sashime76

It seems like no matter how much we put into our son's education account it won't be enough by time they go to college. The other day I heard from the local news saying the tuition is going at a 5~6% increase and not likely to stop at all. If you have a 4 year old, you will need somewhere in between $135K to $350K for a 4 year, public or private college degree.

At this rate there is no way we could send out boys to college when the time comes. Unless our salaries double, the 529 account performs better and better each year, our boys get full scholarship, or if we hit the lotto.

Hell, there goes my retirement.

Janey

since i was in first year university, tuition has always been affordable if y ou have a summer job. I had to save about 3K for first year tuition (it's up around 5K now). I know people that I work with had to save up only 1k for tuition, back in the late '70's early '80's, but then theyonly made about $4/hr on their summer jobs too. So it still mapped: one summer's worth of minimum wage or so work, would generate tuition savings. Room and board was different tho. since I went away for university (Kingston: cha gheill!) i had to comeup with residence in first year (thanks mom & dad) and then shared rent in subsequent years. So it got tougher.

I just read in the CBC site, about teaching English in Korea, and how Koreans want their kids to learn English so much. They typically spend about 1 third of their family incomes on education, in effect giving up consumer durables for education. So it is perceived to be a better roi for the family - spending on education all depends on your priorities. I know people who's parents will not even consider post secondary education for their kids!!!

cbc article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_.../20050530.html

Carno

All told the cost for school for me last year was $38000. My tuition has gone up 8-10% every year that I have been in school.

Make sure your kids do well in high school so they can get scholarships

And don't let them go to a private school like I did. Better yet, make them go to a military college and then it's free

Disk_Pusher

Financial Aid is the fruit of the gods, as is the Cal-Grant program here in my home-state. Got my SO through college (with two degrees - one in philisophy and one in sociology), and will be putting him through grad school this fall.

Other than that, perhaps you could start harvesting organs? (jk)

macmanmike6100

non-school scholarships and grants require a little footwork (and I encourage you to especially target organizations in which you know people) but can be worthwhile. school scholarships and grants are great because they're usually just merit-based, and they seem to be plentiful, depending on what field you're going into.

on a side note, I think that people will soon realize what a HUGE business university education is. it's borderline disgusting and something needs to be done to spread the educational wealth.

on a similar note, the feeling in America is that without a college degree you simply can't make it. I think that's a load of crap, since we're losing so much intellect in the trades (contractors, engineers, mechanics, etc.). trade school should not be out of the question and, i would imagine, are more affordable if your child has a strong desire in a particular area. an unfortunate truth is that too many kids today don't have particular desires whatsoever...

Chuckles

Well, im in the UC system which costs 24k a year I believe? Financial aid offices offered nothing to my family back when I was trying to see if they could toss me some money for education, due to my parents status and the amount they owned. So, if your considered upper middle class and above, you most likely wont get financial aid. However scholarships for merit are certainly available, as stated above, to get one of these worthwhile scholarships however a student has to excel in some field, whatever that may be.

I would have to say that college is a necessity, disagreeing with macman's above statement. The reason for this is that times are changing, and so is technology. Technology is getting more complicated, and to keep up with these complicated changes one has to learn them, most likely only available in college and grad school. Will mechanics be around in the future? There might be self servicing auto shops in the future, etc. If technology keeps changing like it has the past 50 years, I dont doubt that a higher education will be required.

Sage

A two year degree, depending on what it is, is just as useful as a PhD when applied correctly. However, if you want to send your kid to college, make sure you emphasise it from the start, and just save as much as you can. Go talk to a finacial advisor (I personally suggest Edward Jones) and they will look at how much money you can save now and see about putting it into an account that will get you the best return for your investment. Also, make sure that you make it clear to your kid that college is their choice, and not something that they *have* to do.

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StanT

I put myself through college with some help from a tuition refund program. While I'm willing to help my daughters, I don't feel any obligation to provide a free ride for them. Community College is a wonderful thing.

Sage

You know, my parents didn't think it was a priority to provide college education money for me. I got my tuition from the goverment. But if I ever have a kid, I'm going to start a college fund and have it grow big enough for them to go to any college in the world. And if they decide they don't want to go to college, that's fine too. Limiting your kid's choices (IMHO) is not the best way of providing them with all the opportunity the world has to offer.

On the other hand, if you save up a bunch of money but not quite enough, and your kid doesn't get any scholarships, then the goverment will happily put a big fat "DENIED" stamp on your FAFSA. It's a double edged sword.

