Whats the best way to pay for college tuition

[floridafam]

Ah, the Benecquisto...the dream ! When she was accepted to Safety school #3 with about 40% tuition/fees paid with scholarships on Thursday the first thing she said was "now I'm definitely getting out of Florida." Sigh...so although UF is currently listed as the NMF university, unless she has a very big change of heart she won't be staying here and saving us money! If she weren't our only AND if I hadn't scrupulously saved for her college, then that would be a different situation...I think Florida is very generous with their scholarship opportunities for in state students between Bright Futures, the Ben, etc.

I think it all comes down to a gut feeling. DS could have gone out of state but USC didn’t offer him enough money, even after take NM into account. He was waitlisted at his dream school but the waitlist never opened up.

He’s a senior at the University of Miami and hasn’t regretted his decision for one second. He has made friends from all over the world, had the opportunity to study abroad (he returns tomorrow and I’m so excited), and he already has a job lined up after he graduates.

DD thought for sure she wanted to go out of state but is a sophomore at FIT. She’s very creative and artsy and never thought she would go to a tech school but it’s turned out to be an unbelievable experience. Class size is small, she loves that there’s a huge international student population, and the professors are great.

Best of luck to your DD.

 

[tink1970]

I think it all comes down to a gut feeling.

So true! It's not my experience so I want her to be where she feels the most comfortable and "at home"- wherever that may be and however hard letting her go will be.

Best of luck to your DD

Thanks! It sounds like you learned a lot from your children and this process and I appreciate your sharing.
Have a wonderful holiday with your family

 

[sk!mom]

My wife runs a bookstore at a University and the book business is changing. One reason why books are often more expensive at the school bookstore, is that the professors fail to provide their book lists to the bookstore in a timely manner. If the bookstore knows what inventory they need, they will order early and save $$ which is passed on to the student. New vs Used vs renting is a personal preference. Used and rentals will save you money, but it is not going to be significant differences. Also, many professors write their own text books. Not only do they have the material they want for class in a book, but they also get a royalty payment for each book sold. That is the worst case for a student as there are not options to find these books outside of the school bookstores and they are usually more costly than another book which is being used all over the country. The publishers do save money for students when they can publish a book in bulk. Many books now come with an online code that is a single use code. Students can get the book cheaply or used off Amazon, but they will still need to buy the code from the bookstore. As much as it is all evolving, some things just don't change. My wife has proposed to her university that they include a "fee" to all students for the costs of books associated with their regular student fees. With this, all books would be provided to the students every semester by the bookstore at no additional costs. The university has squawked at this, even thought it would save students a lot of $$$ and students would all have all course materials. BTW, not all universities are equal when it comes to any of this (regarding how books are sold to students).

My May '18 graduate would 100% contradict the bolded. Renting (from Amazon or Chegg) was far cheaper than any other option and her preferred choice when available. She had a few classes over the 4 years where it was a prof written text only available at the campus bookstore and those were costly. However, overall, books were much less then DH and I paid in the '80's and '90's thanks to renting.

The best way to pay is going to depend on what you're buying.

College is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some people it's the education only, with a predetermined career as an end point. For others it's a time between childhood and full adulthood, a relatively safe transition space. For some it's a tremendously expensive party they spend years paying off.

We wanted our DD to have that time between childhood and adulthood so we saved accordingly. She went to a state school and got $5K per year in merit aid and we basically cash flowed the remaining $20K per year due to restricting our own budget and paying off our mortgage a few years before college. We had adequate savings but ended up not needing it.


I haven't seen this mentioned but another problem with student loans is the number of young adults who take out the loans for a couple of years and then don't end up graduating.

If you are a young parent reading this, my advice is to limit Disney and other costly vacations if you aren't saving adequately for college. Likewise, limit costly extracurriculars if they keep you from saving for college. Travel baseball/soccer/etc... is unlikely to turn into a full ride.

I never would have predicted in 1996 (when DD22 was born) that the cost of college was going to sky rocket as it did so take that lesson and save as much as possible now.

