It's amazing how expensive it has become. My twins are 14, and my plan was always to pay as much of their college costs as possible (my parents did it for me any my brothers). I think they will probably target UVA and William and Mary, but we'll see. It's incredible to me that even state schools are quite expensive now. I think I will be able to cover 2.5 years each by the time they are 18 even though I have been saving in 529 accounts since they were about 4 months old. I think it really is much tougher for young people these days compared to when I went to college in the 1980s.
Forget hockey... Crew. There are more colleges than high schools ( it seems) that have a crew team. Teach the kid to row and he/she will get a scholarship.
I now have 2 twin grand daughters age 2 1/2. My wife and I have set up a trust for them to be used for secondary education (any type) or to start a business. Based on our past experience with our sons it may turn out to be a drop in the bucket when the times comes.
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Teach your kids to put the puck in the net. They'll go to an Ivy for free (unless you already have loads of dough). Of course, you may have to settle for Michigan or BC or Notre Dame.
Forget hockey... Crew. There are more colleges than high schools ( it seems) that have a crew team. Teach the kid to row and he/she will get a scholarship.
True, but hockey is fun! Crew not so much...
Also, the youngest did Community College two years, first, because her SAT's were bad. Signed up for a program that places her in the 4 yr school on completion of AA. Savings? Semester at CC - $1300 tuition vs $3500 at university.
Paid for community college out of pocket and saved pre-paid for finishing at university.
Problem with cost is professors are extremely expensive and major universities bid on the "best" to boost the staff's reputation. (Bragging rights is what we were told)
I think Florida's university system is still one of the least expensive in the country and virtually impossible to get into the top 4 (UF, FSU, UCF and USF).
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Choosing where to attend university and what you want to study is often a difficult decision. As if you needed more to think about, your choice of school and major can greatly impact your future earning potential, as shown in our rankings. We’re not suggesting that all college students should choose their school and degree based on the potential to make a lot of money; but we do think understanding what your earning power is likely to be post-graduation is crucial in order to make a sound financial decision when selecting an institution and academic focus.
2017-2018 College Salary Report - ( New Window )
Not at all sure how accurate this thing is. Compare, say, to U. S, News and World Report lists of "best". Have no idea how to get truly reliable info about these things.
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In comment 14036862 Nomad Crow on the Madison said:
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Teach your kids to put the puck in the net. They'll go to an Ivy for free (unless you already have loads of dough). Of course, you may have to settle for Michigan or BC or Notre Dame.
Forget hockey... Crew. There are more colleges than high schools ( it seems) that have a crew team. Teach the kid to row and he/she will get a scholarship.
True, but hockey is fun! Crew not so much...
Golf...
That isn’t why you play sports. You are very much devaluing fitness, teamwork, commitment, leadership, and a whole bunch of other character traits that can come from playing sports. Being a kid isn’t all about the classroom.
At least in Virginia, those plans have changed dramatically (and not in a good way). My friend has a kid in a Virginia state school and he paid around $20K for prepaid tuition years ago. Those plans now cost between $8,000 and $9,000 per semester and don't include room and board. I looked into it last year and didn't see any advantage over just continuing to save in a regular age-based 529.
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(or any state) pre-paid programs.
At least in Virginia, those plans have changed dramatically (and not in a good way). My friend has a kid in a Virginia state school and he paid around $20K for prepaid tuition years ago. Those plans now cost between $8,000 and $9,000 per semester and don't include room and board. I looked into it last year and didn't see any advantage over just continuing to save in a regular age-based 529.
There are pre-paid dorm programs, too. You are right, the normal program is tuition only.
Tuitions do rise and they are good at predicting costs. My two oldest cost me $11k each for the program. Actual tuition would have been over double that. #3 would be triple what I kicked in to the program.
529s are good programs, difference is that pre-paids pay the tuition no matter the cost (FL jacked tuition 15% per year while #2 was at college), with a 529s you still pay full boat for tuition. So if you expect to pay $15k per year for tuition and the universities jack the costs to $20k you still owe the extra $5k per year, pre-paid you would not need to make up the difference.
The 529 is still a very good program.
Additionally, Division III schools cannot give sports scholarships.
Division II can give partial scholarships, but less than DI.
Someone mentioned hockey.
There are 60 D1 men's college hockey programs in USA. No DII in Men's hockey.
18 scholarships each, that's 1080 scholarship players (not by year, but total) in hockey.
IOW, the odds are so astronomical that parents who have these expectations are very unrealistic and put way too much pressure on their kids. I say this as a youth hockey coach who deals with parents who definitely have this unrealistic goal.
the 1080 number doesn't even consider the Canadian (or other non-American) kids who come to play hockey in the US.
