Annual tuition at Blinn community college would be about $3k for this family; the flagship, UT Austin, charges about $11k for in-state. There are other 4 year schools with price tags between those amounts.
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I’m confused. Is it 11K/yr and 15K/yr WITHOUT loans? Or is it that AFTER having taken out loans? If it’s without loans, it’s do-able.
If we’re talking about 11K/yr for one, and 15K/yr for the other, before any loans, it’s possible to do it. This is not unreasonable at all. In fact, the difference between 4 yrs at U vs 2 at community college + 2 at U might not be that big, especially if they need a car to get to community college. Here’s how you do it.
Each twin borrows the maximum federal loan for themselves, subsidized if your household income allows it, otherwise unsubsidized.
Each twin works 60 hours/week all summer (which I hope they’re already doing, if they really want to go away to college), thus earning over 6K/summer. They are YOUNG. They can do it, if they want to go away to school. All over the country, employers are desperate for workers. They should have no trouble finding work. They also can work over winter break and spring break. That might earn them another 3K. They also hold perhaps a 10 hr/wk job while at school, earning perhaps another 3K/yr. So theoretically, they each could earn about 10K/yr, maybe more, depending upon how much jobs are paying where you live.
Between the federal loan and their earnings, even the one who needs 15K/yr can do it, and most definitely the one who needs 11K/yr can do it.
If they were to live at home and go to community college, cost might be nearly the same, if they needed a car, or even two cars, to commute to community college.
Of course, you could also take out PLUS loans in your name alone to help them (but I wouldn’t advise this, and your husband is against it). If you’re able to take on more work and earn more to help them, that might be possible, but you may have other responsibilities that preclude this.
In my opinion, the difference between them starting at the U vs at community college is worth it, what with the cost being so subsidized for them, with the aid and grants. If they want it, they’ll be willing to work for it.
This is where I’m confused, UT Austin with room and board would still be more that the offers these students have. 10k and 14k a year still sounds extremely affordable… like I don’t know how it gets any cheaper unless they could live at home and drive to a local campus. Obviously, we need clarification on if this is before or after the $5500 in federal loans. This family’s EFC will be the same wherever they go, they’ll just get less aid if the cost is less.
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What are the school’s policies on gapping? My D went autumn after hs, picked up an internship spring semester, took a few classes summer term, interned again fall.
The result was that we cut our expected expense of the normal school year in half for the first two tax years, and she was able to earn quite a bit of income.
Perhaps that time would allow your oldest to graduate and have more income to utilize for the twins later?
Will you/are you able to utilize the AOTC to reimburse for tuition/fee expenses?
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The 11k and 15k are after Federal loans have been taken as well as scholarships and grants. These are the amounts left to pay after everything else. This was stated above.
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Ugh. Earning another 11K/yr is barely possible for twin one, and impossible for twin 2. It does seem like a wasted opportunity. OOS public U at 16.5K/yr and 20.5K/yr total cost still seems like a bargain to me. If they each were to earn and contribute 10K/yr (as outlined above), then you would need to subsidize them by, between the two of them, a total of about 80K for the two years, for the two of them combined. But from what you describe, if you and their father are unable/unwilling to subsidize them, it does seem that starting at a nearby community college with a transfer agreement to your local state college is the way to go. For becoming a teacher, the local state college should be fine, while living at home. For a psych major, if they want to become a psychologist, they’ll need a grad degree, probably a PhD or PsyD level degree, so as long as they are a stellar student at the local state college, they should be able to get into such.
Sometimes, the answer is that you just cannot or will not afford something for your kids. Me - I think that paying for a car for each child so that they can commute to school while living at home would wind up being nearly as expensive as going away. I guess it’s time to have a very frank discussion with your husband about what you can afford, the costs of school at home vs away, and the value of the away experience vs the at home experience, and then have a frank discussion with the twins.
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Can you pay $12k/year per twin without taking loans?
I have no idea which part of Texas you’re in. Would you be willing to share what district you are in? It appears as though public schools in Texas have a different in-district price compared to in-state price, and that might end up making a difference here.
But, for example, your daughters could go to Odessa College which had an in-state COA (including housing) of $12,841 for SY21-22. That is in the same town as UT-Permian Basin, so the girls could have the same friend group and familiarity with the area for all 4 years of college. There are likely other possibilities/combinations like this as well. And if your daughters worked so hard in high school, they may still be able to get some scholarship money at a public Texas school.
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Unless I’m confused, the parent also said they could contribute $1000 a month per student…which is $24,000 in total. Right? That leaves only $2000 to come up with and that doesn’t include any summer earnings these kids contribute.
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Yes, they did state that.
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Unless it’s a thousand a month for ten months or less?
someone else mentioned that maybe they can gap before starting the school they “committed” to and spend the year working and saving money. The question is how much are you paying for their brother right now, and will there be resentment there?