Who Can Afford College Anymore?

Who can afford college? Maybe nobody, or at least not the common folk like you and I. Maybe the types of people that can bribe the Coach or the Admissions peeps into letting their child in without contest.

I just went to my daughter’s college to get the payments set-up.

First things first. Am I the only one that needs a playbook to understand the financial jargon that gets thrown around in the Student Loan world? Holy crap, you need a legend at the bottom of the page just to decipher what you just read. Google is definitely your friend here.  It came in handy just so that I could understand what I was reading.

I had to use a Lifeline.

I phoned a friend.  She’s actually a Mortgage Broker that I have known for as long as my college-bound daughter has been alive.  I asked her about how the student/parent loans effect obtaining a mortgage and buying a house.  It turns out, to no surprise really, that it is a definite factor.  Even if you are only the cosigner to the student loan.  These are important things to consider if you are in the same boat as we are, looking to purchase a new house in the next years or so. Not to mention all of the basic expenses that we as PARENTS have to deal with.

If I could turn back time….

Cher would be proud.  Most importantly, I would have put away a bunch of money for my kid’s college.  I didn’t, and now I can see where it is an issue.  I was all content to tell my kids that “nobody paid for my college”, that they would be alright, and just let them swing for the debt.  But it’s a lot of money.  I just can’t do that as a caring father.  I worked far too hard to give them everything they need in life only to cut it off now.  The killer part is that I’m preparing to retire in a couple of years.  Their college cost will be looming heavy over me just at the time when I don’t need to have anything looming anywhere.  This reason, is the most important reason to have prepared for my kid’s college expenses way before now.

So, here we are.  We’re in the process of paying down our bills, and we are faced with new student loans.  Fortunately, we are only cosigning for my daughter.  This is a benefit for at least two reasons.  One of which is that she is getting credit as she is the primary on the loans, and the other is that because she is the primary, the loan can be deferred until up to 6 months after she graduates.  Interest accrues of course, but I don’t have to budget for it right now when we are so focused at paying off our debt.  Hopefully, we can get our debt paid off and then hit the student loan HARD.  We’re just going to have to, I guess.  It will all work out.

But If I Was Smarter…..

I would have saved money from way back to put toward my kid’s college.  Then it wouldn’t have affected me at all.  Especially at a time when I simply don’t want to work anymore.  Admittedly, it’s going to make things a bit stickier to retire, but whatever.

My best advice here is to put money aside for your children’s college needs when they are young.  Start a college account with an investment company, contribute to it on a regular basis.  Eighteen years comes up quick and before you know it, you are paying for that schooling and it won’t be cheap. 

Prepare early.

Dave