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In 2004, I published a children’s book, “Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock,” about the importance of saving at an early age. During one of my book events, a mother astonished me when she revealed that she had advised her son not to save because it would hurt his eligibility for student-loan programs.
Twelve years later, as the president of a small liberal-arts college, I more fully appreciate the upside-down government policies that precipitated that woman’s remarks. With federal student debt exceeding $1.2 trillion, I am dismayed at how government programs discourage families from saving for their children’s educations. The disincentives involve a complex web of federal-aid-eligibility requirements, consolidated into a mind-bending application process known as Fafsa, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid...
^^When my kids were embarking on their college searches, it was money saved in the kids' names that messed up the financial aid calculations.
To me, the idea that parents should not save money for college, but rely on the government to put their kids through, is reprehensible. And big surprise here, unless you are destitute or nearly so, your kid will only qualify for more student loans, not federal grants. This is undated but seems UTD as it references a 2016 book: How Student and Parent Assets Affect Your Financial Aid - COLLEGEdata - Pay Your Way
"The child's assets count for more. . . . The parents' assets count for less. . . .A portion of the parent's assets is protected."
Mind you, I have no issue with people needing a hand getting one.
My parents were old hippie stoners who never held anything but low wage jobs all their lives. So obviously there was no money for college. I went into the trades instead where I probably make more money than I would if I got an art history degree.
No? Like most students in the UK, I applied for loans, worked part-time and received little to nothing from my parents. They were not in a position to finance me anyway and I don't care. I'm paying it all back myself.
Seriously, I didn't even want money from my parents. I wanted to be at least somewhat self-sufficient.
Here's how I see the priorities:
1. Early childhood development
2. K-12 (hey, how about saving up for a good private high school)
3. College $
I don't know if this is typical of other majors too, but had I wanted my kids to become state-of-art in my field, the only way it would have happened is if I taught them personally at home. If I just sent them to the local U, in several aspects they'd be learning canonical knowledge that was state-of-art 50 to 100 years ago.
The situation might be different in capital heavy fields, like nuclear physics, of course. Or not, perhaps the best working cold fusion solution is being developed in a home tinkerer's garage now, I don't know. It's hard to tell if the century's biggest breakthrough in economics, e.g., Bitcoin, has anything to do with academia. When talking about education, people often assume it's such institutions where "things are at", but is it really the case?
While pretty much everyone in this thread agrees that the mere fact of not contributing to college tuition doesn't make you a bad parent, taking clues for your own experiences of decades ago would miss the sad state of college affordability nowadays
Thank you for posting the graph. Many people forget that college costs have increased much much faster than income levels.
I don't know if this is typical of other majors too, but had I wanted my kids to become state-of-art in my field, the only way it would have happened is if I taught them personally at home. If I just sent them to the local U, in several aspects they'd be learning canonical knowledge that was state-of-art 50 to 100 years ago.
The situation might be different in capital heavy fields, like nuclear physics, of course. Or not, perhaps the best working cold fusion solution is being developed in a home tinkerer's garage now, I don't know. It's hard to tell if the century's biggest breakthrough in economics, e.g., Bitcoin, has anything to do with academia. When talking about education, people often assume it's such institutions where "things are at", but is it really the case?
I'm sorry, I must have missed the bit about Bitcoin being the century's biggest breakthrough in economics. Care to explain? On second thought, no, that would just hijack the thread.
The inflation in college cost does not compute. The money does not go to faculty salaries, for durn sure.
I did the inflation calculator and the kid we sent to Ut for 10 grand, should now be 25K for 4 years. The schools we are familiar with are about 29-49 grand a year. It would pay to go to a HS that gave dual credit. A friend's kid did and skipped the freshman year.
It was clear when filling out all those forms years ago, the powers that be were steering people to borrow. Saving penalized the kid.
It also depends on the school. Some have much more flexibility with private funds than others.
I just think the way it is now, kids should not be saddled with all that debt when they get out of school. Must be why one of my kids is studying communism.
Absolutely not. Your parents' first responsibility in setting aside money for the future is their own retirement. If they choose to put money aside for college after that, it's very generous, but it doesn't make them better parents than those who do not.
This spills into another thread, but we could ask the same question about parents who don't save for their own retirement.
...To me, the idea that parents should not save money for college, but rely on the government to put their kids through, is reprehensible.
Ditto.
40 years ago when I was in college, a good friend had become an emancipated minor and hence received major college financial aid. However, he was emancipated in name only. He still received major support from his mom & step-dad.
It was clear financial fraud. I didn't think about it as fraud -- a crime -- when I was 18. But now with the benefit of hindsight, yes it was a crime.
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