<p>Sooviet,I give education a high priority also but not above my husbands and my retirement and so I am considering options that will provide adequately for both areas of need. We all have to do what allows us to sleep at night knowing we did the best we could for our children.You have stated as much. My point is, there are those of us who don’t qualify for any financial aid and cannot justify accruing loans. Too afraid of a worsening economy, inflation or of getting laid off. Our property taxes are going through the roof but we can’t sell our houses. The water company wants to hike our rates 17%. Our government is trying to tax employee health care benefits and my husbands company is laying off employees. Even though we don’t make near what Obama quoted as the income level that can be expected to see heavy tax increases, it is obvious that everyone making a decent living will find themselves paying increased taxes of one kind or another. Maybe I worry too much, if I do I’ll leave my daughter a big inheritence to make up for the fact she didn’t get her dream school as an undergraduate. I won’t be a burden or a worry to her in my old age and that’s worth something! Anyway, I appreciate your views and I’m sure you appreciate mine, even if you live differently.
Perhaps, I should change my name to worrywort!</p>
<p>I’m not sure I would even want to put that burden on my kids—to have them feel responsible for the fact that we went into debt to provide them with an education. I am sure that at least two of our three would not accept the money under those circumstances.</p>
<p>That’s why I said we all feel differently and there is clearly not a right or wrong way to go about it. Believe me, I worry a great deal about money too! We obviously make less if we qualify for aid. But getting FA doesn’t mean it is EASIER. It is relative to how much one earns. We don’t earn enough to pay for college out of current income. We have to finance part of it over time. I don’t see why my kids would find that more of a burden on us than had we paid it all out of pocket. Our kids are very appreciative of having their education provided for. It is a value system in my family passed on from one generation to the next. Our kids know it is a great gift but we would not do it any other way. I never paid for my own education either. But thankfully, at least the kids have made the most of their education. Others may have more retirement than me, that’s for sure and would not put so much into the education and I truly respect that. I guess funding education has been our biggest priority. And I hope our kids pass that onto their kids. I know some parents even support their kids once they graduate or even in summers during college but we do not. So, we put the money in education and then they are responsible after that. Everyone has a different way of going about all this stuff. And we all do the best we can for our kids, obviously, or all these parents would not even be on CC trying to guide their kids and to become informed!</p>
<p>thecheckbook, your worries are valid, as we all know! We’ve recently dealt with financial issues relating to elderly relatives with essentially no savings, no life insurance, etc. and it ain’t pretty, to be blunt. The cost of assisted living/nursing home care is astronomical; really, it’s unbelievable. I honestly don’t know how the average person is able to afford it. Retirement savings are important.</p>
<p>thecheckbook - Like you, I worry alot about the economy especially living in CA. My H is an electrical engineer who has worked for several start up companies over the past ten years and has usually done well when these have been sold. Now he is trying to raise money for another start up he is working with and the usual souces have all dried up for getting venture capital. He is also finding it more difficult to get consulting work. </p>
<p>We have decide to let our oldest D know that we have a set amount of money we will be giving her for college. We will not qualify for any financial aid, but D may qualify for merit money. She understands that she needs to choose the colleges she will apply to and audition for based on the amount we will pay plus any merit money she may receive. We have another D that will enter college two years after the older one. We also will not sign for her to get any loans in her name as we do not want her to come out of school in debt when she is persuing a career in MT.</p>
<p>In looking at our savings for college and our current finances we are able to give D enough money so that she has a wide selection of MT schools she can apply to and we can still continue to save towards our retirement without adding on many more years of debt to pay off. Each family must consider what is best for their situation. Both my H and I did not pay for our under graduate educations (H paid for his grad school and took on no debt). I went to a state school her in CA and my H went to a university in Scotland.</p>
<p>With parents like us our kids can’t fail no matter if they have to accept their first,second or third choice. Who else would put this kind of thought into making the right choices? Only the most supportive, caring, loving parents. We’re like that Verizon add, with all those available support people! What I could have accomplished with parents like me or like you. Course, I would have had to know what I wanted and I didn’t. That’s what’s so neat about our students! They know and they have a bead on it!</p>
<p>Wow. I opened pandora’s box here with this question. I guess, given the current economy, everyone is a little more cautious or worried about the costs and debt of a college education. I, too, had my undergraduate school paid for by my parents (along with 4 other children) but we all went to state schools in Michigan. Living in California…there are only a few good options for MT. My daughter (I agree with her) would like to go to school in a place that widens her perspective of the world beyond California. She is very open to a number of schools and is very sensitive to the expense…it is ME that is agonizing over the issue because I want to send her to the best possible place for her regardless of the cost. I agree with you Sooviet that I want to provide that for my children more than anything else, but I also don’t want to become a burden on them later in life so we have to balance those college costs with taking care of ourselves. We don’t really know if we will qualify for FA or not yet…I suppose it is possible-- I am not sure how they balance your living costs with income and debt.</p>
<p>I agree with you all that our kids are going to be just fine, they have parents that love them and support them to the extreme. Once again, I thank everyone for the thoughtful responses and mostly it is great to know that others are struggling with the same concerns. Thanks also to several posters about the loan information…every little bit helps to make it seem less overwhelming.</p>