I overheard this conversation:
Person 1: "My husband is upset because I took out a loan for my son to go to college."
Person 2: "Oh, that's rough."
P1: "I know, right? I mean, it's not my fault he wants to go to a really expensive school. I can't help it that he doesn't want to go to UNL. I mean, what am I suppose to say, 'No'?"
P2: "Right! I mean, he's grown up, you have to let them go and make their own choices."
P1: "I guess this is just the point where you hope you've raised them well enough that when they graduate they'll help pay some of the loan."
Anyone else's jaw on the floor? I just kept my mouth shut.
Right now we have no extra cash to put away for Sam's college. Do I want to help her future education? Yes! But I'm not going to put myself in a shaky financial situation to do so. There are other ways.
At this point, Jer and I have learned and decided the following:
1) We will do our best to have a college fund for our kids
2) If we don't have enough (or any) we will not be co-signing anything (I appreciate that my parent's did that for me, but didn't like the weight of their credit and financial liability being in my hands)
3) Even if our kids have more than enough money to pay for college, they will not know how much they have waiting for them. I love my husband and brother, but if any of our kids are like them, such security will only produce apathy in their studies.
What are your plans for your kid's college? If they already left, what advice would you give?
About Me
- Kim
- Nebraska, United States
- A former full-time teacher living her life-long dream of staying at home. And homeschooling to boot! Comments make my day. Thanks for stopping by! kimlepper at gmail.com
4 comments:
We are finally at the point where, in about 6 months or so, we will be able to start putting some money away for our kids. However, we aren't going to do a traditional college savings plan. If our kids don't go to college for whatever reason (convent, or you know, whatever:) ) we don't want our savings for them penalized. So, I don't know if we're going to put money into something other than a savings account, but that's our plan for now. :)
We started (with the help of her grandparents) a savings plan for Audra when she was born. It is through the state, so we get some tax benefits.
We agree with you that kids shouldn't know what we have saved away for them. We want her to work for her goals and not think she is going to have them handed to her.
-Jennifer
Oh, good question. We haven't explicitly discussed this yet, but I imagine we will be paying for our kids to go to college. My husband went to the best (therefore most expensive) college he could get into on his parents' bill. However, he's come to realize that fancy private schools just charge too much. After all, I went to a good state school and ended up in the same place for graduate school as he did - for next to nothing thanks to scholarships!
We both really appreciate being able to start our lives debt-free, and if it's possible I'd like to do the same for our own kids. (Hopefully we will have taught them money management so they won't go crazy on their own!)
Oh, and I should say, I don't actually plan to take out loans for their education. We hope to put away all grandparent money into savings for this (esp. when they're young and don't really have a say in it). If we have a bunch of kids and it'll be tight to send them all to college, we'll strongly encourage cheaper schools. Also, I don't think a university is for everyone - if our child is more drawn to a community college, trade school, military, or religious vocation, I'm open to that!
Sorry to go on for so long, but you've got me thinking! I'll have to bring this up with my husband!
You can never plan for financial situations that may arise...out of your control...that require shifting of financial resources. So....ANY money you can put away over 20 years will be better than nothing. Compound interest is a beautiful thing.
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