College money. Holy carp.

kazoospec said:

That's what we assumed as well.  Nope.  When my wife was helping him look into it, this school basically said, "you can fill FAFSA if you want, but your eligibility will be determined by our own matrix, so you might as well fill that out."  Ironically, from everything we've read, he could "emancipate", drop out of schooling for a year, work a minimum wage job for a year, then apply with only his own income and pretty much attend with everything covered.  Fortunately, there are still other more affordable options.

Pretty amazing actually. And I'm aware of at least one individual who's done essentially that. 

I once wrote an essay on a canoe.

Haha. What a resurrection! Without the canoe, I'd say there is no reason you have to graduate college with a bunch of debt.
 

I'm sure it's been said- but please encourage your people to consider the military. Teach for America. Really any "service" gets you a bunch of college paid for if you are willing to give of yourself. My son enlisted in the Air National Guard and they are bending over backward to support his college. Not even including the GI bill. 

old thread, I know. My kid leaves for boot camp in two weeks and I'm so proud. We've saved for his college but most likely he won't need any of it. 

Carp are getting to be rather popular.  When's the last time the front page in OT had not one, but two (!) threads with "carp" in the title. 

Teh E36 M3 said:

I'm sure it's been said- but please encourage your people to consider the military. Teach for America. Really any "service" gets you a bunch of college paid for if you are willing to give of yourself. My son enlisted in the Air National Guard and they are bending over backward to support his college. Not even including the GI bill.  

This is something I'm trying to be more open to. I did 12 years active duty army and I'm now disabled because of it, and I'd strongly prefer my son not have to go through what I did to get the GI bill. However, with tuition prices what they are now (and what they'll be in 20 years) some form of military service is looking more probable. I think Air National Guard is the way to go; full GI Bill benefits and much lower chance of wrecking your health.

For those of us with the Post 9/11 GI Bill, I recently learned of a program called "Yellow Ribbon".  Basically if the school agrees to participate in it, they may write off whatever remainder of tuition there is above and beyond what the GI Bill pays them.  I've assigned my GI Bill to my daughter, learned about the Yellow Ribbon program and then started calling the schools she's applied to, to find out what they do.  The majority of them don't restrict how many kids can participate in it and do write off the rest of the tuition.  This is HUGE, especially at the private schools.

As far as getting the GI Bill, I was active duty Coast Guard, which I loved.  I've been Air National Guard for the last 18 years now, which is fine, but I liked the Coast Guard more.  My advice to both of my kids would be to avoid the Army and Marines at all costs.  My ranking, for active duty, is Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy.  Air National Guard is fine but I'm not sure about getting the same GI Bill benefits.  I'm pretty sure you've got to be active duty for a certain period of time to get what I got.  The Air Guard also seems to be extremely political and does play favorites as far as who gets what positions and promotions, more so than active duty....

Ive decided to go back to school for my Masters.

Ive gotten accepted into Wake Forest, to their MBA.

It's silly money, honestly. But it's a great school and Im going forward. But it's still wild to think a 20 month program will be half what my house cost.

In reply to docwyte :

Ha! I'm retired Coast Guard (94-2018) and I had a blast. My son will have a tough choice when he graduates college, but the good news is there is no way to lose. He's working his butt off and I'm so proud of him. 

In reply to Teh E36 M3 :

Yeah, I was at Air Station Cape Cod.  We were supposed to go to Sand Island next and I regret not going, we didn't have kids yet.  That was the chance to live in Hawaii, they move all our stuff/car there and then move it back when we're done.  Oh well....

