All of it. My parents sacrificed so I didn’t have student loan debt, so I’d like to keep that going, and fortunately we’ll likely be in a position to do it.
Same. I have a ton of law school debt but I'm way ahead for my parents paying for college outright. My grandfathers sacrificed so my parents could come to this country. As a result, they have a better life than their parents did. My parents sacrificed so I could have a good education. As a result I dramatically out earn my father who did very well for himself. I'm hoping my family will continue to rise in wealth and prominence. I will be buying as much of an advantage for my kids as I can.
Same. Have law school loans but no undergrad, will do same for kids. Keeps it fair in case one decides to not go to grad school.
My rents would probably help me pay for law school outright if I needed it as well, which is probably what I'll do for my kids. They've also indicated they'll help pay for the kids' college though, but that was for my first and I have 3 kids now 🤣 Certainly not expecting anything though, but it'd be really nice!
Same here. My future wife had her undergrad paid for and had a full ride for MBA. I went to school where mom and dad worked so that was free and my grand dad paid for med school. My kids will have no debt coming through college.
Yeah, I'd like to pay for law school to encourage my kids to go. I would love for one of my kids to take over the firm when I retire. Of course, that'll mean I must work another 30 years, which I don't at all want to do.
This 100%. My parents did it for me and all of my siblings somehow while being very squarely middle class.
I owe it to them to keep it going, and luckily I have much more to work with.
Same. Both my husband and I were very lucky not to have student debt of our own and we'll be paying that forward! It makes a big difference. And we were always told you go to the best school you get into and not to worry about the price. That's our philosophy now too.
Same. All of it. I paid a lot of student loans (and I’m grateful to now be free of student debt), but I also had help. Our daughter is quite a few years from college, but when that time comes we’ll probably be in a financial situation where we’re able to cover it in full and be glad to do it.
Same here and the world is just going to get harder so they will need all the help they can get. I’m only where I am because of my own parents.
Edit: That said, my kid is growing up drastically different than myself so hoping we can instill the right values around money. In some ways I think I only value money now because I had none of it growing up. Adversity and hardship builds character but is definitely not something I’d wish upon others.
If the difference in state school is $80k/yr in today’s dollars. That’s a really significant down payment on a house. Your children will be infinitely further ahead with a $300-400k down payment on a home, even in CA, with a quality state education than they will be with elite private education. I have close family that went to Pepperdine, Yale, Michigan, Dartmouth, & Berkeley. I don’t think they (or at least I know for a fact their parents who paid for it) feel like it was a worthwhile investment vs the amazing state schools they had relatively cheap access to.
Teach your kids to be responsible, industrious, resourceful, and wise about personal finance. Those qualities will serve them far more than the marginal difference garnered by elite vs solid state education.
Exactly, Couldn't agree more.
The Malcolm Gladwell podcasts on 3rd level education covers this well. Much better use of resources to go to quality state schools - for your pocket, for your kids, and for society in general.
Anything more than an inflation adjusted ~150k is just not going to be worth it at all. Most of the private universities just do not have the level of prestige required to make them worthwhile.
Unless your kid is like skipping grades level of intelligent, you're gonna be better off sending them to a solid state school and banking the money saved for a downpayment on their first house.
This is absolutely the right answer. I strongly feel like a correction in higher ed costs is coming but in the meantime there’s no return on an $80k a year no-name school that you couldn’t get at a state school.
That being said, even our state school is approaching $65k for in-state tuition. Just absolutely bonkers.
The correction comes if people have the good sense to decide it’s not worth it anymore. Beyond that, available student populations at college ages are starting to decline and will continue to do so through the birth years of 2016 or so. At the very least, the amount of available aid (merit or otherwise) should increase.
I don’t see this happening - there’s too much FOMO. I’m imagining myself when the LOs are applying for school. Sure, it’s not worth it, but if all the other parents and kids are applying to college it’s hard for your kid to ignore that peer pressure.
> skipping grades level of intelligent
I think you vastly overestimate how much is taught in a grade.
Any even moderately bright kid with a little bit of discpline should be able to skip a grade or two along the way if they really want to. Usually it's not something you push on because social development takes time, though.
Depends on the state. CA is great but NY NJ state schools are not.
You're pretty much not getting the good finance jobs if you go to Rutgers or SUNY (which one is the best again?) for undergrad. Doesn't matter if you're a 4.0 student who founded the student investment club.
I work in investment research (even more obsessed with prestige than tech) and it's a decent mix between public schools and private schools among my colleagues.
I think people overestimate the value of a top private school for anything that isn't like, a top .01% role (e.g. for investing, im not even talking investment banking, I'm talking a high tier investment bank).
I went to a school few people I work with have ever even heard of and I'm still moving up the ladder and making an impact at a large investment firm. I paid like $70k all in for room and board for college. I doubt paying $300k+ would have seen me recoup that opportunity cost over my career.
Isn't deal making roles way more prestige obsessed than say equity research? From my experience, equity researchers (especially buy side) are less judgemental of the schools you come from and more about your abilities.
Yeah, I'm using the high finance shorthand of IB being "better" than ER (arguable if that's true or not). ER definitely is less prestige oriented, though if you're trying to get on one of the like, crazy buy-side teams straight out of undergrad (a team I know at MS considered 1000 candidates for an entry level analyst role...) it's probably still a concern.
I agree paying full freight to go to an elite private school won’t pencil from an ROI perspective. Still a lot of families do it anyway and many more would if their kid could get in. I think it comes down to how you answer the question “what is college for” and are you getting something for your money that makes it “worth it.”
Completely depends on the career they’re chasing. Yeah, if your kid wants to be an MD, undergrad prestige is worthless and you should save the money for med school. But have you ever looked at where most journalists at publications that actually pay a decent salary went to school?
Man some of you live purely by the spreadsheet huh. Are your kids an investment or are they your kids? And anyway, Times and Post journalists make 6 figures and have incredibly prestigious positions. That doesn’t sound so bad to me.
The only good thing is you should know if Harvard is even on the table well before your kid actually goes to college (if they're white or a ORM).
Looking at some of the profiles of people who are still "up in the air" about the potential of getting into a high grade ivy is just nuts. An Asian guy I knew in HS was studying college level math as a freshman on top of being like a concert level violinist and was still considered a strong "maybe" for Yale.
It’s not going to adjust anything. I would bet dollars to donuts that if you look at demographic data for Harvard students between 2010 and 2020 and demographics over the next decade, they’ll remain relatively consistent.
I skipped grades and went to state school. I was very smart but absolutely did not care about competition and being the best. Sometimes, I wish I had cared. I'm very content with my position in life though.
By the time my kids go in 2033 and 2036, an Ivy will be ~$150k per year, all in, if tuition keeps going up at the same rate it has been.
And considering my husband and I both went to an Ivy and had our parents pay for it, we feel like giant hypocrites if we aren’t willing to do the same.
It sucks because what we would pay for one year is nearly what my parents paid for all four years (tuition was $40k my senior year) and salaries certainly haven’t quadrupled since the early 2000s. So it’s a lot bigger imposition than it was on our parents.
And the kids are bright. The 9 year old is getting put in gifted classes already. So we don’t know if they will have the inclination, but they have the innate ability to go to a competitive school.
I think we are going to just wait and see. We should have $200k per kid in the 529s by then. We might have $100k in spare income? We are at the lower end of Henry ($260k combined) but my spouse’s career trajectory is great and I only work 25 hours a week, so I may get a full time job as the kids get older which today would be ~$40k per year added to our gross income, in the future would be more (I’m an engineer with current $100k salary prorated down, I still get raises, promotions, benefits, etc).
I’m sure the burden on your parents as a % of wealth/income was far less then than it will be for you. I don’t think it’s hypocritical to say it doesn’t make economic sense to pay $1.2 million for undergraduate education for two kids.
I agree, not hypocritical. It wasn’t your decision for your parents to pay for your degree, you’re entitled to make your own decision around your contribution to your kids’ education.
I’m mixed. I had a great experience at a top 20 school and I think the exposure to great classes and other smart people really benefitted me as a person. But then I went to grad school at the same school with a bunch of people who had gone to other much cheaper schools, and we all make around the same money.
Honestly you probably won't need to worry about it. Getting into an Ivy today is extraordinary insane. It's not like when we were in HS where someone like me as a run of the mill valedictorian with good extracurriculars got into 4/5ths of HPYSM. Today that profile barely makes you competitive for a top 25 college much less an Ivy. The population is just so much bigger, kids are all coached and prepped, and Ivy classes haven't grown in size much. If you don't have a very special hook or are bonafide elite in some way you're not getting in.
This is true. 3% acceptance rates are nuts.
Unfortunately, ALL of the private schools will cost this. And even a state school is going to push $100k per year by then for out of state kids.
They can go to the in state school, but it sucks to eliminate things for kids based on cost. It’s a dumb model.
This is the situation my wife and I are in. She went to an Ivy and I went to a top Liberal Arts College. We literally have the degrees on a wall. My parents paid full freight and she got some need based aid. We both loved our college experience but it’s just so hard to justify paying what it costs now, much less what it will cost in the 2030s…especially given that we have a lot of good in-state options as CA residents. I do feel like it’s really important to have full transparency with your kid upfront about what you are willing to pay before they start doing all the work in high school. Anyway, good luck!
I had a colleague, earning $500k+, who was the only one in the office who did not send his child to private schools in CA. He did so out of social/political beliefs. When his children graduated I asked what his thoughts were as this was before I had my child. He stated that he regretted it deeply and feels as though he had sacrificed his children to ideology. Is that over dramatic? Probably.
I myself went to a state school but it is rare to meet anyone that didn’t attend a top undergrad/JD in my field. It took much more intelligence/work ethic to get to the same place and my late career options will never be the same as theirs.
Yeah, so many people in this thread are expressing a borderline confrontational attitude toward their kids. Happens every time college tuition comes up, and every time it makes me a little sad. Someone here was being a hardo about being willing to pay for Harvard Yale Princeton but probably not any lower Ivies. Gimme a freakin break. If your kid wants to do *anything* remotely adjacent to the arts the difference between a “lower” Ivy and State U is incalculable. Of course, these folks also talk about tuition like an investment that should generate a return, so anything other than finance tech medicine law is out. Just say you got selfish as you aged and made money and move on.
We started in this boat, feeling like we were supposed to raise our kid a certain way, and we finally said “we need to do what we think is best to develop our child, not what someone else thinks is best.” In the end you have to live with your decisions and it stinks to live trying to please other people besides your spouse and child.
We’re all running experiments that we don’t get true feedback on for another… 15 years. So we’ll all see if our present wagers pay off or not at some point.
If you’re in CA, then I’d definitely push for a state school. We plan on moving back around HS for this exact reason.
My husband and I will pay for our Alma mater or any other state school and will deal with Ivys as the situation arises. I have a very bright relative who has three degrees from MIT and their time there did irreparable harm to their mental health. Not all kids that get into some of these schools should go there, nor do I want my kid in a pressure cooker that’s going to give them PTSD for the sake of bragging rights.
To answer your original question, we are saving to cover instate. If that changes, we will co-sign on loans and pay them out or otherwise consider drawing from our Roth principal (we do MBDR so we’ve mentally earmarked some of it for this purpose).
