<p>My neice and nephew will have about half of their college paid for by my brother. I can afford to pay the other half. I like the idea of them having no debt from undergraduate, and being able to choose to go any where they want (and get in :)). What strings are appropriate? What is too controling. Can I think of this a a very specific scholarship, so insist upon a certain gpa/summer work or is that weird?</p>
<p>Not a parent, but I don’t think that’s weird. My parents pay for my education and while there isn’t a specific GPA they want, I am supposed to do well. If I was a failing or barely passing, they would probably yank their support. </p>
<p>As far as the summer work thing, I think it can be very difficult to get summer work in some places. I couldn’t get a job at all last summer and to loose my college money over that seems harsh.</p>
<p>I misread this the first time around. You are paying for half of the college education for your niece and nephew? You are very generous and you can impose whatever criteria you want.</p>
<p>This subject recently came up at my Grandma’s house. The final decision was that the kids were expected to take out the loans they needed for college. Upon graduation, Grandma will pay off all the loans. No degree = no pay off.</p>
<p>We paid for my step grand-S’s college tuition - all of it, except for small amount of need-based aid for which he qualified. He was attending at the same time our S was attending college.</p>
<p>We didn’t set any “strings” up front. But he performed well; in fact better than we might have expected. So it didn’t come up. Had he majored, instead, in partying… I think maybe we would have had second thoughts and a sit-down with him. So that is an option. </p>
<p>Not saying it’s inappropriate to set a standard up front. As to GPA, if they’ve been conscientious hs students, you might presume they’ll continue. And only intervene if they fail to continue. Or… you might look up what the school they attend sets as minimum GPA to maintain merit $ and use that. As the mother of an Engineering student, I’d suggest you set a lower GPA cut-off if that major is in play, as many schools do.</p>
<p>The idea that the kids should maybe work summers to contribute (both of ours did) makes a lot of sense. If you think maybe they wouldn’t, then you might consider whether other "productive’ summer activities are okay with you (unpaid volunteer work, internship, travel). If not, you might state that you want to contribute to their college education with the caveat that they also need to have some “skin in the game.” I think most college-bound students would appreciate that set up. Or, you might say you’d like to “match” - for each $1000 that they contribute to COA through summer earnings/savings… you’ll contribute Y*$1000.</p>
<p>Wonderful generosity on your part, in any case.</p>
<p>As the very generous person who is offering money, you can set whatever conditions you deem appropriate. It might be good to look to other merit awards for guidance. Our S recieved renewable merit awards as long as he maintained at least a 3.0 GPA & made “satisfactory” progress toward his degree. One problem with make a lot of strings & having a very high GPA, it may discourage the students from challenging themselves by taking courses they might have a harder time in or perhaps earn a lower grade in.</p>
<p>It is VERY thoughtful of you and the best gift you could give your relatives. One way of encouraging the students to earn over the summer is offering to fund a ROTH IRA or match, as was posted above. Most students DO want to earn if they can or at least volunteer in their field to better position themselves and better understand their field.</p>
<p>Dear friend of the family (like a god parent) funded scholarship for ours, matching the in-state tuition we were willing to pay so they could go out of state or to private college. She wrote them as a contract. They were “loans” that were forgiven in whole if they graduated in 4 years with a B average. If they failed to do so then the loan came due at the agreed upon interest rate and payment schedule. She had it laid out so they saw the total amounts. . When they signed the contract they were over 18 so it was legally binding 
Both did well. Loans were forgiven.</p>
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<p>I think this is a very generous gift, and aside of very general strings (maintaining a GPA of 2.5 or above, not in trouble with the law, etc.), I don’t think it’s necessary to insist upon a certain GPA or insist on summer work (what if there is a great opportunity for an unpaid internship in their fields?). If you do want them to have skin in the game, I concur with the suggestion above that for every $x they contribute over the summer, you’ll match it by $5x (or whatever you decide). </p>
<p>Another idea to consider - I have a friend who could do full-pay for her daughter at a top 20 school, but wanted her to have skin in the game, so she insisted the D contribute, oh, I don’t know, something like 10% of the cost from summer jobs and the like. So at a $50K college, that was $5k/year. Unbeknownst to the daughter, she matched that 10%, invested it, and then gave it to her upon graduation, so the D had a nice little nest egg that reflected both her own hard work and the match from her parents.</p>
<p>Lots of great ideas here! I’ll tell you the story from our family for a different idea. </p>
<p>My brother was very gifted and got into Stanford. My parents could NOT afford such a school, even with financial aid. My Great Aunt offered to help him pay for school with the agreement that he would pay it forward. He would help the next sibling, and on down. This could work because other than me, everyone was 8 years apart. </p>
<p>So my brother helped pay for me to go to school. My next older brother didn’t go to college. I helped pay for my younger brother to go to school. It was a great way to not incur loans but to incur fiscal responsibility on the ones who took the money.</p>
<p>Your family is blessed to have you take such a wonderful interest in their future.</p>
<p>Paying it forward is a lovely idea as well. That’s another way to stretch the options and graduate without a load of debt.</p>
<p>VAMom2015 and HImom got there with the pay it forward idea before I remembered that it was part of our discussions with S. We were able to send him through school debt free and told him we hoped he would pay it forward. Doing his best and considering the idea to pay it forward were all we asked.</p>
<p>Maybe a different opinion, but I think it should be a gift. Setting lots of conditions seems overly controlling to me, especially about summer employment. I think it’s reasonable to make the gift contingent on decent grades, but I guess that could be a year-by-year assessment. Hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue. It is very generous of you to want to do this!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input!</p>
<p>Michelle Singletary who is one of the personal finance columnists for the Washington Post, has written about helping various family members get their college educations. Here is a link to her columns and online chats: [Michelle</a> Singletary bio and recent articles | Staff | washingtonpost.com](<a href=“http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/Michelle+Singletary/]Michelle”>http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/Michelle+Singletary/) It truly is a blessing to be in a position where you can help out your family this way! </p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>I have mostly heard of a no strings policy re funding for other than parents. Parents, of course, can have certain requirements for continued support (e.g minimum gpa, minimum progress, being able to see grades, no payments for Cs or below). A lot depends on the family’s internal workings. I would not make any demands on the relatives and let the parents handle any issues.</p>