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I should start a thread, I wonder how much people pay...100K does not sound that outlandish. 200K , sure. 100k is 25K/year. I suppose, when I look at it I always see out of state tuition.
What do you think is a reasonable cost of 1 year of education, Lowexpectations?
Thats already 100K/ 4year. Can people do it cheaper. Mind you I am only asking about expenses, not the actual debt.
Housing and transportation are not a school only expenses so I wouldn't calculate it like you have. Here in texas most folks get a car in their teens, then live at home with your parents, community college for 2 years and transfer to finish the next two. Graduate in 4 years or less instead of the 5.5-6 that far too many are taking.
I agree that it made a HUGE difference. And I am very grateful that my parents made the sacrifice to put away money for college for me and my siblings. Neither one of my parents had the opportunity or the finances to go to college. Because they put me through college, we are planning to do the same for our kids. That's also why I mentioned it. Because it's hard not to compare to one another, but we all come from different backgrounds. I know I got a good start in life, and that is a big part of why we have a good net worth. We also know that luck (buying a house in Northern Virginia before the run-up) played a part as well in addition to not being a big spender and making some sacrifices.
Thats very humble of you. acknowledging how our different backgrounds lead us on vastly different trajectories is a very kind thing.
Housing and transportation are not a school only expenses so I wouldn't calculate it like you have. Here in texas most folks get a car in their teens, then live at home with your parents, community college for 2 years and transfer to finish the next two. Graduate in 4 years or less instead of the 5.5-6 that far too many are taking.
perhaps, but for a lot of folks, school involves leaving home. And those costs are added cost over and above living with your parents, no?
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,781 posts, read 15,798,761 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aramax666
I know... and thats why its scary... essentially you had your seed money in place and compounding helped along the years. But what you are saying is savings rates collapsed after kids. for those who don't have kids AFTER setting themselves up ( like you had the foresight to do)... it could be a tough battle.
I had my kid at 30 and my NW was pretty low at that time. And its been an uphill battle to increase my savings rate. My solution was to work on growing income, but I am just three years in, and don't know what other expenses await. But I am hopeful albeit scared.
I see what you are saying. However, because we had a good start to savings, I chose to work part-time rather than full-time. Even with daycare costs, I would have made much more money annually working full-time and likely would have been able to save more. But because we were good in the savings front, I chose not to work full-time. So all is not lost for someone who got a late start to savings; they just don't have as many choices when having kids as I did. And honestly, I shot myself in the foot because my third child was born, I quit working altogether. And now that my youngest is in elementary school, I would like to go back to work, but it's much harder having been out of the workforce for so long. I took a low-paying job for awhile which I enjoyed, but we moved and there aren't as many opportunities here, so I waste my time on C-D.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,781 posts, read 15,798,761 times
Reputation: 10894
Quote:
Originally Posted by aramax666
Thats very humble of you. acknowledging how our different backgrounds lead us on vastly different trajectories is a very kind thing.
Thanks; that was a very nice thing to say. I hesitated for a long time before posting on this thread because I don't want to appear as bragging. I used to think I was just an awesome saver and "Miss Frugal" and that is why I had good savings. But the more people I meet and hear their stories, I realize how much my parents contributed to being where I am today. In addition to paying for my college and a car, they modeled proper spending habits that I absorbed. They taught me about saving for a rainy day. My dad showed me the value of hard work, often putting in night work so he could put money into savings to get ahead.
When I was younger and more naive, I didn't realize that not everyone came from the type of family I came from. I completely took it for granted that I COULD put money away each month because I had no student loan or car loan. I got a nice start in life and that is what has made a huge difference, not just me being frugal and a good saver.
I see a lot of people around me whose college education was paid for. And they went to pvt schools in the US. And when I talk to them, I get a distinct feeling that they misunderstand their good fortune, and instead complain about how tough it is for them.
Having parents who are willing and able to help you out in these ways makes life easier. Especially in those early formative years of building family, first child. I would trade a lot to have had more money back then, the stresses of frugality tool a massive toll on me and my family. I can only hope those days are behind us.
I should start a thread, I wonder how much people pay...100K does not sound that outlandish. 200K , sure. 100k is 25K/year. I suppose, when I look at it I always see out of state tuition.
What do you think is a reasonable cost of 1 year of education, Lowexpectations?
