Are You Going to Pay for Your Kids' College?

[LLJsmom]

We paid for both of ours to go. They worked summers and some during school and bought their books, paid their car insurance and spending money (for the most part). We paid tuition and room and board or apt. rent. We paid as they went and fortunately, they were four school years apart. It was something we were very committed to but once they were through school, they were on their own. We paid the bulk of it but wanted them financially involved in the process as well. My daughter went on to get her masters after she was working and she paid for that on her own but it was somewhat employer subsidized.

I think they both in their own way realized the gift of it after graduation. Friends were having to balance their living expenses with college loans - not always an easy task. I think they then began to fully realize and appreciate their educations and blank balance sheets.

MGR, that is my plan too. It's what my parents did for me.

 

[SMC]

My parents and my DH's parents paid full tuition for our private colleges and I expect to do the same for our kids. I'm not even pregnant yet but I started a 529 over a year ago and have been doing direct deposits into it every payday.

I would like my kids to get a university degree at a minimum and I will do all I can for them to graduate debt free.

 

[ViolaDiamante]

We don't have kids yet, but I am definitely planning on funding any future children's educations in full and I've been thinking it would be a good idea to start saving even before we start a family. My family did so for me, and now as an adult I can really see how that head start benefitted me. I also had a similar experience to Monarch, in that I wasn't a great student and probably took it a bit for granted, so I would like to avoid that problem with the future kids... I will also say that I didn't apply for any scholarships and probably won't want my children to either. I feel that if I/my family has the means to pay for school I wouldn't want to take an opportunity away from someone it may really make a difference for.

I also wonder what the future will bring for higher education in the US. I think once the economy is better and healthcare issues settle down, the cost of college and young people's education options will become a political issue. Something has to change.

 

[TooPatient]

DH paid for every last bit of his schooling by himself -- including room & board as he moved out after graduating high school (at 15 -- almost 16).

I worked while doing all of my catch up (didn't take it in high school and couldn't afford college until a big gap to work) and paid out of pocket. DH and I are still paying out of pocket as I go quarter to quarter.

We understand how much it means to work and really appreciate the education but we also understand how miserable it is to work while in school.

Our current plans are that we will pay for "A" to attend college. She knows this.
She also knows the requirements -- she will live at home while in school (we live near one of the best universities in the country) and will take her first couple of years at the local college then transfer. She can choose which degree she'd like to get BUT she has to pick it before she starts and it must prepare her for a career that pays okay (as in something she could live on if she stuck to a budget) and will be likely to actually have jobs to hire her for (so no ancient history degree -- but that would be fun just to learn!). Grades are to be reasonably good and she has to help around the house some. Part time work and/or internships to pay for extras.

We are guiding her to Running Start so she should be done with some college by the time she finishes high school.
We already paid for her private school from pre-school through 5th grade. She has been in private tutoring since she moved in with us 17 months ago (and will stay in until she completes the entire program -- through calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, etc). We are also getting her into additional classes for high school credit through her teen group.

So...
We're doing the best we can to guide her to a good college education and make it possible for her. She knows what she wants to do in her life so we're trying to help her see how what she's learning applies to that. We're also doing the best we can to teach her to balance work (school) and relaxing/fun. (I've been known to tell her to take a night off of her tutoring homework to enjoy a movie or go out with friends )


But --

All this is IF we are able to afford the tuition/books (we should be able to as I should be done with school and working again) and if she meets the given conditions. We aren't going to bankrupt ourselves to pay for her school since it is possible to work at the same time (of course if we couldn't afford the tuition and stuff she'd still be able to live at home and not worry about those expenses).

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Our parents paid for our college and we are paying for our children's college expenses. The incredible thing to me is that even state tuition, room and board has almost doubled since our last child graduated in 2007. The last child starts this fall and will go to a private college, but it isn't too much more than a state university with the scholarships. But still, it is a lot of money and never would I saddle a kid with $80-100k of debt at graduation at age 22 if I had any ability at all to pay. I have a son-in-law with grad school debt and he probably will never be able to pay it all back, and my daughter will probably have to continue working whether she wants to or not because of it.

