Paying For College: How do folks do it these days?

...I apologize to those whose posts I copied into this thread. I didn't want to waylay the 'Millenials' thread with conversation dedicated to tuition rates and how folks did/do pay for college, so I moved everything into this thread.

That’s what I’m doing

In this day and age, I wonder how much of an option the military and the G.I. Bill is for young folks who are looking for college funding? I can remember when there was actually a time when things in the world were relatively calm and the military route was not the most risky option, but nowadays ... Maybe depends on how much one is motivated for that college money.

Thats how I payed for most of my college. If I had planned a little more wisely I would have had a lot more money than I actually did, but unfortunately I didn't contribute the max I could have while serving (didn't think about college as an option until I had been in for a while). Still had to borrow a little money to finish, but that was due more to me taking more than 4 years to graduate.

I was just anticipating what the response would be with regards to NKU.

EKU was less than $9000 a year a few years ago. Less than Catholic HS so the tuition side was just an extension of HS.

The trick was dorm and meal plan fees. So we bought a very old house that was cut into 2, used one for housing and one for rental to cover the overall costs. Some problems with the plan - a) maintenance and repairs much higher than expected, b) college students (primary renter market) are very unstable renters and c) no tax breaks for losses until you sell.

Note - EKU rule is you stay in dorms until you reach 60 hours. So officially, son lived at home first years.

For Transy here are rough numbers on tuition side. We locked in for the 4 years at around $33,000 back in 2014.

$10,000 - Academic scholarship
$12,000 - Out of pocket payment
$7,000 - Unsubsidized student loan
$1,000 - KEES
$3,000 - A KEES Grant we somehow qualified for (was surprised this came through)

First year there was also housing and meal plan. Around $10K I believe total for first year. Meal plan was not at all worthwhile.

Transy requires you stay in dorms through junior year - unless you are local and living at home with family.

No athletic money (DIII).

We looked at Bellarmine as well. Though tuition was higher at list price they also had scholarships they indicated the actual costs would be much less and similar to above.

I believe that Centre is over $40,000 now.

That Harvard number looks low. Had a godson go to Cornell. His dad said it was $65,000 - but may that included housing and meals. He played football but....no athletic schollys to the Ivy schools.

Same family had one going to OSU and were playing in-state tuition rates though. I thought that was over $26,000 a year with room and meals.

One thing people need to really look at is whether or not a degree is worth the cost at a certain school. For example, private liberal arts schools start anywhere from 30k a year and only go up. There are very few jobs, IMO, that warrant a degree that expensive. There is no reason to go to a Transy, Centre, Bellermine, Wittenberg, etc. for an absorbent amount of money when In reality an employer is not going to care where your degree is from so long as you have it and are capable of doing your job (same goes for GPA but that’s a whole different discussion).

Are there industries where it matters, yes; but those are very few and far between.

To each his own, I went to UK and my sister went to Centre. We had drastically different educational experiences but I definitely wouldn’t say that there is no value to getting an education at a liberal arts school like Centre or Transy.

Centre College has been ranked in the top 10 colleges in the country numerous times over for its tuition-to-salary return on investment rate. Forbes and US News, among others.

$80K will get you one year at an IVY

UK/UL for 4 years will cost about $48K (as of today) for tuition only not including Books, Class Fees, Room and Board. Including books, fees, room and board will easily more than double that number. Current Room and Board estimates are around $15K per year.

Bellarmine is also very highly ranked. When they first started recruiting my son, I was very skeptical. But after several visits, and speaking with many people, there are definitely some benefits. And really, as long as you are an outstanding student, they do everything they can to make it affordable. My son got over half chopped right of the top based on academics, before FAFSA and athletic money.

Something I didn't know until we started looking at it...many of the IVY schools will actually offer nearly 100% ride if your child is accepted and the total family income is under $90K. Of course the trick is getting accepted. Duke and Vanderbilt are very similar. If you get accepted (which is hard and very competitive) you can just about go for free (no student loans either) to Vandy if your family income isn't over $80-$90K or something in that range.

My daughter's sophomore ACT score (and her GPA) is high enough to get her free tuition at most state schools...hope fully she bumps it up high enough to get some room and board covered as well.

Yep...learned that from my wife. She got into Vandy, Princeton, and Brown, but with two working parents they were over the tuition assistance threshold (they don't all operate with the same magic number, but I think it was lower back when she was graduating high school). Anyway, she opted for Louisville instead because she had a full ride plus a stipend.

Is she thinking about applying for GSP?