<p>crs1909,
I could not agree more! I teach at a community college. My students live at home and then transfer to one of our local universities (all well known and quite good). The CC costs roughly 3K a year for tuition and books; our well respected flagship (UNC) costs about 7K while living at home and 14K if the student lives on campus. Total cost for four years is under 40K (with books, misc and a reasonable drive).</p>
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<p>Wrong. They’ll come to regret it when they realize what kind of sacrifices they’ll be making to get you through school. You’d better do them justice with good grades!</p>
<p>crs1909 brings up another way to make college affordable - attending a community college for the first couple of years.</p>
<p>Much depends on what you expect from college: a degree? knowledge useful in a career? exposure to new ways of thinking? lifelong friends and contacts? socialization and cultural literacy? No doubt every parent and student has a different mix of expectations for an undergraduate education.</p>
<p>My own bias is toward a four-year undergrad experience, in a place distant from or at least quite different from home, with a diverse, motivated, and bright peer group, with at least the first year or two living with one’s peers on campus. Unfortunately, just about all of these biases work against affordability.</p>
<p>A heavy work schedule during the school year will also defeat some of the advantages of great peer group in a residential setting. While your peers are hanging out, sharing experiences, and even having serious discussions, you’ll be working, studying, or desperately trying to get some sleep.</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible to earn a degree any number of ways, but not all provide the full undergrad experience. That makes choosing a path when resources are limited even more difficult.</p>
<p>Roger_D, I do not agree with you per post #56 and I have said this many times.</p>
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<p>It is the saving from kindergarten that gives you a shocking EFC.</p>
<p>Most colleges can’t meet 100% of students’ financial need. It’s only the top rated colleges in the country that can do this, colleges that the overwhelming majority of students can’t gain admission to.</p>
<p>Consequently, the more families do to save money to pay for their kids’ college, the better off their kids will be.</p>
<p>NSM, if I take that same logic, I would say that “Most families can’t save 200K to meet students’ financial need. It’s only the top % of the families in the country that can do this, savings that the overwhelming majority of families can’t earn enough to.”</p>
<p>Let’s face it. Rich people will have no problem paying $200K. Poor people like our family will get good FA. Those in the middle could go both ways. if they have decent incomes and savings, they will be treated like rich and expected to pay. If they don’t have that savings, they could be treated like poor and get good FA.</p>
<p>DadII,
What you’re forgetting is that most students in the U.S. are not going to colleges that will cost $200 k. Most students go to their own in state public universities and community colleges.</p>
<p>Even by giving large loans, most public universities and community colleges can not meet 100% of students’ demonstrated need. You are fortunate that your D will be going to one of the country’s best private colleges, a rare institution that can be very generous with financial aid, including by not giving students large loans. Only a small proportion of college students is in the kind of good situation that your D is in.</p>
<p>Most poor families do not get good FA for their kids. Their kids may have to borrow and work even to live at home and go to community college.</p>
<p>NSM, I think we are saying the same thing.
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<p>If they do go to CC etc, then there will not be any big debt, right?</p>
<p>will be entering college this coming fall. I live with my mom and grandma. Mom works at a local, small-town hospital making just a little over 30k a year, and the only income my grandma gets is her SS and other pension-type things that older people get.(not meaning to offend anyone!) I also work part-time at our local grocery store with anywhere from 10-40 hours every bi-weekly pay period, largely depending on if people call off and I pick up an extra shift and/or I’m on a school-related break. Most of that money goes towards my basic expenses for my gas, cell phone, food, and a little towards my savings account.</p>
<p>I graduated in the top 30% of my class. I was at one time ranked 42-45%, but the only reason why I busted my butt to move up so far was because I wanted a decent chance at a good school that wasn’t going to make me pay out the wazooley. </p>
<p>This is where I caught it EXTREMELY lucky, basically was a miracle. The College of Wooster here in OH gave me what basically amounts to a full-ride. Now with three outside scholarships, I only have to pay $649. I only got the package I did because I worked to pull my grades up and my family supported me in my ECs. My mom has generously offered to pay the remaining cost since I will take care of the subsidized direct loan of 3500 I have, and any other subsequential loans I incur. I’m also hoping with the help of my campus job and part-time grocery job I’m keeping to help repay at least a small part of the amount she’s paying for me. I didn’t even ask her or expect her to help me pay for college, but I’m thankful for it. </p>
<p>It drives me INSANE to see these kids that think a college education is an entitlement. Yes, it is important to our society as it is today, but neither the child OR the parent/family should have to go into major debt over it. I’ve spent countless hours on fastweb and searched through newspapers and books at the library for different scholarship/grant oppertunities, and I entered about 75% of those I was eligible for. Institutions, regardless of being a public or private entity, and government officials need to work together to curb the cost of attending college. There’s seriously got to be a way…</p>
<p>“If they do go to CC etc, then there will not be any big debt, right?”</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. Depends upon how much the remaining years of college cost. Even in-state, costs can be high depending on the state and the program. Depending on what field they wish to enter, they also may have to live away from home to go to a college offering the programs they need.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, public universities are more likely than are many privates to take a total of 5 years to get one’s degree. That’s because overenrollment can make it difficult to get all of the classes one needs. I think students also must carry a minimum amount of hours to get some loans even if they don’t need all of those hours for their degree.</p>
<p>I really don’t have any sympathy for people complaining about debt after graduation. They could have gone to a public or have gone to a school offering more aid. At the minimum They could have done two years at a city college and then gone to a public. They also could simply have chosen a major with better options upon graduation.</p>