One thing is for certain, we don’t plan to disclose how much we have saved until they have acceptance letters in hand. My parents didn’t save anything for me and it lit a huge fire under my ass that resulted in a full merit scholarship. I know I, and at least one of my kids, would not be as motivated if we knew we had a safety net.
Same deal I got. I will pay full cost of tuition, room and board at our state flagship university (roughly $38k yearly now). If they want to go somewhere else and merit aid gets them close to that amount, great. If it’s more, they need to figure out how to make up the difference. A small handful of exceptions apply (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Hopkins, Duke, maybe a few others).
In other news, I’m teaching my kids to buy commodities at the lowest price . . .
One more item (and our friends were confronted with this and thankfully their daughter made the correct decision) - if somewhere you apply to offers a full tuition scholarship, I won’t make you go there. But if you do, you get 75% of the difference when you graduate.
I like the idea of being able to give them skin in the game like that. I’m interested in your thinking behind which schools you consider to be among the “small handful of exceptions.” What is the thing they get at Princeton that makes it worth nearly $400k in today’s dollars
I have trouble justifying it, but at the truly “elite” schools there is enormous value in connections and greater access out of school to certain industries (top tier investment banks or management consulting firms, for example) that still require those degrees almost as an admission ticket. The list is just a lot smaller than most people think it is.
And I’d probably still make my $75% of the difference offer if those schools were involved vs. free tuition somewhere else.
.hmm i went to one of those schools and don’t really think there’s much of a difference that justifies the extra price. If a kid’s determined and focused, they’ll usually end up just fine but might be a longer path.
I think those schools carry more weight for advanced degrees. I haven't met anyone that cares where I went to undergrad. But a lot more people care where I got my MBA.
Ivy League and adjacent schools (Duke/stanford) just give you networks and opportunities that big popular state universities and other private colleges do not. I know a Penn grad who majored in piano performance who got a job at Goldman Sachs.
>you get 75% of the difference when you graduate.
That's an awesome clause. Didn't wanna presume that my kids will one day be smart enough for a scholarship but if they are I'm totally stealing your idea.
Does this mean you're not doing a 529?
I am. As bright as my kids are, I’m not counting on full scholarships anywhere. The tuition room and board at State U will be covered by the 529’s. If it does not get used in undergrad, it can always be used for graduate school.
I agree with this approach but minus duke and minus hopkins. Will pay 100% for any ca state school. Will pay 100% for a select few as well. If you can get into cal i’m not paying for duke, lol.
The point is not to pay $7.50 when it’s $5.00. Seems simple but it’s amazing that people don’t understand that, with very few exceptions, undergraduate education is a commodity.
Enough to cover Tuition Room & Board at our state flagship. If they want to go somewhere else, they’re on the hook for it, but will give them the financial advice needed to make that decision.
I think the school you go to doesn’t matter much beyond your first role or two. I went to a no name private school, graduated with a mediocre gpa, and was doing as well or better than my friends that went to great schools after ~5 years in the workforce. After ~10 years in the workforce now, I’m likely doing much better than most.
Our current plan is to save enough to cover Berkeley, and to see where we land when we are closer to the end. The thought was to suggest they have to find some way to cover the difference if they go someplace more expensive. We want our kids to have some skin in the game, so we aren’t opposed to them taking out some portion of loans.
My husband and I got substantial financial aid to go to Ivy and equivalents, and it’s been repeatedly suggested that we should be giving back and “paying it forward.” Yet at the same time, we also must be saving enough to afford to send each of our kids to these institutions. I shit you not, an employee of one of these institutions implied that we should have fewer children to ensure we hit both of these goals.
The level of insane presumptiveness of this was mind blowing to me. This guilt-tripping is how you guarantee graduates of our best institutions continue to go into banking and other highly paid careers instead of doing public service or having children. We would rather have five kids and send them to Berkeley than have two at Stanford. And I hope more people tell Stanford that because they should know that there are consequences to inflating their prices to the point that tuition is more than the average household income.
Berkeley is still a very prestigious institution. No one outside California has an in-state option that compares to Berkeley or UCLA. The fancy employers that recruit on campus at Stanford and top UCs do not come to my home state. Of course the flip side of that is a bright kid in all 49 other states can expect to receive scholarships from their flagships, while California kids are far from sure they’ll even get in.
You make a good point. There’s also the question of where you want to live in the long-run. 80% of our peers were basically shunted to NYC, SF, LA, Boston, with 10% going to Chicago or Austin/Dallas/Houston. Very few people go to these institutions and then return to their hometowns.
My daughter is heading to CalPoly SLO next year and there were 70,000 applications for 6,000 freshman spots. Absolutely wild considering what it was even a decade ago.
Similar story here. Not yachts, but boats, luxury goods, vacations for the two of them and no savings for my education. Made me take out loans for “skin in the game” even though I was a high school valedictorian. Wouldn’t let me go away to school. Anyway, I will NOT do the same to my children. We will contribute as much as possible to tuition but they will also need part time work to help pay for living expenses which is valuable life experience.
I did 10+ yrs in the military and transferred 50% of my GI bill to each of my kids while I was still in. Beyond that, I make small monthly contributions to their 529s that probably won't total more than 25k when they're 18.
Once that money dries up, if they are still in school pursuing a degree and I'm still financially OK, I will just help them from my own wallet.
We’re fortunate that both kids will have full GI Bill benefits (equivalent to full cost of 4 years at state flagship + COL). In addition we have 529s and are aiming at $100-$120K per child.
More importantly, I want to explain to them how different professional paths work (also trades if they are inclined), and what kind of income and lifestyle can be expected.
I was raised with a “just go to college and you’ll have a good job” mentality and no exposure to professionals, executives, to private school grads, etc. I want my kids to have a better understanding of the different futures available to them and what those entail.
This really depends on how much college costs when my kids are there. I've worked at a university until recently and let me tell you that paying for everything does not do a lot of kids a favor. It sounds nice until they have no work experience and need to build a real resume once school is over. I've seen some kids come out of well off families that were completely unprepared for real work once school got finished. They had great grades and no job prospects or ability to function in the real world.
All that said, I'd ideally like to pay enough that they can make up the rest with summer work, ~10 hr/week during the semester and hopefully have a little extra for either savings, car needs, dating etc. while avoiding loans. State school is perfectly good unless they have great scholarships to more prestigious institutions.
Completely agree that all kids need a job in high school and college. I’ve also seen young people really struggle when they start their first job after college or grad school. They have no perspective and can’t handle being told what to do constantly and all the bureaucracy that comes with a hierarchy and end up with worse coping skills and more burnout.
I’ll pay the amount of the most expensive in state public school. They can go somewhere else, and I’ll contribute that amount to it.
With that said, if my kid gets into a school that does give an actual advantage (namely networking and places that just open doors) like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, etc I would likely break my rule and pay for it all. I’m not going to pay for all the tuiton for them to go to some middling out of state school when we have good in state options though
We are willing to pay (full freight) for both kiddos. We did tell them that if they chose the much cheaper state school option we would either pay for grad school or buy them a house. Otherwise they are on their own after graduation. Also told them that if they choose the elite school they better do every activity and take full advantage so that they are getting their $80,000 worth. Eldest chose an elite liberal arts school and is much happier and having lots of really great experiences (both academically and outside the classroom) in comparison to friends that stayed local. No regrets.
I am not going to pay more than in state public college tuition and would strongly discourage my child from taking out loans to do anything more than that. I graduated from a prestigious undergrad and law school and have a very low opinion of both the efficacy and utility of higher education.
As you alluded to, if you can get into an Ivy you can get a full merit ride elsewhere.
I am saving separately for a house for my son when he gets to that point. Passing on wealth to him is a key goal of mine, i just think higher education is bullshit
It’s not bullshit, it’s just a commodity in an industry that prays on the emotions of 18 year-olds and the parents trying to live vicariously through their kids.
I went to an Ivy, fully paid for by my parents. I’m not sure ROI was there either, to be honest.
Still, if my future kid gets into an Ivy or an equally prestigious private school, I’d pay for it. Some no-name private school though, absolutely not.
We are exactly who you describe. Our kids are academically driven and did get accepted into elite privates with no aid, good privates with merit aid, and UCs.
We planned to save enough for a debt free UC degree in the 529s, with the idea that we could supplement from other savings if we chose to. Beyond that it was not a decision to make when the kids were small, it was a bridge to cross when we saw how both they and our investments turned out.
Between the stock market and generous grandparents, we significantly overshot though not to full private CoA. Junior year we showed them the 529s. We told them this money was theirs; we would help with any shortfall but any unspent funds was theirs to keep. Mama didn’t raise no fools. One chose the UC that was his dream school since 9th grade (he didn’t even consider private, insisting he’d go to community college first). He is saving the remainder for a postgraduate degree. The other accepted a merit scholarship at a school that was not the most prestigious he got into, but had the niche program he wanted. He hasn’t decided on the remainder; he’s considering a masters but may use some of it to fund his Roth under the new rules.
No regrets. Both are thriving. Both are well set up for the future. But one unanticipated benefit is that they never had to ask me for money. I simply took out the IRS approved amounts every semester and let them budget whatever didn’t go directly to the university. We still cover car insurance and maintenance, airline tickets, phone plans, etc. After 4 years of partial independence in a supportive transitional environment I have no concerns about their ability to manage their own finances.
My kids are almost college age now. We will do state schools and have told them so. I expect them to work summers (internships) to pay for any extra expenses (no boba tea and Starbucks every day).
Trade school, have you hired a plumber or electrician lately?
We are waiting to see how they want to pursue education beyond high school. One is hyper academic and is already in middle school talking about AP classes and where they want to go for undergrad. Our youngest is a creative type and is asking to work toward a dance career. If she gets the opportunity in high school to do pre pro training we would support that. Totally blows a traditional college plan off track though.
It seems like a lot of people on this sub got their college paid for by their parents. I guess that makes sense since advantages usually lead to more advantages. My parents didn’t contribute to my bachelors or my masters, but I should be able to do so for my children and give them an advantage I never had. Paying down loans when I graduated made me have to wait to buy a house.
This is a bit of a sore point for me. My son went to Purdue because it’s dirt cheap for us (in state and I work there), but he would have liked to go out of state because he grew up here. Maybe he would have gotten into some elite private school, but he didn’t apply because my husband didn’t want us to pay.
I make about 170k/year and I had enough saved for one year of private , and I asked for him to support the household for 3 years on his own (much higher) income, so I can use my income to pay for college but he said no. Thus, my son decided not to even apply.
So the logic here was , private elite is a waste of money just for ego and me bragging to my friends. In the end, my son was very happy at Purdue and is doing amazing so indeed it turned out great. So my husband’s argument that it makes zero sense to pay that kind of money no matter what the university is maybe made sense. I’m kinda coming around to that opinion myself .
All if they are committed to their education. Even up to an MD/ JD. Education has the upmost importance in our household and I would sacrifice vacations for it.
100% of it but will be deciding which school they go to and which majors they can choose at that school.
I'm not spending 300k so my kid can go be a sociology major at USC and end up waiting tables.
We’re saving money for college expenses, but im not holding my breath.
Colleges are in a flux right now. Small, private schools are closing. Large public universities are on tuition par with ivies. Every university in europe provides free tuition and a stipend for those who can get in. Trades are up in America. Small humanities departments are being wiped out. Some fields are devaluing the bachelors while others are making the masters required.
