<p>It makes me happy when a parent is willing to pay for their daughter or son, esp. when their offspring is really bright and matured for their age. It only ****es me off when the kid has the IQ of a bag of rocks and snobby, or no street smarts at all. I feel like my last post was a bit too leaned on my own happenings, and that kids should all go to college on their own. It’s all about the parents decision. But I agree to disagree on this part.</p>
<p>Given the award I got for my scholarship will make it easy to find my actual identity, I won’t say its name. But in terms, it goes 450~500 for books, 9800 towards tuition(in state, looking to be the entire tuition too), and tutoring options. The amount covers 2/3 of all costs of attending college, which makes it easy for me to pay. In a way, I feel like what I am attempting to do on my own isn’t all that hard. But maybe that’s a different story with a white male with an ACT of a 32 and a GPA of 3.3 . And his parents make 100k+ and refuse to pay for much.</p>
<p>I feel that many people 20, 30 years ago in minorities neighborhoods and suburban communities used to be much more open about college finances but less about the actual use of a college degree. Now in these days, it’s more about the use of a degree communities reinforce, but the finances usually just show empty pockets or finger pointing at who should pay the price tag. </p>
<p>I guess, in the end, what students should expect from parents relies on different scenarios.</p>
<p>“Did any parents on here, when their darlings were born some 18+ years ago, ever think it would cost $60k per year to pay for a private university?”</p>
<p>This is a great point! I actually think I had read a few articles early on in Money Magazine when I was planning what to put away, and I figured I would need $200,000 if I wanted to be able to have my son go to any college he wanted. I saved very close to that amount for child #1 and am definitely considerably behind for child #2. Turns out that $200k isn’t actually enough either! It’s more like $240k, and I just wonder if it will continue to be a moving target, lol. Fortunately, my husband’s income is somewhat higher than I expected as well so we can pay the difference each year, and my younger child is showing signs of wanting to go to a much less competitive state school where I also think he’ll get merit aid. </p>
<p>But seriously, I really put thought into it, and I still didn’t think it would cost more than some house for four years of college!</p>
<p>“This wilingness to provide for one’s children has been terribly exploited by the college industry, and is what has been keeping it running as it has been.”</p>
<p>This is an interesting point . . .and I think there is truth in it. But another huge driving factor is the demographics. The number of 18 year olds has been going up, up, up as the baby boomers reproduce. And the fact that there are few good jobs for non-college grads has also driven up the percentage of the 18 year old population that at least try to attend. So demand has been on the colleges’ side for quite awhile now . . .The whole situation has been compounded by easy access to money at low interest rates, making borrowing for college seemingly more reasonable.</p>
<p>Twenty or thirty years ago, college was much less expensive in inflation-adjusted terms than it is now. A much larger percentage of parents could pay full price to send the kids to college, especially at state universities (tuition was almost nothing then). Even if the parents were unable or unwilling to pay, a college student back then could more realistically “work his/her way through college”, since entry-level jobs that paid enough to live on plus the nominal tuition at the state university were more available to high school graduates (now the better paying ones ask for bachelor’s degrees or specialized post-secondary education).</p>
I think this is a good point, and is the source of a lot of the trouble when parents don’t educate themselves about the economics of college these days. They find out that if they are really going to stick with their position of not paying the EFC, their kid is going to have to go to a college that is quite far down the pecking order than what his qualifications would allow–possibly community college. This isn’t a tragedy, necessarily, but I don’t think many of these parents realize that this is what their position means.</p>
<p>As you can see, even on this thread we are seeing the different philosophies about parental funding of college. Again, this is the purpose of this thread: parents, make sure you think through your philosophy, base it on the facts, and share it with your kids while they have time to take it into account in crafting the college search.</p>
<p>The parents may have been thinking of when they went to college, not living at their parents’ places, attending the state flagship (then much easier to get admitted to), working at an easily-found job that paid enough to cover their room and board, plus the cheap state flagship tuition. After all, if they could do it, so could their kids…</p>