 

[sk!mom]

Yes. I saw a lot of people on this thread talking about merit scholarships. Those are great. They're a big part of how I afforded the college I attended. I have one son who has a decent shot at merit. I have another who really doesn't. He's a wonderful kid, and with a lot of support (special ed teacher, aides, school psychologist) he's moving from Below Expectations last year to mostly Near Expectations and even a few Meets Expectations on his last report card. But as amazing as he is in many ways, I have to be realistic and say that school is probably going to always be a struggle for him. It's not particularly fair, but ODS is going to be expected to apply his butt off for scholarships because merit is probably the only free money he'll get. DH and I will probably be paying rack rate for YDS.

In the 90's, I, too, got a full tuition merit scholarship but, at that time my mid tier college was about $1500 per semester. Those scholarships are rare now and tuition, even mid tier, in my state is more like $6000 per semester. I lived with DH and he covered living expenses. My DD's room and board for 2014-2018 ran about 12,000 per year.

Thanks so much for the detailed advice crisi! Great stuff. I have a question for those of you who have recently gone through the college admissions process. For anyone who has a student that earned merit aid, how much did class rank play into the awarding of any particular reward? I ask because DS16 is debating the IB program which he has been invited to join. We have been learning as much about it as we can and know that earning the IB diploma ‘looks good’ on a college application. But in speaking with parents whose students have graduated IB and gone on to college I have heard from some that their child, in their opinion, lost out on potential merit money because their class ranking was not as high as it could have been due to the rigor of the IB program. (That word is used a lot to describe IB – rigorous! I’m already sick of hearing it.) I know this can play into weighted and unweighted GPAs, how the HS determines these, and how any particular college’s admissions office views them as well. I just thought that was an interesting take on viewing IB and whether the entire program was worth it or not.

Technically this question does relate to how to pay for college!

My DD got $5000 per year from her university plus a final semester free for finishing in 4 years. She chose a mid tier college where her top 7% finish in a high school class of 700 and her solid test scores made her an above average candidate. She did the AP track in high school.

On the other hand, my nephew (a 2017 grad) chose the state flag ship. He was number 11 in a class of 700 with way above average test scores. He received zero dollars in merit aid. This worked for him though because his dad has the Hazelwood which gives him 150 hours of free tuition in a state school.

Bottom line- if your student needs merit, look where their scores make them top tier for that University.

 

[mmmears]

I see 2 really good pieces of advice here, so I'm going to quote them and hope people notice them.

Likewise, limit costly extracurriculars if they keep you from saving for college. Travel baseball/soccer/etc... is unlikely to turn into a full ride.

Oh, if only people realized this. Back when my DD was a gymnast parents were talking about how all the money they spent at the gym and traveling would yield huge scholarships. I said that if we just stopped going to to gym DD could go to any college she wanted to go. She did stop soon after I said that LOL. People didn't like to hear it, but sports is not an investment. Most kids burn out, get injured, or aren't good enough to get those few $$$ scholarships. My cousin poured tons of money into his son's baseball "career" when he was little, and then there was no money for college. He did not get a scholarship.

Bottom line- if your student needs merit, look where their scores make them top tier for that University.

So true! DD got money from her likely/safety schools. The tippy top colleges give no merit at all, or if they do it's rare. Your best bet for $$$ is to have a kid with strong grades, test scores, and extra curricular activities and then apply to colleges where those stats put him/her at the top of the applicant pool. (Make sure those schools offer merit).

 

[kymom99]

Eagle Scouts and gold award Girl Scouts get full tuition at state universities in Kentucky. My step daughter and her husband both went this route in the late 90s.

 

[tvguy]

I see 2 really good pieces of advice here, so I'm going to quote them and hope people notice them.

Oh, if only people realized this. Back when my DD was a gymnast parents were talking about how all the money they spent at the gym and traveling would yield huge scholarships. I said that if we just stopped going to to gym DD could go to any college she wanted to go. She did stop soon after I said that LOL. People didn't like to hear it, but sports is not an investment. Most kids burn out, get injured, or aren't good enough to get those few $$$ scholarships. My cousin poured tons of money into his son's baseball "career" when he was little, and then there was no money for college. He did not get a scholarship.

So true! DD got money from her likely/safety schools. The tippy top colleges give no merit at all, or if they do it's rare. Your best bet for $$$ is to have a kid with strong grades, test scores, and extra curricular activities and then apply to colleges where those stats put him/her at the top of the applicant pool. (Make sure those schools offer merit).