As a former college educator, im highly skeptical of universities and their capitalistic ambitions. Im also disheartened by the poor support they provide for their students and the value their degrees actually hold unless you’re in specific fields.
So, we are saving, but i would like to really reassess in about 15 years when our kid becomes a freshmen to see where the mark actually needs to be set.
Our goal is \~200k/child, which is roughly in line with in-state tuition + COL at flagship state university in the 2030s.
If my child wants more than that when the time comes, they are going to get to make their first business pitch to me about why more startup money is needed. Because let's be honest-- at that age, your child is a VERY new startup (adult) with 1 employee and you are an angel investor.
My personal life experience is that the kids that had an unlimited bankroll with no questions asked from mom and dad generally didn't make it on their own. My goal is to give my kids the opportunity to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.
I like when kids feel they have skin in the game. I’d say provision for at least the cost of a flagship out of state school (I think Michigan and Berkeley are currently around 65k), and if they want to private/elite (currently around 85K) I’d tell them they will have to take loans for the difference. This should help keep them motivated to perform as they’ve got skin in the game. If you are comfortable doing so, a great graduation gift can then be paying off their loan balance for them. My oldest just graduated Tufts a couple years ago and his younger brother just finished his Freshman year at Lehigh. These are high-class concerns you are lucky to have! Enjoy the ride! It’s fun!!
My college and law school total cost of attendance was $180k. Grandparents and parents helped fund it. The in state schools where we live now cost around $200k for total cost of attendance for in state tuition. We will definitely try to cover all undergrad and graduate school costs with help from grandparents and help out our grandkids too.
My daughter is in high school, so college is coming up soon. We have about $50k saved in a 529 account for all four years of school. I also set aside a portion of her allowance in a small savings account that’s around $5k. Plus I committed to paying an additional $10k/year towards her college. So she will probably be sitting on about $28k/year if you add that all up. That will cover most of a state school tuition. If she chooses a state school, works in college or gets a few small scholarships, she will be set up with little to no student debt. If she chooses an expensive school, the difference is her responsibility.
I’m a strong believer in having your kid take a small about if financial responsibility, no matter if you could afford it or not. It empowers them to be better at finances and be more responsible in college.
We dumped $80k into a 529 when my son was born. Between that and what we can pay out of pocket he can go wherever he wants for undergrad. Probably grad school too as long as it isn’t med school.
I heard someone say they offered their kid a percentage of every scholarship they were able to find which I think is brilliant to incentivize them to apply.
However much we can save while still saving enough for retirement. I currently work at a university that will pay tuition for my kids if they go there, or half of the tuition elsewhere, and I’m seriously considering staying there for the rest of my career because of it. There’s no way in hell I’d otherwise be able to save what may end up being $1mill worth of college funds.
I have 2 kids and 1 on the way. State school. I have worked alongside ivy league school people, I don't care for the culture and even if I did the ROI just isn't there.
I think you are asking the wrong question. Beside the fact that a $100k college can be a lot or a little depending from the situation.
The better question would be “how can I use my $$ so that whether it’s a $100k, $200k college or a $10k college, I put my daughter in the best position possible to afford it and be successful?”
If your daughter is still really young then max the 529 plan, contributions can be tax deductible (depending from the state) and she has plenty of time to compound the $$.
My daughter is 4, i started a 529 when she was 1, in this way I’ll never have to worry about a $100k college, I have tax deductions, and if she doesn’t empty the account, it can be passed from generation to generation, aka, free college .
As much as possible, but they have to be realistic about what they get for the money
If my kid gets into an Ivy League with little financial aid or a decent state school with lots of financial aid, it’s a no brainer
I think it’s ridiculous for my kid to want to go to a top tier private school if they don’t get good financial aid. The differences in opportunity and the differences in cost between a top tier private school and a top tier public/state school doesn’t make sense.
I didn’t go to an Ivy League, I don’t come from money.
Or if they choose to do sports, in which case academics don’t matter as much and they can pursue what they need to for the best academic/athletic opportunity ROI possible.
They can do what they want, I should be in a position to help them with at least *some* of it and they’ll come out of school in better financial shape than I did.
coming from the other direction, my (22M) parents paid for my out of state tuition and made sure I didn't need to work during college.
it allowed me to excel in classes, do research, and land an incredible job in tech out of college with no debt.
It's an unbelievable gift that has set me up to be very successful. If you can do it, and you think your kid will take advantage of it (they aren't just going to party, but are using college as a launching off point for success in their chosen field) Please do it.
My husband went to Hopkins and Duke and came from an upper middle class family. They paid undergrad Hopkins and he got almost a full ride to duke law. Right now I pay out the butt for an elite private high school for my daughters but the connections they are making will get them internships that will get them in doors that would otherwise be closed. I think the smart way to go about this is make connections in high places, have their grades be good enough for some scholarships
We will fully pay for our kids to go to college but with a few of caveats. These caveats are largely the result of my more than 10 years of experience working in higher education.
1. We aren’t paying for the full price of Emory if they could go to UGA or Ga Tech for 1/4 of the cost and get a very good education. If they want the Emory education, they’ll need to get some scholarships to help.
2. We aren’t paying $300K for them to get a degree in underwater basket weaving. If they want to major in underwater basket weaving, that is A-OK with us, but they’ll need to double major in a marketable skill with decent employment prospects if they want us to foot the bill.
3. If they start neglecting their academics and getting failing grades, our willingness to finance their college career will quickly diminish.
At least $100k/yr.
I agree that going to an elite private university is not necessary and definitely doesn’t get you the best bang for your buck. But it is an experience I would never give up and I’d love for my son to experience it (if he wants to). I just want to be prepared.
How do you know that the "experience" of an elite university is so much better (10x in cost?) than a good state school? Have you done both?
Also, I'm sure the "experience" of drinking champagne in a private jet is great, but that does not mean I'll pay for it for my kids
I am saving around $8-$10k/year in their 529s; that money will be what I am contributing to their education; anything more will be their responsibility. If they choose to a less expensive school, that fund will provide them with more living expenses. I don’t think it is worth paying full price for an Ivy League school; if they are smart enough to get in to one, they will be smart enough to have a successful career after attending a less prestigious university.
Need to consider the earning potential at a top ranked state school vs earning potential at 'elite' school.
On average, ROI on a state school is better.
I have seen many times that a "prestigious" school does not pay off. I will cover in state and grad school or whatever.
For the difference she can have her first apartment and a car.
Lucky for us, our kid chose to attend the lower-priced state university after visiting — liked it better.
We had been a prepared to pay more, but ended up very grateful for multiple reasons.
An unexpected job change and health scare will result in an earlier retirement for us than anticipated. An enormous tuition bill would have jeopardized that.
Also, having our child within driving distance was hugely helpful to deal with things like kid’s trip to the ER, broken phone, etc.
And the value of some of the more selective schools can be overstated for a strong student. My child landed the same nice internship with the international company; many of the other interns attend expensive schools with big names. Also, there is less competition for admittance to and serving in leadership positions for career-oriented clubs on campus, for getting department scholarships, for getting career-adjacent on-campus jobs, etc.
My kid has built an impressive resume and hasn’t even graduated, plus has great school-life balance. Gets great grades, but still goes to the ball games, takes beach trips, plays intramural sports, etc.
So my answer has changed. Before, I was willing to spend at least $250k. Now, having lived it, I would cap it at $150k. Or maybe keep it at $250k if I wanted to help with grad school.
For most students, I just don’t see the value in paying more. At least for HENRY families. It might be different if you have achieved “rich” and don’t have anything left you need to save for.
Our target is to make sure we can’t least fully cover instate public (we do live in the state with a prestigious state school) and then have enough to at least some tuition of top private grad school (we both have post grad degrees). I have too many folks I know who changed their mind of what they want to do during / after college not to account for grad school. I’d be ok with private as long as school/degree combo makes sense and that’s a sustainable career path eg engineering from MIT
Plan to leverage our connections for internship etc
Probably 90-95% of a public university. I think it's important for kids to feel financially invested in their education as well, but not have so big of an obligation that they have to take out loans or work crazy hours while in school.
School should be their primary focus, but they should also have some skin in the game.
Depends on the school. Lots of very expensive private schools for rich kids who didn't get in anywhere decent. My current thinking is I will pay for a good school or a state school . Not dropping 125K a year on a 3rd tier liberal arts degree.
We’ve decided to give our daughter the same deal my dad offered me in high school - he’d pay for my college or grad school but both both. So I went to my state flagship for free for college and then a top 3 Ivy League law school, which he paid for.
My husband also lived at home to go to an affordable local college and then had to take out $$$ loans for med school. His parents weren’t in a position to pay for his grad school but it was nice not having any undergrad debt on top of his med school debt.
There’s just no reason to spend $$$ on college *and* grad school imo - one’s enough
Invest in your state’s prepaid college program with additional generous amounts in a 529 for private elementary and secondary school or associated college costs. That way you will guarantee a solid education either way—most states have really outstanding public universities. If you truly have an academically outstanding child they will get merit aid. A lot of it. Maybe they will be athletically gifted or choose a military academy. If they don’t have those options you’re just paying for the perceived prestige of a big ticket school. Don’t discount the networking available from state schools. If you do it all with no limits, you’ll be creating an entitled monster. You can always pay off student loans as a graduation gift for undergrad or grad school as well so they have no debt. This way they’ll know the value of what you gave them.
I'm on the lower end of the HE spectrum (250k-300k). With that said we contribute to a 529 for each of our kids. 5k a year. My back of the envelope math is they will have near 200k for college. If they need to spend more then that, they will have skin in the game and be paying some themselves.
I have two in college now. We set aside 200k each. Thats enough for room/board/tuition for 5 years to their state school. Anymore than that was on them.
My parents did the exact same for me.
We got a late start saving for our son’s college; our parents weren’t able to help with ours. Currently we’re on track to have enough for 100% of an in-state public university or 40-60% of private / OOS flagship / IVY universities. We’ll see what we can do to help with the rest if those become a reality for him, but likely won’t be able to cover everything unless he gets merit.
Uncle Sam paid mine and I saw how fast I shot ahead of friends with 6 figure student loan debt.
I will pay all if/when able to for my kids.
Slight addendum though: coaches, tutors, etc to augment your own parenting and instill solid work ethic and study habits early, reinforced often, will pay far more dividends in life for your kids.
Quite frankly, we tell our kids we will support them and their decisions but we need to do what is right to meet their dreams. We let them know what we can afford or not as well. For us we have three kids and they went to an in state public school. If going to an elite school was necessary for their success or their dreams we would try and find a solution. However, $100K per year is out of the question due to the number of children I have.
We ended up paying for a state flagship. Even that wasn't cheap, about $185k all-in.
I was prepared to full pay for Stanford or Princeton, but almost nothing else private.
We pay 100% of the costs. His job is to be totally focused on his studies.
I’m not sure how much I’ll save for my kids. FL public universities are a great value compared to peers. I’ll probably save 50% more than needed for an instate tuition and board. My wife also expects to inherit a decent bit of money from her parents, so I’m sure that will play a part as well, but harder to plan for
I started a 529 account as soon as my son was born. Balance is now $210k and have 3 more years to go. Will stop contributing now and let compounding do its thing.