A 17-18 year old is still 7 years away from having his frontal lobe fully developed. It's really a parents responsibility to guide his children  into major decisions like college. 
     Like a spread sheet.   
 List possible choices. From going directly into the work force following graduation, the Trades, various colleges with tuition aide, and grants, plus local  jobs,  even on campus jobs.
    Then there are options like military service.   Even during wars ( it's rare that America isn't involved in a war someplace ) only about 2%  of the military actually experience combat.  That is something you almost have to want to get involved in. There are so many ways  to avoid it. Most jobs don't involve fighting.  
   My experience  the Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Army and Marines. In that order  expose people to combat. Even the Marines have more than 70% of the jobs not involved in combat potential. While in the service there is access to  both on campus education (I earned  an associates degree  evenings after duty ) and correspondence  courses while overseas.  Then there is the GI bill ( a 2nd Associates degree) I earned after work paid for by the GI bill  since tuition at a community college was so cheap it made my house payments.  
   There are also work study options with various companies. Even  McDonalds offers tuition assistance. Along with 100's of thousands of  other companies.  
    Frankly many of those who graduate with serious student loans  decided to take 4+ years off work.  Justifying it by attending college. 
    Part of the attraction of college is get out of the nest.  So don't let room and board be the  deciding factor.  But affordability goes way up without it.  
     Finally non rewarding degrees. Like French literature major or music.  Maybe money really isn't a priority.  I live in a neighborhood with a high percentage of trust fund  people.    They already have enough from parents or grandparents.   You don't have to be part of the 1%  to have a decent trust fund.  2 parents earning 6 figures investing wisely  can easily leave a child with millions maybe even 10's of millions over a normal working career.  
  Or like two friends of mine.   One lives a nomadic life in a  Pickup camper. The other lives on a boat  and works less than a week a month to meet his obligations. ( including periodic world travels). 

In reply to frenchyd :

I'm sorry, but what's your point and how is your post pertinent to the subject here?

docwyte said:

In reply to Teh E36 M3 :

Yeah, I was at Air Station Cape Cod.  We were supposed to go to Sand Island next and I regret not going, we didn't have kids yet.  That was the chance to live in Hawaii, they move all our stuff/car there and then move it back when we're done.  Oh well....

I had a good time out at Barbers point- best flying of my career. But they only paid for one car move. It's asinine, but you get it all back with the monthly cola. 

hybridmomentspass said:

Ive decided to go back to school for my Masters.

Ive gotten accepted into Wake Forest, to their MBA.

It's silly money, honestly. But it's a great school and Im going forward. But it's still wild to think a 20 month program will be half what my house cost.

Nice.  My ex went there,  it cost us a decent chunk of change but it paid for itself very quickly.

docwyte said:

In reply to frenchyd :

I'm sorry, but what's your point and how is your post pertinent to the subject here?

Have you met frenchy?

It's probably relevant in Frenchyworld, but the rest of us will never know.

ProDarwin said:

hybridmomentspass said:

Ive decided to go back to school for my Masters.

Ive gotten accepted into Wake Forest, to their MBA.

It's silly money, honestly. But it's a great school and Im going forward. But it's still wild to think a 20 month program will be half what my house cost.

Nice.  My ex went there,  it cost us a decent chunk of change but it paid for itself very quickly.

Bachelor's or Masters?

I got into the MBA program

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

MBA

docwyte said:

In reply to frenchyd :

I'm sorry, but what's your point and how is your post pertinent to the subject here?

To spell it out for you in short simple words. 
1  college or not 

2 military option 

 3 work study option

 4 managing costs. 

In reply to Amber_Dix :

 Not just time management but more importantly social management. 
  
My Granddaughter  graduated at 16  so her first 2 years of college are free.  
 She's attending  the U of M which has a wonderful medical school.  
       While she completed her first semester.    She dropped out  of the U of M and is attending a local  college for the easier courses. 
  Reason?   She wants to socialize with her friends and play high school girls hockey.  
   She works on Saturday cleaning our house with her aunt.  It's about 2 hours of work and an hour and a half of socializing.  For that she earns $200.   ( unless she has something else scheduled  then she  hustles and is out of there in 2 hours).  
    To carry full credits requires about 8 hours of classes a week.  Plus about 8 hours of study. Maybe a little more for complex/ difficult subjects.  But let's double that  and call it 42 hours a week.     We need 8 hours of sleep a day = 56 hours  that leaves 70 hours a week to socialize and work.   Assuming a $15/ hr job. How much social life do you want or to put it another way  how much student loan debt do you want to carry over your head once you actually go to a real job?   Say 30 hours a week leaving 40 for socializing.  Makes you over $23,000 a year.  $96,000  earned  during 4 years.   
Plus  something to put in your résumé's 