Man, I've lost track of how many of my son's Little League teammates that moved to Travel Ball that were burned out or hurt by half way through high school.

However, my son's High School Baseball team played in an Easter Tournament in Las Vegas, and the coaching staff of UNLV baseball met with our team. They were of the opinion that there is a full ride scholarship out there for every High School Varsity Athlete. It's probably at a College you have never heard of, in a part of the country you don't want to live in, but the money is there if you shop scholarships, not Colleges.

 

[kymom99]

Man, I've lost track of how many of my son's Little League teammates that moved to Travel Ball that were burned out or hurt by half way through high school.

However, my son's High School Baseball team played in an Easter Tournament in Las Vegas, and the coaching staff of UNLV baseball met with our team. They were of the opinion that there is a full ride scholarship out there for every High School Varsity Athlete. It's probably at a College you have never heard of, in a part of the country you don't want to live in, but the money is there if you shop scholarships, not Colleges.

A couple kids my son graduated with did just that. Chose colleges based on where they could play their sport. My son gave up that dream junior year in high school.

 

[MrsPete]

So true! It's not my experience so I want her to be where she feels the most comfortable and "at home"- wherever that may be and however hard letting her go will be.

Yes, it's the student's experience, but I didn't give mine a blank check to go anywhere -- I have more experience and a long-term view; my opinion counts too. For example, my oldest was interested for a short time in Clemson, and I knew it wasn't a good choice for her. Together we looked at online details about the school, and she came to the same conclusion. No conflict between us; she was smart enough to look /analyze /judge that it just wasn't her spot. She ended up exactly where she belonged, and she had a great college experience -- and was well prepared for the work world.

She had a few classes over the 4 years where it was a prof written text only available at the campus bookstore and those were costly.

That reminds me: A couple times at the community college my youngest was told to buy -- did they call it the Abnormal Psychology Bundle? -- I don't think it was "bundle", but it was two books popped into a bag together, all required for one class. The first time she was assigned such a thing, it confused us, and they didn't give the individual book names on her schedule -- she found it cheaper to physically go into the bookstore and ask for the book names, then come home and search for them online (either rental or used purchase). It was cumbersome, but what else can you do?

My DD got $5000 per year from her university plus a final semester free for finishing in 4 years.

Was this a standard, for-anyone-offer? Finish in four, get the last semester free? That's very cool, but I've never heard of it. Tuition only, right? So that still leaves fees, which are as much as tuition, and housing and books -- but that's a big chunk of change.

In fact, UNC fines students who don't finish on time. And we have a surcharge (extra tuition) for students who take over -- I'm kinda guessing on this number -- 130 credit hours, which is a way to encourage students to finish /not to hang around college for a decade or so.

People didn't like to hear it, but sports is not an investment.

LOTS of parents don't realize that.

Man, I've lost track of how many of my son's Little League teammates that moved to Travel Ball that were burned out or hurt by half way through high school.

I have seen a couple families torn apart by such things: The parents think, "I've provided this (expensive) opportunity for my child -- equipment, fees, sports camps, travel -- and now that we're finally at the point that we might recoup some of that in the form of a scholarship, my kid claims he's 'burned out'!" The kid thinks, "I'm sick and tired of this. I like ___, but I don't want it to be my life." I know a couple kids who played college ball for one semester /one year, and they quit -- they didn't go into it realizing that college ball is essentially a job: live with your teammates, mandatory practices and study halls, diets and workouts. It can get to be too much. I know one daughter and father who literally do not talk to one another over her turning down a sports scholarship -- and it's been something like 6-8 years.

 

[MommyinHonduras]

Look into the schools she is considering and see if they accept CLEP. If they do Google freshman year for free. Quite a few schools accept CLEP for freshmen level courses. If you DD is motivated and school of her choice accepts CLEP she could start as a sophomore and make the $ you have saved go farther.

 

[tvguy]

Look into the schools she is considering and see if they accept CLEP. If they do Google freshman year for free. Quite a few schools accept CLEP for freshmen level courses. If you DD is motivated and school of her choice accepts CLEP she could start as a sophomore and make the $ you have saved go farther.

Something to consider. However, my son couldn't get most of his AP classes accepted at the University he went to. Their view point was the classes would help you in THEIR version of those classes, but they wanted students to take their classes. It didn't cost you anything, and at the time they had a guarantee that if you took and passed the classes they offered, you would graduate in no more than 4 years or the tuition was free.