I'd guess 20 - 25% at least of college hockey players in D1 are not American. That leaves around 810 total available scholarships, and there are 550,000 male youth hockey players, and probably 35,000 at the high school level. So like 2%.
Now, I'm not naive enough (none of us probably is) to believe Ivy League or D-III schools don't come up with ways around the no scholarship loophole, and they find ways to get the players they want, but the point is sports scholarships are not something that should be planned on, but something that should be a dream.
Yes, juniors increases your chances of playing NCAA, but again, odds are minuscule and that shouldn't be anyone's plan.
His daughter might be the best youth hockey player I've seen (female). she was phenomenal and is now playing D-III.
the leading scorer of all time for Wayland, MA high school goes to Bentley and plays Club hockey.
it's a pipe dream, for almost any sport.
Hockey has the highest odds, followed by lacrosse, football, swimming and water polo (probably a smaller pool no pun intended) to play D1
volleyball, basketball, and wrestling are the lowest odds for a US high school player to play D1.
Not all kids are meant to be scholars. Forcing them to be one could have really bad reprocussions. Support and nurture the things your kids are good at and if that’s sports so be it.
I hated school, no amount of investment from my parents into academics would have worked. I ended up doing just fine because they realized they should just let me be me.
Additionally, Division III schools cannot give sports scholarships.
Division II can give partial scholarships, but less than DI.
Someone mentioned hockey.
There are 60 D1 men's college hockey programs in USA. No DII in Men's hockey.
18 scholarships each, that's 1080 scholarship players (not by year, but total) in hockey.
IOW, the odds are so astronomical that parents who have these expectations are very unrealistic and put way too much pressure on their kids. I say this as a youth hockey coach who deals with parents who definitely have this unrealistic goal.
the 1080 number doesn't even consider the Canadian (or other non-American) kids who come to play hockey in the US.
I'd guess 20 - 25% at least of college hockey players in D1 are not American. That leaves around 810 total available scholarships, and there are 550,000 male youth hockey players, and probably 35,000 at the high school level. So like 2%.
Now, I'm not naive enough (none of us probably is) to believe Ivy League or D-III schools don't come up with ways around the no scholarship loophole, and they find ways to get the players they want, but the point is sports scholarships are not something that should be planned on, but something that should be a dream.
From my experience, the Ivy League & top D-III schools coaches recruit by promising help with admission provided perspective student commits to them. Obviously, also need to be in range academically. For D-III, it may depend on the conference. For example, NESCAC strongly monitors. OTOH, D-III school (different conference) coach did call asking if my son would reconsider acceptance if aid package was increased. This was my son's safety school so it's possible his academics were strong enough to allow for additional wiggle room.
I do agree with your overall point, banking on an athletic scholarship is a really poor bet.
The cherry on top is that Stanford also announced it was expanding financial aid. The university said that no parents with an annual income and typical assets of less than $125,000 will have to pay a single cent toward tuition. The threshold for this aid was previously $100,000.
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The cherry on top is that Stanford also announced it was expanding financial aid. The university said that no parents with an annual income and typical assets of less than $125,000 will have to pay a single cent toward tuition. The threshold for this aid was previously $100,000.
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Annual income and assets less than $125k is pretty low. A house alone pretty much reaches that level.
But still nice for them to help. Probably some IRS prodding.
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In comment 14036898 section125 said:
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(or any state) pre-paid programs.
At least in Virginia, those plans have changed dramatically (and not in a good way). My friend has a kid in a Virginia state school and he paid around $20K for prepaid tuition years ago. Those plans now cost between $8,000 and $9,000 per semester and don't include room and board. I looked into it last year and didn't see any advantage over just continuing to save in a regular age-based 529.
There are pre-paid dorm programs, too. You are right, the normal program is tuition only.
Tuitions do rise and they are good at predicting costs. My two oldest cost me $11k each for the program. Actual tuition would have been over double that. #3 would be triple what I kicked in to the program.
529s are good programs, difference is that pre-paids pay the tuition no matter the cost (FL jacked tuition 15% per year while #2 was at college), with a 529s you still pay full boat for tuition. So if you expect to pay $15k per year for tuition and the universities jack the costs to $20k you still owe the extra $5k per year, pre-paid you would not need to make up the difference.
The 529 is still a very good program.
That's what I was trying to explain earlier. $11K is fantastic. In Virginia, the plan that you bought would currently cost about $72,000. In Virginia, the pre-paid costs have increased dramatically in recent years. Years ago, it was a great bargain.
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But I’ll add: there’s no need to spend $250K+ for that experience. You definitely should be taking profit/loss into account when considering the cost of the particular school.
Agree... and I also question the "education" the kids get. They study, they are given projects to complete. They go through an educational obstacle course and in many instances come out on the other side with an education that they could have easily learned on the internet for free.
