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Jumping off from the "why are you in debt" board, it seems as though a lot of bees have student loans.
My DH and I have been having conversations about our financial goals, and one of the big ones is that if all of our other expenses are covered, we are definitely going to strive to pay for 100% of our children's education. Both of our parents paid for ours, and it helped us out tremendously in life not entering the "real world" with $10ks of debt.
I have other friends who's parents are financially stable but did not help them with school for various reasons.
Do you plan on paying for your children's education?
If I can, I will! I went to a state school for undergrad (which was inexpensive at the time!) so my parents were going to help me pay for college, but luckily I got a full scholarship and so they didn't have to (well, that's sort of true: my scholarship paid tuition and books, my parents paid my [very, very inexpensive] rent, and I got a part-time job to pay for the rest). All of my student loans came from grad school. If I can afford it, I will absolutely pay for my kids' undergrad, and help as much with grad school, if they decide to go, as I can (I didn't get any help with that, and I'm drowning in it now!).
If we can, we will but we will encourage our children to make smart financial decisions and earn academic scholarships for sure!
I was lucky to have no undergrad debt thanks to my parents and scholarships and my decision to go to a state school. If our kids were to fail any of their courses, I'd have trouble paying high tuition and living costs.
Note: this is completely ideal since we don't have any kids.
We hope to. My little bug is six and my stepbug is three. My parents were unable to help at all and it was a real struggle for me. We'll pay for as much of both of their educations as possible. FI set up 529s for them.
Coming from a single parent house, my mom wasn't able to help me financially with college. I paid for it myself with loans and have about $40K in debt. Of course I wish I didn't have that debt, but I think it helped me learn the value of money and my education.
I would love to be able to afford college for my children, but I don't think it will be realistic. Even state colleges in MA are extremely expensive. I do plan to start a college savings account when my future babies are born though. Hopefully I can save something for them.
Yup, either FI and I will be paying, or there will be money from my parents or FI's dad in trusts for the kidlet's educations.
We plan to...my parents paid for the first three years of my college at a private, liberal arts college (aka $$$!) and I am very grateful. However, I paid for grad school on my own, with loans, which seems like a good compromise. If my kid is smart enough to get into a great private college, I would hate to have money be the reason that he/she can't go, so I would definitely pay.
We hope so! That'll be one of the first savings accounts we set up after buying a home.
My parents paid for two years of my schooling, and it was a huge help. They made a few bad investments before the economy fell apart, so they weren't able to pay for the rest. I still have yet to finish my degree, because of it. I plan on going back, but only when I'm financially stable.
@Bostongrl25: haha I went to a state college in MA. My student loans were equal to about 15k after scholarships and financial aid. MA is expensive!
We plan to. Both of our parents paid for our educations and we are very lucky to have come out of college with no student loans to pay back. We went to a private liberal arts college that was very expensive. My dad used Financial Aid but also paid for some from what he had saved. We hope to be able to do this for our children to.
I plan on giving my kids the same deal my parents gave me: we'll pay for undergrad, but grad school is all you.
I'm probably going to go about it how my parents did. I'll pay a significant portion, but I will also take out a loan. I will expect their grades to be good in high school so that they can apply apply apply for scholarships! I will also request that the 2 summers before going to college they contribute to their own room/meal plan/books fund.
I had a very tough and involved mom! I joke now that she should have played Sandra Bullock's character in "The Blind Side" because she was SO pushy but ultimately we all got into college because she pushed us. Once she knew we were serious about working, she put up the rest of the money.
I have friends whose parents paid for college entirely no loans, and that's awesome for them. I just don't see ever being well off enough to do it. But if I could, yes I would. Life is hard enough without crippling debt.
I've had no parent financial support in my schooling so I am one of those with lots of debt.
Having said that, I will hope to pay for most of my kids tuition. I think I would like to pay for their tuition but things like rent, groceries, etc will be up to them. I think its important that kids still have to pay some of their own stuff. It teaches financial independence and budgeting which are very important.
@SoontobeMrsA: I went to one as well! I lived on campus which of course added to the cost. But state schools have this reputation of being cheap but they soooo aren't!!
My parents were really smart. They paid for our education, but offered us 10% in cash for any scholarships we received. I applied for every one I could find and ended up paying for 1/2 my undergrad. My dad saved around $20,000 and he gave me $2,000 which seemed like a windfall for me! WINNER WINNER (as Charlie Sheen would say).
Most likely not...Both DH and I put ourselves through college and it was the best thing ever.
We plan to pay for half.
My partner & I are firm believers that if you want something you work for it. We want our son too have a good sense of fiscal responsibility and to learn a bit of good work ethic before venturing out into the world on his own. On the flip side we do want to be supportive and as long as he is working hard toward his goals we will support that.
