<p>We all talk about how much we can afford for our child's college education. For some, parents can't afford to contribute financially at all. For others, full tuition and R&B is something that can be provided. I suspect though, that there's variation there, in terms of what one parent deems affordable vs. another. It seems to me this is such a subjective thing though, based on our individual circumstances, our comfort level, our future plans etc.
I'm curious, what does "afford" mean for you?</p>
<p>I’ll bite. It means we can purchase something without undue hardship.</p>
<p>being able to pay for school without taking loans, (or taking small loans only) and being able to eat more than Ramen noodles and PBJ during the college years. </p>
<p>We could only do this because my son worked his behind off in HS, and he was able to look at schools with large amount of merit aid. Otherwise, it would have been state school and commuting.</p>
<p>Being able to write the check and not miss the money too much. Minimal debt.</p>
<p>For us, what we decided we could “afford” was the amount we thought was reasonable and would not require us to withdraw from investments we need for retirement. This was not the same as what FAFSA said we could contribute by long shot. Our issues were 1)husbands health (better now but evaluated for lung transplant) which means we will most likely not be able to replace money spent on college because doubtful he will work until retirement 2) is any school really work $54,000 out of pocket? That’s what it would have cost for D2 to go to many of top schools that accepted her. Do not count on merit aid! She did get full ride to one and half rides to several she didn’t really love. Took full ride. D1 got full tuition to top LAC. Leaves us around $15,000 to pick up.</p>
<p>Also puts us in better position to help with grad school.</p>
<p>Getting Happykid through her BA degree with no more debt than that permitted to a dependent student in Stafford Loans.</p>
<p>sorry, I didn’t answer my own question!</p>
<p>For me, it means that what I can contribute without going into debt, at least not any expected debt. I’m comfortable taking out a small amount of debt at some point, if need be to get over a hump, but nothing that I couldn’t expect to pay off within 1-2 years of graduation.</p>
<p>It means using savings, but leaving myself enough to live on for 6-9 months at least. I’d rather have at least 12 month’s of savings.</p>
<p>It means no vacations to speak of, and no new car, but leaving enough in the budget to visit my kids, make car repairs and buy a used car if/when needed.</p>
<p>My situation is probably different than some, so I’m probably taking on more financial risk than many - unexpected divorce and a few other bumps shifted around what would have been available for college, and I want to minimize that harm.</p>
<p>It’s complicated. I don’t believe in blowing my savings or mortgaging my kids future on an undergraduate degree. Get the best degree from the best school that offers you the most money but concentrate on getting the BEST grad or equilivant after.</p>
<p>The only way that I could feel like I could afford it was to have the money in the bank by the time my son graduated from high school. Otherwise, I would have made myself crazy obsessing about it.</p>
<p>No debt, for kid or ourselves. Having enough money left over after college payments to pay for the bare necessities.</p>
<p>What does Suze Orman say? She says it’s better for your kids to borrow than for the parents to spend all their money? Or just better to borrow than cut into the retirement minimum that you need?</p>
<p>Ideally, nobody would ever have to borrow anything, and we’d all be able to save up enough money ahead of time to pay for a variety of college options.</p>
<p>Pay for all expenses without incurring any debt,without harming our retirement accounts, and still being able to live life,albeit more cautiously</p>
<p>If Suze Orman (whoever that is) wants to put her own kids into debt, that’s her business. My middle class parents put me and my two brothers through college. Their middle class parents put both of them through college. On my mother’s side, my lower middle class great-grandparents put both of my grandparents through college. I ain’t breakin’ the chain. </p>
<p>Had my D wanted to, she could have chosen a school beyond our means and requiring her to take on debt, and we would have supported her choice, although advising against it. She considered that, and ultimately chose not to.</p>
<p>Three kids: being able to pay for undergraduate degrees including tuition, room, board, books and incidentals for all three without loans, without touching our retirement funds, with a full and open heart, with a smile on our faces, and with a lack of anxiety.</p>
