As most of you know, I've been recently empty nested by my Lovely Valedictorian Daughter. Yes, I'm still very proud of her, and all the hard work she put in ;-)
Now with that comes many many University related bills. I crunched the numbers, and with a pretty tight budget, I have figured out the minimal amount of funds needed for her to attend the University of her choice, which is less then an hour from home, thank God. Now this is where my request lies, no, not money, sillies... Just perspective. Although a few tips would not be frowned upon ;-)
But seriously, I know a lot of you have put your kids through school, and I'm just wondering what a typical year cost for different people. Living expenses also count, obviously, as having your child sleep on the street, starving, lonely and cold would not be very conducive with providing them with a quality education.
I'm asking because, being recently divorced, I'm having to defend the fact that University Fees are way more than the ONE bill the chosen establishment is charging us with.
So how much does a typical year of University cost?
8 comments:
Well, since my daughter graduated a year ago, I haven't any requests for money, other than what her new, first husband wanted for a down payment on a car. He said he would pay it back in a week with 10% interest. and He did! Son in law's are always suspect. I'm one, of several instances.
So, all I know, is that her mother helped her with school loans and such, until she bankrupt her present household(which is why we're divorced, she can't figure it out, and her present husband is an idiot). I had cash. She wanted me to cosign for a student loan. I said screw it. Here's the money, pay it back if you can, but I aint cosigning on anything that would likely be defaulted on. No worries for me. I'm out 3k for ONE term of tuition at PSU. she's done with school, and has a husband that should take care of her from now on! Priceless!
Good luck with that.
I don't know about Canada, but a college education in the US is fairly worthless these days.
My daughter graduated from the University of Georgia in 2010 and it cost about $10k per year. My son graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2014 and it was $16K per year. Both graduated in 4 years with a BS.
For what it cost my son at college I paid for a Master's degree for my daughter, bought her a new car and still had money left over. The University of Georgia degree is a more prestigious degree the a Georgia Southern degree. It makes no since to me as I graduated from Ga Southern when it was a lot more economical than UGA in the 80's.
The only thing they get out of collage in the states is an abortion and neo communist homosexual studies. All for a low low price of 20K a year in Ky. (Honestly my brothers son and daughter were both required to take pre major classes in "environmental and social Justus studies" and "why men rape" under a "Marxist feminist" professor with a "kill Jesus" tattoo) I have no plans to send my sweet girl off to be mind raped (my nieces words) like that.---Ray
It all depends on a number of factors that each require a decision.
Will your princess be living at home? How does she feel about a 1 hour commute?
Does she, or will she, work? How much can she earn and still go to school?
Does she know what she wants to study?
Are you willing to co-sign a student loan?
The answers for my daughter were:
- She lived in a dorm for the first semester until she couldn't stand the noise and interruptions any more. Then she moved home and lived in the guest house, and had a 30 minute commute. Then she decided she needed to go to the university an hour and a half away, so she moved there, and that's where she finally earned her degree.
- My daughter worked the entire time she was in school. She earned enough to pay her own way, by working nearly full time and having understanding employers.
- She changed majors on a regular basis. Thus it took 5+ years to graduate. She changed more because of what her current boyfriend was studying than any other reason.
- Her employer finally lost patience with her, and then she needed money. We co-signed a $15,000 loan for her final year.
So, to answer your questions, I don't know what she spent. I do know that the last year cost $15K. Much of the cost depends on school tuition. My daughter went to the state university here, and the tuition was much less than had she gone to an out of state school (she initially wanted to go to Arizona State, but it was going to cost $20,000 a year in tuition), and much, much less than at a private school.
To sum up. We spent nothing, other than redecorating the guest house, but did co-sign a student loan. I will add, the reason it cost so little was she was raised to take care of herself, and refused our help most of the time; i.e., she wanted to do it on her own.
What Jesse said.
Our son was accepted to a couple very nice schools, but after looking at the numbers and reality of college (indoc, not edu), decided that two years at the local community college and then transferring for the next two with associate degree in hand made more sense for him.
He then plans on enlisting in USMC, possibly career, and then using the GI bill to help fund his advanced degree.
He's currently living at home and working weekends. Books and tuition are currently ~$1000/semester, which I pay as we can use the tax write-offs and he can't.
His path is not glamorous, but the end result will be the same, only with less burden at the end.
Some private schools offer grants for exceptional single parent students (one of our nieces is the beneficiary of one such grant that fully covers her tuition); I'd call a valedictorian exceptional, so look into that as well.
Many variables, many choices.
Our youngest just started at Kansas State University this fall. He earned enough credits while in high school to start just 5 hours short of being a sophomore. That alone will help a bunch to cut costs. It will take around 16k per year with tuition, books, and dorm/meal plan. We offered to split it with him. We are paying 4k a semester and he has scholarships to pay a little over half of his share. He is using money he earned through the summer to pay the rest. He may work second semester, but we advised him to not work the first semester so he can get acclimated. He still has a cell phone on our plan, but he has taken over the costs of the 15 year old Taurus we gave him. He is responsible for his own clothes and entertainment expenses. My wife can't help but but things for him, but hopefully that will taper off.
We started a mutual fund account to help pay for his schooling when he was a baby with $25/month contribution. We still had a lot of bills then including my wife's student loans. It was only in the last few years that we increased the contribution to the account to $100, we could have done that much sooner, but forgot about the account. It still has accrued almost half of what we are going to pay for his college, making it a whole lot easier for us to afford. We have also attached the same criteria to the Mr. and Mrs. Fireguy foundation grant he is getting that his scholarships have. It he falls below a 3.0 the money stops. Whatever you do and can afford, make sure you are clear about any stipulations, I learned the hard way with my oldest and he held a grudge for several years after.
I recommend that she not go to college simply for the sake of going to college or the inference that you cannot get a good job without a college degree. If she has not as yet made up her ind as to what she wants to do then it will be a complete waste of time and money to attend anywhere. Are you thinking school in Canada or the States or elsewhere? It does make a difference.
Also have Valedictorian daughter, was accepted and received Presidential scholarship that covered 1/3 out of state ($30,000/year cost) first and second year. This was covered by baby funds started 20 years ago. We moved to secure instate tuition. Presidential now covers all tuition but not student fees, books or housing. Yearly cost down to $15,000 now, but she will graduate Summa Cum Lade with Mechanical Engineering and Applied Discreet Mathematics degrees. Graduate programs are beckoning but she is very employable. The current total cost for both degrees is $90,000. ROI is sound as she will earn minimum of 4 million $US at current compensation rates. Graduate school degree will up that to 6 million. My advice is if you are not doing a STEM program then to forget formal college. The world only needs so many East Asian Lesbian Studies majors to make lattes at Starbucks.
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