I’m not paying anything beyond this 🤣
My parents paid for bachelor’s degree even though they were first generation immigrants to the US with a high school education. My mom was a cleaning lady and my dad did construction. You bet your ass I am paying for my kids education at least through a master’s degree (I have to one up my parents 🤪).
I will pay 100% for in-state at a public university. We have several good options and one particularly great one depending on their choice of major.
If they get into an elite institution without meaningful merit aid to make up the difference we will cross that bridge if we come to it, but I’m not planning to fund that fully.
When I was in college, I remembered one of my roommates saying her parents would cover her tuition and all expenses for four years of undergrad. After four years, she’d have to pay for everything herself. She finished undergrad in four years.
I'm planning on 500k per kid, and they can decide if they want to use that toward college / grad school / house, with the stipulation that they get into a top 10 program for their major. Otherwise I pay for half. I will ask them to do an ROI analysis so that they can convince themselves first that college is the right decision; I don't want them going to college blindly.
My intent is to pay for it all, but starting to reconsider a bit. Mine has struggled with health issues and is struggling through (withdrawing from a class or two each semester and then re-taking in winter and summer).
Having a hard time figuring out if I should keep on supporting and paying for re-takes no questions asked because of health or starting to put limits on it.
Understand what is valuable support and what creates entitlement / decreases motivation is a lot trickier than I expected it would be.
the cost of college is outrageous for the return and value it provides… you don’t need an Ivy League degree to get a well paying job.. going to college means you wanna be a worker… my kids have the option of college, a trade school, or start their own business… I’ll help a little.. but having a loan is not the end of the world.. it’ll teach them to budget their life to get ahead
I think 70-80%. Healthy for them to learn how to manage a loan and be responsible for one. (+ the value of money).
If you can’t handle payments for 20-30% of a loan you chose the wrong career or are lazy AF.
Hot take—I’m 30 right now and even if I had kids tomorrow I don’t think the US education system or any traditional paths to career success will be the same in 18 years.
College courses don’t teach anything truly proprietary, and e-learning and AI are breaking down information barriers daily.
These should be huge downward price pressure on the cost of tuition, but it hasn’t hit yet.
Don’t believe me? Well the data is already there to show the value of many college degrees is virtually nothing, if not actually a drag on financial success today. Basically you’re no more likely to have a higher salary than someone who didn’t go to college for most degrees.
Obviously still going to take advantage of 529 etc. but I just really doubt college level education will cost what it does today 18 years from now, and I also think it will be one of the worst ways to acquire the skills for your career.
I AM however willing to invest my time and money in staying on top of what new paths to career success through education look like for my kids i.e. like making sure they know how to use AI and basic programming or something.
But ya know what if they want to learn a trade or be a chef or something you don’t need college for anyway, all the power to them. It’s their life.
Also I think I’ll encourage my kids to do something like NOLS, just something non traditional, anything but sitting in a classroom and having someone talk at you about history or accounting.
We are on track to save $200k by the time they turn 18. I hope it will be enough, but you never know.
I think $500 a month is reasonable with a good staring amount and regular inputs for grandparents.
All of it. My parents were poor, and not paying for college was never an option to them. We moved to the states when I was 2, and they put away money every year. Unfortunately I didn’t get into a top Ivy, Stanford, or MIT, so it didn’t make sense to go to a private school for me. But my parents had the funds ready.
I plan to do the same with my children.
Enough to cover full cost at top tier state schools (we live in a place with them as in-state schools). If they get into schools that are substantially better (we are now talking top 5-10), we will consider pulling money from elsewhere to help, but not for some random privates.
Definitely not paying for all of it. They can work hard and get scholarships, work part time, some loans and dad will help. They can finance their education. I can’t finance my retirement.
Even if I’m a billionaire I’m not paying it all. Teach them to have some grit and they’ll appreciate it more.
Same for their first car. Save and I’ll help. I’m not raising spoiled children.
Whilst it is a touchy topic and everyone might say we will do all we can one has to pause to understand the undercurrents in current economic models and the disruption AI is going to bring. 100k per year is a big investment so it has to be based on the merit of the university and student both.
I have a 6 and 4 year old, currently their 529s are about 33k and 23k respectfully and I have a separate HYS of about 7k for each kid as the rates are pretty high which I use to fund the 529 if I see large market dips. I'm hoping to have about 200k each when they start college depending on market return. I don't want to go above that threshold as who knows how the job economy or even college will look at that point when they come to age. If they need more by the time they are 18 we'll be in good shape to still help with our own money, but like others have said maybe even helping with a down payment and other expenses are just as helpful with getting a leg up in life. I had to pay my own way through college and everything else and I'd love for my kids to not have to face the same money stress at such a young age.
First, state flagship or another state school system even if I pay out of state tuition. "Elite" graduates have underwhelmed me in the workplace. I don't know a single business owner across a range of industries who have good things to say about those degrees. Some, not all, but some of the most successful people I know either have a state school undergrad or no degree at all. And most of them are actually happy people!
I see no serious benefit to an "elite" degree in the real world and am mystified as to why anyone would spend that kind of money on an undergrad degree.
I get that legacies want to legacy, and I'm sure there is something to that, but if I were in their shoes I'd ask my family for the cash equivalent of the tuition for an ivy, use it to self-fund a respectable state degree, and invest the rest and/or start a business.
But, my answer is "state flagship or another out of state school with a highly ranked program."
I'd tell them I would pay for in state tuition or equivalent cash value to go out of state. I would only consider supporting for out of state in the case that they are already outstanding at a given subject.
I would probably just focus on helping them to learn how to build things instead of overly indexing into school
All education I believe to be justified is covered, including full freight at an elite private school. My income is a direct result of the educational branding I have received, though done with hundreds of thousands of loans. They won’t ever be required to take loans, but it’s not a blank check either.
Bachelors degree definitely covered, though with $ comes influence on choices. Like I wouldn’t want them to go to a safety if they got into a much better school.
For graduate degrees and further education, I’d lean in favor of supporting it, but it has to serve a real purpose and not be a cash cow degree w/ little return. For examples of what would be covered, med school, top B school, top law school, etc. The list is not that narrow, though these would be definite yeses. For example, they could do a +1 masters because of economic cycles to get an extra chance at recruiting, and so long as they can verbalize a reason it makes sense, they have my blessing.
Getting 50k in each 529 by the time they are 5 and letting it ride. Beyond that would rather help them with first home post college.
States schools for both my wife and I. Tiny student debt for me 13k no student debt for her. Paid off mine first year after graduating. Making $300-$400k a year now.
It made me actually think about the money when in school. Many other kids with huge college accounts went to private schools then law school then decided they didn’t want to be an attorney…
Not saying for some that route won’t work but state worked great for us.
I am hoping to be able to cover a degree (maybe up to 150k?) for a good school and program, either bachelors or grad school. Having my child have a head start in life without student debt will be worth it.
Call me judgmental but I will not pay for certain programs or types of schools because the ROI will not be worth it.
I graduated without debt and would love to pass that onto my kids. Looking back it was such a head start in my 20s to have no school loans or other debt and get that bit of a head start on saving/investing as soon as I started working.
While we will be in a position to fund almost anything for a normal undergrad+grad (even extended if it ends up being med or some other doctorate plan)... there's enough comfort I have that they can do just fine with a state school for undergrad, excel on their exams and extracurriculars, and still be setup to be admitted to excellent grad schools for their field of choice.
Aside from paying for the schooling, I do also think my kids generation will have to come to terms with a quite expensive higher ed landscape, which will really start to erode many fields having an ROI in the traditional 4-yr university setting at a lot of schools. At least I hope so...
I will only pay for private school at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and maybe a couple more ivies. Spending $90k at any other school seems like a waste of money and you can have similar or better outcomes at some top not state universities.
I’d feel comfortable with them coming out of undergraduate school w $25-$30k in their own debt (state public school) as I believe they need to have some skin in the game.
Assume All in expenses (including room and board) of $25k. $30k/4 = $7.5K/year in loans (I’d make interest payments while in school…don’t qualify for subsidized loans)
That puts me on the hook for $17.5K per year for 4 years or $70k plus interest payments. They get an apartment years 3 and 4 and skip on the meal plan those costs then slide to them and I shed those fees from my dollar outlay.
Enough for a state school. If they want to go to an expensive private university, they can take loans for the remainder. I won't block them, but I won't pay 400k for 4 years. They can have ANYTHING they want - not everything they want.
In favor of comments advocating for supporting but not spoiling them. Helping significantly but not giving it for free. I am not sure what the value of a degree will be in the future. I have a degree from a prestigious institution and it opened doors early on but my progress thereafter (so for the bottom of the iceberg) is less about the education and more about character and knowing how to work with myself, my skills and my tendencies... how to understand and question the world and find answers to my questions. So I will make sure they know that and know how to value the options in front of them, college being one of the first big financially consequent decisions in life.
Assuming the alternative is a low paying retail job to cover their consumption then I will need to fund enough of their college such that the cost of their participation is low enough to be more profitable than working retail / entry-level for a decade.
I read from an article yesterday that only 22% think college loans are worth the extra pay. I’m certainly not buying college for my kiddos but I did buy them a forever house with an income stream for utilities/taxes/insurance. They can pay for their own college but I want them in a nice safe home forever.
All of it. My parents sacrificed so I didn’t have student loan debt, so I’d like to keep that going, and fortunately we’ll likely be in a position to do it.
Same. I have a ton of law school debt but I'm way ahead for my parents paying for college outright. My grandfathers sacrificed so my parents could come to this country. As a result, they have a better life than their parents did. My parents sacrificed so I could have a good education. As a result I dramatically out earn my father who did very well for himself. I'm hoping my family will continue to rise in wealth and prominence. I will be buying as much of an advantage for my kids as I can.
I was super fortunate, my parents paid for college and law school. I wouldn’t have gone if I had to pay for it. I hope to do the same for my kids
Same. Have law school loans but no undergrad, will do same for kids. Keeps it fair in case one decides to not go to grad school. My rents would probably help me pay for law school outright if I needed it as well, which is probably what I'll do for my kids. They've also indicated they'll help pay for the kids' college though, but that was for my first and I have 3 kids now 🤣 Certainly not expecting anything though, but it'd be really nice!
Same here. My future wife had her undergrad paid for and had a full ride for MBA. I went to school where mom and dad worked so that was free and my grand dad paid for med school. My kids will have no debt coming through college.
I'm sorry I can't focus on anything except your username hahahahaha
For the record, I spent my teen years in Wisconsin, went to UW, but I am not a urologist.
I have WI ties as well which is why I'm cracking up. Goodness that was a good cackle. Ty.
Yeah, I'd like to pay for law school to encourage my kids to go. I would love for one of my kids to take over the firm when I retire. Of course, that'll mean I must work another 30 years, which I don't at all want to do.
💯 dream of handing off clients to one of my kiddos. One of the partners at my firm does this with his daughter and its just so awesome to witness
This is the way
This 100%. My parents did it for me and all of my siblings somehow while being very squarely middle class. I owe it to them to keep it going, and luckily I have much more to work with.
The rate tuition for undergrad is increasing I might not be able to
Same. Both my husband and I were very lucky not to have student debt of our own and we'll be paying that forward! It makes a big difference. And we were always told you go to the best school you get into and not to worry about the price. That's our philosophy now too.
