unequal money for unequal kids?

mnopqr
Fri, 04 Oct 2013 23:51:13 +0000

We have 2 kids at top 20 schools for $240,000 each. We don’t qualify for financial aid.

We told the kids that we did not plan to pay for graduate school. But, any scholarship money they earned for undergrad, we would set aside half for them to use for grad school, if they should attend. It is not their money, or a ‘gift’, or to use for anything else. Just grad school if they should need it.

One kid got a full tuition scholarship worth $180,000, so room & board & expenses will cost us $60,000. We will give him up to $90,000 for grad school, if he needs it. He says he would like to get funded for grad school and hopefully not need the $90,000.

The other kid turned down a half-tuition scholarship in order to attend a school at full pay which is a better match for his major and is a slightly better school overall. Since we are paying the full $240,000 for undergrad, we aren’t planning to help him with grad school in a substantial way. We may give him a little to help, but grad school will be on his own dime.

What do you think would be ‘fair’ to give the kid without any scholarship towards grad school? We agree with the decision he made to attend the school he chose. The kid with the scholarship ended up at one of his favorite schools, so he did not sacrifice anything in choosing the scholarship school. Thanks for your opinion.