Well, I want to be able to say that I did it on my own, but I would prefer if my parents could help with like…half of it or something. But then again, there are a ton of scholarships up for grabs, and hopefully I can get a summer job.
We will help as needed and able but I expect my children to all get full tuition merit scholarships.
Oldest is currently a freshman at OU on National Merit Scholarship and some outside scholarships. We pay health, dental, vision, auto, dorm, and musical instrument insurance and co-pays, phone and car expenses she pays for entertainment/gifts/food not on meal plan with her savings. She plans to take a fifth year to complete a double major and will need to work part time that year cover room and board and fees. She also plans to work summers. She does not plan to take out loans.
Next oldest is hopefully National Merit as well (won’t know until the Fall if he made the state cut off). He plans to attend UTD and if he doesn’t make National Merit he should be able to get the highest level of their AES or maybe even the McDermitt scholarship. We will pay up to $5K a year if he doesn’t make NM or McDermitt and the same expenses we pay for his sister. He will not be taking out loans.
Too soon to tell about my baby, he’s a high school freshman but so far he seems to be as academically inclined as his older siblings and is currently pretty gung-ho about going to UTD with his brother (this would save on transportation and they could share a car there) but again this could change…
We will also pay any taxes due on scholarships the children are awarded. I think our tax laws are very unfair with how they treat scholarships!
If you do make $80k as your starting salary, you may be able to live on $40k but it will feel like you are living on $20k. You will be taxed on $80k, you’ll have bills, need to buy a car, buy clothes you to establish your career, so it is not as if you’ll be able to hand your loan servicer $40k. It’s difficult to see your co-workers earning the same and buying concert tickets and going to weekends in Vegas and Florida, planning big vacations, getting married (and you will be expected to attend and bring a big gift). It can be done, but it is not easy.
I pay what I can for my kids to go to college, help them find scholarships and grants, because I don’t want them having huge debt when they graduate. They may not find high paying jobs, they may want to take a much lower paying job to live where they want to, to take a non-profit position, to take some time off. Who knows if they’ll be healthy when they graduate, or if I will be and they might have to take a job to be near me or a grandparent, or a boyfriend? Real life changes all the time.
I felt obligated to pay my kids’ EFC if I could. A kid can’t reasonably come up with that kind of money. And I honestly wanted them to attend a fairly strong school. My caveat was that they needed to be self supporting upon graduate. Kid #1 made it. #2 is headed for grad school. My guess is that I will be subsidizing her some; I want to make sure she has health insurance, and can afford plane tickets to come see me. 
OP, if you are low income and have pretty good stats, you may be able to attend a school where you get a lot of need based aid. But if your parents could pay and won’t, or you have lower stats, then options like community college or a state directional make sense to investigate.
It will take longer than 5 years, but $40 is doable if you are careful. You are not alone!
Many schools will give you scholarships for grades/scores that will help a lot! Some, like Alabama, may pay it all (or almost). Just be smart about it and you’ll be ok.
One very true thing: loan payment if $1200 a month left me one option for work: something that pays well. So in that way, I paid that price so my kids won’t have to. Perhaps you can do that for your kids as well one day.
Scholarships are only taxable above and beyond tuition and fees tho. Room & board has to be paid wherever you live. So just paying tax on it probably can be paid by savings on hot water and groceries!
Probably many current parents did that, or knew someone who did that, a generation ago. However, a generation ago, it was possible for a high school graduate to be self-supporting through his/her own work, and have a bit left over to pay for the then cheap tuition and books at an in-state public university. Now, high school graduate jobs are harder to live on, and even in-state public universities are generally more expensive.
These days, students “working their way through college” often have to live with their parents (an implicit parental subsidy), or are veterans with GI Bill money, or otherwise somehow have more money than most who just graduated from high school. It is actually common for college students to attend college without much parental cash outlay, but less common to do so with $160,000 debt over four years.
We will be full pay anywhere, and we have always planned to fully pay for S18’s undergrad even if he goes to an elite school with no merit aid. He’s our only child and we’ve saved $160k in his 529 fund which we have already told him is HIS money for education, and if needed we can cover the rest of an elite school COA through income. He’s planning to major in CS and is considering grad school but won’t decide about that until probably junior year of college. We expect S to get internships during college because that’s important for career preparation; it just happens that CS internships tend to pay well. S is a frugal and practical person unimpressed by prestige. At the moment his top school choice is UT Dallas; he’s got a good chance to be NMF and would get an excellent scholarship at UTD. Even though he has the stats to apply to MIT, Caltech, UCB or CMU he doesn’t particularly think those schools are worth the extra cost for CS undergrad.
I had to pay my own way. It was difficult to work long hours and go to school. I can’t imagine being able to do that at a $40k/year school. Make up a plan and a budget now. Identify sources for loans and be conservative in how much you think you can earn by working part time. Good on you for having the common sense to know that you can live frugally when you get out to pay off your debt!
