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OP, did you buy property in Kelowna, BC?
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<p>Wish I could, wish I could :-) I love Kelowna, but the prices along the lakeshore are getting insane.</p>
<p>We had little money when the kiddies were little and lived a frugal lifestyle. What money we did have after our incomes rose to middle-class level went to help build our house, which has a reasonable mortgage on it. Our plan (if there was one) was to make sure that our kids had a true financial safety college in the mix. (Both kids ended up with full-ride offers, although they did not end up accepting the generous offers.) The other "plan" was to enter the college years with no debts other than mortgage, and two decent vehicles that would last us through the 7 years of our two kid's undergrad education. Unless catastrophe strikes, (knock on wood), we will be fine for continuing to pay for college out of current income this year, and child number one will graduate in May with no debt. That leaves three more years to go with child number two.... hoping the cars last, the roof doesn't leak, and good fortune smiles on son in terms of scholarships and well-paying internships, and that we will continue to be able to pay our share out of income. Financial aid is a blessing, and having two in college this year, but only paying the amount we were paying with one in college- just amazing!!!! It does make me wish that we had encouraged kid one to delay college matriculation a year and kid two to graduate a year early, but, too late for that now! :)
P.S. Those of you who have been around for a long time are surely tired of my spiels about saving money on car costs; but those of you who are new; we save TONS of money because our kids do not own cars, do not have cars at college, and are insured under a company that covers them for free year-round if they attend a college more than 150 miles from home. And yes, they are covered during spring breaks and summer and driving their friend's car, etc. Many parents don't realize that the total costs of having a third vehicle with insurance, gas, maintenance and cost of purchase can be in the thousands each year, money that could go towards college costs :)</p>
<p>My H and I are the parents of three and are big fans of having your children close together. In September, we will be in year 7 of our 8 year journey. During years 1,2, 7 and 8 we had/will have just one in school and during years 3,4, 5, and 6 we had two. First, we live a very frugal lifestyle. We do have three cars, but we drive them until they die. My H designed/built our house and he called in every favor and used every connection to build it at a fraction of the actual cost. Fortunately, he is in the business and can design/build/repair just about everything. We rarely need to call in an "expert" where the house is concerned. I have never hired a housekeeper or a "lawn expert". I don't get my nails done, but I admit I do spend on my hair stylist. We are also in an area where our house value has risen greatly. Child #1 chose to go to an OOS, but it was very affordable and we paid for that out of pocket/savings. Child #2 chose a very expensive private, but a private that is very generous with financial aid. We spent roughly the same as Child #1. That came from home equity. Child #3 is attending a private that is notorious for being as frugal as we are. She received some financial aid for the first two years, but we do not qualify for any this year or next. We will continue to tap into our home equity. We told all three that we pay for tuition, room and board and they cover the rest. They pay about 1/2 of their car insurance, cell phones, books, just about all of their own clothing and all of their "extras". They work(ed) summer jobs to cover those expenses. They are very careful with their money and really weigh cost/benefit before they make a major purchase. The first two graduated with no loans and #3 will as well. I must admit, I am nervous about using the equity, but my H maxes out his 401 each year, I recently opened up a 403 and I also have a pension, so I know we are saving for retirement and I just consider using the equity for education to be an investment as well. I just hope we stay healthy (and we are conscious of taking care of ourselves) and know we won't be retiring anytime soon :-) Oh, I also know that when we do "retire" that equity, I plan to donate money to the school of Child #2. My child was given a wonderful opportunity thru the generous financial aid and I want to pay it forward.</p>
<p>I have three kids, 18, 15, and 9. We have pre-paid for the 9 year old, but the other two will be pay-as-we-go. My husband was in his 30's when we married, and nearly 40 when our first child was born -- and over 40 for the second two. He worked his entire life to that point in construction and had no retirement savings. A financial planner recommended that we focus on retirement savings, which is what we have done. We also do not have consumer debt, plus we drive old cars -- mine is 10 years old, my DH's car is 14 years old. </p>
<p>My DS starts college at the flagship public university this fall, with a full tuition scholarship. We are paying for his housing and part of his food plan, he is paying a portion of his food plan and his car insurance, cell phone, etc. We also gave him a used car as a high-school graduation gift (he needs a vehicle so he can drive to work, and also visit us occasionally -- we hope!) We have always told the kids that we could only help them in-state, so they have always been aware of that. Also, my Dad, who didn't have the resources to help me when I went to college, is giving him the equivalent of a year's worth of tuition. Each kid also has a small savings account (no more than 3K) for emergencies, etc. He will graduate with no debt (although I might have a little by then!) :-)</p>
<p>We have friends that believe kids should pay their own way, 100% -- both of them funded their own educations, and they have raised their kids with that expectation. All of their three kids have developed healthy work ethics, and still manage to have a good social life in addition to other responsibilities such as part-time jobs. Their first daughter heads off to school this fall and between her savings and scholarships, she is very comfortable.</p>
