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Not to mention the best way to go to a 4 year college for many people is to start with a 2 year college and save many, many thousands of dollars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent
This does not work for everyone. Lots of people in Colorado have learned the hard way that one of our most popular and well-regarded universities will not accept a good portion of community college transfer credits. There have even been reported problems transferring credits between branch campuses! Forewarned is forearmed. Check, re-check and check again.
My two children went to the flagstaff University in two different states. In both cases they needed to "start their sequence" of required courses in their major as first or second semester freshman. These courses were not offered at community colleges and if they would have taken two years elsewhere it is likely to have set back their graduation one full year if not a year and a half.
Of course, this depends on your major but you can't just assume that your courses will transfer. I personally know several people who started internships in their major (engineering) after their freshman year in college. That would not have been possible if they were taking classes at a community college and had not started in their major on time.
Last edited by germaine2626; 08-01-2016 at 05:41 PM..
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,700 posts, read 41,753,896 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marleinie
Parents saving for their kids college is considered to the thing to do, but if parents don't do you think that makes them automatically bad parents? In my case my parents never did. They both had the idea of making it your own way. Not that they were mean or abusive in any way, just how they felt, not that they ever made that much.
Absolutely not. My mother didn't have any money to save for college. She was more worried about keeping the lights on, which was quite the problem for a couple years after she got out the military.
My two children went to the flagstaff University in two different states. In both cases they needed to "start their sequence" of required courses in their major as first or second semester freshman. These courses were not offered at community colleges and if they would have taken two years elsewhere it is likely to have set back their graduation one full year if not a year and a half.
Of course, this depends on your major but you can't just assume that your courses will transfer. I personally know several people who started internships in their major (engineering) after their freshman year in college. That would not have been possible if they were taking classes at a community college and had not started in their major on time.
Wow that is too bad. It isn't how it worked when I went to college (or my dad!). Once you got your Associates you waltzed into a 4 year and all my credits transferred. I know it has to be able to be done, I guess you would just have to be careful. Maybe its a way to make sure kids now don't have that option? It was so common when I went to college, most of my friends did it that way and I never heard of anyone having any major snags.
It was also easy to get in (well if you had a good GPA in college) to make up for some of the students who dropped out in the first couple years. Plus with a good GPA you are shown to be a good student.
My understanding is that in the US today, if your parents CAN afford to help pay for college (as determined by the government according to information provided on the FAFSA), then that will be taken into account when determining how much financial aid you qualify for, until you are age 24.
"Students who are unmarried and younger than 24 are categorized as Dependent Students, and the parents' income and assets are used in determining the EFC. Even if the parents have no intention of helping pay the student's college expenses, which legally they are not required to do, the student remains dependent and the parents' income and assets are used in determining the EFC and through it, the student's financial aid award. Put differently, if the parents are able but unwilling to help pay for the student's college, financial aid will not be increased because of it. This was determined by the United States Congress." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expe...y_Contribution
So if you can afford to save for college and you don't, you are giving your child a disadvantage. Other children with poor parents will qualify for more financial aid than your child. This financial aid includes both grants and federal student loans. In other words, if you are wealthy but refuse to pay anything, you can make it difficult to impossible for your child to attempt to pay their own way through grants and loans until they are 24.
I have a friend who could not go to college until she was 24 for exactly this reason. Her parents are wealthy but "disowned" her because of her sexual preferences. She qualified for no student aid whatsoever, even though she was kicked out of the house and homeless the day she turned 18.
So basically congress is saying "well if the parents won't pay for it, neither will we". So yeah, I think if you *can* afford to save and you don't, then you are being a bad parent. Because of how student aid works now. But if you can't afford to save, then you're good.
This does not work for everyone. Lots of people in Colorado have learned the hard way that one of our most popular and well-regarded universities will not accept a good portion of community college transfer credits. There have even been reported problems transferring credits between branch campuses! Forewarned is forearmed. Check, re-check and check again.
Some people aren't able to help their kids save for college.
I'll be honest, though...when I see people who are well-off financially who refuse to help their teenage/college-aged kids with anything..."for character building"...I wince a little. The world is not the same as it was when they were kids. The truth is, it's very, very, very hard to pay for an apartment and school (and you can't get financial aid before age 24 without using your parent's information, so if your parents make a good income but don't give you squat, you still aren't getting help until you're at least 24....), and although I don't think parents should make life too easy for teens and young adults, I wonder how they can justify taking expensive vacations or going out to eat at nice restaurants multiple times a week while their kids are eating ramen noodles and working so much that they barely have time to study...or when they have to quit school completely because they just can't afford school and taking care of themselves. For those who have the money, it seems like it would be a lot better to set your kids up for success for four years rather than setting them up for a lifetime of poverty, which is what many are in line for when they are on their own from a young age.
I'm not saying parents should pay for everything, and I definitely think teens and college-aged kids should work. However, things like helping a teen with tuition, books and room and board (as long as they are getting good grades and not screwing around, of course) but requiring them to pay their own car insurance, phone bill and day-to-day expenses is a little more reasonable than turning them out on their own at 18 and saying "You're not my responsibility anymore!"
Again, I only mean that for those who can afford it, not those who can't. If you don't have the money, you don't have the money.
You mean bad parents like mine who barely had enough money to keep food on the table? So that I had to work my way through undergraduate school and drop out half way through so I could work full time and save for the last two years (took me eight years to get my BA)? Ditto with graduate programs that I paid for entirely out of my pocket?
What horrible people they were. They should have worked harder so they could pay for my education.
Certainly it's not an expectation of low income parents. However, my opinion is much the same as Mama_Bear's that parents should help as they can. We put two kids through undergrad without them taking out loans. It was a combination of hard work and good luck in the form of an inheritance. We did not pay for grad school, and both went.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent
This does not work for everyone. Lots of people in Colorado have learned the hard way that one of our most popular and well-regarded universities will not accept a good portion of community college transfer credits. There have even been reported problems transferring credits between branch campuses! Forewarned is forearmed. Check, re-check and check again.
The Colorado community colleges and the public colleges and universities have a list of courses that are guaranteed acceptance. Most are "subject" courses, e.g., courses in the arts and sciences. Remedial courses and vocational courses are not transferrable. The catch is that some of these courses will only be accepted as electives, and won't always fulfill other graduation requirements. You can look up the list; I'm on my kindle right now.
The Colorado community colleges and the public colleges and universities have a list of courses that are guaranteed acceptance. Most are "subject" courses, e.g., courses in the arts and sciences. Remedial courses and vocational courses are not transferrable. The catch is that some of these courses will only be accepted as electives, and won't always fulfill other graduation requirements. You can look up the list; I'm on my kindle right now.
Yeah, and not being aware of the rules bites students who aren't on top of things. Don't assume. Check, re-check, and check again!
I disagree completely. Parents' first responsibility is to their children. Retirement is a luxury that must take a back seat to the needs of the children.
Absolutely not! Do you plan to work until the day you die? Do you think you'll even be able to physically work once you hit about 70-75? Paying your living expenses for the rest of your life is a need. Paying for college for your kids is not. There are other options.
That said, I am saving for both.
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