Saving for your child's college expenses...

[mama2James]

This is more of a "point of view" or a philosophical question, than a practical one. I was wondering how my fellow villagers feel about saving for a child's college education. I may get a few shoes thrown at me for this, but I will share my opinion.
Dh and I have decided that saving for our children's education is not a top priority for us. We also don't plan to take out loans to pay for it. Becoming debt free, having a 6-12 month emergency fund and fully funding our retirement savings come first. After all, how does it benefit our children if we provide them with a free ride to school, and then have to burden them with caring for us in our old age?
If our financial situation in the future were to be such that we could meet all of our other goals and still pay for their college tuition, we MIGHT consider it with a lot of strings attached related to grades, having a job at least during the summers, behaving responsibly etc. Our children will be welcome to live in our home, eat our food, use our medical benefits etc while in school. Please don't get me wrong, education is the foundation of a successful life, we truly believe that and value learning in our family. We also believe that once you are 18 years old and ready to go to school, that you are also responsible for figuring out how you are going to pay for it. I think so many young people treat school like a 4 year long drunk-fest because Mommy and Daddy are footing the bill. I payed my own way through college and I graduated with a 3.5 GPA. Dh spent 6 yrs in the Air Force and now is entitled to the GI Bill. You can bet your butt he will take advantage of every opportunity in college.
Anyone else wanna share?

[ktsmama]

I feel basically the same way you do. I do have a savings account set up for my DD and I put money in it when I have some, but it certainly will not pay for college.

[monkeywrangler71]

We will pay for our children's education, it is a very high priority for us.

[Neeley]

We are paying for our kid's education. It is of the utmost importance to us.

[MomToTwoBoys]

A child's education is the most important thing you can do for them. These days, a high school diploma or a GED will not cut it. You need a good degree to make a comfortable living.

That being said, I also believe that saving for your child's education should be top priority. It's not giving them a free ride; it's ensuring that a solid foundation for them to be financially stable post-secondary education has been set in stone.

The military is not for everyone. Working through college is not for everyone. Having things handed to them on a "silver platter" is not for everyone.

What is for everyone is teaching your child to be financially responsible.

By teaching your child to be financially responsible, the chance of the money that you save for them to go to college/trade school/university being put to the best use possible greatly increases. I have known many parents who put away for their child's education that had children who went on to work very hard and do well in school and in life.

I think that painting the idea of "paying for your kid's education" to be that the only thing they'd do is party it away and be financially irresponsible is a one-sided P.O.V.

[McD]

We have set money aside every pay period for both kids since the day they were born. Whether they use it for college, a house payment, a wedding, whatever, it is there for them.

It's important to us.

[Debbie-cat]

Save now! With a son who is heading out this fall, I am so sorry that I didn't do more when he was younger. Now we are scrambling to find the funds. His education is the most important thing to me but finances back then were tight. It shouldn't have mattered and still put money away. I wish I would have found FV then, it would be paid in full by now if I would have.

[Josephhgoins]

I do not have kids, nor will I ever. I do not have a college degree, I did take classes, which my Mom made me pay for. Currently my job is more than happy to pay for any classes that I want to take.

I have a friend who does have 2 kids and he shared his point of view with me. Basically his feelings were that he would leave it up to his boys. They would be 18 and if they wanted to go to school they could go and pay their own way. If not, that was fine too.

The way he saw it was he was working for himself and his wife. They would take care of the childrens needs and wants, but would let them live their own lives.

My personal opinion is that college should be something someone works for to appreciate, much like their first car. If it is bought and paid for by someone else they will more than likely take it for granted.

[NewLeaf]

We are not in a position to save for college right now. But my children's educations are very important to me. In this world a college degree is an important thing to have. If my kids want to go to college, I will help them out as much as I can. I will expect them to get good grades, take advantage of scholarships and grants and work part time.

I put myself through college because my dad passed away during my first semester. I got academic scholarships, grants, loans and did work/study programs. I also worked as a waitress in the evenings. It was hard. I had very little money, no new clothes, and had to eat ramen noodles alot!!!! But I wanted that degree and I was willing to sacrifice.

I hope my kids want to go to college. What ever they want to do, I will help as much as I can. They need to be willing to do their part too.

[WV_mom_of2]

I hope my kids will go either to college or a good trade school. Dd is headed to college this fall as a matter of fact. But they can work hard in school and get scholarships and financial aid and they can work their way through. They will be adults and they can pay for it. As someone else said they can live here, eat our food, etc. while going but they are not my financial responsibility forever.

[Vanilla]

Save now! With a son who is heading out this fall, I am so sorry that I didn't do more when he was younger. Now we are scrambling to find the funds. His education is the most important thing to me but finances back then were tight. It shouldn't have mattered and still put money away. I wish I would have found FV then, it would be paid in full by now if I would have.

Same here. I wish I'd known about FV. We used most of our resources in investment (property & business), thought that the return would be good in a few years time, well, a few years had come & past, the value of property & stock plunge. We 'gamble' & have major 'paper lost'. DS is planning to further his education next spring, but change of plan now, delay to summer'11, take an advance program test to reduce course to be 1 year, save at least 2/3 of the total cost; in the meantime, he will take apprenticeship to gain more work experience. So I have 15 months to save & save & hoping the economy will turn around a little.

