<p>Are you a parent and pay for your kids college?
Do you have parents that pay for your college?</p>
<p>I've heard people actually say that their parents help with college?
Is this true? Is it common?</p>
<p>Is that why my EFC is so high (9000)? Because my parents aren't going to give me a dime. I mean, They'll probably give me $80-ish for my birthday and $200 for Christmas every year until I graduate, so I guess I can't complain. But I can't go anywhere other than community college because I also have a low gpa, 3.1. And honestly? Community college is stretching it financially, even when I go for my CNA licence in winter.</p>
<p>Luckily I can live with them and commute, so I'm not going to be doomed-doomed.</p>
<p>Still, do parents actually pay for college? I thought people just lied to me.</p>
<p>My parents are going to be paying for me to go to college. They are expecting me to get some level of scholarships but they will pay for some. I might take out some loans during the whole college situation but they will pay for me to go to college. </p>
<p>Where I live, it is common for parents to pay for college but in another areas of the countries it isn’t. It seems to relate to either how a child’s parents grew up or the financial situation in the family. A parent can choose to pay for their child to go to college but is not a requirement.</p>
<p>My parents paid for my college; my husband’s parents paid for his - we’ll be paying for our children. We believe it’s part of raising our children. </p>
<p>But I know a lot of parents who think the exact opposite - if their kid wants to go to college, he or she is on their own.</p>
<p>We are paying for our D’s college. She is contributing what she can by working during both the summer and during the school semesters. So, yes, parents do pay for their kids’ college educations.</p>
<p>My parents paid for all four of us, we are paying the equivalent of instate costs for all 4 of ours. It is part of what we planned for as a parents. 2 of ours took that money and got scholarships to go out of state, 2 stayed in state. Their choices.</p>
<p>I believe that it is a part of the parent’s job to help physically support (support can take the shape of a place to live, and/or $) their kids in their ‘next step in life’ after high school, whether it is 4 year college, community college, trade, etc. I also believe that the kids have a responsibility toward their own futures. In our case our kids chose the academic route in high school that led to scholarships which combined with our savings and their loans (I also believe that they should have financial ownership of their choice as well) will make it doable. Had they chosen differently they would go to community college + 2 years.</p>
<p>Your parents ARE supporting you in your next step in life. You will be living with them while going to community college. If my kids did have the lower gpa I would help them gladly embrace the community college option. I think it is a fantastic option and can lead anywhere you want it to go. You are definitely not doomed! Be thankful and make the best of a great opportunity!</p>
<p>My parents did not pay for college. We did not qualify for any financial aid , but my parents had no extra money for college, plus they had 8 kids. 30 years ago it was possible to put yourself through college (even a private college) without financial aid. I chose a relatively inexpensive private a couple hours from home, worked 3 jobs, lived on a shoestring (no new clothes for years, no extras, no going out to do anything that cost money) and took out loans (unsubsidized my first year, but then the rules changed for several years and you could get a subsidized loan without showing need). It was possible.<br>
Most of the kids I knew at college were either getting financial aid or some parental support. I didn’t know anyone else at my school who had none of either, although I’m sure there were others. My DH put himself through college as well. He had some financial aid, but he still had to take a year off in the middle to work full time in order to afford to finish.</p>
<p>Looking at college costs today relative to the minimum wage, it doesn’t look all that possible to me anymore to put yourself through, unless you can get financial aid, merit aid or you can go to an inexpensive state school or community college. The flagship in my state, at $17,000 just for in-state tuition and fees in some majors (10 times the tuition at my private 30 years ago), would not qualify as “inexpensive.”</p>
<p>DH and I intend to pay for our kids’ college. We live in a relatively affluent area, and everyone we know will be making a substantial contribution to their children’s college educations.</p>
<p>When I went to college many years ago I had to find a way to pay for it so I went to a service academy. Now that my children have grown and I am financially able, DD1 and 2 have scholarships and I help pay for the remainder. They did their job in getting scholarships and picking schools that were not out of sight.</p>
<p>At $9,000, your EFC is low, and you’d qualify for lots of aid at colleges that guarantee to meet 100% of students documented financial need. If you took a year or 2 off between high school and college and did Americorps while living at home, you could save most of your living stipend plus get a total of about $4,700 per year that you could use for college</p>
<p>Many parents do help pay for their kids’ colleges. Most students, though also are helping themselves by taking out loans and working.</p>
<p>If you are living at home credit your parents with paying $3,000 in food and supplies for just you. Room and board at average college is around $7,500 so give em some credit for that.