 

[AprilBaby]

We are finished-YAY!!!!!
Fours kids thru college, each one has just the low interest federal loans to pay off over the next 20 years. Number two is now getting an MBA at Northwestern being half paid for by his company and half by himself. Number three is looking for assistant ships for grad school as Is number four. DF, I'm not sure why you think you owe your daughters so much. They need a little reality check. Any more than four years should be on their wallet.

 

[minousbijoux]

Great topic, Monarch. I have done my best to save for my kids' educations since they were little. Like the majority of folks here (I think), I will do my best to pay the full ride, but can probably only manage it if its public/State school and they get a combination of scholarship and grant assistance as well. At this point, I am a strong advocate of JCs (known as community colleges here) and hope I can get at least one of my kids to appreciate the benefits of staying locally, saving a boatload on tuition and matriculating to a 4 year college when they are older and more mature.

 

[minousbijoux]

We are finished-YAY!!!!!
Fours kids thru college, each one has just the low interest federal loans to pay off over the next 20 years. Number two is now getting an MBA at Northwestern being half paid for by his company and half by himself. Number three is looking for assistant ships for grad school as Is number four. DF, I'm not sure why you think you owe your daughters so much. They need a little reality check. Any more than four years should be on their wallet.

I'm relieved to hear this. While I don't want to saddle them with too much debt, I would love to think that I've fulfilled my parental fiduciary duty when/if they graduate college.

ETA: congratulations! That is no small feat.

 

[Dancing Fire]

We are finished-YAY!!!!!
Fours kids thru college, each one has just the low interest federal loans to pay off over the next 20 years. Number two is now getting an MBA at Northwestern being half paid for by his company and half by himself. Number three is looking for assistant ships for grad school as Is number four. DF, I'm not sure why you think you owe your daughters so much. They need a little reality check. Any more than four years should be on their wallet.

Welllll, we look at it this way, while wife and I are still alive we can control what ever we wanted to do our money (in this case pay for their educations)... if we die tomorrow who knows what they'll do with the money...

 

[OreoRosies86]

Yes, I will do whatever I can to ensure my children have every opportunity to go to college and not drown in debt doing so. If they want to go to grad school, well... they will have to pick up the tab

 

[AprilBaby]

We are finished-YAY!!!!!
Fours kids thru college, each one has just the low interest federal loans to pay off over the next 20 years. Number two is now getting an MBA at Northwestern being half paid for by his company and half by himself. Number three is looking for assistant ships for grad school as Is number four. DF, I'm not sure why you think you owe your daughters so much. They need a little reality check. Any more than four years should be on their wallet.

Welllll, we look at it this way, while wife and I are still alive we can control what ever we wanted to do our money (in this case pay for their educations)... if we die tomorrow who knows what they'll do with the money...

We are spending it on cruises, we see if there is any left for them

 

[Dancing Fire]

We are finished-YAY!!!!!
Fours kids thru college, each one has just the low interest federal loans to pay off over the next 20 years. Number two is now getting an MBA at Northwestern being half paid for by his company and half by himself. Number three is looking for assistant ships for grad school as Is number four. DF, I'm not sure why you think you owe your daughters so much. They need a little reality check. Any more than four years should be on their wallet.

Welllll, we look at it this way, while wife and I are still alive we can control what ever we wanted to do our money (in this case pay for their educations)... if we die tomorrow who knows what they'll do with the money...

We are spending it on cruises, we see if there is any left for them

Hey why not?? they are young adults now, you and your hubby are still young, go enjoy your lives together. This is your reward for having kids in your mid 20's. Yes, I can still remember those days when my friends were out having fun while I was home changing diapers, but now some of their kids are still in grade school, meanwhile I can do what ever I want in my mid 50's. ,and now they wanted to trade places with me, no thanks!...