<p>Similar to eastcoascrazy, except subtract one kid and add in graduate / professional school if so desired. My H is notoriously concerned with the price of things - except when it came to college. The best checks we’ve ever had to write. That’s why we worked so hard, all these years.</p>
<p>Having my wife write checks, and I don’t know about it. ;)</p>
<p>It’s not about the ability to write a check IMHO, it’s about cost vs benefit. My kid could get into Stanford. I could pay for it but is that cost effective? I don’t believe so. My DH and I both did u dergrad at USM. My DH’s lab partners in med school were from JHU, UMich, and UC San Diego. My DH and all those guys are called doctor. Nuff said.</p>
<p>I think that how I think about this varies greatly from student to student, and depends on how many “fits” might be available, and eventual earning power.</p>
<p>I’ll give you an example, I have two kids for whom college is on my mind. One is my own son, who is a bright but not brilliant, well rounded, organized, social kid. College is a long way off for him, but I suspect that when we get there we’ll find that he has a wide array of options to choose between. I think he’d probably love a smaller school environment, but would do fine in a larger one. I suspect he’ll also want an environment that is academically rigorous but not a “top” school. Put that together and there are probably hundreds and hundreds, of schools that would be a good fit for him. Using cost as one way to narrow down that array makes sense, and we’ll probably look carefully at instate options, the more reasonable OOS options, and private schools with merit aid. I will probably tell him that I don’t support him taking on any debt, and will refuse to cosign for any debt for him. He’s got a 529 well established, and that combined with what I can “cash flow” and what he can earn should be plenty for him to still have many choices.</p>
<p>In contrast, a friend of mine has a daughter who is like a niece to me. She’s a wonderful, bright, promising young lady, but she’s also got severe learning disabilities. The fact that she’s graduating high school and looking at colleges is a testimony to her incredible spirit and determination. For her to be successful in college, however, she’s going to need to choose carefully. She’ll probably need a small program with accessible teachers, and a well established program for students with disabilities. Unfortunately those programs aren’t easy to find, and are often private. In addition, given how her disability impacts her reading and writing speed, and the amount of preparation she needs to do for class, it’s quite likely that she’ll find she isn’t able to work in college, and that she may also need to take a reduced course load and make up courses in the summer. If I were her parent, I would do whatever I needed to do to get her through college. If that involved taking on debt myself (or letting her take loans and then paying them off for her), or taking an extra job, or selling my car and using the bus, I would do so. Her options are already limited, I don’t want to narrow them to the point where they don’t exist.</p>
<p>A third example might be if I had a super talented child. Let’s imagine that the mythical CuriousKid has his heart set on Caltech or MIT, but the calculations came back at a level that would require reasonable loans. Given the earning potential for a Caltech engineer, I think that some loans are acceptable.</p>
<p>A college education was my parent’s gift to me, and it’s my gift to my children. I think their colleges were/have been worth every penny they cost. And it’s a lot of pennies. We don’t travel as much as I’d like to, but we are fortunate that we have lived frugally for a long time and fortunate to have inherited some money that helped pay the bills</p>
<p>If my kid at Carnegie Mellon had had loans, he’d have easily been able to pay them back in a few years given the amount he’s earning now.</p>
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<p>Agree.</p>
<p>I would rather use my money for this now than leave the funds over by inheritance but I have been fortunate to save for years at a rate to know I will have enough for my needs. I think it is fully reasonable to expect to fund college with past, current, and future income (savings, income, and loans). Too many parents seemed to have saved little and if averse to loans, it is hardly possible to pay these costs out of current income without severely limiting college options.</p>
<p>Plenty of people take on consumer debt to buy a house which they find “affordable”. I don’t see why debt to purchase an education makes that “unaffordable”. I have friends with second homes and newer cars who bemoan college costs while I might choose to drive my cars for a dozen years. It’s your money and your choice.</p>