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My son is moving to Manchester, New Hampshire this Sunday to attend Physicans Assitant school there. Having a graduation party for him Friday to celebrate his bio medical degree from USF.
Andy’s post on two kids needing to go to college got me thinking.
My son will be 100K in debt with student loans when he is finished, although he will be able to pay it back because PA’s are in high demand and the pay is good.
I would have loved to have helped him out more but due to some bad real estate investments and the declining economy, I wasn’t able to.
I strongly recommend you start a pre-paid college fund for your kids as soon as possible. The time goes by so fast, before you know it, it’s time to go to college.
Although I do feel some guilt for not being able to help him more, the fact that he had to get loans, made him excel. He has been an honors student the whole time, and that’s saying something when you are taking classes like Bio Chemisty and Micro Biology.
The moral of this story is up for debate.
Norm:
I know a wealthy guy who isn’t paying for his kid’s college education. He thinks they will be better off having to pay off thier loans. Makes sense to me, I’m paying for my education and it makes it much more difficult to get crappy grades.
I wouldn’t feel too bad if I were you. Sounds like you’ve instilled an excellent ethic in your son and that will pay off huge.
Joe
I am with Joe on this one.
My two boys graduated in 2002 and 2005. Sean, our oldest decided to pay for his college by joining the Air Force ROTC. Now he is an F-15 instructor pilot and has no student loans.
Andy, our youngest, went to Pamona college in Southern Cal. First year he got some athletic assistance (not much), we payed for books and gave him some living allowance (not much, he had to watch his pennies). He took out loans for the rest and had work study to help out some. For his second year, he transferred to a public school. He got a job with the school in the department that his field of study was in and got paid. I don’t think his salery was all that much but he got benifits. Since he worked for the school he got a discount on his credit hours. I think he paid $10.00 per hour for the rest of his degree.
Nancy and I had the belief that if the boys were expected to participate in funding their education then they would be more motivated to make the most of it.
Neither of them regrets that they were responsible for their education and appreciate the lessons of responsibility that it provided as well.
It kills me when I hear contemporaries complain about being short of money because they still have two kids in college and they are funding the entire bill.
Our kids never had the expectation that their college education and experience was going to be a free ride. They took the responsibility to heart and didn’t waste it.
We are so proud of both of them.
For each of our grandchildren we set up a college savings plan with $500.00 and continue to contribute $50.00 each month. When they reach college they will have some (not much) assistance and will see the value of consistant saving.
That is how it worked for us.
Johnny C
Congratulations Norm. Makes you proud when your kids do well and want to excell.
Our kids are actually going to be paying for their own college. In California, we have community colleges that are inexpensive. The rest will have to be saved by them. At least it will keep them from dropping classes like their dad did.
I will give them free room and board while in college. That will be my contribution.
Norm, I think you did your job by teaching him the value of going to college.
When you work pay for something yourself you take ownership of it and give it value. We put a chunk in “American funds” when we sold our house 4 yrs ago. We were trying to give Mady a fighting chance to at least get started. Well we all know what happened to the market, that fund did a nose dive. We figure she will go to school 200 miles away in Anch and get “in state tuition” at a good school. This will allow us to save $ and most importantly, see if she is going to embrace college.
I have warned her that this summer is probably her last summer of freedom as a teen, next year she will joining the work force to start paying her own way. Luckily she has demonstrated she can work toward a financial goal.Norm, it must be rewarding to see your kid do so well and make excellent choices.” Good Parenting” I think!Posted By David Gerard on 04 Aug 2011 01:24 PM
When you work pay for something yourself you take ownership of it and give it value. We put a chunk in “American funds” when we sold our house 4 yrs ago. We were trying to give Mady a fighting chance to at least get started. Well we all know what happened to the market, that fund did a nose dive. We figure she will go to school 200 miles away in Anch and get “in state tuition” at a good school. This will allow us to save $ and most importantly, see if she is going to embrace college.
I have warned her that this summer is probably her last summer of freedom as a teen, next year she will joining the work force to start paying her own way. Luckily she has demonstrated she can work toward a financial goal.Norm, it must be rewarding to see your kid do so well and make excellent choices.” Good Parenting” I think!Hi David and everyone,
Don’t mention “American Funds”. Every time I look at my portfolio I pop a beer and check the calendar to make sure I haven’t time warped back to 2009 again!
We were lucky to be able to get our daughter U.S residency, and get her into U.S high school. When she graduated she went to a community college about 10 miles away and was eligible for in state tuition. It was very affordable and I was impressed by the quality of the education.
She is an honor student, and is in her junior year now at UHD, which is close enough that she can room and board at home and commute to school.
How about those college textbooks? What a scam! You cant find any of those things on Kindle. We buy them used, and sometimes her and her friends take multiple classes together. So each buys a book for one of the shared classes and they all study together. I thought that a pretty cool money saving idea!
Posted By Lenny E on 06 Aug 2011 02:55 AM
Hi David and everyone,We were lucky to be able to get our daughter U.S residency, and get her into U.S high school. When she graduated she went to a community college about 10 miles away and was eligible for in state tuition. It was very affordable and I was impressed by the quality of the education.
She is an honor student, and is in her junior year now at UHD, which is close enough that she can room and board at home and commute to school.
How about those college textbooks? What a scam! You cant find any of those things on Kindle. We buy them used, and sometimes her and her friends take multiple classes together. So each buys a book for one of the shared classes and they all study together. I thought that a pretty cool money saving idea!
Lenny:
I too have been impressed by the quality of my community college education. I am also a junior this fall with a 3.62 GPA and I room and board at home too. I’m glad your opinion of community colleges has matured.
Joe
Norm,
Congrats to you and Susan. You are great parents and raised up a good kid. Thanks for letting me vicariously bask in your shared family joy.
Norm…you da man!
I can see the family resemblance..put a mustache on lil norm, let him hang with me, drink some beer and gain some weight…you 2 would be dead ringers!
Posted By Lenny E on 07 Aug 2011 11:44 AM
Norm,
Congrats to you and Susan. You are great parents and raised up a good kid. Thanks for letting me vicariously bask in your shared family joy.
Norm…you da man!
I can see the family resemblance..put a mustache on lil norm, let him hang with me, drink some beer and gain some weight…you 2 would be body doubles!
Norm tell your son to head north and check out the white mountains. he’ll never leave NE after that.
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