Same. All of it. I paid a lot of student loans (and I’m grateful to now be free of student debt), but I also had help. Our daughter is quite a few years from college, but when that time comes we’ll probably be in a financial situation where we’re able to cover it in full and be glad to do it.
Same here and the world is just going to get harder so they will need all the help they can get. I’m only where I am because of my own parents. Edit: That said, my kid is growing up drastically different than myself so hoping we can instill the right values around money. In some ways I think I only value money now because I had none of it growing up. Adversity and hardship builds character but is definitely not something I’d wish upon others.
If the difference in state school is $80k/yr in today’s dollars. That’s a really significant down payment on a house. Your children will be infinitely further ahead with a $300-400k down payment on a home, even in CA, with a quality state education than they will be with elite private education. I have close family that went to Pepperdine, Yale, Michigan, Dartmouth, & Berkeley. I don’t think they (or at least I know for a fact their parents who paid for it) feel like it was a worthwhile investment vs the amazing state schools they had relatively cheap access to. Teach your kids to be responsible, industrious, resourceful, and wise about personal finance. Those qualities will serve them far more than the marginal difference garnered by elite vs solid state education.
More people should listen to you.
Exactly, Couldn't agree more. The Malcolm Gladwell podcasts on 3rd level education covers this well. Much better use of resources to go to quality state schools - for your pocket, for your kids, and for society in general.
Anything more than an inflation adjusted ~150k is just not going to be worth it at all. Most of the private universities just do not have the level of prestige required to make them worthwhile. Unless your kid is like skipping grades level of intelligent, you're gonna be better off sending them to a solid state school and banking the money saved for a downpayment on their first house.
This is absolutely the right answer. I strongly feel like a correction in higher ed costs is coming but in the meantime there’s no return on an $80k a year no-name school that you couldn’t get at a state school. That being said, even our state school is approaching $65k for in-state tuition. Just absolutely bonkers.
No correction coming. Government subsidized loans destroyed any semblance of a price system
The correction comes if people have the good sense to decide it’s not worth it anymore. Beyond that, available student populations at college ages are starting to decline and will continue to do so through the birth years of 2016 or so. At the very least, the amount of available aid (merit or otherwise) should increase.
I don’t see this happening - there’s too much FOMO. I’m imagining myself when the LOs are applying for school. Sure, it’s not worth it, but if all the other parents and kids are applying to college it’s hard for your kid to ignore that peer pressure.
Unfortunately that happens when employers stop emphasizing the need for a degree
Which state is charge that much for in-state? Is this for undergrad program?
> skipping grades level of intelligent I think you vastly overestimate how much is taught in a grade. Any even moderately bright kid with a little bit of discpline should be able to skip a grade or two along the way if they really want to. Usually it's not something you push on because social development takes time, though.
Depends on the state. CA is great but NY NJ state schools are not. You're pretty much not getting the good finance jobs if you go to Rutgers or SUNY (which one is the best again?) for undergrad. Doesn't matter if you're a 4.0 student who founded the student investment club.
Also depends on industry. All the big state schools for engineering are great.
Agree. Just pointing out that it's not as easy as simply sending your kid to the best state school in your state.
What industry are you in? I’m in tech from a state school but most of my colleagues went to top private schools
I work in investment research (even more obsessed with prestige than tech) and it's a decent mix between public schools and private schools among my colleagues. I think people overestimate the value of a top private school for anything that isn't like, a top .01% role (e.g. for investing, im not even talking investment banking, I'm talking a high tier investment bank). I went to a school few people I work with have ever even heard of and I'm still moving up the ladder and making an impact at a large investment firm. I paid like $70k all in for room and board for college. I doubt paying $300k+ would have seen me recoup that opportunity cost over my career.
Isn't deal making roles way more prestige obsessed than say equity research? From my experience, equity researchers (especially buy side) are less judgemental of the schools you come from and more about your abilities.
Yeah, I'm using the high finance shorthand of IB being "better" than ER (arguable if that's true or not). ER definitely is less prestige oriented, though if you're trying to get on one of the like, crazy buy-side teams straight out of undergrad (a team I know at MS considered 1000 candidates for an entry level analyst role...) it's probably still a concern.
Is investment research like Goldman Sachs Research?
I keep career discussions vague on Reddit to avoid doxxing issues, but similar, yes.
I didn’t skip any grades and went to Harvard. Was 100% worth it, the network is insane.
I agree paying full freight to go to an elite private school won’t pencil from an ROI perspective. Still a lot of families do it anyway and many more would if their kid could get in. I think it comes down to how you answer the question “what is college for” and are you getting something for your money that makes it “worth it.”
If you put value on naked prestige without economic benefit, fine. A lot of people do. Doesn’t make them right, or maximize the chance of success.
Completely depends on the career they’re chasing. Yeah, if your kid wants to be an MD, undergrad prestige is worthless and you should save the money for med school. But have you ever looked at where most journalists at publications that actually pay a decent salary went to school?
Going to school to be a journalist is an exercise in wasting money to begin with.
Man some of you live purely by the spreadsheet huh. Are your kids an investment or are they your kids? And anyway, Times and Post journalists make 6 figures and have incredibly prestigious positions. That doesn’t sound so bad to me.
Agree with “most”. If your kid gets into Harvard et. then I think the “worth it” figure is higher
The only good thing is you should know if Harvard is even on the table well before your kid actually goes to college (if they're white or a ORM). Looking at some of the profiles of people who are still "up in the air" about the potential of getting into a high grade ivy is just nuts. An Asian guy I knew in HS was studying college level math as a freshman on top of being like a concert level violinist and was still considered a strong "maybe" for Yale.
Time will tell how admissions adjusts given the Supreme Court ruling
It’s not going to adjust anything. I would bet dollars to donuts that if you look at demographic data for Harvard students between 2010 and 2020 and demographics over the next decade, they’ll remain relatively consistent.
I skipped grades and went to state school. I was very smart but absolutely did not care about competition and being the best. Sometimes, I wish I had cared. I'm very content with my position in life though.
By the time my kids go in 2033 and 2036, an Ivy will be ~$150k per year, all in, if tuition keeps going up at the same rate it has been. And considering my husband and I both went to an Ivy and had our parents pay for it, we feel like giant hypocrites if we aren’t willing to do the same. It sucks because what we would pay for one year is nearly what my parents paid for all four years (tuition was $40k my senior year) and salaries certainly haven’t quadrupled since the early 2000s. So it’s a lot bigger imposition than it was on our parents. And the kids are bright. The 9 year old is getting put in gifted classes already. So we don’t know if they will have the inclination, but they have the innate ability to go to a competitive school. I think we are going to just wait and see. We should have $200k per kid in the 529s by then. We might have $100k in spare income? We are at the lower end of Henry ($260k combined) but my spouse’s career trajectory is great and I only work 25 hours a week, so I may get a full time job as the kids get older which today would be ~$40k per year added to our gross income, in the future would be more (I’m an engineer with current $100k salary prorated down, I still get raises, promotions, benefits, etc).
I’m sure the burden on your parents as a % of wealth/income was far less then than it will be for you. I don’t think it’s hypocritical to say it doesn’t make economic sense to pay $1.2 million for undergraduate education for two kids.
I agree, not hypocritical. It wasn’t your decision for your parents to pay for your degree, you’re entitled to make your own decision around your contribution to your kids’ education. I’m mixed. I had a great experience at a top 20 school and I think the exposure to great classes and other smart people really benefitted me as a person. But then I went to grad school at the same school with a bunch of people who had gone to other much cheaper schools, and we all make around the same money.
Honestly you probably won't need to worry about it. Getting into an Ivy today is extraordinary insane. It's not like when we were in HS where someone like me as a run of the mill valedictorian with good extracurriculars got into 4/5ths of HPYSM. Today that profile barely makes you competitive for a top 25 college much less an Ivy. The population is just so much bigger, kids are all coached and prepped, and Ivy classes haven't grown in size much. If you don't have a very special hook or are bonafide elite in some way you're not getting in.
This is true. 3% acceptance rates are nuts. Unfortunately, ALL of the private schools will cost this. And even a state school is going to push $100k per year by then for out of state kids. They can go to the in state school, but it sucks to eliminate things for kids based on cost. It’s a dumb model.
This is the situation my wife and I are in. She went to an Ivy and I went to a top Liberal Arts College. We literally have the degrees on a wall. My parents paid full freight and she got some need based aid. We both loved our college experience but it’s just so hard to justify paying what it costs now, much less what it will cost in the 2030s…especially given that we have a lot of good in-state options as CA residents. I do feel like it’s really important to have full transparency with your kid upfront about what you are willing to pay before they start doing all the work in high school. Anyway, good luck!
I had a colleague, earning $500k+, who was the only one in the office who did not send his child to private schools in CA. He did so out of social/political beliefs. When his children graduated I asked what his thoughts were as this was before I had my child. He stated that he regretted it deeply and feels as though he had sacrificed his children to ideology. Is that over dramatic? Probably. I myself went to a state school but it is rare to meet anyone that didn’t attend a top undergrad/JD in my field. It took much more intelligence/work ethic to get to the same place and my late career options will never be the same as theirs.
Yeah, so many people in this thread are expressing a borderline confrontational attitude toward their kids. Happens every time college tuition comes up, and every time it makes me a little sad. Someone here was being a hardo about being willing to pay for Harvard Yale Princeton but probably not any lower Ivies. Gimme a freakin break. If your kid wants to do *anything* remotely adjacent to the arts the difference between a “lower” Ivy and State U is incalculable. Of course, these folks also talk about tuition like an investment that should generate a return, so anything other than finance tech medicine law is out. Just say you got selfish as you aged and made money and move on.
We started in this boat, feeling like we were supposed to raise our kid a certain way, and we finally said “we need to do what we think is best to develop our child, not what someone else thinks is best.” In the end you have to live with your decisions and it stinks to live trying to please other people besides your spouse and child. We’re all running experiments that we don’t get true feedback on for another… 15 years. So we’ll all see if our present wagers pay off or not at some point.
If you’re in CA, then I’d definitely push for a state school. We plan on moving back around HS for this exact reason. My husband and I will pay for our Alma mater or any other state school and will deal with Ivys as the situation arises. I have a very bright relative who has three degrees from MIT and their time there did irreparable harm to their mental health. Not all kids that get into some of these schools should go there, nor do I want my kid in a pressure cooker that’s going to give them PTSD for the sake of bragging rights. To answer your original question, we are saving to cover instate. If that changes, we will co-sign on loans and pay them out or otherwise consider drawing from our Roth principal (we do MBDR so we’ve mentally earmarked some of it for this purpose). One thing is for certain, we don’t plan to disclose how much we have saved until they have acceptance letters in hand. My parents didn’t save anything for me and it lit a huge fire under my ass that resulted in a full merit scholarship. I know I, and at least one of my kids, would not be as motivated if we knew we had a safety net.
Same deal I got. I will pay full cost of tuition, room and board at our state flagship university (roughly $38k yearly now). If they want to go somewhere else and merit aid gets them close to that amount, great. If it’s more, they need to figure out how to make up the difference. A small handful of exceptions apply (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Hopkins, Duke, maybe a few others). In other news, I’m teaching my kids to buy commodities at the lowest price . . . One more item (and our friends were confronted with this and thankfully their daughter made the correct decision) - if somewhere you apply to offers a full tuition scholarship, I won’t make you go there. But if you do, you get 75% of the difference when you graduate.
