<p>I am trying to figure out some financial things before the end of the year. Am I right in thinking that we have to pay tuition by semester, i.e. half the year in August and the other in Nov/Dec? Or can payments be made on a monthly basis? Also is half of a scholarship deducted in August and the other in Nov/Dec?</p>
<p>I know really stupid and obvious questions but I am just trying to figure out my cash flow for the year. Just let me know if I am on the right track.</p>
<p>Some schools participate in a monthly payment program through an outside vendor (some may administer this themselves). Some schools do not, and you wlll get a bill per term.</p>
<p>Go to the bursars website section for your kids’ colleges and check there. It should give you the payment options.</p>
<p>Both of our kids went to schools that used a monthly payment option from one of these outside vendors. The cost to set it up per year was $50 or $60 but we found that paying monthly was a better way to manage our payments.</p>
<p>Edit…the two largest vendors are Tuition Pay and Tuition Management Services. You could google these to see if your kid’s school is listed. BUT caution as sometimes schools do drop or change vendors. We had been “members” of Tuition Pay" for 6 years when DD’s school switched to Tuition Management Services.</p>
<p>Our set up costs have never been $200 a year and we’ve been doing this since 2003.</p>
<p>These aren’t stupid questions at all. They’re very important. Your are on the right track. At the schools I’ve worked with, that’s exactly how it’s worked, except one isn’t due until Jan. 15.</p>
<p>Yes, half the monies were deducted from each semester’s bill.</p>
<p>Some schools also offer a monthly payment plan that costs practically nothing for administration. I can’t remember the exact amount. I elected not to do this. Twice a year is enough to worry about getting the money together. Once a month seems too complicated. But for some it would make life a lot easier.</p>
<p>In terms of the schools I worked with, I think the free was something like $200.00, but it may have been less, and the program was administered by an outside source. The semester payments would be equally divided among monthly payments.</p>
<p>bplusmom…I don’t think ANYONE looks forward to the payments!! We are making our LAST college payment for two kids this spring and we are SO looking forward to THAT!!</p>
<p>Check with your college – and then check with the housing office. At D’s school, each has a different schedule of payment due dates. </p>
<p>Also, we were very surprised to find that the 529 plan we participate in can take several weeks to get a check sent to the college, and the college considers it late if it isn’t at the finance office by the due date. We request the disbursement 21 days before the payment is due. I set up a set of calendar reminders for the whole school year, and then went back and added in the earlier ones for the 529 disbursements once we learned there was a problem with the timing.</p>
<p>My DD’s first-choice offers payments with multiple options such 8, 10 and 12 months. The only catch is that the 12 month plan requires the application to be submitted by April 5th and the first payment is due in May. The enrollment fee is $105</p>
<p>There will be few fees that only appear on the August bill, like activity fees and health insurance. So the split is not exactly 50-50, but close enough. Scholarships may vary in how they are split, but I think most schools apply them as evenly as possible.</p>
<p>Oh yes, after you’ve paid that monumental bill in August, the school will send a solicitation for the “Parents Fund.” It’s good for a laugh.</p>
<p>Just wrote the check also for the last Semester of tuition and we are most excited!! In fact, our Christmas cards included a note that said “off the payroll in 2010!”. We always have received the spring tuition bill right before Christmas–Merry Christmas, we have often thought!!!</p>
<p>We’re lucky- semester tuition payments are always due a few weeks after the session starts at public U. Son’s final semester will be billed only electronically- no more bright yellow envelopes sent to him at our home address. We’re also lucky we translated our own educations into financial well being. The dorms were quarterly payments with the first one due before school started. Of course there were deposits and summer orientation fees due in spring. All of this information should be on the colleges’ websites.</p>
<p>I’m still not sure how my parents managed to help me with my college expenses eons ago given their economic status. I remember deferring a one time scholarship award so I could max out on the then need based one time merit award through my state. It also helped that despite much lower minimum wages I was getting then that colleges costs were relatively cheaper than currently.</p>
<p>When we went to Orientation, several parents of incoming freshmen were very unhappy to find that they could not pay their tuition using credit cards. I don’t know if this is true for everyone but at S’s big state U, that was painful discovery learning for a lot of parents (especially since we went in mid-July and the first payments were due in mid-August).</p>
<p>Another recommendation since you are looking at paying for college, make sure you get your FAFSA done early, anytime after Jan. 1. Many colleges require FAFSA for every student.</p>
<p>Remember to check through bills carefully. Our DS is covered through my DH’s health insurance – we needed to provide documentation that he was covered, but that bit of paperwork shaved $1500 off the bill. Look to make sure you aren’t paying for things not needed (like the uber deluxe meal plan when the macaroni and cheese meal plan will do).</p>
<p>I’m down to only one more year of payments to go (6 down, 1 to go)- YEAH!!! We pay in August and December, but could do the 10 month payment plan for a smallish fee through a payment plan created by the college.</p>
<p>My son is on the quarter system and tuition, meals & housing are all due at completely different times. It’s a bit crazy to try to find all the dates & make sure the funds are there at the right time, although by his 2nd year we should have it all figured out.</p>
<p>The college will accept credit cards but they tack on a fee of 2.5%…no thanks.</p>
<p>Getting money out of the 529 (at a major brokerage) is easy although I have to go there in person to sign the withdrawal form (to vouch that the funds will be used for qualified education expenses). The funds go into son’s checking account as he pays the college electronically from that. Will your administrator allow a transfer to a bank account, arabrab?</p>
<p>My daughter’s college (large state university) allows us to divide each semester’s payment into three installments. I think I pay $50 per semester for this. The school also accepts credit cards, but there is an additional fee, a percentage.</p>
<p>First one’s school had a managed monthly program; the company and school did not sync their invoices so we could never figure out what was due when. After the first year we paid each semester.
Second kid’s school took Visa so we took advantage of building frequent flyer miles every semester.
The last one has a school managed monthly plan ($50/semester), 4 payments per semester, which we have used 2 or 3 times in her 5 semesters thus far.</p>
<p>The most significant impact on the cash flow has been when the kids moved off campus. We were able to give them a monthly allowance for rent and food out of our salary income.</p>