Paying for college for four kids!

[ubumartin]

Hi everyone, just starting to think about how I am going to afford college for my girls. I have two who will be juniors and one who will be a freshman. I have another but she is only 7 and I have a few years for her. I should be an old pro by the time she goes to college. My husband has savings bonds and they are fortunate to have a CD from their late grandfather which totals about 8,000 for each of the three older girls. I have heard it is better to have a mortgage and carry debt and that it doesn't help to have any money put away because the more you have the less you get in financial aide. Anyone going through this now that may have any tips for us. I am looking forward to getting rid of our mortgage so we can help out financially but is it worth it in the long run. At one point we will have three in college. (hopefully) I want them to get ahead in life and not have to struggle. I want them to have a college degree which I never was able to get for myself. I don''t expect a free ride but I just want to get what we can to help them out. Thanks in advance for any tips!

[Telephus44]

Not that I'm going through this now, but I did graduate in 2000 and was fortunate enough to get a lot of Financial Aid...

1. If you save money earmarked for college, save it in your name - not your child's. According to the Financial Aid formulas, parents are expected to contribute 10% of their assets, while children are expected to contribute 33% of theirs. So if you have $1000 stashed under your name, it will reduce your aid by $100. If it is under your child's name, if will be reduced by $333. (Actually, now that I think about it, it might be 50% - its been a long time)
2. After your receive your Financial Aid package - go back and ask for more!! I was accepted at 4 colleges. After receiving the aid package, I went back and asked three of them for more money. Two of them did award me more money.
3. I''m sure you've probably done this already, but look at having your kids have on-campus jobs. Mine was through a work-study program, and it covered my books and my phone bill.

Lastly - look online for books, not just in the bookstore! Sometimes Amazon or Barnes and Noble will offer better pricing. You should also check out eCampus.com

[Darlene]

My best advice is to get them involved in extra activities and volunteering as well as getting good grades. Then apply for all the scholarships you can. A well rounded teen can get lots of financial help with endowments & scholarships. Anything that sets them apart from other teens will help them stand out.
Also enrole them in a coarse to help them study & gives tips for taking the SAT's.

[PrairieRose]

And remember that they can take the ACT and SAT's more than once and get to keep their best score. It costs everytime they take it but for each point scored higher you could get another $1000 in aid or scholarships. We paid for 3 of our dks' college degrees out of pocket, no grants but they each had some scholarships. What we did was, live below our means while doing so. We did without so much of what we would have liked to have had/do. Wasn't easy but am so happy that we did it. Also look into having your kids take dual credit courses the last couple years of h.s., they can graduate from h.s. with a lot of college credit hours this way, saving you lots. (even though you have to pay for those courses too it's still cheaper than paying for them and room and board while they get them, plus that frees up time to get other courses done...get my drift?) Can they live at home and take basic college courses at a community college for a couple of years? That's cheaper than campus living as well. Also they can work their way through like lots and lots of people do every year. Take 1/2 the hours, work full time.....takes longer but if they can do it with no debt it's worth it. Also be sure to make good use of your h.s. counselor. This is what your tax dollars pay them for.

[ubumartin]

Thanks everyone. A lot of good tips!!! I know the time will fly by from now until then. They are involved in sports, drama, dance the church etc. Hopefully that will help too. Thanks again.