My parents did not pay for college as they had 7 kids. I saved for my kids college but she still need to work or get a minimum stafford loan each year. DD also obtained scholarships. So if I credit her with the academic scholarship and the loan we are 50/50 on college costs.</p>
<p>I grew up dirt poor and was the first in family to go to college. My parents helped with what they could but they did not pay for my college. I worked every year in addition to loans and got it done. However things were cheaper then.</p>
<p>Now I have twin sons in college and I pay my EFC of 22K a year to keep them in college. The rest they pay with loans and jobs.</p>
<p>There are some inexpensive 4 year schools in many states where I would think you could go with a good summer job, working part time in college and Stafford loans. </p>
<p>OP-guess what? My parents aren’t paying for college either. My EFC is right around yours and i totally feel your pain. </p>
<p>No one in my area has their parents pay for college, everyone pays themselves. I was just a s stunned as you to learn that parents pay for college.</p>
<p>Yeah, I get in arguments with one of my friends about this a lot. My EFC’s ~2K and said friend’s parents are paying for his entire college career, despite numerous behavioral issues that they haven’t reconciled (drinking citation, marijuana use, etc…), and that ticks me off.</p>
<p>You really just have to step back and recognize that going to college is a privilege, and that everyone has to make sacrifices to go. It’s about sacrificing time during high school in order to earn competitive merit scholarships, it’s about your family making financial sacrifices (if they are willing and able), and so much more in order for you to continue your education. I mean, it sucks that your folks won’t be able to contribute, but there are certainly avenues for you to pay for college by yourself.</p>
<p>Oh and just as a side note: A 3.1 GPA does not limit you to Community College despite what many people on CC would have you believe. In fact, at many institutions you might still qualify for merit aid. I mean, we aren’t talking top 50 schools here, but there are definitely options (a la CTCL and others). I understand that cost is an issue, but again, there are ways for you to pay for college that do not involve your parents shelling out money.</p>
<p>I see both sides. Most people that we know will help their kids pay for college as fas as they are financially able to do so. In some cases that means the parents are paying for it entirely, in the great majority of cases it’s a combination of parents paying, students working summers and part-time during the school year, scholarships, and loans.</p>
<p>However, I also have contact with kids who are totally on their own as far as paying for college. Most of the time, like the OP, their parents are willing to let them live at home while they go to the local community college or public college, but the kids have to work and seek other aid in order to attend. The parents won’t pay for tuition, fees, books, etc, and also won’t pay for travel expenses, clothes, phone, or anything else. They’ll cover just a room and eating with the family and out of the fridge. And in the cases I see, most of these parents are financially quite able to help, at least somewhat, with the costs.</p>
<p>My sense is that the parents feel like they’ve reached a point --once the kid graduates from high school-- where they have fulfilled their parental responsibilities. Also I sense there are some issues with parents actually not wanting their kids to leave home, and in a sense they are creating a situation where the kids are stranded at home if they want to go on to college. I’ve also seen families that don’t seem to trust that their kids are worth the financial investment, that they’re not going to get enough out of it and ought to just find a job instead.</p>
<p>Things are all over the place for parental support.</p>
<p>I know parents that can pay full fare that have told their kids early on that they wouldn’t provide any support other than room and board at home. I know parents that take out loans to pay for tuition, parents that pay for state with the student taking out loans if they want to go to private school and parents that just pay full fare.</p>
<p>We saved up enough for our kids to go full fare. Our son is going to a cheap state university and he has a merit scholarship and is working full-time this summer and works during the year. In some states, community college is affordable with a part-time job. Community college in California is something like $30/credit so that’s about $900 per year for costs. The killer cost could be textbooks. A student could probably earn $3,000 to $4,000 over the summer to pay for school in California while living at home. In my state, CC costs are far higher (something like four to six times higher).</p>
<p>It’s best to work this stuff out with your parents years before you graduate from high-school so that you have a clear idea as to where to stand. And even then, economic circumstances can change for the better or worse.</p>
<p>For us the answer is Yes and No and some. We paid everything for my son the first time round (it was a CC where he dropped out after a year and a half). By the time our daughter started, and then son returned a year later, our financial situation had changed drastically. Their EFCs are very low (0 this year) so they get good financial aid. His is enough to cover most of his CC costs for 2 years (complete change of direction to a technical degree so most of his initial classes don’t count), we help a little where we can and he had a little left in his 529 account which we have been able to use. My daughter has an excellent scholarship at her large State U, in addition to the financial aid, so her costs are pretty much covered. We do buy her books ( expensive especially being a science major - almost $500 this semester, but I have since found and ordered 4 online so she will return the original ones - $100 savings. One I can’t find any cheaper and the 6th is a custom made book for the school so full price - $130 plus tax - on that one and it can’t be sold back. Grr)) and help where we can. And she has a small amount (smaller than it should be thanks to the stock market) 529 account savings as well which we have used a couple of times. They both work part time. They both also have loans but not very much - hopefully s/b @ $9-10,000.</p>
<p>I got nothing from my parents, and the majority of my friends back in my hometown either didn’t go or also got nothing from their parents (although if they went to school in the area many lived at home.) It depends on if you’re in a wealthy area or not; CC’s demographics are HEAVILY skewed toward the wealthy.</p>