college payments

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How much have parents on here really paid for college? I mean after scholarships, grants, etc? How much has come from savings or out of pocket?
Have you or your child taken any loans?

I mean what is realistic?

[creditcardfree]

I've written several posts on actual costs for us on my blog earlier in 2017. Most of the cost for us has actually been housing. Remember to factor in the American Opportunity Tax credit, and keep up on any changes. No loans yet as of the end of fall semester Junior year. I don't expect any for spring or summer at this point either. Any loans will come at the very end if needed.

[sblatner]

We have a son just finishing up at Berkeley. Over four years, we paid about $100k. He is a teacher's assistant so got paid some and had one semester of tuition waived so we probably would have spent $110k if he had not had that.

He was a straight A high school student with lots of activities. He received $7k in scholarships but that was through a scholarship at the high school and one through Kiwanis. Nothing from Berkeley.

He was accepted at a couple private schools back East. They offered him maybe $10k or $20k per year but they would have still been more than Berkeley. We are so happy that he chose to stay in state. Otherwise, we would have probably spent over $200k.

Another thing he did that saved us money was join a fraternity (instead of living in a dorm or apartment). He lived in a dorm his freshman year which was really expensive but then has lived in a fraternity the last three. He pays $700 per month which includes all utilities. We feel it is a lot cheaper than living in an apartment with a lot less hassles.

[disneysteve]

How much have parents on here really paid for college?

Our daughter graduates in May. We've paid roughly 120K (30K/year x 4).

As noted by ccf, the tax credit gave us back some of that. I don't know the exact figures there.

The actual total before scholarships and grants was well over 200K.

Once we make the final payment, I really should sit down and see if I can come up with the exact total amount spent. That would be interesting to know.

Housing is a significant cost that is often overlooked. Ours was aggravated by the fact that she lived alone for 2.5 of her 4 years so we paid a premium for that.

[disneysteve]

I didn't address the loan part of the question.

DD has borrowed $15,000 total. She has already repaid the first $7,500 loan and is working on the 2nd one. By graduation, she'll owe somewhere around $4,500 total.

DW and I took out one $15,000 loan which we have already repaid.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Ccf what was the total cost? I read the blog but it is hard to keep track. I assume parents track better than others

[Thrif-t]

We are in a lower income bracket than most on this site and our kids go to state schools. Oldest commutes from home and has some merit money. So far in 3 years tuition totaled $42,293. We've paid $8400 out of our 529. DD has paid $8580. She's taken federal loans of $17,500 and we used our AOTC to pay back two unsubsidized loans she had for $4,000, so her subsidized loan balance is 13,500. We should get 5,000 more back in the next two years from the AOTC so that will take her balance down to $8,500 after graduation. We have enough money in the 529 to pay her last year tuition which will be $8,500 after her scholarships.

Our other DD goes to another state school an hour away. She has a scholarship to pay for her room & board. She should come out with the same figures as her sister. Our goal was to get them out with under 10k in loans. If we didn't have the 529, I don't know how we would've done it. Well yes I do they'd have a lot more loans, but that would've killed me!

I might be repeating myself here but our plan for our kids was always for them to do a year of college while in high school thru the College Plus Program, for us to pay for a year, for them to pay for a year, and them to take loans for a year. So far it's all going according to plan. Our youngest is a Junior in high school and started taking college classes this year.

[creditcardfree]

Ccf what was the total cost? I read the blog but it is hard to keep track. I assume parents track better than others

I'd have to go back and read the blog myself. That is where I tracked it. All posts are tagged College. The best ones are from May 2017 where I tracked the first four semesters in four separate posts. I'm pretty sure I wrote them for you because you kept asking. I'm not writing it all out again. It's there if you really want to know.

The truth is just like people buying a car or a home, the numbers are going to vary widely due to individual circumstances. I have no doubt you will be able to handle college costs without loans with your incomes and ability to save.

[Drake3287]

Our 3 kids went to California State Universities (public) and I think we paid out something like $175,000. One went to school close to home which saved us living expenses while the other two went to school in Southern California.

Because of our household income (not wealthy but I guess we are in the eye's of the government) they didn't qualify for any grant's or scholarships. I sometime's felt we were the only ones paying 100% of the college costs.

Luckily we had saved money for college over the years so we didn't have to rely on loans. Two of my daughters also went to the same college so we saved a lot by having them share an apartment with another girl.

I think for many of us, paying for a dorm/apartment along with living expenses tends to be more expensive then the college itself. Looking back what I should have done is bought a condo in San Diego and had my daughters live there. That rental money I paid out would have gone far in having a nice real estate investment.

[creditcardfree]

I might be repeating myself here but our plan for our kids was always for them to do a year of college while in high school thru the College Plus Program, for us to pay for a year, for them to pay for a year, and them to take loans for a year. So far it's all going according to plan. Our youngest is a Junior in high school and started taking college classes this year.

I think if more people looked at college this way it would make a big difference. There are many ways to split up paying for college besides saving for all of it before the child starts or taking the full amount in loans.

We will end up using a combination of scholarships, savings in our daughter's ESA accounts, out of pocket cash, Post 911 GI Bill benefits from my husband and if needed loans (with most to be repaid by our daughter's).

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Drake that's how I worry. That we will be paying 100% for both kids. Right now I am stressing how much to save.

[disneysteve]

Because of our household income (not wealthy but I guess we are in the eye's of the government) they didn't qualify for any grant's or scholarships. I sometime's felt we were the only ones paying 100% of the college costs.

Drake that's how I worry. That we will be paying 100% for both kids.

Probably fewer than 5% of students pay full price.

There are tons of scholarships out there, some from the schools themselves, some from the community. Our daughter gets a scholarship of over $19,000/year from the school which was based purely on her performance in high school (and her continued performance once in college to maintain it each year). Once she was in school, she was awarded another scholarship of $3,000/year through the English department, again based on academic performance. On top of that, the school has a program that awards a grant equal to the annual tuition increase so that you are always paying the previous year's price (also an academic requirement to receive that).

See the theme here? Academic performance matters - a lot!

There are also a lot of scholarship out there from professional groups, community organizations, religious sources, etc. Seek them out. Apply for them. Many of them go unclaimed each year because people don't bother to apply. Some are small, $500 or $1,000, but every little bit helps. $500 could pay for books for a semester or two.

[TexasHusker]

After scholarships, we are looking at about $24K a year all-in. Housing, food, evrything.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Thanks. it's not cheap.

[TexasHusker]

Thanks. it's not cheap.

We found out that ACT and/or SAT scores can mean tens of $ thousands. My son score a 28 on the ACT and we started getting scholarship offers from every Tom, Dick, and Harry school you can imagine. And he’s just an A/B student - 75th percentile of his class.

Oklahoma State offered him $11,000 a year - a chunk of change for sure.