<p>let me tell you how to come up with the cash to pay for college:</p>
<p>a. take the school bus
b. go to the movies only when you get free passes even if that never happens
c. cut your hair yourself
d. wear the same wardrobe you wore last year unless the clothes have holes in it
e. don't buy daily nespapers or magazines
f. don't go to summer camps unless they are free
g. don't pay for lessons of any kind
h. start clipping those coupons
i. oh yeah, forget about paying for health insurance or saving for your retirement. and don't seem so shock about it because probably more than half of americans dont have it, especially those that work in manual labor. actually for this group of people, they probably do all of the above because they don't have a choice.</p>
<p>There is a lot of discussion here of high efc families being responsible for elderly parents, but quite a number are expecting inheritances from their parents. That resource is not insignificant for the eduction of the youngest generation.</p>
<p>oops, I wasn't clear on the "hock". It was a given that we could afford a college education for son, it might have to be CC or CSU or UC-he is an only child and I could probably moonlight if needed. We would not "hock" for something we could not afford for an undergraduate education. Professional school we might. I went to USC and was amazed at the number of students who had families who "hocked" the house. Several of these kids had convinced their parents that only USC could promise admission to med school or ...grad school. My sister in law (in NJ) called me about 10 yrs ago. Her best girlfriend was using the house to send the son to USC. The kid convinced the mom that was the only way to get into USC med school. The kid changed majors almost immediately. "he's a smart kid but pre-med is hard". Last I heard he sold ice cream from a cart in a dangerous part of town because "he needs to work and can't take time out to get a resume". I wonder if mental problems are involved.</p>
<p>This family doesn't want its children to grow up in a family that doesn't read newspapers (local and NYT daily, the Economist weekly). The WSJ is a little convervative but worth considering. Too bad Time, Newsweek and US News are so dumbed-down nowadays. The good news is that a lot is available on-line for free, for those who take the trouble to read them religiously.</p>
<p>Ek, I would think the poster meant that some families will inherit money. Then there are other families that need to pay some bills for their less wealthy parents.</p>
<p>We just posted nearly at the same time. Nobody knows for sure what they will inherit, if anything, until they inherit it. It cannot be counted, just like one does not know if younger children will or won't go to college.</p>
<p>I don't know about other majors, but engineering co-ops and internships can be very lucrative. 25 years ago, one semester of co-op savings covered 2 semesters of my school expenses! My D plans to go the same route. With dramatically higher costs, she won't be able to cover nearly as much as I did, but it will sure help.</p>
<p>For those not into a SuperBowl XtraLarge, the attached primer provides an excellent discussion of FinAid....skip the first 48 pages of pablum, and start with page 49 for the Needs Analysis methodology.</p>
<p>One thing which worries me but I'm not sure has penetrated the radar of many people is that because interest rates are so low, and I for one do not expect the stock market to do much for quite a while, probably ditto on real estate, is that I think that people who don't have fixed pensions will need a lot more savings. In Kiplinger magazine this month they have hypothetical families earning $70,000 a year (I think) with savings of $500,000, $1 mil, and $2 mil. I'm not sure how you save that much money on $70,000 a year - must be washing out a lot of plastic bags. But they were assuming 4% interest (which I think is a little high) and $1 mil only gives you $40,000 a year which you would have to pay taxes on. So given no (or small) pensions and no expected inheritances even if you have $500,000 saved you're going to have a tough time in retirement. I'm not sure if they assume that your house is paid for either. So should we pay for 2 kids at private schools and possibly graduate school - $500,000 - and then commit suicide?</p>
<p>RE younger children not going to college: in an earlier generation, there was much discussion of the "deserving" vs. the "undeservising" poor. I would assume that each child is equally deserving of parental resources, regardless of Harvard admission or disability, absent reason to treat a particular child as undeserving.</p>
<p>If you were referring to my post, re: younger children not going to college-I did not mean that parents should deny younger children at all. I meant that when figuring out financial aid-younger children't future financial need is not factored in b/c we do not actually know if they will go to college, or go to perhaps a trade-school of some kind. Nobody has a crystal ball to forecast the future about that, or whether a family will inherit money some time in the future.</p>
<p>For those who think that the middle class is somehow missing out on financial aid while low income people are making out like bandits:</p>
<p>"A new study by Education Sector, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based think tank, finds that the nations wealthiest college students have seen the largest increases in financial aid in recent years from private colleges and universities. According to the study, in 1993 private colleges and universities gave financial aid to 53 percent of all students whose family income fell in the lowest quartile of all students. By the year 2000, 56 percent of all students from this low-income quartile received financial aid. ...</p>
<p>In contrast, in 1993, 35 percent of students in the highest-income quartile... received some financial aid from private colleges and universities. By the year 2000, 51 percent of the college students from families in the highest-income quartile received financial aid.</p>
<p>In dollar terms, the average financial aid award for students in the low-income quartile increased by $700 in the 1993 to 2000 period. For students in the highest-income quartile, financial aid awards increased by an average of $1,300 during this seven-year period."</p>
<p>My comment was not made to be insensitive. Personally I think it is important that a student be invested in their education but it should be reasonable. I hope your parents see the importance of an education and not just the education itself but the fit for you as a student.</p>
<p>My comment was not made to be insensitive. Personally I think it is important that a student be invested in their education but it should be reasonable. I hope your parents see the importance of an education and not just the education itself but the fit for you as a student.
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don't worry. i didn't think it was an insensitive comment at all. and my parents definitely understand the importance of an education (as they were the only ones in their families to go to college-something they have benefitted greatly from, while most of their siblings are living in poverty). they are just under the impression that the quality of education is the same at every school.</p>
<p>OK...we just did our taxes and we OWE an additional $4000. Do you think anyone will care next year that we had to pay an additional $4000? We will be adjusting our withholding TOMORROW!!!! for this year. Not sure how this happened....</p>
<p>Perhaps thier point is the education is what you make of it.</p>
<p>One of my good friends at work, a Carnegie Mellon grad says that his former professors stongly suggest going to a state school for undergrad so you can save your money for grad school.</p>
<p>I don't know direction you plan to go but the advice of DontPanic is also pretty good. The largest coop program in this area, Northeastern has placed thousands of students in some very good engineering positions over the years.</p>