Sharing College Costs with Children

liska21
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 14:34:24 +0000

We took the same approach as @rickle1 and our S19 (youngest) had the same choice. He choose

2. Full pay - S contributes 10k per yr (loans, summer work, savings, school yr part time job, etc.) He’ll have a manageable amount of debt (27.5 - I’m paying the interest in real time so no accrual) and he has to earn a bunch over the summer.

How did we come up with that amount? That was what the school put in his financial aid package. S19 did get federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans which he’ll take out. So he’ll come out with 27.5K in loans. It’s possible that we’ll have him just take out the subsidized part. We haven’t 100% decided on that. Also our calculations involve making sure the college money we saved covers him for 5 years. Hopefully he is done in 4, but I don’t want to get in the situation of him needing to take out a big loan if he needs a 5th year.

Our middle kid got a big merit scholarship and she did not take out any loans. We cover 100% for her–since her merit scholarship covers half her education. She covers her own personal expenses however from her job at school.

Our eldest took out about 20K in loans. It was definitely tough for him to pay those off and he lived like a church mouse in his 20s.