Thats already 100K/ 4year. Can people do it cheaper. Mind you I am only asking about expenses, not the actual debt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lowexpectations
Housing and transportation are not a school only expenses so I wouldn't calculate it like you have. Here in texas most folks get a car in their teens, then live at home with your parents, community college for 2 years and transfer to finish the next two. Graduate in 4 years or less instead of the 5.5-6 that far too many are taking.
I once again agree with the guy with low expectations lol, I don't get it, he's apart of The MathJak Team and they have labeled me their number one enemy....yet....for the last couple of weeks we have been thinking alike
Tuition at $10k a year is a little high in my opinion, I think for a bachelor's degree you want to pay no more than $20k - $25k TOTAL out of pocket for tuition and books. Housing, food, car and transportation are personal expenses and not directly related to the ROI of the education investment.
If you don't have a trust fund, aren't Mitt Romney's child, and are coming from the bottom up, your plan for college completion and entry into the professional workforce should be the following:
- Graduate HS
- Enroll in your local Community College without a declared major yet and complete general education studies. During this time, I want you to research the market in terms of areas in DEMAND and the payscale of promotion such as what's the "starter" position in the industry and the pay, the entry level position requirements and pay, the experienced position requirements and pay, then the management level position and pay. Also during this time, use your HS diploma to get some low level job paying $9.00 - $12.00 per hour. Work full time at said job, go to Community College full time as well, and try to LIVE at home with parents for free if they let you. If you are POOR, or coming from a poor background, you should have a Pell Grant and that should pay for the majority (if not all) of the Community College per year.
- After you select a major and career path, and you complete Community College, transfer to a university on some type of scholarship or keep using the Pell Grant. If you have to take out loans, they should be very small. Complete the final two years of college WHILE finding the "starter" position for the industry you want to work in so you work in it for the final two years as well. Keep the $9 - $12 an hour job on part-time, and stay at home with Parents still. Yes, I know, you will be BUSTING your tail off but this is what's required.
- Graduate with no more than $5k - $10k in student loan debt, the 4 year degree, two years of experience, and SOME money saved from the $9 - $12 hour job you had over four years. Apply for the entry level positions, get the job, and continue the progression of your career
At the median - it costs about $8000 per year to put child through school at the K-12 level; varies by location. That's about the minimum I'd expect education at any level to cost. Better education costs more.
There are colleges - 2nd/3rd tier state universities and community colleges, where the cost is at or below that $4000 per semester range. The actual education still costs more, but those schools are taxpayer subsidized to some degree.
Education ain't cheap. It never has been, I'm sorry. The reason why colleges cost more now than they used to is complicated... on the one hand their state subsidies used to be a much higher percentage of their budgets - like 50-60% where now it's more like 30%. However, at a basic level it's the reason cars cost more than they used to... there's a lot more to a car in 2015 than there was in 1955 or 1975. It's the same with college.
I read an article one time by the president of a small college who stayed in his job for 30 years. He said that when he became president in the late 1970s, the highest paid person other than the president himself was the director of the library. Now the director of the library is still a highly compensated position, but so is the director of IT and all the IT staff because if they're not paid well they'll go work IT for industry, the director of the tutoring lab who could be managing several dozens of employees in the private sector, the football coach, etc... etc... It's not just a professor, book, chalkboard and classroom anymore.
People complain about the shiny infrastructure colleges have and that costs money but it's not really that big of a deal. The groundskeepers are not making much money. It's that the colleges provide a ton of professional-level services, not to mention significant expansions to their research and teaching missions, that require degreed professionals to do and you won't get those people without decent salaries.
I mean come on. It costs at least $400 a month per client to run a daycare facility to take care of toddlers that pays its staff $12 an hour! So why do you think it's going to be cheap to run a large institution that teaches you things like advanced physics?
Last edited by redguard57; 10-08-2015 at 05:44 PM..
It's usually the young college students (18 - 22) who want to go to XYZ brand name expensive college and stay on dorms so they can impress their friends, go get drunk at parties, etc.
I don't know why you want to spend $100,000 for a damn social party? You can't have a party outside of the college dorm life? For goodness sakes, the nightclubs, the casinos, the bars, ALL of that is still available to you and if you are a hot woman, you usually get in those places FOR FREE with guys competing to buy you drinks!
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I completely took it for granted that I COULD put money away each month because I had no student loan or car loan. I got a nice start in life and that is what has made a huge difference, not just me being frugal and a good saver.