 

[SB621]

I paid well into the 6 figures for my college education and my parents didn't give me a dime towards it. It put tons of pressure on me and later onto my husband as I didn't want to marry him with any debt so I worked my rear off to pay off 6 figures in 4 years. While it was stressful and caused me many tearful days/ nights I definiely understand the value of a dollar, hard work and appreciation my education a bit more then my peers who got it handed to them.

Now with all that said we plan on paying as much as we can for our 2 kids to go to school. We set up plans for them when they were born and we contribute every month along with their grandparents to that fund. I hope to cover 75% of their college but I'm not stressed about it. Honestly I think I should focus more on my retirment as I don't want my health or DH's health to be a burden of any kind on our kids. Right now our (mine and DH"s who never planned on retirment ) parents have taken a huge toll on us recently and I don't want to put my children in the same situation. So for me there needs to be a balance of paying for their school and building my retirement. I can't remember who but another PSer said it best with, "You place the oxygen mask first on yourself and then on your child."

 

[TooPatient]

I paid well into the 6 figures for my college education and my parents didn't give me a dime towards it. It put tons of pressure on me and later onto my husband as I didn't want to marry him with any debt so I worked my rear off to pay off 6 figures in 4 years. While it was stressful and caused me many tearful days/ nights I definiely understand the value of a dollar, hard work and appreciation my education a bit more then my peers who got it handed to them.

Now with all that said we plan on paying as much as we can for our 2 kids to go to school. We set up plans for them when they were born and we contribute every month along with their grandparents to that fund. I hope to cover 75% of their college but I'm not stressed about it. Honestly I think I should focus more on my retirment as I don't want my health or DH's health to be a burden of any kind on our kids. Right now our (mine and DH"s who never planned on retirment ) parents have taken a huge toll on us recently and I don't want to put my children in the same situation. So for me there needs to be a balance of paying for their school and building my retirement. I can't remember who but another PSer said it best with, "You place the oxygen mask first on yourself and then on your child."

Agree with the bolded!

I spent an hour last night trying to figure out how to word a better explanation of our plans. SB just got it exactly right!

There needs to be some sort of balance so the "kid" can learn some very important lessons in life (the top paragraph bolded!).

The bottom paragraph is exactly right too. Every bit of money can't be spent on the (very nice) extra for the kid (getting a college degree that they could have gotten by working for it themselves) at the expense of the financial security of the parents. Later life is expensive and I don't want to ever call "A" and say she has to pay $$$ because we have nothing after paying for everything she got. That would be uncomfortable for her (and quite the burden!) and could leave us in the position of not being able to take care of ourselves later -- "kids" don't have to take care of aging parents (another thread a few months back regarding borrowing/lending to/from parents showed that!).

It may sound heartless, but DH and I are both in agreement that WE come first. After that comes "A".
Not in the sense of love and caring for her, but in the sense that we can't take care of her financial needs if we aren't able to take care of ourselves. To give her the best life possible, we need to make sure we are secure. (Good example is my finishing college -- we can't afford summer camp for her this next year because I'll have higher tuition but in a couple of years I will graduate and we'll be in a position to afford her tuition, help with a car, etc (none of which we could do without me finishing college))

 

[Trekkie]

My dad paid for my brothers to go to elite schools and offered to pay for them to go to university. One went to university, the other didn't. When I finished high school it was understood that I would have to find my own way to pay for university. I am still quite resentful of that, but hey, it's his money - I can't spend it for him.

My baby brother (mother's child from a subsequent relationship) should have started university this year but his marks aren't good enough. This year he will be living with me while redoing some of his subjects so that he has a better chance of getting into university next year. I started saving for him to go to university when I was just 20. Haven't saved a fortune but it's more than I would've had if I had not started saving at all.

I always made it clear to my brother that I am prepared to pay for four years of university and that's it. If he wants to do first year four times, that's his problem, but I'm only paying for four years and me paying for the next year is contingent on his marks for the previous year. Also, I'm not dictating what he should study, but if he wants me to pay for it, it needs to be a course I approve of. I'm not spending a fortune for him to do a BA in Philosophy and Ethnomusicology or some such rubbish that won't end in a viable career path. Fortunately for me, he wants to do engineering.