I was almost in the position of not being able to pay for my kid’s college due to a combination of illness and business losses, so I feel for you and your parents. Have you considered taking a gap year to bulk up your savings and maybe to give yourself time to find more options in terms of scholarships and maybe different colleges?
I had to pay my own way, so did my siblings, and my husband.
It was really hard.
My options upon graduation were also limited by my debt, which I paid off by working several jobs within one year. Once I realized that debt was hampering my options, I focused on that first, then I was free.
I have planned since before the birth of my children to help them through. It’s okay to help others, I think, and they can then put their minds on other things besides debt.
Having a young adult totally finance his own college is TOUGH. Making that choice, I’m surprised at the choice to attend a school that will cost $40,000 given many lesser expensive options. Repaying $40,000 a year in debt would be a stretch - if you earn $80,000 a year, there is SOME CHANCE that you will be required to pay taxes on your income. Your take home salary will be MUCH lower. As others have suggested, you would benefit from sitting down with a financial advisor or an unrelated adult to go through your plans and discuss options.
Some young people hear about older folks paid for THEIR own college and are inspired. That’s great. Be sure you understand that the earth has shifted - college is WAY more expensive now. And it is a more risky investment; many college grads are not able to find good jobs immediately upon graduation. The transition from college to independent adulthood takes longer and is less certain that it used to be.
There’s independence and then there’s INDEPENDENCE. Who will pay for your health insurance? Please say that you will NOT go without insurance - THAT is a risk that could end up costing your loved ones a great deal of money should you fall ill. In addition, if you are borrowing HUGE sums of money, you will be VERY vulnerable to any and every unexpected expense and will then be left, possibly, having to ask your parents for assistance each time a financial need arises. For example, I ended up needing lots of dental work during grad school! Fortunately, I got the work done at a dental school at a very reduced rate, but still, it cost hundreds of dollars that I did not have even though I was “independent” during grad school.
Independence is to be admired. Just recognize that it will be next to impossible to borrow as much money as you have suggested you will borrow, and then pay it off as quickly as you indicated. That could be OK - it is your life. But keep in mind that many college grads go to graduate school but if you accumulate enormous debt while an undergraduate, grad school very well may be beyond your reach.
I’m guessing that you have discussed your plans with your parents! I say this because it is conceivable that it is not in THEIR best interests to have a kid with this admirable but VERY risky plan. At a minimum, keep them in the loop. They aren’t likely to let you become homeless or go without medical care or default on your loans - in that sense, they ARE responsible because they are family.
Who is going to cosign your huge loans. As an example…for freshman year…YOU, the student…can only take a $5500 loan in your name only. Anything more would either need to be taken out by your parents OR they would need to cosign.
Will they do that for you?
On another thread, you indicate that your parents are less than thrilled with your college choice. Perhaps that is why they are not willing to contribute.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20206130/#Comment_20206130
Post 13. I don’t think I would pay for my kids if I had been given this line.
ETA… we paid for our kids to go to college. But we would NOT have taken out or cosogned loans to do so.
The CC community here is a self-selected one, so please don’t think that we are a representative sample of families nationwide.
Lots of people out there are struggling to put themselves through college - often by starting out part-time at community college and then transferring to a public U. If you do need to pay for your education on your own, start a new thread and give us details about your test scores, GPA, home state, major, and how much your family can chip in (something for your bus fare home at vacation time? free room and board if you commute?), and the good folks here will help you come up with a workable plan.
Wishing you all the best!
I see your other thread. You want to go cross country out if state, and your parents won’t pay. Swallow your pride and get you degree at an in state school, then move. UW isn’t happening for you.
I worked my way through college, my kids will not do that, we are paying regardless of amount. I would like them to experience college and those four years, not grind through it like I did. Turned out fine but reality hits (work, payments, marriage, kids = responsibilities) after college so would like them to have the college time.
OK, mix up there.
Nevermind. 
Wait…maybe you aren’t the UW kid. Sorry if I mixed you up.
No one picked up on this?! OP thinks he would be taking home 80K when he makes 80K. I don’t think so. He would be lucky to take home 55000 after tax and health insurance. Where is he going to come up with 40K/yr to pay off his loans in 5 years unless he is living at home.
Of course, he wouldn’t be able the loans by himself anyway.
He needs another option.
No one will loan him that much anyway!
He won’t be able to get $35000 loans by himself per year…for four years…in addition to the Direct Loan.
He needs a different plan altogether.
You do realize that the only way you can get anyone to loan you $40k/year is if your parents cosign for it, right? If I were your parent, I’d be concerned that if I cosigned $160k worth of loans for you you’d tell me to pay them back if I wanted to keep a relationship with you. And I wouldn’t be able to refuse without ruining my credit.
If that’s the way you speak to your parents, why should they help you? You’re assuming they’ll want to continue a relationship on whatever terms you set. I wouldn’t be so sure. There’s a thread in the parents’ forum written by parents who are on the verge of cutting off their child because of her attitude. You may want to read it. And before you start throwing ultimatums around, make sure you have a job and a place to live lined up. No state requires parents to support children after the legal age of majority.