This. At this point colleges are just firewalls for white collar jobs. You pay a huge, huge tax (because that's what student loans are now), go into debt, and you might qualify ... might ... for an entry level job where you'll have to be trained anyway. Unless you have connections of course.
There's going to come a point where this system is going to collapse. Why go $150,000 in debt (not counting interest) for a job that pays $35,000 a year?
No break on tuition and ended up picking another school that was less expensive, she loves it and is having a great experience.
Should have her Master Degree in 4.5 years - Public Health.
No break on tuition and ended up picking another school that was less expensive, she loves it and is having a great experience.
Should have her Master Degree in 4.5 years - Public Health.
‘Long the shores of old Cayuga
There’s an awful smell...
Some say it’s Cayuga’s waters
Others say...Cornell
they do give financial aid based on income, but no scholarships.
My wife, for her kids, immediately started paying for the Texas Tomorrow fund, so tuition for both her daughters cost zero..
As an aside, I told my son that he was going to a Florida community college which costs very little compared to the 4 year schools. Then, after 2 years he could go to a 4 year school for his final 2 years. That’s what he did. Santa Fe Community college in Florida for his first two years and then he transferred to and graduated from the University of Florida. I saved a ton of money doing the community college and then the 4 year route
they do give financial aid based on income, but no scholarships.
But they say a lot of things. And yet, they somehow seem to make it happen for a player student that they really want.
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for athletics or academics.
they do give financial aid based on income, but no scholarships.
So they say...
But they say a lot of things. And yet, they somehow seem to make it happen for a player student that they really want.
Of course, I 100% agree and I said as much in prior posts, and a lot of this I know first hand, they'll find grants or better financial packages to get you there, but it's absolutely different still from a run of the mill division 1 program that gives scholarships.
We were very lucky in our house in that of 3 kids one had a full athletic ride, one went to a service academy and the third went to a state school. So we only paid for one and it was an in-state rate. Still, the other two came at a cost and you have to decide if it’s worth it. There’s a lot of sacrifices to be made to be a D-1 scholarship athlete. You give up a lot of things you might want out of growing up in college and if you burn out, your in a weird place if you don’t want to all of the sudden start paying for yourself. And, the service academy is at least 5 years afterward. Both experiences are both inexpensive and costly.
it's sort of a "love of the game" mode.
Now, I did get perks like some awesome work study assignments, student athlete lounge and tutoring, and nutrition enhancement (meals), but the school/sports balance really IMO isn't different. I also got some grants I maybe wouldn't have gotten if I didn't play sports. So I understand the sports commitment.
I was curious, so I looked it up. It looks like Florida still has a very reasonable plan. $29K is the lump sum. If it cost $58K for my two kids in my state, I would do it today, but it would cost me $144K here.
Sometimes people say things they think are true, like in this case, but facts show them they are talking out of their ass.
Acceptance rate:
Boston College: 31% on 28,454 applicants
Northeastern: 27% on 54,209 applicants
Average SAT Score:
Boston College: 1320 - 1490
Northeastern: 1370 - 1520
Now, you tell me which is harder to get in to?
my kids are in the Boston area and we're looking at schools, so unlike you I am not making shit up.
Source Princeton Review, link for Northeastern below.
And I was as surprised as others, but facts are facts.
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Agree, and I said as much. when I was in high school NU was everyone's safety school, their tri-mester format and co-op program were considered gimmicks for them to make more money, but a funny thing happened along the way and people found that co-op program prepared NU students far more for the real world and the institution changed a lot of their admission policies.
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The cherry on top is that Stanford also announced it was expanding financial aid. The university said that no parents with an annual income and typical assets of less than $125,000 will have to pay a single cent toward tuition. The threshold for this aid was previously $100,000.
Link - ( New Window )
Annual income and assets less than $125k is pretty low. A house alone pretty much reaches that level.
But still nice for them to help. Probably some IRS prodding.
The house value would be net of the mortgage so it's not as low as it looks.
Actually the prodding came from Chuck Grassley in the Senate. Back in 2006-2007 he had hearings to consider whether to apply the private foundation rules, which require the expenditure of 5% of the endowment as calculated each year for current expenses or pay a penalty tax, to colleges and universities. The Ivies, Stanford and other schools with large endowments increased their financial aid packages significantly to try to head him off, but the Great Recession did it instead.
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Go back to the 70's and the 25-75 was roughly 1100-1300 and the place was considered a factory.
Agree, and I said as much. when I was in high school NU was everyone's safety school, their tri-mester format and co-op program were considered gimmicks for them to make more money, but a funny thing happened along the way and people found that co-op program prepared NU students far more for the real world and the institution changed a lot of their admission policies.