How much should my son pay for his own education?

My parents paid for my first two years of college. They paid everything, my tuition, dorm, meals, books everything that needed to be paid to the school.... to which I am entirely grateful. They never, however, gave me a DIME for anything else. Once I graduated from high school, no money from the folks, period. I worked part time on campus for gas money, personal items, school supplies, etc.

This worked out for all and I was very grateful. I was a motivated student and graduated with my bachelors degree and went on to get my masters. It was nice to know EXACTLY how much support I was going to get and WHEN I was going to be cut off. (Lots of parents are so "vague" with their kids on college support, I think it leaves both frustrated.)

What I am going to do with MY son, is going to be a bit different. I will offer to pay him for his LAST two years of college. Why? Most kids drop out their first two years. If he's paying for his first two, he's less likely to drop out, and I'm not out any money. If he wants to go on and get a masters, I'll pay for the masters. Of if he wants to go on to be a dr, then I'll pay the last two years of that. This is a much better deal than I got from my parents, and hopefully encourage graduation. It will make it a little easier on him than I had it. It was VERY tough for me those last years of my Masters program having to do unpaid internships AND work almost full time to support myself. Hello Ramen noodles and the electricity being turned off!!!

Hope this helps!!! Good luck and good for you.

PS: Your son will only be able to borrow so much taking out fin aid for school. As a dependent freshman, he'll only be able to borrow 5,500 a year. It goes up to 6,500 a year as a soph. And 7,500 a year as a jr and senior. If he is relying on strictly loans to pay for school (with no help from you) his last two years, he might need to start saving now. There are NO guarantees for scholarships... it seems kids forget to apply for scholarships after their freshman year anyway. Esp when they know mom and dad have paid for everything up to that point. They just aren't motivated to apply.

Private loans are evil and should be avoided at all costs. Do not cosign private student loans for him. You might as well take out the loans yourself if you are even considering it. Stafford loans will not require him to have a cosigner. Parent Plus loans are a good option for you if you don't have any cash saved. Just be aware you will have to borrow every year and need to start making payments immediately.

I have four children, I have never paid but a few dollars for any of them. Two are now college professors, one is the chief officer of the largest bank in America and the fourth, is a major book editor. (my books) In every case, I taught them how to get college money and it was done depending on the ability of each child. Just as I did, my son got his paid for completely by the military G I Bill. The oldest girl went to work for a company that had tuition assistance and it took her ten years, but she lived a normal and good life with excellent company pay and benefits. The middle girl, had tuition paid by five or six major corporations as she climbed the corporate ladder. The youngest, home schooled, won a four year, all expense paid. But, in each case, I worked with my children as far as transportation, they couldn't own a car, preparation, we worked together to make sure they were qualified and each had either full or part time jobs. In my own case, even though I had the G I Bill, I worked full time and attend college full time all the way through to my PhD. If a person is determined, they will make it. You can't go to college to play, attend parties, or skip class. That is unless the parents are willing to pay four years of country club life.

The following is the normal way that most students go to college. Too me, it is rather liberal, I am a little tough on my kids.

You can google me and find out what we are doing with our education.

"Dr Robert E McGinnis" be sure you use the quotation marks. Three or four of the books you find are by my son, the rest are by me.