Sharing College Costs with Children

doschicos
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 10:22:44 +0000

“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.”

To each their own but if I am comfortably full pay, I wouldn’t want my young adult child to live like a church mouse for years on end.

“DD threw a monkey wrench in our plan in the best possible way by getting awarded a full ride. Since we are saving so much on her undergrad we will likely fully fund her masters or PhD. While at school she will have to purchase her own laptop, books and spending money so she’ll be working full time over the summer and saving that towards expenses and study abroad costs.”

Since she earned a full ride saving you tons of $$, did you consider coveting things like the laptop, books, etc? Her earnings, as one example, could then be plowed into a Roth or traditional IRA setting her up nicely on her financial course in life.