When I have kids the same rule applies - I'll pay, but I'm not paying for them to be a layabout for four years, and by "layabout" I include gratuitous semesters abroad and courses such as History and Appreciation of Music (a course offered at the university I work for - a hot favourite with the layabouts who need an easy credit: basically the students sit in a room and listen to music all year. No exams. Just discussion. ). Just like with my brother, I will expect a certain academic standard. If they want random extras they can pay for it themselves.

Education may be a right, but having your parents (or sibling) pay for it is not.

 

[Harpertoo]

It may sound heartless, but DH and I are both in agreement that WE come first. After that comes "A".
Not in the sense of love and caring for her, but in the sense that we can't take care of her financial needs if we aren't able to take care of ourselves. To give her the best life possible, we need to make sure we are secure. (Good example is my finishing college -- we can't afford summer camp for her this next year because I'll have higher tuition but in a couple of years I will graduate and we'll be in a position to afford her tuition, help with a car, etc (none of which we could do without me finishing college))

--------------
TooPatient, It's not heartless. It is one of the first things a financial planner will tell you -- the kids can borrow for college, but there is no mechanism to borrow for retirement. In a perfect world it is not an either/or for anyone.

 

[armywife13]

We plan on contributing to our children's educational costs, but most likely, we will not pay for everything.

I came from a middle class home. I started working at age 14 and put 75% of paychecks into savings for college and I also worked during college. My parents covered my room and board to live on campus, and I covered tuition and books. I felt it was a fair arrangement. They contributed what they could, which helped me greatly. I also learned the value of hard work and focus by having to work, save money, and maintain a 3.9 GPA in school.

 

[Skippy123]

We will pay for the University in State; out of state, they need to get a scholarship. I got scholarships and my parents covered the rest; my scholarship was based on me working and going to school and keeping a certain gpa.

 

[partgypsy]

My parents were very non-transparent about informing us financially about the wheres and whetherfores of college. So for example, I applied to a private college and two expensive universities for undergraduate. And after was accepted to all three was told by my parents, of course you can't go to the (expensive universities) they are too much! And why didn't you apply to any public universities? Uh? you never said anything...
Luckily the college was my first choice plus I had gotten a scholarship. My parents paid the difference between the scholarship and the rest of the tutition. As far as living and all other expenses, there was some kind of communication breakdown. They acted like they would pay that part too, but all I got was a 500 a semester (for everything, room, board, books, any other school supplies) and when I asked for more they didn't say no, but they just never responded. I did end up working during the summer and also taking on tutoring jobs and using the money I had saved during HS, to pay for food and such, but I would have been so much better if they were more honest and said, we don't have the money for anything more, you will have to either work more during the summer or take on loans, so I knew where I stood.

So, I don't want to have my kids to be in the dark like I was. We will pay the college's expected parental contribution, but I'm not sure how much more we will be able to contribute. I have already told my oldest (DD) that we feel geting a college education is important and we will contribute to her college, but we cannot pay her way. So she may want consider more about going to a public versus a private college and think about ways of getting scholarships. And she said, that's OK, I'm going to be a writer and I don't have to go to college to be a writer. So that may have backfired.
My youngest has a learning disability (we are in the midst of the process of learning about it). She is a wonderful kid, but academic learning is very hard for her. We are saving for college for her, but wonder if it would make more sense to save the money not in a 529 but in some other form, in case she decides not to get higher learning but wants to go on a different track. But it's still too early to decide and the money in the 529 is small enough it doesn't make much difference either way at this point.

 

[yennyfire]

The best gift my parents ever gave me was my education. I did a 5 year BA/MS program and came out debt free. It's what enabled me to buy my first house at 27 (before I met DH). We want to do that for our kids and have been funding since we got engaged (we knew we wanted two kids). So far, with 10 years before the oldest goes to college, we could pay for a public school. Hopefully, by the time they go, we could also pay for private (though I hope to tell them that if they go public, there will be money left over for a down payment on a house or a wedding or something).

