for car purchases, etc; once she graduates it will be repurposed towards paying off the mortgage balance quickly. The budget is the key component for being able to successfully cash flow COA; I know where every dollar is going. I’m probably more risk averse than most, so I wanted to make sure if something happened with cash flow, we could still cover the remaining COA with emergency funds.

Edited to add it has meant giving up things like vacations, eating out, tight budget on groceries, or house repairs/renovations.

I’d say comb through your budget closely and see if there’s anything you can carve out first without putting the family in danger/risk and then look at all the options like work study/FT job over the summers. That way at least if you take loans, they’ll be minimized.

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Cheapest way to a 4 yr degree, in state. Hopefully he has some AP and dual enrollment credit. Then he studies now for those CLEP exams that the local community college will accept. Free, modernstates.org. He takes a heavy load at community college, summer, fall, spring. Applies start at U Del as a junior fall 2025. Takes the 5500 fed loan this summer, 5500 fed loan next school year, and the max fed loan the last two years. He works a part time job while in school, full 40 hr plus part 20 hr jobs summers, 60 hrs a week summers, same winter break. If you can help with what the fed loans dont cover, he wont have to work so hard. No private loans. No PLUS loans. Total cost about 80k (10k for the comm coll yr, 70k for the 2 UDel yr, only 40k for the 2 U Del yrs if he can commute).

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There’s also ROTC or National Guard.

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Yes, these are options. But please choose them only if you wish to serve. If not, these are not a good choice.

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