To the amusement of my friends, I am the one who plans vacations a year in advance, buys clothes 2 sizes too big for my kids, and has a to do list ready if my husband died suddenly in an accident. Like many of our friends, we are also planning to help pay for our children's education (college and beyond).
Being an uber-planner, it is not enough for me to simply say, "I am going to pay for my kids college" - I needed a realistic goal to meet. How much does college cost? How much should Chris and I prepare for. Katherine is heading off in 9 years, and in a planners mind, that is day after tomorrow.
Chris and I started the research by discussing what it cost for us to go to college. His tuition was paid for by his parents (mostly) and I covered all of my own expenses. My tuition was less than $1000 a semester, and by eating lots of top ramen, living at home or with my brother, walking or riding a bike every where, and a myriad of jobs, I was able to make ends meet.
Not knowing where to turn to get an accurate picture of expected costs for my children, I consulted the internet. I googled "college cost calculator" and got an education. It seems that expected college costs for Katherine and Madeline will be around $400,000 total.
Seriously. About $200,000 a piece. That is for an instate tuition at a public university. This covers room, board, books, fees, tuition and transportation costs. It also accounts for the expected college inflation rates of 6% a year. Private university costs are much higher, with tuition the average of double the public university rates.
So the debate begins. My husband and I are both products of public universities. We both went to graduate school (me public, he private) and paid for it ourselves. We plan on keeping our residency in Texas - regardless of where we live in the world, and realistically expect our children to choose one of the many excellent public universities in Texas for their educations.
What exactly do we expect to get for $400,000? Chris and I have very clear goals when it comes to our children's educations — they need to be able to support themselves. Period. I really do not care what they choose to do in life, as long as they are reasonably happy, and can pay their own bills.
We also have had many discussions on what majors they are going to be "able" to pick. You might think we are crazy - but hear me out. As stated above, we expect our children to graduate from college with and education AND a skills that will allow them to be fully functioning adults. There are certain majors that do not typically lend themselves to immediate employment, and we are steering them away from those. We have also told them they could minor in anything they wanted.
Chris and I don't want to work forever. We are happily sacrificing and saving for their future, but there are limits to what we can offer them. We also want to be able help them out with buying a home, or starting a business, or graduate school, or the inevitable "rainy day." If they chose a private, out-of-state University - and we paid for the whole thing, there would be nothing left for the future.
What! Are we crazy - trying to micromanage our children's lives? We are lucky to live in a state that has so many diverse opportunities in higher level learning - Some colleges are large, some are small, some are known for education, architecture, engineering, business, etc.. and we believe they should be able to find a university that meets their goals. We also believe that buy paying for their educations, we are investing in their futures, and we expect them to choose careers that will provide for their needs.
We certainly have many friends and acquaintances who had to opportunity to attend excellent private universities throughout the world, but we wonder if it is truly worth the cost? Is an education degree from Baylor really better than one from Texas A and M? You are still a teacher, most likely in a public school in Texas, making the same amount of money — just Baylor's degree was four times as much. I do not want to offend anyone here, but I would like to hear opinions on this topic.
Below is the link to the college cost calculator:
http://www.careercornerstone.org/pdf/universities/tuition07.pdf
Well...I'm jaded....my $6,000/year LOYOLA U degree is of no use currently...Kent's $15,000 Tulane degree - the same....but they brought us together and that value is priceless! We, too, have been doing the college search and are SCARED BEYOND BELIEF, especially now that Christina is honing in on her post HS path - she wants to dance with the NASHVILLE BALLET and attend college at VANDERBILT UNIV to the tune of $50,000+ a year, just room and board - and NO, we do not think our ballerina will be supporting herself on that path....Kent keeps telling her, "Follow your dreams....don't settle...do whatever you want that will make you happy....and plan to marry rich!!"...hey, at least we're keeping our senses of humor!
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the degree. Will attending a certain school give your child the potential to earn more or make contacts to help them in the future? If you are going to make the same if you go in-state or private allow the children the option but explain they have to cover the difference either through work, scholarships or student loans. Make sure they understand the consequences of student loans for the future.
ReplyDeleteStudent loans for Thomas were worth it. A business degree from ULL got him a job selling shoes at the mall. Taking out loans to attend law school at LSU opened up a whole new world of opportunity.
Students loans for me to attend Loyola were not worth it to get a degree in education. We had to transfer back to Louisiana from Houston in 1993. I could have gone to Loyola and kept a half of semester more of my credits than if I attended Southeastern in Hammond. Thomas was ready to do anything to make me happy but finally we decided that I would make the same as a teacher if I graduated from Loyola or Southeastern. It was actually cheaper to live in the dorm for a semester at UofH then pay double tuition at UofH and Southeastern and graduate in a year like planned then move with my husband and attend Loyola for a year and a half.
Most importantly I was not saddled with incredible student loans so I had the option to stay home with my babies. I have known people that would like to stay home but have enormous student loans in areas (social work) that don't pay a lot from private schools and it took away some of their choices when they became parents.
Of course, I have no idea what it would have been like to have the option for my parents to pay for me to attend a private university. Overall, I think having to contribute to your education helps you become a responsible adult.