Something I struggle internally about a lot, who should be paying for college: parents or kids? Some people think it’s the child’s own responsibility, others that the parents should pay for it. I have friends that paid for college and are in debt, friends that paid for college but aren’t in debt, friends that didn’t pay and are in debt and obviously friends that didn’t pay and aren’t in debt.

The truth of the matter is that I fall somewhere in the middle of the argument. I had to pay for my own schooling but I had the advantage of having a very good job while going to school. I also ended up with a nasty rate on a student loan when I was laid off which I do not want my children to be sattled with. I can’t say I didn’t have any help because my parents did help me out when I was laid off and did everything they could for me.

Another thing to consider is that college tuition has been increasing at a rate faster than ANYTHING else every year. In fact, its infuriating because even public universities which receive a ton of public funding are STILL increasing tuition at ridiculous rates.

So I did an assessment, if I pay for my children’s college education:

Good:

• They won’t have student loan debt
• If I invest when they are born, assuming decent returns on an account, I should be able to pay for their entire tuition with around $8000.00
• They can concentrate more.
• The do more extra curricular activities
• They can finish school sooner

Bad:

• They wont learn to handle money well
• They may not learn a good work ethic
• I pay for it
• They may not be grateful for education

So that leaves us somewhere in the middle. I came up with a couple middle ground solutions for you out there who are considering the same things:

-I will pay for your undergrad but graduate degree you pay for

-I will allow you to take out a 0% loan from me to pay for school

-I will pay for school, but anything else, you are on your own

-I will pay for school, as long as its in state tuition

-I will pay for school as long as you are involved in many small or one large (football, dancing, music, whatever) activity

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