That being said we will encourage (at that time) that he pursue scholarships and bursiaries that are available to him.
@JsDragonfly:Can you please explain further? I've never really heard this type of statement before and I can't tell if you're being sarcastic...
we plan on putting away money monthly from child's birth until child start's college. I know if my parents had put away money i might have been more willing to go to college. I just didn't want to be so far in debt and be so young. I want our children to have the option and not have to worry about the debt that comes with it.
We plan to. What college I did attend was paid for by my parents and grandmother. I see what boat loads of student loan debt can do to a person and I wouldn't willingly put my kid through that if it could be avoided.
We haven't really discussed this yet. My FI has owned his own business since he was just 14 years old (with help from his parents loaning him the money for the supplies he needed to get started), and he's paid for all his own stuff. He also paid for his entire education himself, without any debt. He's always been a hard worker. I think my FI and I both believe that that kind of hard work for something is a better lesson in of itself than just paying for their entire education. I think we will definitely contribute and if our child needs help getting the money together of course we'll support them, but we want to encourage our children to earn things themselves, so I do not think we'll pay for their entire education.
@missmouse29:I'm not sure i can agree with you regarding the correlation between paying for college and a good sense of financial responsibility and a good work ethic. I know children from the same families who had the same financial and educational opportunities and one is extremely motivated and successful and the other is a complete moocher and slacker. I think those two have more to do with life-long upbringing and overall personality of the child than rather their education was paid for.
We will not have children if we believe we can't pay for their education.
We will pay at least 75%, and shoot for 100% payment of our kids' college. As someone who struggled and put herself through school, I think that my kids should work part-time to contribute to living expenses, but should not have the looming stress of "where is my tuition going to come from now?!"
Yes, but not for 100%. My siblings and I all carry some student debt - enough to appreciate how expensive college is, but not so much that it is crippling. That said, I took on the debt senior year - with my own kids, I would have them take on a little each year to hopefully give them some ownership while they're still in school.
One of my old boyfriends got a portfolio with enough cash in it for college as a HS graduation gift. His parents said they recommended college, but he could do whatever he wanted with it. He picked college and then had to make all the payments himself - I think it had a lot to do with how responsible he was with his finances. His sister ended up going to Annapolis and got to keep all the cash in hers :)
@CanAmBride: I agree 100%.
FI had his education 100% paid for.
FI's best friend has student loans.
FI has a really good job and a fantastic work ethic. He is seen as one of the best in is position in his company and at 27 yrs old they are looking send him to another city to run an entire office. If FI had student loans, he could pay them off 2 or 3 times over at this point.
FI's best friend has a college education and a law degree, he has tried to take the bar twice but failed (once he didn't register right, the second time he left before the test was handed out). He lived on our couch for 6 months rent free, FI got him a job at FI's company that was supposed to be short term. He's still working there 7 months later and hasn't looked for new work.
So, I'd say student loans and paying off your own debt do not mean you have a better work ethic.
There was a thread a few weeks ago along the same lines;
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/obligation-to-provide-a-college-education
No we will not pay 100% for our childs education as DH and I paid for our education completely ourselves. What we will do is set up a fund from birth and put money into a CD or whatever earns the most interest back and when they turn 18 they can either use that money towards school, travel or save it for whatever.
As someone who didn't have help from my parents for college because they couldn't afford it, I would like to help my kids with college tuition. I certainly hope they don't have a ton of student loan debt when they finish college, like I did. But I don't see a problem with them have a small percentage of student loan debt. I think it's a good way to hopefully get them to not take advantage of us paying for school and actually do their work in school. My husband had most of his schooling paid for. He had about about a 2-3 thousand that his mother couldn't pay for. His student loan payment are like $50-75 a month. Compared to my $500 a month, I don't think the amount he had was bad at all. Student loan debt is not bad debt like some credit cards are. It can build their credit and get them in the habit of paying for things each month.
My husband and I also agreed that we will raise our kids not to expect that things like college or weddings will be paid by us. We will certainly help out... but also if they don't do well in school, we may decide to cut back on how much we pay in their education. College will be used to experience new things and to learn, but certainly not used to party hard.
That's what I'm going to do. We think that's the best way to go about it. It's not for everyone. Now, if I am able to pay for all of their education, I will but I will still set those rules.
We will pay for as much as we can, hopefully all as long as we feel they deserve it. Partying/poor grades = not deserving it.
My parents didn't pay for my college because they couldn't afford to. I always paid for my phone, insurance, car, gas, etc.
With that being said, honestly, I plan to match what they receive in scholarships or what they pay. It taught me a lot about being financially responsible, and I'm hoping it will for them, too. Same goes with helping buying a car. I'd like to be able to match what they can contribute.