<p>lamiller2008 wrote:</p>
<p>[It drives me INSANE to see these kids that think a college education is an entitlement. Yes, it is important to our society as it is today, but neither the child OR the parent/family should have to go into major debt over it. I’ve spent countless hours on fastweb and searched through newspapers and books at the library for different scholarship/grant oppertunities, and I entered about 75% of those I was eligible for. Institutions, regardless of being a public or private entity, and government officials need to work together to curb the cost of attending college. There’s seriously got to be a way…]</p>
<p>There is a limited dollar amount for grants and scholarships. If every student looked at everything that they were elegible, similar to what you did, the effect would be rationing of the resource.</p>
<p>Some of the posters here were complaining about NO help from their parents, even where the parents could provide help with a few sacrifices. In the case where parents can’t help, they should at least explain why. In the case where they spent on other things instead of savings, we’ll that’s a hard one to explain.</p>
<p>I do think that if you have them, then you should see them through to productive members of society. Most parents, when they have kids, are probably too busy dealing with the physical aspects of childcare to start thinking about saving. But that’s where it should be done. It is hard to get across many of the aspects of college to someone without a degree. It is amusing to watch our daughter understand some of the things that our son already went through so that she can now empathize instead of laughing.</p>
<p>I’m covering all costs for our kids. They can work if they want to or stay at home. If they stay at home, I give them things to do. Our son appreciates what we do for him and does the best he can in school and helps around the house when asked. His school is like the one that NorthStarMom taught at. He can go wherever he wants to but wanted to keep costs down. I’m not so sure about our daughter but I have lots of time to work with her.</p>
<p>An issue with community college is that they probably don’t provide upper-level classes and they probably don’t provide research opportunities. But they can be very good bang for the buck.</p>
<p>Traveling back and forth to a community college or local university may become harder as gasoline approaches $8 a gallon.</p>
<p>" I really don’t have any sympathy for people complaining about debt after graduation. They could have gone to a public or have gone to a school offering more aid. "</p>
<p>As I keep saying, public schools in general don’t offer good financial aid. Typically, they can’t meet all of students’ demonstrated financial need, and they also meet lots of that need via loans.</p>
<p>Many students do not have the stats to get into the schools that offer the best financial aid, which tend to be among the most difficult schools to gain entrance to in the country.</p>
<p>When it comes to one’s choice of major, typically the majors that lead to careers paying the most require that one do well in math and science, subjects that many students aren’t able to do well in. Most people don’t have the talents to enter careers such as engineering, computer technology or pharmacy, which is exactly why such fields are highly paid.</p>
<p>Mr. Payne, what if they don’t want to go into those fields? We’re talking about the majority of students here when we talk about college debt, not some subgroup. Should they be happy about graduating with the heaviest education debt load of any generation because they want to study something else?</p>
<p>It also seems like we’re talking about debt in the tens of thousands, not the 6-figure private debt some choose to carry.</p>
<p>As the first of my family to go to college, my parents are really excited and willing to help me with my education costs. That doesn’t mean that I’m totally leaving it up to them especially sense they really don’t understand most of this financial aid business. I will probably take out two federal loads (Stafford subsidized & unsubsidized) and have already apply for a work-study position. My parents will not have to take out a loan (I really don’t want them too anyways), but they will help by making a monthly payment that was based on what they should contribute to my education costs.</p>
<p>Like others have said, I believe that students will learn the value of education by working and paying off parts of the total cost of education. Having to pay off everying will cost some kids to not want to go to college and cause a lot of stress onto others.</p>
<p>Many state schools have pretty good aid for instate kids. OOS not so much.</p>
<p>“Many state schools have pretty good aid for instate kids.”</p>
<p>Many also do not, particularly when it comes to students who are very high need. </p>
<p>Some state universities also give lots of aid as merit aid, which ends up benefiting the students who are the most affluent because those typically go to the schools and have the home support system that helps them get high scores and take and do well in AP-intensive curricula.</p>
<p>When I taught at a 2nd/3rd tier public, I knew lots of instate students who were struggling financially to stay in school.</p>
<p>According to U.S. News’ college guide, at the public universityl where I used to teach, 87% of the undergraduates applied for financial aid, and 83% were determined to qualify for it. When you exclude private loans, only 19% of them had their need fully met. Excluding private loans, the average amount of loans students took out was about $7,200 a year, about $200 a year more than the average amount of scholarship assistance the students got. </p>
<p>The average percentage of need that was met was only 74%</p>
<p>Overall, 73% of students were in-state.</p>
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Then they shouldn’t be complaining.</p>
<p>It’s relatively easily to figure out how much you’re going to make after graduation. If one don’t know that at all, it’s pretty obvious one shouldn’t cavalierly think you can pay of ~20K+ of debt.</p>
<p>BCEagel91,</p>
<p>i agree 100% and i already had that in the back of my mind. i was trying to express my frustration with one of the types of students who were handed everything on a silver platter and then once they found this ultra-expensive college/university they wanted to go to and expected mommy/daddy to pay for every single thing, they get angry and think it’s “so unfair” that they have to work for something for a change. i know there’s a good number of kids that aren’t in that situation i described or the one i’m in that have their hands tied. true, i would’ve loved to have my parents cover 100% of my costs for my undergrad education, but that’s not possible so i have to put my big girl pants on and learn to mature and budget my expenses so i can continue having this wonderful oppertunity.</p>
<p>but like others have said before, it’s not just the parents and children that should have to figure out ways to solve the puzzle of financing a college education, rather the school, govt, and families should idealy cooperate so that things are just a bit easier to swallow.</p>
<p>did i make any sense at all? i tend to ramble and go a bit off when it’s late and i’m tired…:)</p>