 

[sk!mom]

Was this a standard, for-anyone-offer? Finish in four, get the last semester free? That's very cool, but I've never heard of it. Tuition only, right? So that still leaves fees, which are as much as tuition, and housing and books -- but that's a big chunk of change.

At DD's state university, yes this was available to everyone but it had lots of requirements and you had to sign up as a freshman. Here's what the website says now...

• It pays to graduate on time. Save up to $3,000 in your last 15 hours (typically your last semester) by graduating in four years, and you may also qualify for the statewide tuition rebate of $1,000.

DD only needed 9 hours that last semester so she had a waiver to still get her scholarship as a full-time student and she received the $3000 rebate. She was also able to get the $1000 from the state which we let her keep to start her adult emergency fund as she was moving to her new city.

Our state has had a big push the past few years to get kids out of college in 4 years. Too many were taking 5 and 6 years and if you're getting loans that number was just increasing.

 

[CAQDaddy]

Man, I've lost track of how many of my son's Little League teammates that moved to Travel Ball that were burned out or hurt by half way through high school.

However, my son's High School Baseball team played in an Easter Tournament in Las Vegas, and the coaching staff of UNLV baseball met with our team. They were of the opinion that there is a full ride scholarship out there for every High School Varsity Athlete. It's probably at a College you have never heard of, in a part of the country you don't want to live in, but the money is there if you shop scholarships, not Colleges.

That coaching staff was mistaken. My wife and I own a catering company. A few years back we catered a chili supper that our local high school baseball coach organized. Every head baseball coach from our area colleges and universities spoke at this event. From D-1 to NAIA to junior college. If you simply look at the scholarship limits that the NCAA and NAIA put on the schools you would realize that there are only 6-12 scholarships to spread between 30-40+ athletes (in baseball). ALL of these coaches stressed to the parents that scholarship money (specifically baseball) is very hard to come by and that "full ride" baseball scholarships are almost unheard of. As one example, our local D-1 coach told the story of one of his star pitchers. This young man was an all-American in college. He won a game at the college world series and then he went on to set the major league record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career. This young man played for four years at our college and did not receive a nickel of athletic scholarship money. He did receive some merit based scholarship money. This coach told the story to illustrate that if your student focuses on grades and test scores they will have a much better chance of receiving scholarship money than for their athletic ability.

Furthermore, there are more than 100,000 high school varsity football players in Texas alone. If you add up every single scholarship at every college in the country it wouldn't even scratch the surface of that number.

 

[Southernmiss]

That coaching staff was mistaken. My wife and I own a catering company. A few years back we catered a chili supper that our local high school baseball coach organized. Every head baseball coach from our area colleges and universities spoke at this event. From D-1 to NAIA to junior college. If you simply look at the scholarship limits that the NCAA and NAIA put on the schools you would realize that there are only 6-12 scholarships to spread between 30-40+ athletes (in baseball). ALL of these coaches stressed to the parents that scholarship money (specifically baseball) is very hard to come by and that "full ride" baseball scholarships are almost unheard of. As one example, our local D-1 coach told the story of one of his star pitchers. This young man was an all-American in college. He won a game at the college world series and then he went on to set the major league record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career. This young man played for four years at our college and did not receive a nickel of athletic scholarship money. He did receive some merit based scholarship money. This coach told the story to illustrate that if your student focuses on grades and test scores they will have a much better chance of receiving scholarship money than for their athletic ability.

Furthermore, there are more than 100,000 high school varsity football players in Texas alone. If you add up every single scholarship at every college in the country it wouldn't even scratch the surface of that number.

I agree.

Our club Soccer team hosted a weekend Showcase where college coaches came to workshop and scout for potential college players. The weekend started off with a Friday night info session presented by several different coaches from many types of colleges and a set of parents who have guided and advised a number of kids into college athletics or not.

They all said basically what you have said here. Students are better off to work on merit scholarships, not expect athletic scholarships. Such a myth that kids are getting big bucks for athletics in college.

DD is a good high school goal keeper and has been looked at by JUCO coaches and could probably play for a 4 year school. But after that workshop, she realized that she will likely not seek to play in college unless she fell into the right combo of playing and merit scholarships.