<p>I'll chime in too about the cars....we have always paid cash for cars and drive our cars into the ground. We've never gotten rid of a car with less than 150,000 miles on it and my current vehicle is at 210,000 and going strong. You can blow alot of disposable income on cars over 20 years time if you run a cost analysis.</p>
<p>My kids were born in the early 80's when inflation was double digit. We locked in some zero-coupon bonds laddered to mature in the 4 years my kids would have been in college. The bonds were paying >11%. My dad helped to fund these accounts.</p>
<p>Both kids were to privates and we paid full freight.</p>
<p>My son now admits that the name brand of his school plays a very important part in his career. He had 3 job offers by Christmas time in his senior year.</p>
<p>While not quite as successful with cars as MoTB, we've made virtually all of our cars last for ten years or more. Also, we'd never bought a new car until last weekend, instead buying two or more years old, letting someone else take the depreciation hit. While we didn't pay cash...never had that much...but the feeling of having no car payments for the years where applicable was terrific.</p>
<p>TheMom and I started out as freelance designer-recently-turned-insititutional and freelance writer, respectively. Not the best economic base from which to build but over the years we did okay.</p>
<p>We started very small mutual fund accounts for the kids which we stupidly stopped paying into when I began to earn options (lots of them) at my corporate job in a Fortune 100 company that happened to be high tech.</p>
<p>This was a significant chunk of change and would have covered full freight at any private school for each of two kids for 4 years each. "Would have" is the operative word. I got laid off in the technology merger wars, and even though my options vested, 9/11 happened as well, and they ALL went under water. They expired before the value rose again. There went the college fund. The worst part is that IF I'd sold them immediately after being laid off, the money was still intact, but I was busy looking for a new job, and thought I had all the time in the world (well, at least 5 years anyway).</p>
<p>I was so depressed about it, I couldn't even think about it for months after.</p>
<p>Tough lesson learned and unfortunately, there are no do-overs with this one.</p>
<p>We're just scraping by now. Thankfully, one kid is on full academic scholarship. We tend to think of the # of semesters of financial pain left.
The two kids are back-to-back. With D a senior next year and S a junior,
we're over the half way point and just hanging on. S has a few small loans as well. Grad school will have to be on their dime.</p>
<p>We didn't conciously decide not to save for our kids' college, but the amounts of projected costs were so mind-boggling that it didn't even seem worth trying. Also, we decided that it was a priority for us that I would stay at home with the kids and later decided to homeschool them. So, that meant one income and expenses of homeschooling, too. We also are believers in driving cars till they die. (The Honda is up to 239K miles...yay!)</p>
<p>When the first kid reached about 12, we realized we better think of some way to pay for college. We bought a farm. I know....bizarre. H had always wanted to live in the country, so we found a place that was a 30 min. drive from his work, and we started planting Christmas trees. (H did not quit his day job.) 4 years later (2003) we sold our first trees at our choose & cut operation.</p>
<p>The plan wasn't bad, but we were learning as we went. We had very few trees ready to sell that first year (we lost most of the ones we planted due to our ineptitude as farmers), and our expenses were much higher than we projected. So, this past Christmas (during S1's sophomore year of college), we were finally in the black (for that year only) with the farm.</p>
<p>Fortunately for us, S1 is on an ROTC scholarship, so we are only responsible for room & board. S2 is a rising h.s. senior, so we are sure hoping for a good year with the trees!</p>
<p>Though the farm isn't going to completely pay for the kids' college, it should help in the long run. Strictly considering paying for college, we'd have been better off just to save the money we have invested in the farm. However (and it's a big however), my H is living his dream. That's worth something.</p>
<p>Knowing that we weren't going to be able to fully fund our children's education (and being averse to student loans), we were upfront with them from an early age. We told them that we could afford for them to attend college locally, but we couldn't send them away. If they wanted to go away, they'd have to earn scholarships. </p>
<p>S1 decided to take an AF ROTC scholarship. Since he dreams of a career as an AF pilot, this was a no-brainer. </p>
<p>S2 will apply for an ROTC scholarship, too. He loves the military, but would prefer not to do this since he wants to study film production and go right into that industry after graduating college. The ROTC scholarship will require him to delay that for 4 years as he serves out his obligation. He is okay with that, though. He feels it will be worth it if he is able to get an education at a top film school, which would never be attainable otherwise.</p>
<p>I guess the moral of the story is: if you want to start a farm to pay for your kids' educations, don't wait until they are 12 to start! :-)</p>
<p>Well that was certainly creative Timely. 12 was the age of my oldest child too when we realized they wouldn't have many college choices if we continued in our current jobs. We made too much for aid but not enough to pay private college tuitions. We had home equity but couldn't afford increased monthly payments. </p>
<p>We, both MDs, researched where we could make money and actually save some, retooled, moved to an affluent small city and tripled our salaries the first year. We have saved everything we have saved in the last 5 years just by being pretty frugal. We just got to the comfort point, where we have enough to pay for college from income and savings, and bought out first nice home as we close in on fifty.</p>
<p>Boy, isn't it painful that most of us are too rich for aid but not rich enough to go private?