All of this said, we fund retirement first, then college. As others have said, we can finance college, but not retirement.

 

[lyra]

We're in Canada, so tuition isn't terribly expensive. We didn't feel the need to give our kids any lessons, or pressures, although we did let them incur some debt that they have to pay off. We paid for 4 years worth of school, and both girls required more than that, for various reasons including changing majors. So the rest is on them, but it's manageable. They each took out a loan for 1 year's worth of tuition (they live at home and commute). They pay it down during the year, and are able to go semester to semester on their own by paying down then using the loan amount again. When they graduate, they'll have less than $10,000 debt to pay off. So it's a compromise, but it's not a huge amount of debt to pay off. They make monthly payments on their loans.

Another way we look at this is that we don't really plan to leave our kid's an inheritance. What will be will be, but we prefer to gift them during our life and also have the life WE want during retirement. We even joke about the house we will get "when we get to buy our own house again". They laugh at that. It doesn't include room for them. Just 2 recliners in the family room, that kind of thing.

 

[monarch64]

My parents were very non-transparent about informing us financially about the wheres and whetherfores of college. So for example, I applied to a private college and two expensive universities for undergraduate. And after was accepted to all three was told by my parents, of course you can't go to the (expensive universities) they are too much! And why didn't you apply to any public universities? Uh? you never said anything...
Luckily the college was my first choice plus I had gotten a scholarship. My parents paid the difference between the scholarship and the rest of the tutition. As far as living and all other expenses, there was some kind of communication breakdown. They acted like they would pay that part too, but all I got was a 500 a semester (for everything, room, board, books, any other school supplies) and when I asked for more they didn't say no, but they just never responded. I did end up working during the summer and also taking on tutoring jobs and using the money I had saved during HS, to pay for food and such, but I would have been so much better if they were more honest and said, we don't have the money for anything more, you will have to either work more during the summer or take on loans, so I knew where I stood.

So, I don't want to have my kids to be in the dark like I was. We will pay the college's expected parental contribution, but I'm not sure how much more we will be able to contribute. I have already told my oldest (DD) that we feel geting a college education is important and we will contribute to her college, but we cannot pay her way. So she may want consider more about going to a public versus a private college and think about ways of getting scholarships. And she said, that's OK, I'm going to be a writer and I don't have to go to college to be a writer. So that may have backfired.
My youngest has a learning disability (we are in the midst of the process of learning about it). She is a wonderful kid, but academic learning is very hard for her. We are saving for college for her, but wonder if it would make more sense to save the money not in a 529 but in some other form, in case she decides not to get higher learning but wants to go on a different track. But it's still too early to decide and the money in the 529 is small enough it doesn't make much difference either way at this point.

You know, you could always leave the money in the 529 and if she has children, you could rename a grandchild as the beneficiary. Just a thought.

 

[Ninna]

We plan to pay so long as:
1. We can afford to (college savings is in place, so we are planning for it)
2. Our kids don't have an entitled attitude about it

Like ihy, I came from a modest background. And I had my heart set on a private school because I thought that if I got the "right" education, I had a better chance of making more money. I didn't want to be poor anymore, so in my backwards teenage thinking I assumed that if I went into debt for school, I would graduate, make a lot of money and pay the debt back quickly. In the end, I just started out life in a financial hole. I don't want that for my kids.
I'm on the fence about telling our kids (one day) that we have money set aside for them. I think we'll play that one by ear. I don't want for them to start out life in debt, but I also won't be giving them their own credit cards. If I thought my kids were acting entitled, I really would have no issue cutting them off.