   But, but, but, I can hear stuttering. 
  Both my degrees I earned while working at least full time.   50+ hours a week while in the Navy and  60+ hours a week delivering sandwiches. 
      
       

     

hybridmomentspass said:

Ive decided to go back to school for my Masters.

Ive gotten accepted into Wake Forest, to their MBA.

It's silly money, honestly. But it's a great school and Im going forward. But it's still wild to think a 20 month program will be half what my house cost.

I did this and finished my mba in 2008-2009. Despite the bad economic times I've quadrupled my salary since then.   I was engineer so had a good but not great salary to start.  High recommended. 

I'm long-term considering some smaller service in the military, like the national guard once my RN is complete. Do they still take you if you're ~30 and as long as you're in good shape? I'm not sure if I wanna get my masters or just "more", but I figure that if I've gone this far in my life with no student loan debt why start now? Nothing wrong with keeping options open.

Been trying to figure out how to navigate it for my kids, but this hit the news the other day. 

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/its-disgraceful-lawmakers-demand-answers-from-maryland-529-administrators

Give me really great feelings about using that program...

Apexcarver said:

Been trying to figure out how to navigate it for my kids, but this hit the news the other day. 

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/its-disgraceful-lawmakers-demand-answers-from-maryland-529-administrators

 

Give me really great feelings about using that program...

Generally speaking, there are no residency requirements for 529 plans. For instance, I have lived in Illinois my entire life and went to school at Illinois State University - obviously a public school. My 529 plan was Alaska's. My dad could probably tell you why he chose Alaska - I'm sure he had a reason - but neither of us have ever been to Alaska. 

As an aside, I have traditionally been opposed to 529's for most people, because there are too many limitations on how you can use the money. That has been addressed and they're no longer so restrictive in that they've opened up some more allowed allocations, but the big thing is that there is now an avenue to roll them over into a retirement account. 

Traditionally, the big issue with 529 plans has been what happens if the beneficiary has money left over or doesn't go to college? The plan can now be rolled into a Roth IRA. 

It is still subject to the Roth contribution limits and I would assume the income limits as well. Additionally, the account needs to be 15 years old and contributions/earnings in the last 5 years are not allowed to be rolled over without the current taxes and penalties. I would assume that changing the beneficiary would restart the clock, but haven't found anything on that yet. 
 

I don't think this changes much for my wife and I as our personal saving strategy doesn't get past the current 401k/IRA/HSA limits and I don't see why this would be better than those, but I will be making an in depth analysis to make that determination later next month. (I originally said this about a month ago. I'm pushing it out because I haven't had time)

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Sent you a PM this evening, realized I forgot to include my forum name :)

   I still dream of one day getting a degree of some sort. The kids are 15 and 16 so, I'll be helping them out as much as I can first then, maybe, at around the age of 50, I might have a chance to try again. That emancipation strategy seems like it could work for my kids, they're disciplined and driven enough to take a year off and then hop back into school. I did something similar but I could only find part-time work back in '01 and I wasn't living with a parent, eating a parent's food, or driving a parent's car also I had zero savings so...here I am, bitter and uneducated. LOL


   

In reply to The_Jed :

https://myscholly.com/50-companies-with-amazing-tuition-reimbursement-programs/
 

I used to work for Pratt and Whitney (part of Raytheon) the paid college was amazing, still pretty good.   
 

but it takes a lot of work to get a degree with kids. Glad did mine before.