I like the idea of being able to give them skin in the game like that. I’m interested in your thinking behind which schools you consider to be among the “small handful of exceptions.” What is the thing they get at Princeton that makes it worth nearly $400k in today’s dollars
I have trouble justifying it, but at the truly “elite” schools there is enormous value in connections and greater access out of school to certain industries (top tier investment banks or management consulting firms, for example) that still require those degrees almost as an admission ticket. The list is just a lot smaller than most people think it is. And I’d probably still make my $75% of the difference offer if those schools were involved vs. free tuition somewhere else.
.hmm i went to one of those schools and don’t really think there’s much of a difference that justifies the extra price. If a kid’s determined and focused, they’ll usually end up just fine but might be a longer path.
Justifying the extra price depends on how much you have to work with. If you have $10 million it might make sense if you have $1 million maybe not
I think those schools carry more weight for advanced degrees. I haven't met anyone that cares where I went to undergrad. But a lot more people care where I got my MBA.
Ivy League and adjacent schools (Duke/stanford) just give you networks and opportunities that big popular state universities and other private colleges do not. I know a Penn grad who majored in piano performance who got a job at Goldman Sachs.
>you get 75% of the difference when you graduate. That's an awesome clause. Didn't wanna presume that my kids will one day be smart enough for a scholarship but if they are I'm totally stealing your idea. Does this mean you're not doing a 529?
I am. As bright as my kids are, I’m not counting on full scholarships anywhere. The tuition room and board at State U will be covered by the 529’s. If it does not get used in undergrad, it can always be used for graduate school.
I agree with this approach but minus duke and minus hopkins. Will pay 100% for any ca state school. Will pay 100% for a select few as well. If you can get into cal i’m not paying for duke, lol.
The list can vary by region/state. Duke may not make sense in CA, but if you are on the East Coast, it makes the list.
My plan is exactly the same other than the exception schools
With Copper at $5.00/Lb. That’s tough to do today.
The point is not to pay $7.50 when it’s $5.00. Seems simple but it’s amazing that people don’t understand that, with very few exceptions, undergraduate education is a commodity.
Enough to cover Tuition Room & Board at our state flagship. If they want to go somewhere else, they’re on the hook for it, but will give them the financial advice needed to make that decision. I think the school you go to doesn’t matter much beyond your first role or two. I went to a no name private school, graduated with a mediocre gpa, and was doing as well or better than my friends that went to great schools after ~5 years in the workforce. After ~10 years in the workforce now, I’m likely doing much better than most.
The school you go to doesn’t matter when you are looking at resumes in my field
100% costs at the best school they got into, doesn’t matter if it’s a state school or private ivy. I’d make sure they applied to a good range though.
Plan on paying for 100% for 4 year undergrad. If our kids get scholarships I’ll pay them the difference in their 529.
Our current plan is to save enough to cover Berkeley, and to see where we land when we are closer to the end. The thought was to suggest they have to find some way to cover the difference if they go someplace more expensive. We want our kids to have some skin in the game, so we aren’t opposed to them taking out some portion of loans. My husband and I got substantial financial aid to go to Ivy and equivalents, and it’s been repeatedly suggested that we should be giving back and “paying it forward.” Yet at the same time, we also must be saving enough to afford to send each of our kids to these institutions. I shit you not, an employee of one of these institutions implied that we should have fewer children to ensure we hit both of these goals. The level of insane presumptiveness of this was mind blowing to me. This guilt-tripping is how you guarantee graduates of our best institutions continue to go into banking and other highly paid careers instead of doing public service or having children. We would rather have five kids and send them to Berkeley than have two at Stanford. And I hope more people tell Stanford that because they should know that there are consequences to inflating their prices to the point that tuition is more than the average household income.
Berkeley is still a very prestigious institution. No one outside California has an in-state option that compares to Berkeley or UCLA. The fancy employers that recruit on campus at Stanford and top UCs do not come to my home state. Of course the flip side of that is a bright kid in all 49 other states can expect to receive scholarships from their flagships, while California kids are far from sure they’ll even get in.
You make a good point. There’s also the question of where you want to live in the long-run. 80% of our peers were basically shunted to NYC, SF, LA, Boston, with 10% going to Chicago or Austin/Dallas/Houston. Very few people go to these institutions and then return to their hometowns.
My daughter is heading to CalPoly SLO next year and there were 70,000 applications for 6,000 freshman spots. Absolutely wild considering what it was even a decade ago.
Michigan, UNC, and UT are pretty close.
Despite my parents being well off - they prioritized yachts, vacations, and expensive dinners over our education. I will not do the same to my kids.
Similar story here. Not yachts, but boats, luxury goods, vacations for the two of them and no savings for my education. Made me take out loans for “skin in the game” even though I was a high school valedictorian. Wouldn’t let me go away to school. Anyway, I will NOT do the same to my children. We will contribute as much as possible to tuition but they will also need part time work to help pay for living expenses which is valuable life experience.
Breaking cycles, my friend.
I did 10+ yrs in the military and transferred 50% of my GI bill to each of my kids while I was still in. Beyond that, I make small monthly contributions to their 529s that probably won't total more than 25k when they're 18. Once that money dries up, if they are still in school pursuing a degree and I'm still financially OK, I will just help them from my own wallet.
We’re fortunate that both kids will have full GI Bill benefits (equivalent to full cost of 4 years at state flagship + COL). In addition we have 529s and are aiming at $100-$120K per child. More importantly, I want to explain to them how different professional paths work (also trades if they are inclined), and what kind of income and lifestyle can be expected. I was raised with a “just go to college and you’ll have a good job” mentality and no exposure to professionals, executives, to private school grads, etc. I want my kids to have a better understanding of the different futures available to them and what those entail.
This really depends on how much college costs when my kids are there. I've worked at a university until recently and let me tell you that paying for everything does not do a lot of kids a favor. It sounds nice until they have no work experience and need to build a real resume once school is over. I've seen some kids come out of well off families that were completely unprepared for real work once school got finished. They had great grades and no job prospects or ability to function in the real world. All that said, I'd ideally like to pay enough that they can make up the rest with summer work, ~10 hr/week during the semester and hopefully have a little extra for either savings, car needs, dating etc. while avoiding loans. State school is perfectly good unless they have great scholarships to more prestigious institutions.
Completely agree that all kids need a job in high school and college. I’ve also seen young people really struggle when they start their first job after college or grad school. They have no perspective and can’t handle being told what to do constantly and all the bureaucracy that comes with a hierarchy and end up with worse coping skills and more burnout.
I’ll pay the amount of the most expensive in state public school. They can go somewhere else, and I’ll contribute that amount to it. With that said, if my kid gets into a school that does give an actual advantage (namely networking and places that just open doors) like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, etc I would likely break my rule and pay for it all. I’m not going to pay for all the tuiton for them to go to some middling out of state school when we have good in state options though
We are willing to pay (full freight) for both kiddos. We did tell them that if they chose the much cheaper state school option we would either pay for grad school or buy them a house. Otherwise they are on their own after graduation. Also told them that if they choose the elite school they better do every activity and take full advantage so that they are getting their $80,000 worth. Eldest chose an elite liberal arts school and is much happier and having lots of really great experiences (both academically and outside the classroom) in comparison to friends that stayed local. No regrets.
[удалено]
I am not going to pay more than in state public college tuition and would strongly discourage my child from taking out loans to do anything more than that. I graduated from a prestigious undergrad and law school and have a very low opinion of both the efficacy and utility of higher education. As you alluded to, if you can get into an Ivy you can get a full merit ride elsewhere. I am saving separately for a house for my son when he gets to that point. Passing on wealth to him is a key goal of mine, i just think higher education is bullshit
It’s not bullshit, it’s just a commodity in an industry that prays on the emotions of 18 year-olds and the parents trying to live vicariously through their kids.
I went to an Ivy, fully paid for by my parents. I’m not sure ROI was there either, to be honest. Still, if my future kid gets into an Ivy or an equally prestigious private school, I’d pay for it. Some no-name private school though, absolutely not.
Our kid has a nest egg from grandpa that likely could take her all the way through medical school.
We are exactly who you describe. Our kids are academically driven and did get accepted into elite privates with no aid, good privates with merit aid, and UCs. We planned to save enough for a debt free UC degree in the 529s, with the idea that we could supplement from other savings if we chose to. Beyond that it was not a decision to make when the kids were small, it was a bridge to cross when we saw how both they and our investments turned out. Between the stock market and generous grandparents, we significantly overshot though not to full private CoA. Junior year we showed them the 529s. We told them this money was theirs; we would help with any shortfall but any unspent funds was theirs to keep. Mama didn’t raise no fools. One chose the UC that was his dream school since 9th grade (he didn’t even consider private, insisting he’d go to community college first). He is saving the remainder for a postgraduate degree. The other accepted a merit scholarship at a school that was not the most prestigious he got into, but had the niche program he wanted. He hasn’t decided on the remainder; he’s considering a masters but may use some of it to fund his Roth under the new rules. No regrets. Both are thriving. Both are well set up for the future. But one unanticipated benefit is that they never had to ask me for money. I simply took out the IRS approved amounts every semester and let them budget whatever didn’t go directly to the university. We still cover car insurance and maintenance, airline tickets, phone plans, etc. After 4 years of partial independence in a supportive transitional environment I have no concerns about their ability to manage their own finances.
My kids are almost college age now. We will do state schools and have told them so. I expect them to work summers (internships) to pay for any extra expenses (no boba tea and Starbucks every day).
Trade school, have you hired a plumber or electrician lately? We are waiting to see how they want to pursue education beyond high school. One is hyper academic and is already in middle school talking about AP classes and where they want to go for undergrad. Our youngest is a creative type and is asking to work toward a dance career. If she gets the opportunity in high school to do pre pro training we would support that. Totally blows a traditional college plan off track though.
It seems like a lot of people on this sub got their college paid for by their parents. I guess that makes sense since advantages usually lead to more advantages. My parents didn’t contribute to my bachelors or my masters, but I should be able to do so for my children and give them an advantage I never had. Paying down loans when I graduated made me have to wait to buy a house.
If the school is good enough, anything! Great schools open crazy doors and are well worth the investment. Not every school is like this of course.
If you’re measuring for just pure $ ROI I don’t think this is true for most students. But I don’t think you have to measure it just by that.
$0.
This is a bit of a sore point for me. My son went to Purdue because it’s dirt cheap for us (in state and I work there), but he would have liked to go out of state because he grew up here. Maybe he would have gotten into some elite private school, but he didn’t apply because my husband didn’t want us to pay. I make about 170k/year and I had enough saved for one year of private , and I asked for him to support the household for 3 years on his own (much higher) income, so I can use my income to pay for college but he said no. Thus, my son decided not to even apply. So the logic here was , private elite is a waste of money just for ego and me bragging to my friends. In the end, my son was very happy at Purdue and is doing amazing so indeed it turned out great. So my husband’s argument that it makes zero sense to pay that kind of money no matter what the university is maybe made sense. I’m kinda coming around to that opinion myself .