+1
I have no plans on telling the children about college funds or anything like it because it's not their money [yet].
To us, paying for your kid's college isn't giving them a free ride, it's a gift.
We simply don't want them to start their adult lives with debt.
My parents paid for my college tuition, books and the meal plan. I worked for all the extras.
DH had to study medicine 'off-shore' for a year because that's what he could afford. He did manage to graduate from UCLA thanks to the Geffen scholarship. Still, when we got married, he had 90K in debt.
True, young adults can certainly pay for their own education; it's just tougher now thanks to tuition inflation+ stagnant wages and then we have loans that have replaced grants.
I agree with several posters: picking the right degree is so important, 'love' degrees make you happy but won't pay your bills, I cannot tell you how many graduates we know that are back home [with loans] trying to re-figure out their future.
Never cut back or borrow from retirement funds. Postponing retirement to pay for college isn't necessary either.

 

[armywife13]

My parents were very non-transparent about informing us financially about the wheres and whetherfores of college. So for example, I applied to a private college and two expensive universities for undergraduate. And after was accepted to all three was told by my parents, of course you can't go to the (expensive universities) they are too much! And why didn't you apply to any public universities? Uh? you never said anything...
Luckily the college was my first choice plus I had gotten a scholarship. My parents paid the difference between the scholarship and the rest of the tutition. As far as living and all other expenses, there was some kind of communication breakdown. They acted like they would pay that part too, but all I got was a 500 a semester (for everything, room, board, books, any other school supplies) and when I asked for more they didn't say no, but they just never responded. I did end up working during the summer and also taking on tutoring jobs and using the money I had saved during HS, to pay for food and such, but I would have been so much better if they were more honest and said, we don't have the money for anything more, you will have to either work more during the summer or take on loans, so I knew where I stood.

So, I don't want to have my kids to be in the dark like I was. We will pay the college's expected parental contribution, but I'm not sure how much more we will be able to contribute. I have already told my oldest (DD) that we feel geting a college education is important and we will contribute to her college, but we cannot pay her way. So she may want consider more about going to a public versus a private college and think about ways of getting scholarships. And she said, that's OK, I'm going to be a writer and I don't have to go to college to be a writer. So that may have backfired.
My youngest has a learning disability (we are in the midst of the process of learning about it). She is a wonderful kid, but academic learning is very hard for her. We are saving for college for her, but wonder if it would make more sense to save the money not in a 529 but in some other form, in case she decides not to get higher learning but wants to go on a different track. But it's still too early to decide and the money in the 529 is small enough it doesn't make much difference either way at this point.

You know, you could always leave the money in the 529 and if she has children, you could rename a grandchild as the beneficiary. Just a thought.

My parents did that recently. They did not use all of the money in the 529 that was set up for me, so now it has been renamed for my 3 year old. Worked out great!

 

[monarch64]

I keep coming back to the "should we tell her we're saving for/paying for college or not" question. After just reading Ninna's post, as well as others dealing with the issue (Harpertoo's was another one), I'm thinking this:

We've already begun contributing to a 529 account for her. We would like to cover most if not all of her academic expenses, provided she also makes contributions. Instead of not telling her at all (like I was initially thinking), I think it would be wisest/healthiest to start talking about money/saving/budgeting/spending habits early on and at some point share with her that we've started a *family*-funded college savings account for her education. And that she, as a part of the family, will need to make contributions to the account as well.

PartGypsy, I know what you mean about not having parents who effectively communicated about things like this. I don't want to rip on my parents too much because I love them and they did what they thought was right, but but they did hand me a lot without communicating and without making me earn it. I mean, this didn't set me up for total failure in life or make me a horrible person, but I missed out on the middle part between wanting the thing and getting the thing. I left college with no debt and did great on my own despite never really having had to budget (saving cash from your part-time job paycheck for weekend beer doesn't count), but then I met and married someone who was like my dad and just wanted to provide and not communicate too much about it. That did not turn out so well, as some of you know. 8 years later I had a bunch of debt and no assets--because I thought it was "normal" not to talk about money all the time.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's comments. This is the stuff I think about on cold, snowy days when I can't play outside!!!

ETA: Armywife, that's awesome!