And she realizes that she should focus on academics in college.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Sports will get your high academic child scholarships, but they won't get them without both...

I was a valedictorian with decent SAT scores (high 1300s back in the day)...but I was also a 4 year varsity athlete on a multi-year state championship team (I was not the star, but neither was I a non-contributor). So, my SATs got ignored and I got full merit-based rides everywhere I applied (state schools, private schools, 2nd tier - not Ivy)...the payout for sports comes if your child is also a star academic...or if your child is middle of the road academic, it might get them the admission that a similar, possibly even higher academic child, won't get...but it usually won't get a "sports" scholarship...

PS - I did not pursue my sport in college, either...but my scholarship did not require me to, and I was ready for the break (actually, I tried to quit in high school from burnout, but my wise, experienced dad helped me see the flaw in that plan, and we down-shifted the activity significantly without dropping it.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We saved the cash for our son's schooling, roughly $4,000 a year into a money market fund that we moved to a stable fund when he turned 16. Out of the blue, he came to us and said he was interested in a community college instead as spending more money than he has to is "stupid" and there is no sense in paying room and board when he can drive 12 miles each day and stay at home. He is in the second year, is running at a 4.0, and already has a job lined up in the field to start when he graduates with his associates degree in May. 45K a year to start isn't bad for a 19 year old, plus they will pay for his Bachelor's degree if he chooses. His GF is doing the same, she is heading the CNA route and also has work lined up when she graduates in May. She will make in the 30s with opportunities to get further degrees at no cost. Both used KEES money provided by the state of Kentucky for high school graduates. Both will leave with no debt, associate degrees, jobs lined up, and the opportunity grow in their career. They will be making 80K a year at 20 years old as a couple. After tax credits, we are paying roughly $1200 a year for tuition after the KEES funding.

Meanwhile our nephew's GF who went away to a 4 year school piling up 50K+ in debt in the process is now working as a cashier at Lowe's as her art degree has no job availability. She works as a cashier at a Speedway gas station for a 2nd job with no job prospects in her field at all.

Flame away, but spending 30K+ a year to send a kid away for a 4 year degree that may be useless is a gigantic waste of money. If they have big aspirations like a doctor, lawyer, etc then go ahead. If they are undecided, I'd strongly suggest staying home and getting as many credits as possible at a local CC, then make the decision.

 

[kymom99]

I have a cousin who graduated top of his class and was also a top football player. He chose to go to rose hulman engineering school where he could play football and study to be an engineer. It’s been a long time ago but I remember him saying he wasn’t going to have a career in football so academics came first. My son’s friend is a good basketball player and he is choosing the same route. Rose hulman with some basketball thrown in.

 

[tvguy]

That coaching staff was mistaken. My wife and I own a catering company. A few years back we catered a chili supper that our local high school baseball coach organized. Every head baseball coach from our area colleges and universities spoke at this event. From D-1 to NAIA to junior college. If you simply look at the scholarship limits that the NCAA and NAIA put on the schools you would realize that there are only 6-12 scholarships to spread between 30-40+ athletes (in baseball). ALL of these coaches stressed to the parents that scholarship money (specifically baseball) is very hard to come by and that "full ride" baseball scholarships are almost unheard of. As one example, our local D-1 coach told the story of one of his star pitchers. This young man was an all-American in college. He won a game at the college world series and then he went on to set the major league record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career. This young man played for four years at our college and did not receive a nickel of athletic scholarship money. He did receive some merit based scholarship money. This coach told the story to illustrate that if your student focuses on grades and test scores they will have a much better chance of receiving scholarship money than for their athletic ability.

Furthermore, there are more than 100,000 high school varsity football players in Texas alone. If you add up every single scholarship at every college in the country it wouldn't even scratch the surface of that number.

Not up on current NCAA scholarship rules. This was in 2004.

 

[Southernmiss]

TVGuy, I appreciate you joining in conversations, but often you share info that's out dated as facts and then come back and explain what year your experience was.

Why not qualify your statement from the beginning with' Back in 2004...' so that the rest of us are not shaking our heads wondering where your info comes from?

Curious...

 

[sk!mom]

Any college info that is more than a few years old is likely outdated. As I said upthread, I never would have predicted in 1996 (DD’s birth year) the way that costs have exploded in recent years.