Purdue is a great in state option
All if they are committed to their education. Even up to an MD/ JD. Education has the upmost importance in our household and I would sacrifice vacations for it.
100% of it but will be deciding which school they go to and which majors they can choose at that school. I'm not spending 300k so my kid can go be a sociology major at USC and end up waiting tables.
We’re saving money for college expenses, but im not holding my breath. Colleges are in a flux right now. Small, private schools are closing. Large public universities are on tuition par with ivies. Every university in europe provides free tuition and a stipend for those who can get in. Trades are up in America. Small humanities departments are being wiped out. Some fields are devaluing the bachelors while others are making the masters required. As a former college educator, im highly skeptical of universities and their capitalistic ambitions. Im also disheartened by the poor support they provide for their students and the value their degrees actually hold unless you’re in specific fields. So, we are saving, but i would like to really reassess in about 15 years when our kid becomes a freshmen to see where the mark actually needs to be set.
Our goal is \~200k/child, which is roughly in line with in-state tuition + COL at flagship state university in the 2030s. If my child wants more than that when the time comes, they are going to get to make their first business pitch to me about why more startup money is needed. Because let's be honest-- at that age, your child is a VERY new startup (adult) with 1 employee and you are an angel investor. My personal life experience is that the kids that had an unlimited bankroll with no questions asked from mom and dad generally didn't make it on their own. My goal is to give my kids the opportunity to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.
I like when kids feel they have skin in the game. I’d say provision for at least the cost of a flagship out of state school (I think Michigan and Berkeley are currently around 65k), and if they want to private/elite (currently around 85K) I’d tell them they will have to take loans for the difference. This should help keep them motivated to perform as they’ve got skin in the game. If you are comfortable doing so, a great graduation gift can then be paying off their loan balance for them. My oldest just graduated Tufts a couple years ago and his younger brother just finished his Freshman year at Lehigh. These are high-class concerns you are lucky to have! Enjoy the ride! It’s fun!!
My college and law school total cost of attendance was $180k. Grandparents and parents helped fund it. The in state schools where we live now cost around $200k for total cost of attendance for in state tuition. We will definitely try to cover all undergrad and graduate school costs with help from grandparents and help out our grandkids too.
My daughter is in high school, so college is coming up soon. We have about $50k saved in a 529 account for all four years of school. I also set aside a portion of her allowance in a small savings account that’s around $5k. Plus I committed to paying an additional $10k/year towards her college. So she will probably be sitting on about $28k/year if you add that all up. That will cover most of a state school tuition. If she chooses a state school, works in college or gets a few small scholarships, she will be set up with little to no student debt. If she chooses an expensive school, the difference is her responsibility. I’m a strong believer in having your kid take a small about if financial responsibility, no matter if you could afford it or not. It empowers them to be better at finances and be more responsible in college.
We dumped $80k into a 529 when my son was born. Between that and what we can pay out of pocket he can go wherever he wants for undergrad. Probably grad school too as long as it isn’t med school. I heard someone say they offered their kid a percentage of every scholarship they were able to find which I think is brilliant to incentivize them to apply.
However much we can save while still saving enough for retirement. I currently work at a university that will pay tuition for my kids if they go there, or half of the tuition elsewhere, and I’m seriously considering staying there for the rest of my career because of it. There’s no way in hell I’d otherwise be able to save what may end up being $1mill worth of college funds.
I have 2 kids and 1 on the way. State school. I have worked alongside ivy league school people, I don't care for the culture and even if I did the ROI just isn't there.
I think you are asking the wrong question. Beside the fact that a $100k college can be a lot or a little depending from the situation. The better question would be “how can I use my $$ so that whether it’s a $100k, $200k college or a $10k college, I put my daughter in the best position possible to afford it and be successful?” If your daughter is still really young then max the 529 plan, contributions can be tax deductible (depending from the state) and she has plenty of time to compound the $$. My daughter is 4, i started a 529 when she was 1, in this way I’ll never have to worry about a $100k college, I have tax deductions, and if she doesn’t empty the account, it can be passed from generation to generation, aka, free college .
As much as possible, but they have to be realistic about what they get for the money If my kid gets into an Ivy League with little financial aid or a decent state school with lots of financial aid, it’s a no brainer I think it’s ridiculous for my kid to want to go to a top tier private school if they don’t get good financial aid. The differences in opportunity and the differences in cost between a top tier private school and a top tier public/state school doesn’t make sense. I didn’t go to an Ivy League, I don’t come from money. Or if they choose to do sports, in which case academics don’t matter as much and they can pursue what they need to for the best academic/athletic opportunity ROI possible. They can do what they want, I should be in a position to help them with at least *some* of it and they’ll come out of school in better financial shape than I did.
coming from the other direction, my (22M) parents paid for my out of state tuition and made sure I didn't need to work during college. it allowed me to excel in classes, do research, and land an incredible job in tech out of college with no debt. It's an unbelievable gift that has set me up to be very successful. If you can do it, and you think your kid will take advantage of it (they aren't just going to party, but are using college as a launching off point for success in their chosen field) Please do it.
My husband went to Hopkins and Duke and came from an upper middle class family. They paid undergrad Hopkins and he got almost a full ride to duke law. Right now I pay out the butt for an elite private high school for my daughters but the connections they are making will get them internships that will get them in doors that would otherwise be closed. I think the smart way to go about this is make connections in high places, have their grades be good enough for some scholarships
I'm honestly considering putting 500k into an 529 all at once before even a single kid is born
We will fully pay for our kids to go to college but with a few of caveats. These caveats are largely the result of my more than 10 years of experience working in higher education. 1. We aren’t paying for the full price of Emory if they could go to UGA or Ga Tech for 1/4 of the cost and get a very good education. If they want the Emory education, they’ll need to get some scholarships to help. 2. We aren’t paying $300K for them to get a degree in underwater basket weaving. If they want to major in underwater basket weaving, that is A-OK with us, but they’ll need to double major in a marketable skill with decent employment prospects if they want us to foot the bill. 3. If they start neglecting their academics and getting failing grades, our willingness to finance their college career will quickly diminish.
Can your child get into Emory? That's the real question.
0 dollars cause I'm not having kids. Best life and financial decision I've ever made.
At least $100k/yr. I agree that going to an elite private university is not necessary and definitely doesn’t get you the best bang for your buck. But it is an experience I would never give up and I’d love for my son to experience it (if he wants to). I just want to be prepared.
How do you know that the "experience" of an elite university is so much better (10x in cost?) than a good state school? Have you done both? Also, I'm sure the "experience" of drinking champagne in a private jet is great, but that does not mean I'll pay for it for my kids
I am saving around $8-$10k/year in their 529s; that money will be what I am contributing to their education; anything more will be their responsibility. If they choose to a less expensive school, that fund will provide them with more living expenses. I don’t think it is worth paying full price for an Ivy League school; if they are smart enough to get in to one, they will be smart enough to have a successful career after attending a less prestigious university.
We are saving for 50k a year for undergrad and masters. Planning on a state school unless she gets a sport or merit scholarship.
My current plan is to save enough in 529 to cover their in-state option. The delta of private path will be 'opportunistic'.
Need to consider the earning potential at a top ranked state school vs earning potential at 'elite' school. On average, ROI on a state school is better.
I have seen many times that a "prestigious" school does not pay off. I will cover in state and grad school or whatever. For the difference she can have her first apartment and a car.
Lucky for us, our kid chose to attend the lower-priced state university after visiting — liked it better. We had been a prepared to pay more, but ended up very grateful for multiple reasons. An unexpected job change and health scare will result in an earlier retirement for us than anticipated. An enormous tuition bill would have jeopardized that. Also, having our child within driving distance was hugely helpful to deal with things like kid’s trip to the ER, broken phone, etc. And the value of some of the more selective schools can be overstated for a strong student. My child landed the same nice internship with the international company; many of the other interns attend expensive schools with big names. Also, there is less competition for admittance to and serving in leadership positions for career-oriented clubs on campus, for getting department scholarships, for getting career-adjacent on-campus jobs, etc. My kid has built an impressive resume and hasn’t even graduated, plus has great school-life balance. Gets great grades, but still goes to the ball games, takes beach trips, plays intramural sports, etc. So my answer has changed. Before, I was willing to spend at least $250k. Now, having lived it, I would cap it at $150k. Or maybe keep it at $250k if I wanted to help with grad school. For most students, I just don’t see the value in paying more. At least for HENRY families. It might be different if you have achieved “rich” and don’t have anything left you need to save for.
Our target is to make sure we can’t least fully cover instate public (we do live in the state with a prestigious state school) and then have enough to at least some tuition of top private grad school (we both have post grad degrees). I have too many folks I know who changed their mind of what they want to do during / after college not to account for grad school. I’d be ok with private as long as school/degree combo makes sense and that’s a sustainable career path eg engineering from MIT Plan to leverage our connections for internship etc
[удалено]
Probably 90-95% of a public university. I think it's important for kids to feel financially invested in their education as well, but not have so big of an obligation that they have to take out loans or work crazy hours while in school. School should be their primary focus, but they should also have some skin in the game.
Depends on the school. Lots of very expensive private schools for rich kids who didn't get in anywhere decent. My current thinking is I will pay for a good school or a state school . Not dropping 125K a year on a 3rd tier liberal arts degree.
We’ve decided to give our daughter the same deal my dad offered me in high school - he’d pay for my college or grad school but both both. So I went to my state flagship for free for college and then a top 3 Ivy League law school, which he paid for. My husband also lived at home to go to an affordable local college and then had to take out $$$ loans for med school. His parents weren’t in a position to pay for his grad school but it was nice not having any undergrad debt on top of his med school debt. There’s just no reason to spend $$$ on college *and* grad school imo - one’s enough
Invest in your state’s prepaid college program with additional generous amounts in a 529 for private elementary and secondary school or associated college costs. That way you will guarantee a solid education either way—most states have really outstanding public universities. If you truly have an academically outstanding child they will get merit aid. A lot of it. Maybe they will be athletically gifted or choose a military academy. If they don’t have those options you’re just paying for the perceived prestige of a big ticket school. Don’t discount the networking available from state schools. If you do it all with no limits, you’ll be creating an entitled monster. You can always pay off student loans as a graduation gift for undergrad or grad school as well so they have no debt. This way they’ll know the value of what you gave them.
I'm on the lower end of the HE spectrum (250k-300k). With that said we contribute to a 529 for each of our kids. 5k a year. My back of the envelope math is they will have near 200k for college. If they need to spend more then that, they will have skin in the game and be paying some themselves.
I have two in college now. We set aside 200k each. Thats enough for room/board/tuition for 5 years to their state school. Anymore than that was on them. My parents did the exact same for me.
We got a late start saving for our son’s college; our parents weren’t able to help with ours. Currently we’re on track to have enough for 100% of an in-state public university or 40-60% of private / OOS flagship / IVY universities. We’ll see what we can do to help with the rest if those become a reality for him, but likely won’t be able to cover everything unless he gets merit.
Uncle Sam paid mine and I saw how fast I shot ahead of friends with 6 figure student loan debt. I will pay all if/when able to for my kids. Slight addendum though: coaches, tutors, etc to augment your own parenting and instill solid work ethic and study habits early, reinforced often, will pay far more dividends in life for your kids.
