How much for kid's college

[Art Vandelay]

My wife and I often discuss if it is better or worse for children to have their parents pay for things like college and missions. My preference would be to contribute enough for tuition and housing for undergrad and to have them pay for graduate school and missions. My kids are 15,13,11, and 8. I plan on at least 3 of them going to college (the 13 YO may or may not be alive or be in jail before he is 18). I've had a 529 plan for each of them for several years, I contribute to every month. I'm trying to determine if what I'm contributing is sufficient or if I need to up the ante for my older ones or not.

Assuming, they are able to get into one of the BYUs what type of yearly expenditure am I looking at?

[Clark Addison]

As has been documented, my son is starting at UNC this year. I think the costs are pretty comparable to BYU, but I'm not sure. Here is roughly how much each semester will cost, living on campus:

Tuition: $3,500
Room: $2,000
Meal Plan: $1,700

That comes to $7,200 per semester. Beyond that he will need books, maybe another $300? And miscellaneous living costs, which shouldn't be too much since he gets all the food he wants to eat, so let's call it $500. That comes to $8,000 or so a semester.

As far as who pays for what, here is what we have come up with:

For undergrad, we will pay 100% of tuition, as long as it is BYU or an in-state tuition. In addition, for every $1 the child puts into a college savings account, we will match at $1. We've also put some grade incentives into it. It they have over a 3.5 GPA in the most recent semester, we will up our match to 150%.

I am planning on paying 100% of any missions, as an added incentive to go, and also, selfishly, because missions are a lot cheaper than school. We are still a few years away from Grad school, but so far the communication has been that they are on their own for that.

[old_gregg]

As has been documented, my son is starting at UNC this year. I think the costs are pretty comparable to BYU, but I'm not sure. Here is roughly how much each semester will cost, living on campus:

Tuition: $3,500
Room: $2,000
Meal Plan: $1,700

That comes to $7,200 per semester. Beyond that he will need books, maybe another $300? And miscellaneous living costs, which shouldn't be too much since he gets all the food he wants to eat, so let's call it $500. That comes to $8,000 or so a semester.

depending on how he shops for books, that number could either be much higher or much lower.

[Surfah]

depending on how he shops for books, that number could either be much higher or much lower.

Depending on his major as well.

[thesaint258]

My parents expected me to do all I could to cover my expenses, which generally meant a part time job while in school and full time in the summer. They covered anything that I couldn't take care of on my own. IIRC they paid for some tuition early on in college, but after I got going, I think they just paid my rent and car insurance. I'm grateful for their help because I was able to graduate without any debt, which was really nice when it came time to look for a job with only a philosophy degree.

[Jacob]

We've also put some grade incentives into it. It they have over a 3.5 GPA in the most recent semester, we will up our match to 150%.

That seems unfair to kids with lower IQ's. They have to work harder for the same benefit. Smart kids need not put forth hardly any effort to maintain a 3.5 gpa.
But, it is a standard that all reasonably intelligent kids should be able to maintain, so at least it's a reachable goal for all.

[mUUser]

We are saving enough to pay for 100% of college costs for 4 years at Utah as a non-resident. We'll also pay for grad/med/dent/law etc... school if they're accepted and we're able to do so. We use the 529 program as well, but only to the point where we get the state tax benefits.

We'll pay 100% for missions as well. I suspect we don't have to worry about that with the girls. The boy is 50/50 I'd guess.

[statman]

We told our kids that we'll pay for tuition & books at BYU or any Utah state school. We'll just be paying out of pocket as they go. If they go somewhere local (UoU, SLCC, UVU), they can live at home for free. If they want to go anywhere else, they're on the hook for rent.

Son #2 started taking classes SLCC during his last semester of HS, and will be transferring to UoU in August...

We had to tell him that if all goes according to plan, he's probably going to have to kick in something (loans) once Pharmacy School starts. It's ~$22K a year (in-state at UoU), and we don't have that kind of cash just lying around. Hopefully we can scrape about half of it together, and he can graduate with $40-$50K in debt. Or he could marry well...

But $40-$50K in debt isn't too bad if he's pulling in $120K+ upon graduation.

[Jacob]

I'll probably offer to pay for a good chunk of my kid's college at the going BYU rate or the rate at an in-state school.

However, I'll also offer them that amount of money (at least) to skip college and start a business. Hopefully at least one of them is smart enough to skip college and get a real job. I will strongly discourage all of my kids form going to law school.

[Portland Ute]

But $40-$50K in debt isn't too bad if he's pulling in $120K+ upon graduation.

Really, neither would 80K. You could pay that off in a few years and still live comfortably.

I'm actually surprised that so many of you are willing/planning on paying for grad school.

Maybe it's just because my parents didn't do anything in that regard and I am carrying the debt.

[Pelado]

I'm actually surprised that so many of you are willing/planning on paying for grad school.

Maybe it's just because my parents didn't do anything in that regard and I am carrying the debt.

There.

[Jacob]

But $40-$50K in debt isn't too bad if he's pulling in $120K+ upon graduation.

And therein is the great lie.

[Portland Ute]

And therein is the great lie.

Pharmicists are doing pretty darn well out of school lately.

There was a time a few years ago that big companies were offering large signing bonuses and/or nice autos to sign. That was on top of salaries of 100K+.

Not sure that is still the case, but it was.

[Jacob]

Pharmicists are doing pretty darn well out of school lately.

There was a time a few years ago that big companies were offering large signing bonuses and/or nice autos to sign. That was on top of salaries of 100K+.

Not sure that is still the case, but it was.

Then they were/are doing a helluva lot better than most Lawyers and MBA's.

[old_gregg]

Then they were/are doing a helluva lot better than most Lawyers and MBA's.

if by better you mean sacrificing the kind of top end earning potential a jd or mba has for an immediately comfortable/secure life, then yeah.