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My twins are in college and I am paying their entire cost of attendance. I started saving before they were born, and it’s worked out fine. When their grandfather was no longer able to drive, my son began using that car. When his sister began driving, I got her a used car. When my car began having trouble, I donated it and bought myself a used car. My son liked my car better than his (it was smaller) and I liked his car better than mine (lol, it’s larger), so we traded. All of the cars are in my name, I pay for insurance and maintenance.
If I could afford to, yes. But I probably couldn't. I have around $30,000 in student loans myself so I doubt I could afford it. I'll buy my kid's first car. But it won't be a really nice car because teens generally don't take very good care of their cars and they're a bit reckless. My first car was a $3000 Saturn and it worked for 3 years until it died (from my lack of caring for it properly) and then I bought my own car.
I did pay for my own gas and insurance though - which I think is important. Too many kids are handed everything by Mom & Dad and don't have any responsibilities which leads to troubles when they're adults trying to live and manage their own bills.
i'm asian and our tradition is to pay for our children's entire college education and buy them their first car. that's a lot of money a parent has to save. do you plan to do the same?
Dependent on my continued success and my kids success and motivation. . .
College . .paying as much as possible (both kids we put in 125 per month since born). .plus whatever when I grow up
Car - really depends. Hand me down is definitely an option
if kid gets a full ride to a decent school. . .I could see getting a car.
Seriously, it is a lot different for college students today compared to 25 or 35 years ago if they are at state public schools. The student is responsible for far more of the cost of a higher education at one of those schools than those of us in or 40s, 50s and 60s were. States no longer cover the majority of the cost per student for public higher education (in some states, it was far higher than that) in the '60s, '70s and early/mid-'80s. When states started pulling back, the cost was shifted to the students.
I went to a state school beginning in the early '80s. No scholarship or aid, but did not need it as full tuition for the first semester was $495 plus less than $200 in (used) books. Even in 1982, that plus the cost of sharing a crappy apartment with other students (something everybody really should experience, honestly) and money for fun could be handled with a part-time job and more hours on the weekend. (I had a old car, paid for in high school with part time jobs, that made it through college). I knew some who scored high-paying summer factory jobs for 40 hours-a-week and were able to make that stretch for the school year.
Today, a college student can work 20-25 hours a week and not make much of a dent in tuition at state schools. Our state leaders' priorities changed and the burden went to the students. Right or wrong, that is where it is today.
So, yeah, my wife (who had a similar high school/college experience) are going to help our one child. We want here to have opportunities. But one of the opportunities she definitely will NOT have is the chance to self-fund her own college experience like we did.
I don't have kids. However, I can answer this question from the other side of the fence. My parents paid for both and contrary to what some people fear (that children who get it all paid for remain spoiled and dependent), I've saved all that I made aggressively (since I haven't needed to pay student loans) and expect to be mortgage-free by 40. Ultimately, that was the goal of my parents - to see me financially stable. I also plan to drive that car until it croaks.
We have some $$ in 529s for the kids should they decide to go to college, but it really will only cover four years at a community college if they live at home. It would probably only cover a year at a private out-of-state university. Twenty-five years ago when I went to college, it was a "must have" - but now I can see that that's not necessarily the case. So I'm letting my children decide if they want to go to college, although I am encouraging them to AT LEAST think about getting 2-yr Associate's Degrees, or tech school degrees.
I "bought" my first car from my uncle - for $100. It was a 13-year old car that had seen better days, but it was mine. I paid insurance to my parents and put the gas in myself with money earned at an after school job. In 2001 my parents "sold" me my dad's 10-year-old SUV (for $1) when we found out we were pregnant with another child and our own small car would only hold two car seats in the back but not allow other passengers. In both cases, obviously, the cars were paid off and so they were not purchased for me, per se. But they were essentially gifted to me at an extreme discounted sales price.
And that's what we'll do for our kids. My car is currently 9 years old, my husband's is 10. Our oldest will be eligible to drive in four years. She has already claimed my husband's car as the one she wants. *lol* My son doesn't want my car, so I've told him he can always see if he can find an "equal trade" at CarMax or some other used dealership when the time comes. Then I'll go out and get the convertible I've always wanted.
I guess it's not surprising but somewhat disheartening that only about a third of the responses mention the kids actually having part time and summer jobs and learning how to be responsible to an employer as they save for school. I've hired hundreds of people and would always look for someone with prior work experience over the one who idled the summers away.
I didn't mention it but my older kids worked during the summers. They have earned all of their personal spending money since they left home for school. So far, nobody has asked for extra money. When we visit we usually give them a few extra bucks but they don't ask for it.
Frankly, I think this is a wonderful tradition. The money doesn't all have to be saved. Scholarships and other grants can help with cost.
It does slay me that some parents think nothing of paying for a car, but come up with all sorts of rules about what they will and won't pay for college.
Agreed. We would be willing to struggle to pay for college but not for a car. So far we have been able to pay for cars and related expenses but if we were running out of money we would ditch the cars and put the cash towards college.
Our rules are that the kids have to get good grades and make progress towards a degree. We do not pay by the class and look at each semester as a whole, not class by class. Last spring my son got a C in one class and As in all the rest. We did not threaten to stop paying. If he had lots of Cs we would reconsider. He really struggled in that one class and considered dropping his math major over it. However, he passed, kept the math major and we didn't add to his stress by threatening not to pay.
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