Okay, I recently started a savings fund to put my children through college. Yesterday, I went to a website that gave a tuition projection and was stunned when it told me that in order to put my kids through college it will cost in excess of a half a million dollars by the time they get there (10 to 13 years from now). By their projections, I would have to save 2000 dollars per month, every month, for the next 10-13 years (with a good rate of return) to pay for this. I mean, there is no way....I find this hard to believe. That is for a normal school, not Ivy league, incidentally.

So, how much does one need to send their children through college? Anyone start a savings and have an opinon? Also, for those folks in college now I'd appreciate some idea of dormatory rates and tuition rates today. Any other comments are appreciated, which is why I placed this in casual conversation.

I am with you Mrs. Pigpen! My wife and I started saving for Danny's college BEFORE he was born and I doubt we'll be able to afford it without some external help. We're sort of hoping Sophie becomes an actress

College is very expensive. It has been for a long time. My aunt and uncle went to a CUNY school (Brooklyn College) for free in the 70s. I doubt we'll see those days again.

Of course the downside to not going to college is not (usually) making a heck of a lot of money in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s.... As luck would have it, I did and so I'm saving money for them.

My in-laws were pretty smart. They paid for undergraduate school. When their kids wanted Masters or Law degrees they paid for it. That's really fair. My sister-in-law is a 26 year old lawyer making 65K/yr. So yes, she has an 800USD/mo loan payment... but she makes 65K/yr and that's only going UP.

Scholarships! You're the mom. Pour over every possible scholarship available. Wring every dime you can out of those. That money is there to be given away.

College is expensive, no doubt about it.

Right now, my daughter's going to the University of Illinois, and the tuition, room and board, and books is running us about 18,000 a year. Fortunately, she's an in-state student, and not out-of-state. Rates would be between double and triple that, otherwise.

Here's something you may want to look into. There are a number of "Prepaid College Tuition" savings programs out there. They allow you to save for your child's college, and they will lock in today's rates, at least for the tuition portion. Usually, however they are set up only for state colleges, in a particular state. I know a few will let you transfer the money to another nearby state school program, but others do not. But, if you and MrP have a "home" state somewhere, you intend to get back to after his service, you may want to look into setting up one of these programs for each of your kids.

I'm not sure how good your numbers are, Mrs. P.

Current tuition rates are about $17,000 per year for four year state schools. The yearly increase is 7%. So in 13 years, the projected total cost of a four year degree is around $181,000. Not chump change, but not as bad as you've stated it.

The $17,000 includes tuition, fees, books, room and board (as NiteGuy has pointed out).

I doubt education increases will continue at a 7% clip, but it might.

You should adopt my plan: expect full ride scholarships for your kids!!

I am in a similar position with one 16 yr old and two 12s. Prices for private colleges are up to 49K/year (with boarding). Use 6-8 % inflation on that cost and in 10 years and you get 96 K - per year( I used 7%.)

Get a 529 started NOW for each child.

Well, right now at Northeastern tuition and room and board are costing us 41,000 per year [minus a monetary award they gave me which took away from the normal cost of 45,000]. Housing for next year, which will be apartment-style is 4000+ per semester.

CP

Im going to the University of Colorado at Denver, and its not too expensive. However, Im doing it cheap by living with my parents (and taking advantage of the free transportation pass my school provides). My tuition is about $11000 a year, and that includes summer classes. If not, its about $6000. This isnt including books, which probably run about $2000. Im lucky though, because Im a poli sci major, so the books arent as expensive as say, a science major. Also, Im over 24, which means my parents income doesnt as my own; therefore, all my tuition is paid for (plus a little extra) through government grants and I apply for scholarships (Im at the top of my class, thus far). My parents have really only paid for my summer classes, helped cosign a loan.

Well, I'm in an interesting situation in that I'm a college student (going for my BA) in my thirties. I attend a well known state university in California and the tuition for an undergraduate (California resident) is roughly $7,000 per year. That is just tuition. Books, room and board, etc., are extra. Obviously not a concern for me since I'm dorming with my husband and kids.

At any rate, my suggestion would be to research different schools and definitely look at scholarship opportunities. There really are so many out there to be gotten, and the criteria for receiving them varies as well. Now another option that is, in my opinion an excellent option, is to have your child attend a two-year college to get his general ed. requirements out of the way (and save a boat load of money while doing it). Then he can transfer to wherever he wants and when he gets there he will have chosen his major. I know a lot of people who went to a two-year college then transferred to all the best universities (and I'm one of those people myself).

It's true the tuition is going up by about 7% this coming fall, in California. I guess elsewhere, too. It's a bummer that we don't make education more affordable. Yet we blow money in so many other less important areas.

Well, that's my two cents worth.

My sympathies go out to all the parents who worry about their children's college education. This should not be the way it is. Every US citizen should be able to attend college, and no college that is accredited should be considered better than the next, except for specializations.

When I went to a state college in the early and mid 1970s, tuition was $16 a credit hour on a quarterly system (three months per quarter). The typical coursework load was 16 credits, so $256 per quarter, or $768 per year assuming no summer classes. I forget what the dorm and meal ticket were going for. During the summer my father helped me get good-paying jobs with the state road and bridge crews. I knocked down a couple grand, and that was enough to cover my education. One summer I ended up on the city sewage crew, PU.

Bought my books used for about 1/3 the new price. In my last year, took a funky dorm for less cost and abandoned the meal ticket for all-you-can-eat feeds, dollar buffet parties, the kindness of keggers, that sort of thing. Being a poor college student was the norm.