[Greebo]

Education is extremely important, but a child going into debt to get an education sets that child behind financially far worse than people realize.

Adults certainly should help with education if possible, BUT the parents also need to make sure their own futures are taken care of. Parents teach first by example, and what example does a parent teach if they borrow to put a kid through school then retire destitute?

And how will a child ever learn to prepare for THEIR own future if their own parents do not?

So in my view, the proper priorities as a parent regarding education are:
1) Be out of debt (except the house) first - teach the child to live within their mean.
2) Prepare for retirement second - teach the child to be the ant, not the grasshopper.
3) Help as much as possible with education - but there's NO HARM in making the child pay part of their own way.


We've talked about this before - if you take 2 students, identical in every way, and a 20k a year college, and one goes through school on student loans in 4 years, while the other takes 8 years and pays their own way, the 8 year student, starting their career a mere 4 years later, will be 60k+ ahead of the 4 year student.

And that work experience on the resume will put the 4 year student behind the 8 year student too - because an employer is going to know that a student who paid their own way has a strong work ethic.

[mama2James]

A child's education is the most important thing you can do for them. These days, a high school diploma or a GED will not cut it. You need a good degree to make a comfortable living. I agree 100% with you on this point. Higher education is vital.

That being said, I also believe that saving for your child's education should be top priority. It's not giving them a free ride; it's ensuring that a solid foundation for them to be financially stable post-secondary education has been set in stone. This I can't agree with. It depends on the degree you choose and the economy at the time. I know many people with bachelor's degrees who cannot find work in their field.

The military is not for everyone. Working through college is not for everyone. Having things handed to them on a "silver platter" is not for everyone.

What is for everyone is teaching your child to be financially responsible.

By teaching your child to be financially responsible, the chance of the money that you save for them to go to college/trade school/university being put to the best use possible greatly increases. I have known many parents who put away for their child's education that had children who went on to work very hard and do well in school and in life.

I think that painting the idea of "paying for your kid's education" to be that the only thing they'd do is party it away and be financially irresponsible is a one-sided P.O.V. I should have phrased it differently. Not all students who's parents are paying for school will party it away. But I do believe that it is a factor. If you are paying for something, you will appreciate it more.

The overriding principle for dh and I is that taking care of ourselves has to come first. Not fancy cars and vacations, but paying off our house and having enough for retirement. I refuse to burden my children with taking care of me. If fortune shines upon us and we are able to take care of those things and help with college expenses also, than we may do so...if we have a child who is committed to attending school and giving it his/her all. If we are not paying for school, of course I will be child's strongest advocate in figuring out how to pay for it...scouting out scholarships, filling out aid forms etc.

[ml2620]

I do not have children yet, but foresse saving for college as a priority.
I graduated from college with no student loans and have friends who graduated 15 years ago who are still paying student loans along with mortgages and daycare. Its awful.

I have good friends with two grown boys.they told their sons they would pay for trade school. One became an electrician and one a mason. They are now 22 and 24, each make over 50k a year and the oldest is going to school at night and paying for it himself.

It seems to me these parents have done well by their kids, and these boys have a huge head start over their peers.

My neice is a high school junior with an interest in hair styling and make up. I suggested the same deal to her parents. They have been saving forever, the college fund may start her own salon in the years to come.

[MomToTwoBoys]

The overriding principle for dh and I is that taking care of ourselves has to come first. Not fancy cars and vacations, but paying off our house and having enough for retirement. I refuse to burden my children with taking care of me. If fortune shines upon us and we are able to take care of those things and help with college expenses also, than we may do so...if we have a child who is committed to attending school and giving it his/her all. If we are not paying for school, of course I will be child's strongest advocate in figuring out how to pay for it...scouting out scholarships, filling out aid forms etc.

Oh we plan on doing that also. We plan on getting DS6 on a headstart by putting money into the education fund, but at the same time, we'll be investing in our own retirement as well. DH and I have a plan to split half of our savings cash and put one half into retirement, the other half goes into education savings.

DH will have his pension and I'll have mine when we retire. We'll also have the house paid off and still have a child that we may need to support, that being my autistic 11 year old. However, even where he's concerned, we're doing as much as we can to help him prepare to be on his own. We'll be advocating for him to receive disability payments, live in an environment that allows him freedom but gives him protection, etc.

I tried to go to school and tried to do it on my own, but it's just too much to ask a 17 year old who is living in a dorm and going to classes from 8am to 5pm three to five days a week to also work, especially if the degree is really intense. I could see getting burnt out real fast if I'd worked at the same time, being that I was going to university for a double major of atmospheric science/meteorology with a minor in physics.

DS6 has been telling me since he started school that he wants to be a kindergarten teacher. Who am I tell him he can't, or that he can do it but has to pay for it all by himself? That's pretty overwhelming. We'd love for him to take advantage of grants, scholarships, etc and will do everything we can to help him. However, we learned from our bad student loan experience that it's no fun to ruin your credit for an education that could have used a boost early on in life.