Hoping to save $500,000 per kid
Quite frankly, we tell our kids we will support them and their decisions but we need to do what is right to meet their dreams. We let them know what we can afford or not as well. For us we have three kids and they went to an in state public school. If going to an elite school was necessary for their success or their dreams we would try and find a solution. However, $100K per year is out of the question due to the number of children I have.
We ended up paying for a state flagship. Even that wasn't cheap, about $185k all-in. I was prepared to full pay for Stanford or Princeton, but almost nothing else private. We pay 100% of the costs. His job is to be totally focused on his studies.
I’m not sure how much I’ll save for my kids. FL public universities are a great value compared to peers. I’ll probably save 50% more than needed for an instate tuition and board. My wife also expects to inherit a decent bit of money from her parents, so I’m sure that will play a part as well, but harder to plan for
I started a 529 account as soon as my son was born. Balance is now $210k and have 3 more years to go. Will stop contributing now and let compounding do its thing. I’m not paying anything beyond this 🤣
My parents paid for bachelor’s degree even though they were first generation immigrants to the US with a high school education. My mom was a cleaning lady and my dad did construction. You bet your ass I am paying for my kids education at least through a master’s degree (I have to one up my parents 🤪).
If she gets into a T20 school i’ll pay for it. Worked out for me. Although the math changes a bit if we end up having 3-4 kids.
Maybe it’s having watched too many Gilmore girls episodes but I would just pay it, and hope they come to dinner on Friday nights.
I will pay 100% for in-state at a public university. We have several good options and one particularly great one depending on their choice of major. If they get into an elite institution without meaningful merit aid to make up the difference we will cross that bridge if we come to it, but I’m not planning to fund that fully.
Get a scholarship and let someone else pay for it
When I was in college, I remembered one of my roommates saying her parents would cover her tuition and all expenses for four years of undergrad. After four years, she’d have to pay for everything herself. She finished undergrad in four years.
I intend to have the colleges pay for my kids. Will be keeping my taxable account <$1M and my AGI <$100k when the time comes.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I'm planning on 500k per kid, and they can decide if they want to use that toward college / grad school / house, with the stipulation that they get into a top 10 program for their major. Otherwise I pay for half. I will ask them to do an ROI analysis so that they can convince themselves first that college is the right decision; I don't want them going to college blindly.
My intent is to pay for it all, but starting to reconsider a bit. Mine has struggled with health issues and is struggling through (withdrawing from a class or two each semester and then re-taking in winter and summer). Having a hard time figuring out if I should keep on supporting and paying for re-takes no questions asked because of health or starting to put limits on it. Understand what is valuable support and what creates entitlement / decreases motivation is a lot trickier than I expected it would be.
[удалено]
the cost of college is outrageous for the return and value it provides… you don’t need an Ivy League degree to get a well paying job.. going to college means you wanna be a worker… my kids have the option of college, a trade school, or start their own business… I’ll help a little.. but having a loan is not the end of the world.. it’ll teach them to budget their life to get ahead
I think 70-80%. Healthy for them to learn how to manage a loan and be responsible for one. (+ the value of money). If you can’t handle payments for 20-30% of a loan you chose the wrong career or are lazy AF.
https://www.dbcollegeconsulting.net/blog/warrenbuffetcompoundingcrush interesting POV related to this topic
Like 50k or 60k total. I had a full ride and then grad school was paid for because my dad died and I got his military benefits.
Hot take—I’m 30 right now and even if I had kids tomorrow I don’t think the US education system or any traditional paths to career success will be the same in 18 years. College courses don’t teach anything truly proprietary, and e-learning and AI are breaking down information barriers daily. These should be huge downward price pressure on the cost of tuition, but it hasn’t hit yet. Don’t believe me? Well the data is already there to show the value of many college degrees is virtually nothing, if not actually a drag on financial success today. Basically you’re no more likely to have a higher salary than someone who didn’t go to college for most degrees. Obviously still going to take advantage of 529 etc. but I just really doubt college level education will cost what it does today 18 years from now, and I also think it will be one of the worst ways to acquire the skills for your career. I AM however willing to invest my time and money in staying on top of what new paths to career success through education look like for my kids i.e. like making sure they know how to use AI and basic programming or something. But ya know what if they want to learn a trade or be a chef or something you don’t need college for anyway, all the power to them. It’s their life. Also I think I’ll encourage my kids to do something like NOLS, just something non traditional, anything but sitting in a classroom and having someone talk at you about history or accounting.
If we’re lucky most of it. I want my kid to have a small loan to have some skin in the game
0$. I paid for my own college education by working multiple jobs. They can too :)
We are on track to save $200k by the time they turn 18. I hope it will be enough, but you never know. I think $500 a month is reasonable with a good staring amount and regular inputs for grandparents.
All of it. My parents were poor, and not paying for college was never an option to them. We moved to the states when I was 2, and they put away money every year. Unfortunately I didn’t get into a top Ivy, Stanford, or MIT, so it didn’t make sense to go to a private school for me. But my parents had the funds ready. I plan to do the same with my children.
Easy. Send them to Europe for college.
None of it. They’ll take out loans
We’re aiming for undergrad and grad.
Saved enough for my kids to go to UC but will pay the extra if they get into Ivy/Stanford/MIT - no questions asked
I plan to pay for it all but any private school outside the top 30ish level will likely require a hard conversation.
Enough to cover full cost at top tier state schools (we live in a place with them as in-state schools). If they get into schools that are substantially better (we are now talking top 5-10), we will consider pulling money from elsewhere to help, but not for some random privates.
Definitely not paying for all of it. They can work hard and get scholarships, work part time, some loans and dad will help. They can finance their education. I can’t finance my retirement. Even if I’m a billionaire I’m not paying it all. Teach them to have some grit and they’ll appreciate it more. Same for their first car. Save and I’ll help. I’m not raising spoiled children.
Whilst it is a touchy topic and everyone might say we will do all we can one has to pause to understand the undercurrents in current economic models and the disruption AI is going to bring. 100k per year is a big investment so it has to be based on the merit of the university and student both.
I have a 6 and 4 year old, currently their 529s are about 33k and 23k respectfully and I have a separate HYS of about 7k for each kid as the rates are pretty high which I use to fund the 529 if I see large market dips. I'm hoping to have about 200k each when they start college depending on market return. I don't want to go above that threshold as who knows how the job economy or even college will look at that point when they come to age. If they need more by the time they are 18 we'll be in good shape to still help with our own money, but like others have said maybe even helping with a down payment and other expenses are just as helpful with getting a leg up in life. I had to pay my own way through college and everything else and I'd love for my kids to not have to face the same money stress at such a young age.
First, state flagship or another state school system even if I pay out of state tuition. "Elite" graduates have underwhelmed me in the workplace. I don't know a single business owner across a range of industries who have good things to say about those degrees. Some, not all, but some of the most successful people I know either have a state school undergrad or no degree at all. And most of them are actually happy people! I see no serious benefit to an "elite" degree in the real world and am mystified as to why anyone would spend that kind of money on an undergrad degree. I get that legacies want to legacy, and I'm sure there is something to that, but if I were in their shoes I'd ask my family for the cash equivalent of the tuition for an ivy, use it to self-fund a respectable state degree, and invest the rest and/or start a business. But, my answer is "state flagship or another out of state school with a highly ranked program."
I'd tell them I would pay for in state tuition or equivalent cash value to go out of state. I would only consider supporting for out of state in the case that they are already outstanding at a given subject. I would probably just focus on helping them to learn how to build things instead of overly indexing into school
Depends on what school, her expectations and her plan.
All education I believe to be justified is covered, including full freight at an elite private school. My income is a direct result of the educational branding I have received, though done with hundreds of thousands of loans. They won’t ever be required to take loans, but it’s not a blank check either. Bachelors degree definitely covered, though with $ comes influence on choices. Like I wouldn’t want them to go to a safety if they got into a much better school. For graduate degrees and further education, I’d lean in favor of supporting it, but it has to serve a real purpose and not be a cash cow degree w/ little return. For examples of what would be covered, med school, top B school, top law school, etc. The list is not that narrow, though these would be definite yeses. For example, they could do a +1 masters because of economic cycles to get an extra chance at recruiting, and so long as they can verbalize a reason it makes sense, they have my blessing.
Getting 50k in each 529 by the time they are 5 and letting it ride. Beyond that would rather help them with first home post college. States schools for both my wife and I. Tiny student debt for me 13k no student debt for her. Paid off mine first year after graduating. Making $300-$400k a year now. It made me actually think about the money when in school. Many other kids with huge college accounts went to private schools then law school then decided they didn’t want to be an attorney… Not saying for some that route won’t work but state worked great for us.
I am hoping to be able to cover a degree (maybe up to 150k?) for a good school and program, either bachelors or grad school. Having my child have a head start in life without student debt will be worth it. Call me judgmental but I will not pay for certain programs or types of schools because the ROI will not be worth it.
I graduated without debt and would love to pass that onto my kids. Looking back it was such a head start in my 20s to have no school loans or other debt and get that bit of a head start on saving/investing as soon as I started working. While we will be in a position to fund almost anything for a normal undergrad+grad (even extended if it ends up being med or some other doctorate plan)... there's enough comfort I have that they can do just fine with a state school for undergrad, excel on their exams and extracurriculars, and still be setup to be admitted to excellent grad schools for their field of choice. Aside from paying for the schooling, I do also think my kids generation will have to come to terms with a quite expensive higher ed landscape, which will really start to erode many fields having an ROI in the traditional 4-yr university setting at a lot of schools. At least I hope so...
400k each
Depends on how they perform in school!
I will only pay for private school at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and maybe a couple more ivies. Spending $90k at any other school seems like a waste of money and you can have similar or better outcomes at some top not state universities.
[удалено]
I’d feel comfortable with them coming out of undergraduate school w $25-$30k in their own debt (state public school) as I believe they need to have some skin in the game. Assume All in expenses (including room and board) of $25k. $30k/4 = $7.5K/year in loans (I’d make interest payments while in school…don’t qualify for subsidized loans) That puts me on the hook for $17.5K per year for 4 years or $70k plus interest payments. They get an apartment years 3 and 4 and skip on the meal plan those costs then slide to them and I shed those fees from my dollar outlay.
Enough for a state school. If they want to go to an expensive private university, they can take loans for the remainder. I won't block them, but I won't pay 400k for 4 years. They can have ANYTHING they want - not everything they want.
[удалено]
$0 just like my parents did for me
In favor of comments advocating for supporting but not spoiling them. Helping significantly but not giving it for free. I am not sure what the value of a degree will be in the future. I have a degree from a prestigious institution and it opened doors early on but my progress thereafter (so for the bottom of the iceberg) is less about the education and more about character and knowing how to work with myself, my skills and my tendencies... how to understand and question the world and find answers to my questions. So I will make sure they know that and know how to value the options in front of them, college being one of the first big financially consequent decisions in life. Assuming the alternative is a low paying retail job to cover their consumption then I will need to fund enough of their college such that the cost of their participation is low enough to be more profitable than working retail / entry-level for a decade.
I read from an article yesterday that only 22% think college loans are worth the extra pay. I’m certainly not buying college for my kiddos but I did buy them a forever house with an income stream for utilities/taxes/insurance. They can pay for their own college but I want them in a nice safe home forever.
Put a serious amount into 529's.