So we're talking about $8,000 to get a four-year degree at a resident state institution. To put this into perspective, new cars were going for around 4-5 grand, new house for around 40 grand. My summer job paid about eight bucks an hour. Out-of-state tuition was about three times that of in-state.

Fast-forward to today. Typical car runs 20-30 grand. Typical house is up there near 200 grand. A good summer job pays, probably, $15-20 an hour. And your 4-year education is going for 20-30 grand. So buying the undergraduate degree is like buying a new car. It's like having a downpayment for a new house. And if that good-paying summer job is available, one can do it like I did in the 1970s.

Trouble is the good-paying jobs are no longer so easy to get, even with an inside track like I had. On the upside is that grants and scholarships are more plentiful. On the downside is that the competition for the money is higher.

There are other downsides. Material status (cars, clothes, gadgets) is on the upswing, so money gets blown on that. Housing costs have climbed faster than general inflation. We used to have free health care clinics, not sure if anyone does that any longer.

But, if you compare the cost of education to that of a new car, college costs less today than it did in 1975. That is unless one cannot get good-paying summer jobs. Then it doesn't matter. Or if one comes from money, it doesn't matter either.

Anyway, getting back to parents and planning for the college education of their children. My bit of advice is to not pay for all the education. The kids have to pay for at least some of it, else it won't mean very much to them. I worked minimum-wage ($2.25 or so then) for a year before college. That certainly made higher education more important, and I'd advise those graduating high school to do that before going to college. It's a real eye-opener.

A more important thing for parents to do is to keep an attitude that it's not a question of whether or not the kids go to college but when and how. My parents didn't really care one way or the other, which wasn't so good. But they did help out as much as they could, and I greatly appreciated that.

I also recommend not putting too much emphasis on the major/minor in the undergrad degree, unless the idea is to go into law or medicine, something like that. Instead, look ahead to the master's degree. Assume that your kids will get the master's, as that will become the highly desired level of education in the job market of the future. The bachelor's of today is becoming like the high school degree of yesteryear.

I love my parents, bless their departed souls, but they couldn't understand my desire for college. Nor did they understand my career in computers, back when the PC was just a vague idea and nobody could figure out how it could make money. My parents didn't understand very much because the world was changing too rapidly. Now things are different, and your kids are worlds better off for it. That's more important than money, more valuable to your children. So don't worry so much! And don't do everything for them. Expect them to take responsibility for their own educations, and it's probably the wrong time to tell them that they too can become President. Just kidding, sort of.

A few side things: The University of Colorado, Pueblo, now pays all tuition for the bachelor's degree if the student graduates within the usual four years. Really helps people to focus. Some high schools offer the first two years of college as electives, and that should become the norm. A student can then finish both undergrad and master's by the age of 22, although I think that's probably too young. It would depend. Keep in mind too that some people don't need higher education, or very much of it, due to inherent talents. Also keep in mind that all your children cannot be above average. Most of them are average, which is perfectly okay. Being average today is a higher bar, and that bar will continue to rise.

A plug for the good old US of A: Our strength as a nation is not only our military force. It is our abilities to think, to imagine, and to invent the future. Our strength comes from a whole passle of lesser strengths. Let's not forget that.

I went through a similar analysis a few years ago. Having been through the financial aid process myself, and also hearing horror stories from other parents being excluded from financial aid due to income or savings they had. Given that financial aid itself is a significant component of paying for college, I had what I thought was a simple question: How do I save for college without detracting from the financial aid available. I have heard of many parents who can't save enough to pay for college, yet save enough to exclude them from receiving financial aid. This simple, and important, question is basically ignored in anything you read. I have found the answer, however! Money you save in your own retirement accounts can be used for education expenses, yet doesn't count against financial aid income or savings. So, max these out before putting any money into anything else, since anything but this will count dollar for dollar against any financial aid you might receive.

In my opinion, a college education (a real one) is still very much needed, in order to be a good citizen if nothing else! But, such a thing almost no longer exists! What is "out there" there is a "watered down pseudo-education!" bureaucracy for the most part (see Dumbing of America, and Carl Sagan's comments on "what used to be taught in colleges as rhetoric and analysis" in his Varieties of Scientific Experienc) and way too expensive.

For "real education value/content", I strongly recommend you consider good community colleges for the first 2 - 3 years for the lower so-called "basic courses" (they are usually tought better there and are usually also used to weed out students (so are taught even worse) in the so-called "higher univeristies" [a double bad whammy ] ), and then transfer your kids to an "affiliated" larger state school for the final degree!

In the meantime, watch your public colleges funding practices. What I see is that it's mostly a "government employees employment rice bowel", more than an education system. Fight them!! Look at their real costs! Look at what they are giving your kids (e.g. football games and stadia vs calculus?), etc., ad infinitum. And, kill this "job security "college tenure " nonsense. If it ever was a political protection system for "academic freedom", those days are long gone, now it's a retirement-in-place-system for them. We get fired, why don't they?!

And finally, really decide what you want your kids to have, an education or an education for a career (and there's a big difference!) and how well is your publicly financed "forced education" primary and secondary system preparing them for whichever you choose.

Lastly, when it gets down to the wire, there are bunches of small scholarships that usually go begging. It takes time to find and file for them, but I know many students who funded their whole education that way.

Finally, move to a "good education" state. My state is awful, and their college degrees are both jokes, and "consolation prizes for existence" at best!

Hope this helps and is not too polemical!