Future reality check vent
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| Fri, 01-06-2006 - 11:17pm |
My daughter is an 8th grader, in their computer class they have to start their 4 year plan for highschool and college.
They take a career inventory test etc, find out what kind of career their interests lead them to. My daughter wants a career as a radiology technician(the 3-4 year program) or in sports medicine. That is what her inventory results said too, something in the medical field.
She had to pick her classes for highschool, which led me to thinking about college. I'm not one that thinks parents should pay for all of college, both DH and I had to work and had student loans, I do think we should help some.
At this rate it is going to be very little; even by snowballing, starting right this minute, we are still not out of debt until her second year of college, just in time for my son to start!!!
At least the very expensive private college she was thinking about going to, doesn't offer the Radiology program.
Thanks for listening. It just gets more overwhelming.
Dana

HUGS! I am unsure how I feel about paying for my son's college......fortunately he is only 5 years old.
My parents paid for one semester of books....which kinda burned my butt. I expected more help than that!
I am glad you are thinking about this now, but don't stress! There are parent loans (with fairly low interest rates), and even the student loans you could help with. And of course, the year before she starts college, do anything you can to make your income look LOW so she qualifies for all sorts of grants! :-)
Does she have a job? (Probably too young, huh?) Well, is she decides to get a part time job while in high school, have her dedicate a certain percentage of her income to college savings.
GOOD LUCK!
~Aravis~
There is also a lot more financial aid out there than you think. Private schools actually offer great packages. I went to a very expensive school. At the time (granduated 1995) it was 20,000 per year. We ended up paying only 5,000 per year plus books. Don't underestimate the cost of books either. Mine were about 1,000 per semester (history major). Medical books are even more expensive.
I would suggest talking to your DD and have her go into high school understanding how what she does in school affects not only what college she gets into, but financial aid too. Good grade, activities, maybe become active in community organizations that award scholarships.
It can be done!
Good luck and try not to stress too much!
Sandra
I agree with the others.
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
I hear you....we don't have college accounts for the kids and it bums me out sometimes. I'm really torn on this one-DH is full time faculty and I teach part time at a local college. There are two extremes that I don't want my child to fall into-
I don't want them to the student sitting in my office crying because they are trying to work fulltime and go to school. Often, these students have parents that are not helping with college expenses (in some cases it's a personal stance, in some cases finances or whatever) but make enough that financial aid was harder to obtain. They did not have outstanding grades in high school and have a hard time with college classes but know that more and more fields are requiring college degrees so they are struggling, frustrated.
I also don't want them to be the student who parties a lot, wears the latest fashions, is willing to drop a class after the refund date because mom & dad are paying for it and they don't care.
By far the easiest option for us would be for the children to attend the college DH & I teach at which does offer tuition for family members with some limits. Having said that, I think it will depend on what field they want to go into. Our university isn't the best at everything and doesn't offer all programs.
We used to do this activity in my public speaking classes where everyone brought 2 quarters and put them on the front table. Each person stood up and spoke for 2 minutes on why they deserved the money. It was a fascinating glimpse into the lives of college students. By far the most common was I need the money to pay for a fine, legal problem (usually related to drinking) or other avoidable debt. The winner was almost always the person who said they would give the money back to the class. The most memorable was a student who said she would buy cups, soil and seeds, plant a flower for everyone in the class so they could have something to remember a great semester by (I don't get to vote as the teacher but that would have gotten my vote!) OK this is a long winded way of saying I was amazed how many students thought the money was insignificant or couldn't come up with any reason they would need the funds (usually about 15.00 total-the same as Danni's impromptu snowflake challenge). It definitely made me rethink the image of a starving college student.
Some more concrete suggestions on this very long post-
1) I heartily agree with the other posters on having your future student earn money and saving it for college. I would also talk with them about upcoming expenses (pictures, letter jacket, class ring, on and on) to see if there are some you could cut and put that money into savings. I skipped out on the letter jacket and class ring to pay for a trip to France and I've never regretted it-that was a wonderful trip.
2) Stock up on college classes while they are still in high school. More and more high schools are offering clsses through community colleges which often have cheaper tuition and I've seen students coming in with a semester completed this way which means less money for living expenses. DH's second cousin has his foreign language completed by taking summer classes over the last few years.
3) If it's possible try to have them work a part-time summer job that's close to the field they want to work in. That way they see the work first hand and you might avoid some of the changing majors that results in extra semesters and increased costs (I think it's up to 7 major changes or something like that).
4) I've seen some studies that say community/junior college education is comparable to the first 2 years of a 4 year institution. You might try encouraging that option NOW before everyone is making their decisions. Having said that, I usually have at least 1 student a semester who took this route and in the last 2 1/2 years all off them have mentioned regretting it. They didn't feel that the standards were the same so had a hard time in classes and felt completely overwhelmed by the larger school. The first bothers me because the lower grades later in the major caused problems the second I think is inevitable. My undergraduate institution had about twice the population of my hometown so of course I felt overwhelmed.
Whew....sorry to be so long winded...
Taleyna
Thank-you for all the advice. I guess I just got freaked out. We will definately be looking at scholarships/aid. If I let both kids know right now that most of it will be on their own, that will help.
DD has already mentioned trying to get scholarships.
Thanks again.
Dana
Hi,
I just wanted to add a couple of things:
Scholarships: There are hundreds of different scholarships out there...not just academic. The guidance counselor at the school should be able to give you a list. Some of them are for $100, $500, not much, but sometimes all the student has to do is simply APPLY to get them!
Student loans: These are readily available for students of all income groups. They have loans for students and loans for parents who want to help.
I put myself through college with scholarships, student loans (signed by me, not my parents), work study, grants, and hard work! Sometimes I worked full time, sometimes part time, but I always had a job. When I worked full time, I took night classes and a class during my lunch break. I also went to school during the summers. It took me a little longer than "normal" to graduate from college, but I had tons of work experience by then. These days, college is made up of a variety of people....kids age 18-21 are NOT the norm anymore. The average age of a college student is now 26+.
One more note: Since all financial aid (work study, grants, etc.) is based on income, it can be hard for students to get this money if their parents file the application. If, however, you don't claim them as dependents on your taxes for a year before they start school, they can file for aid as an independent student and get a LOT more $$. That's what I did, and I had no problem getting financial aid. My parents had two other kids to claim on their taxes, so they took me off. I filed my own tax return when I was a senior in high school, and then used that return for my financial aid application. That was ten years ago, so please check with a tax pro before taking that advice.
Good luck!
Melanie
There are a few two year programs but she wants to take the 3-4 year program. The 4th year is in a specialized area. So far she is pretty certain this is what she wants to do, of course like you say this may change.
Then there is my son who only wants to be a comic book artist, I keep thinking great but what are you going to do to survive before your comics sell??
Dana
who still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up!!!