 

[ruby59]

We don't have kids yet, but I am definitely planning on funding any future children's educations in full and I've been thinking it would be a good idea to start saving even before we start a family. My family did so for me, and now as an adult I can really see how that head start benefitted me. I also had a similar experience to Monarch, in that I wasn't a great student and probably took it a bit for granted, so I would like to avoid that problem with the future kids... I will also say that I didn't apply for any scholarships and probably won't want my children to either. I feel that if I/my family has the means to pay for school I wouldn't want to take an opportunity away from someone it may really make a difference for.
I also wonder what the future will bring for higher education in the US. I think once the economy is better and healthcare issues settle down, the cost of college and young people's education options will become a political issue. Something has to change.

Just to be clear but there is a difference between financial and academic scholarships. My children all received/will receive academic sholarships based on their extremely high GPA's, class rank, honor classes, and high SAT scores. They earned them through late hours and hard work. These have nothing to do with financial scholarships which are based on income.

 

[isaku5]

The kids paid their own tuition and we covered everything else. Neither wanted to go to grad school, thank goodness.

They both have careers that pay well.

My late grandfather paid for everything for me, but I wasn't a partier, smoker or drinker back then. I was really focused on getting that degree and finding a teaching job.

 

[Lulie]

I think that it's very important to have ongoing talks about money with children to teach them responsibility with spending and saving.
At the same time, there's no benefit from sharing salaries, savings and investments because we all know that spilling info and greed is natural among teens.

I would not share exact amount of debt unless is critical.
We never shared the 529 with him because tuitions DO vary and his job was to do Well in school.
Ruby is 100% right. GPA's first, rank [depending on school size] honor, community [450hrs in 4 years] SAT/ACT scores is what ALL schools are looking for and willing to give $$$ regardless how much $ you make.

 

[gregchang35]

We will be supporting our 2 daughters (currently 3yo and 5mo) through their education. We are hoping that we can, and I think we can. We are really privileged that we have careers that will afford to set this up nicely for them. Both of us had to pay for our university education. We have agreed that we will be teaching them the value of education and also money to fund it. I was taught that at an early age. Because of that I am now in a very privileged position. Thanx mum and dad.

Some background schooling costs-though probably not as researched as I have been out of touch with tertiary education costs, as it has been 20yrs since I graduated.
We are in Australia. And after reading some of the posts, We are really lucky down under!! Schooling is a little different especially the cost from what I am reading.
Primary school- in USA I think it is grade school.
Middle school- USA equivalent?
Senior/ upper school leading to graduation. USA equivalent?

The above can be publicly or privately schooled. Public schooling can be $100/yr. The private schooling in some prestigious schools are approx $10k/yr in the early years. When it hits middle and senior it will head towards $25k/yr.

With tertiary education it was provided free till the mid 80's. It is now subsidized. My undergrad cost me approx $15k in the early 90's. I think it is now it is close to 6 figures, if I recall correctly from a few yrs ago.

We don't have college so most will go to a technical school or a university. Majority of these tertiary institutions are subsidized by the govt. Courses are changing and some professional degrees are now post graduate degrees eg medicine/ law are now a post graduate degree in Western Australia. Similar to the USA where u go to college and then university, however, in AUS, all of this type of education is in a university.

For my undergraduate degree: we had govt assistance as we had little and parents worked 7 days a week. We were also fortunate that my brother and sister had a job on the w/ends with our parents. This provided us the funds to pay for our tertiary education. My parents did not want us to have a debt when we started our career.. So, we were lucky that they had a business that allowed us to have a job to pay for it. It is a relief knowing that there is no debt after education.

I think justginger is doing an undergrad degree here in AUS and she made comment about the relative lower costs of education here. She may not respond to this post given her current family crisis.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[distracts]

I don't know. My parents paid for all of mine and my husband's parents paid for none of his. Originally I wanted to pay for all of our future kids' college expenses while he wanted to pay for none. Upon reflection, we'd really like for them to not graduate hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, like some of our friends, or have to work full-time throughout college (as my husband did), but we ALSO don't want them completely isolated from the financial impacts of their decisions (as I was). So there's probably some balance in there where we pay part that makes us comfortable.