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<p>That’s probably a very different situation and $7500 is a very different amount of money. </p>
<p>MiamiDAP, I have to assume your daughter is in the top 10% (her high school class, SAT scores, applicants at college). You have to remember those opportunities aren’t available to the majority of kids going to college. The other 90% of kids either aren’t going to college or must choose other options they can afford and where they’d do well. They aren’t comparing merit at a private school versus community college, they are comparing full pay or community college; private schools at full pay are just not financially available.</p>
<p>I have one D just outside the 10%, excellent GPA, not outstanding test scores but good. She had a lot of options, not elite, but her biggest expense will be R&B. Second daughter is in the top 1/3 of her high school class, low scores, not nearly as many options. This daughter loved many of the schools we looked at for her sister, but she wasn’t going to get the merit (or athletic) aid they were offering her sister. She’s going to an OOS school, low tuition and a very small scholarship, and her biggest expense is R&B. If either had picked community college, the biggest expense would have been tuition, about $3000. No other schools, in-state public or private, came within a $3000 cost to me after merit aid and scholarships. Community college would have been much cheaper. She could have looked and looked and looked, but I don’t think she would have found a school so desperate for a B student with a low ACT score that they would have given her a large merit award. I think she’s wonderful, but to the rest of the world, she just a very average kid.</p>
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I’ve lived without one for twenty-three years. </p>
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<p>@Vladenschlutte: I try never to guess at other folks’ consumption utility functions, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind. First off, a kitchen remodel tends to increase resale value by somewhere between 60% and 70% of the capital cost, so your net “spend” for pure consumption isn’t the full remodeling budget. Beyond that, some folks get a lot of pleasure from cooking or having a room that is nice enough to gather in or use for some other purpose between meals. At least where I live, spending even $100,000 on a high-quality kitchen upgrade can look like low-cost way to improve your housing situation as compared to trading up to a newer and/or larger home in a decent school district. </p>
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<p>But you have H. :)</p>
<p>Like you, I managed when I was married. Dividing and conquering with the cooking and cleaning was still a lot of work, but it was doable. As a single parent, I have found the crush of domestic responsibilities on top of a demanding full-time job overwhelming. And I still would have remodeled the kitchen even if we hadn’t been able to squeeze in the 18-inch dishwasher next to the 24-inch, counter-depth fridge.</p>
<p>I also have S2 until 8/20, although getting him to do the dishes is so much trouble that it’s usually easier to do them myself. And after 7/30, if nothing changes, I’ll have S1 - maybe I can have him do all the dishes in lieu of rent. </p>
<p>My “Huh?!” moment was last night was when the woman who cleans my house came by to pick up a check. I’ve known her and her family for over 10 years so we tell each other a lot about our lives. Her husband’s had legal trouble related to an arrest and is facing deportation in August. If that happens she’ll be the sole breadwinner for herself and two kids. The family lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment in a rather dangerous part of a nearby city.</p>
<p>So how did she get here? In her 16 year old’s shiny new car! The kid got his license a month ago and already he’s driving a car worth more than mine. It also happens to be my 17 year old’s dream car, the one she’s been drooling over for years. We could afford to buy one for her but we’ve told her that we’ll pay for college (she won’t be eligible for FA) but that if she wants a car she’ll have to earn the money for it herself. </p>
<p>I don’t know what I would do without my dishwasher, but I think he’s going to stick around for the long haul. :)</p>
<p>Maybe you could get a dog to lick the plates . . </p>
<p>^^I have one of those, too.^^</p>
<p>Moving on from the dishwasher topic 
, twoinanddone makes an excellent point above in post #61. If a child won’t likely qualify for large merit award, community college and transferring can be the most affordable option.</p>
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<p>Maybe the parents were caught out like a lot of us, expecting college to cost 30-40k a year, not 60k! </p>
<p>I agree with those that have asserted that some people just don’t have great skills when it comes to managing $. But I have also noticed that the people I know that appear to have spending issues, usually have something else going on in their life that is making them unhappy. Spending $ is a funny thing - it makes some people feel better, so they do it even though they might not have it to spend. Then when things roll around that are important like college education or retirement they fall short. </p>
<p>What amazes me about this thread is that there appears to be so many people who tell friends/family about their finances. While I certainly can make observations, no one has ever divulged to me the true state of their finances or how they are funding education expenses or other household expenditures. I would only know someone is in “trouble” by something as obvious as a foreclosure or if they come to me for a loan. </p>