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sashime76

My parents didn't have money to send me to college years back. I didn't regret then but now I wished I had gone to college. I had a 3.8 something GPA and my SAT score was just under 1200.

They were good enough to get me to most UC universities but I looked at the fact that my dad and sister were both working at restaurants to support our family. I wanted to make contribution so I opted for a two year AS degree.

Now, I'm back in school (online) pursuing my 4 year BS degree. It'll take me another year or so before I complete all my courses. If my kids are intelligent enough, I want to send them to university for sure. I will certainly encourage them to take up odd jobs as soon as they are old/mature enough. I don't believe in free lunch myself. Unless they show no desire in going to college then acquiring a skill will be their only option.

Lead543

Send him into a trade! I know a ton of kids who've done apprenticeship.s......s.s.... whatever in their last 2 years of high school and ended up with great jobs that allow for a lot of growth right out of highschool. Eventually college/university tuition is going to surpass the average income so much that no one will be able to afford to go. Except the children of orthodontists.

sexymama

It's outragious! I'm all for military, community college, and working one's way through. Parents should provide support, but not a free ride. Then the education is taken more seriously, imho. (Yes, I paid most my way through college and all my way through my post-masters degree.)

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Corneo

The way I see it is that, upon graduation and finding a stable career with my degree, I will be able to pay back the debts I am accuring right now in college. But if you go into a certain field where the career options are limited, they paying back those debts are going to be a problem.

EULA

I would say cultivate your childrens' interests early. Yes, this will probably mean homeschooling or apprenticeships. What often happens when people graduate high school and go to college is that they find out they're mediocre at everything. But that's what "liberal education" means these days.

muttonglutton

24k? 36k? One year of post-secondary education?

I live in Canada. Refer to Janey, where she said it is 5k for first year tuition. This is closer to the amount I will be paying next year, at the University of Waterloo. No, its not Harvard or Yale, but it's not much worse at all.

Send your kids to Canada for their education! 80% off while supplies last.

Honestly, how do the schools in the states charge that much? Five times as much per year? On top of conversion rates? I'm either very glad I'm going to school in Canada, or missing something really important. Because I can count on one hand the number of people I know whose families can spend over a hundred thousand dollars for their degree. Plus siblings and... ohmy. I've got to be missing something.

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Cellar Door.

sashime76

Funny my wife is thinking the same thing. She is from Edmonton, Alberta and attended UofA. At least grandpa and grandma will always be close by if they do end up north of the border.

Janey

I know that education is expensive in the US, and that international standards differ for example, I heard that it is free for University education in Germany. But then I think youneed to get accepted, and it eveuntually shakes out as a scholarship style programme.

But here in canada, it is supported by the government for domestic students. There is much said about the standard of education here versus the US, but having mixed with an international crowd while at Queen's undergrad, I can say from an undergrad perspective, the quality and opportunities are about equal when compared to, let's say Harvard or Yale.

If an international student (that is non domestic) had to pay for their tuition at Queen's it would be about 2 to 3 times more expensive than a domestic student: (from their website for 2003 http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/awards/Internat.html):

Program Tuition StudentFees Books &Equipment
Applied Science $16,320 $791 $1,600-$1,850
Arts/Science $11,650 $717 $ 735-$1,050
Commerce $16,320 $792 $1,185-$1,450
Concurrent Education/
Arts or Science $11,650 $727 $ 735-$1,050
Education $11,650 $705 $1,950-$2,020
Fine Art $11,650 $717 $2,000-$2,500
Law $16,320 $821 $1,700-$1,950
Music $11,650 $717 $2,050-$2,300
Phys Ed/Arts or Science
$11,650 $726 $1,215-$1,465
Nursing Science $11,650 $723 $2,115-$2,500
Rehabilitation Therapy:
$11,6504 $720 $2,200-$2,750

Disk_Pusher

Amen Brother!

If I may, I'd like to add to this. If your children DO find an interest they are good at, that they like, but you DON'T, don't be a dick and push them out of it. My family intentionally kept me out of programming classes as a high schooler because they "didn't want me waising my time" on anything Computer Science related. As if pottery and English Poetry were so much more important to my academic well being and future success.

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hrandani

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you completely. College doesn't have anything to do with being able to use technology. I'm telling you this as a person who has worked in the past fixing college student's computers. And I can't think of anyone who is going to trust a computer to fix their car. (or hell, a robot to do anything)