I love the Tree Farm story:-)
Two MD and not being able to pay private sounds strange, but bet you guys had huge costs. Congratulations on being bold and moving on...</p>
<p>No, we were salaried doctors working in a free clinic living in an expensive city. We were far from poor, but 2 kids in private college at the same time, $90K plus per year, wasn't going to happen. Many doctors in this Country make below six figure salaries.</p>
<p>Wow, everyone's so organized with everything. :O</p>
<p>My parents have a total of $0.00 saved for college :P</p>
<p>Well, Armando, you have the chance to save $$ for your own future kids for their education.</p>
<p>When we got married, I was in graduate school and my husband was working. At that time, we made it our priority to find a place to live where we both could get good jobs in our field. My husband and I continued to work full-time after our kids were born. Fortunately, my job has reasonable hours and some flexibility, and we never felt that our kids lacked for our attention. We were able to save enough for both kids to attend private college by living a lifestyle more typical of a family living on my husband's salary alone (slightly higher than mine). We do not buy expensive cars and we keep them for a very long time. We never took on any debt except for the mortgages for our homes. Both times, the mortgages were well below our limit based on income and we were able to pay them off within a few years of buying the house. We also had the security of knowing that if one of us lost our job for some reason, we would not be without an income. Both of our jobs will also provide pensions when we retire, which didn't mean much to me when I was younger, but I now greatly appreciate. Looking back on our choices now that my kids are out of the house (college junior and 2006 college grad)l, I am glad that we approached things the way we did.</p>
<p>Our story is pretty similar to ones that have already been posted here. We're paying the full amount for both daughter's. One just finished her second year and the 2nd one will be starting her first year this fall. Both are attending LAC. We've lived below our means for years, setting aside money for the kids and retirement.</p>
<p>We're paying for college out of savings and current cash flow. We're planning on pay for the remaining 2-years of our oldest in full. That way we don't have to pay for the increase in tuition in her senior year. The cost went from about 40K to about 45K in two years.</p>
<p>For our second, we might just pay off all 4-years in one shot and save on the tuition/room/board increase.</p>
<p>We also drive our cars into the ground and pay cash for our cars.</p>
<p>"No, we were salaried doctors working in a free clinic living in an expensive city. We were far from poor, but 2 kids in private college at the same time, $90K plus per year, wasn't going to happen. Many doctors in this Country make below six figure salaries."</p>
<p>This is precisely the reason why we are on the "8 to 10 year plan" instead of shooting the wad for 4 years at a more expensive private. Our son is seriously working toward the goal of medical school, or some sort of career in medicine, and is attending public university for undergrad. We saved, but not enough for 8 to 10 years of private school ($160+) plus another 4 to 6 of med school! And I wouldn't want to saddle him with such astronomical debt that he HAS to worry about bringing in the big bucks the rest of his life.</p>
<p>One of DH's professors advised us years ago to live on less than what we made, and DH and I took it to heart. It freaked out our real estate agent when we finally bought a house, but, the proof of the pudding was when I had to leave work due to illness and financially we were OK. We haven't been able to do much for our savings account, but we haven't depleted it.</p>
<p>We've also had the no more than one car loan rule. The only time we had an excpetion to that was when our newly-paid off Accord was turned into an accordion by a cell-phone gabbing personal injury lawyer driving someone else's car ran a red light by 13 seconds and totaled our car! (I was the fifth car coming out into the intersection on a green light. He hit me doing 45 mph.) I'm sure he sweated blood every day until the statute of limitations had passed waiting to see if I'd take him to the cleaners... ;)</p>
<p>We'll enter the college financing fray with two eight-year-old, paid-off vehicles, no consumer loans, some savings, retirement accounts caught up from the years we were paying student loans, a new roof (the only big thing we've done to our house in the ten years we've had it) and our fingers crossed that DH's medical coverage continues to cover my medications (which run the price of a private college). We will maintain contributions to retirement no mattter what. </p>
<p>If both kids choose the state flagship route with some merit money, we'll breathe a huge sigh of relief that savings and current income will cover it. (And I'll start looking at kitchen renovations!) However, I suspect that at least in the case of DS1, it's going to be full freight.</p>
<p>Countingdown,
In your situation with medical issues and the future unknown (in terms of coverage), if it were me, I wouldn't take on additional debt for my kid's college. Just my opinion, but if I were the kid, I wouldn't want something to happen 5 or 10 years down the road to my folks and know that my parents were blindsided and broke because they took out loans to send me to an expensive private when a flagship U would have done just fine. (Sorry if I've stuck my nose where it doesn't belong. :o)</p>
<p>Living within your means has a different meaning for every person. The one thing we did do that worked well was to start saving as soon as possible after our children were born. It is much easier to put away $100 a month over a long period of time than it is to try and save up $20,000 (or $50,000 or $100,000) all at once. There is some relief in knowing that paying for a college education at a public university will not be a big problem. With these savings, summer jobs, scholarships, etc. the kids (and parents!) can hopefully come out of college with very little, if any new debt.</p>