I was thinking really hard about this, and I am COMPLETELY generalizing here, but I actually think that my friends who had their educations paid for are MORE financially responsible than my friends who graduated with debt.
The general thought of my $0 debt friends is "I have no debt starting off, so I don't want to start burying myself in it now." They have no credit card debt, emergency savings and retirements funds. Most of them also own houses because they had great credit and good downpayments.
On the other hand, I think my friends who graduated with debt have the opposite approach of "I already owe so much and it will take me so long to dig out, that I may as well charge everything to my credit card, live above my means, pay rent instead of saving for a downpayment...etc"
Just a different way of looking at it...
@CanAmBride: Just curious, you think kids that had their schooling paid for by parents were able to afford a house or wedding because they were able to save up their own money instead of having to work to pay off student loan debt? I personally think that's what happens. Shoot, if my parents could afford my schooling, I bet I would have 10-15 thousand in the bank, so I could put towards a house. Unfortunately I don't.
Now, I do see your point, that some kids don't want debt because they don't have debt. Good for them, but I don't think everyone is that lucky.
I'm not trying to start anything, just maybe trying to show you a reason why kids who didn't have schooling paid for is in the situation we are in. Now I'm not generalizing because I know there are exceptions to everything.
Also, I do understand that there maybe cultural difference between the US and Canada. I think you guys 'student loans' are set up differently then ours. Also, your college tuition may be cheaper than our tuitions.
If we can afford to, we will help out but probably not pay for all. Where I live we have a great student loan program (you get allotted varying amounts in loans, but only have to pay back $7000 for each loan term period. For example, FI will be in a 3 year animation program: he'll borrow about $39,000 but only have to pay back $21,000 in total.)
@yrret107:I'm really just saying that I don't think kids who have their educations paid for will be financially irresponsible because they didn't have that responsibility forced on them. Nor do I think that kids who have to pay for part or all of their education end up more financially responsible. I'm just pointing out a possible counterargument to that school of thought.
@CanAmBride: Oh, I see. Yeah, that makes sense. I can agree with that.
@CanAmBride: I get what youre saying but it's much easier to save for a downpayment, not have to use credit cards, etc. when you don't enter the world with college debt.
I entered the real world with $40k in college loan debt and I own a home, and have very little CC debt. I graduated college in just under 4 years because I knew the longer it took me, the more I would need to pay with loans. I did that while working 2-3 jobs. And I've only been out of college for 4.5 years now.
I think everyone would love to, but is it realistic for everyone? Are we going to all have children that want to go to college? No. Are we all going to be in a place that we can afford it? No.
I know a lot of people start funds and savings for their children when they find out they are expecting or after delivery!
I'm not particularly referring to the paying of said education in regards to work ethic but rather the necessity of a job to pay for said education in regards to work ethic.
Disagree all you like, each individual and situation is different. I agree, that it is something they[children] have to learn over the course of their life, and it is something we are already teaching our son -- he is already being taught to save his money and manage it as well as to spend it responsibly. However, that being said, I am not just going to hand him $20,000+ when he turns 18 and say "see ya! have fun!" if he happens to turn out to be someone with a lack of motivation or poor money management skills despite what we try and teach him.
As for my personal experience it is the exact opposite of pretty well everyone here: everyone I know who had their college/university education payed for still behave as if they were 15 years old. Never have their own money, can't hold down a job, and always whining to their mommies and daddies about 'needing more money' for rent or booze or whatever.
On the flip side everyone in our personal acquaintance who had to work for their education (read: payed for it themselves) are quite responsible having had to learn to manage their time and money throughout their college/university years. Many have started careers or are in the process of doing so. Also the majority of those who paid for their own education happen to be homeowners, so while they have debt to pay down they are doing so in a way that allows them to step into the adult world.
Now am I saying that everyone is like this? Certainly not. But you have to appreciate my situation for what it is, and the examples I have to compare to before you completely condone my choice.
As it stands right now, today, we are capable of paying for a 'full ride' but that doesn't necessarily mean that we will automatically do so.
eta: FWIW when college was said and done my partner had 24$ to his name, but no debt. So yes, it made it easier for him to get where he is today finishing school with no debt to pay down.
Our discussed "policy" is going to be that, pending financial ability, we will pay for our kids to go to a state school or equivalent for the length of their first degree. It's the same thing my parents did/are doing with myself and my siblings. Grad school = you're on your own. But they (being that my mom is in education) know that having a degree is usually necessary in our changing economy.
FI on the other hand had to pay for school on his own...and we do not wish for our children to struggle the way that he (and in paying back loans WE) have had to. If we can help, we will. But they will also be expected to work to cover other bills; it's not just a "free ride." They will also be expected to maintain a certain (manageable) GPA. For my parents, they said "Keep a 3.2 and we'll cover it." I agree with this.
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