{"id":8837,"date":"2018-12-05T11:47:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T18:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/?p=8837"},"modified":"2019-02-26T15:46:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T22:46:20","slug":"how-a-family-pays-for-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/how-a-family-pays-for-college\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Family Pays for College"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past October, Inside Higher Ed came out with a <\/span>report on how families pay for college<\/span><\/a>. The report placed the average amount that families spend on an undergraduate education per year at $26,458. The report also found that parents chip in almost three times more than students, 28 percent of the total cost is covered by scholarships and grants, and 53 percent of families borrowed money in some way to pay for college. With this data in mind, we wanted to dig into the stories of how a family pays for college<\/span><\/p>\n

While statistics like this are a great way to gauge trends in higher education costs, these numbers don\u2019t show the different ways individual families finance a college education. To follow up on this report, we\u2019re focusing on three families, and how they have chosen to pay for college. In particular, we\u2019re talking to Eric Strong, who works in sales here at <\/span>Peterson\u2019s<\/span><\/a>. Strong has two children \u2013 a son who is currently in his second year at <\/span>Lafayette College<\/span><\/a>, and a daughter who a senior in high school and in the process of choosing a college. Strong shares how his family is financially putting two students through college, and how the process works within his family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strong first explained how the finances of higher education are addressed in his family. He and his wife decided that they would take on complete financial responsibility of their children\u2019s undergraduate degrees.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife and I were both lucky in that we never had to get a student loan. So, early on when we decided to have kids we started putting money away,\u201d said Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

This decision to pay for all of both children\u2019s education has taken a lot of planning, various methods of saving, and includes backup options. In order to save enough, the Strongs used a <\/span>529 savings plan<\/span><\/a> and a Coverdell ESA. They also used investment tools, which included stocks and mutual funds. Strong said that cash gifts from the children\u2019s grandparents were also helpful in funding these plans. So far, this has worked for the family, but Strong said that they do have other plans in case these plans cannot fully fund college. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo that we can keep up the tradition of no student loans for our kids, we could look at some different options should the need arise. We could refinance the house as needed, but no student loans is our ultimate goal,\u201d said Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another component of the higher education cost conversation is variances in price of different colleges, as well as differences in price if a student stays in-state or ventures out-of-state. Strong said that his family chose to not put a cap on which colleges his children could attend. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAny college you get into, you\u2019re welcome to go to. Differences in price didn\u2019t affect college choices,\u201d said Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Strong and his wife put a limit on this generosity. While they will finance an undergraduate degree, the funding ends after four years. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re going to go to grad school, law school, or medical school, they can take on that debt. But, going to college for four years, we don\u2019t want them coming out and owing x number of dollars because you come out of college having to pay off the student loans,\u201d said Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Strongs also encouraged scholarships to lower the price tag of an undergraduate degree. Strong\u2019s son was applying for scholarships around the same time the family sold their house in California, so their income statement was larger and his son didn\u2019t qualify for any financial aid. However, this year they\u2019ve undergone moving to a different state and career changes, so the family\u2019s finances look different and Strong\u2019s daughter was able to earn some scholarship money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy son is working on receiving some <\/span>scholarships and grants<\/span><\/a>, so it\u2019s all in the process of making sure that we can pay less,\u201d said Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Strongs were able to start saving early on, making college a much less stressful life event when the time came. He said it would make paying for college much easier if families could start saving, even if it\u2019s only a little at a time, early in their children\u2019s lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, friends of mine never started saving money for their kids to go to school. So then all of a sudden their daughter is a sophomore, and it\u2019s too late to grow in savings,\u201d said Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

While some parents are able to pay for their children\u2019s college education, others are not. Robert Leppek was a college student who funded his own undergraduate degree. Leppek attended <\/span>California State University, Sacramento<\/span><\/a>, and is now a Co-Owner of Central Valley Engineering and Asphalt. Leppek was able to avoid taking out loans by attending a state school with lower tuition rates and working 20 to 30 hours per week during school. Like the Strongs, Leppek\u2019s main priority was to not take out student loans. He recommends working more during college, even if you have to take fewer classes to avoid borrowing large amounts of money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend if you have to work, try and get as much work as you need to pay for school and take classes at the same time. Obviously you may have to go into the year half a semester later or something to not walk out with huge amounts of debt,\u201d said Leppek.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course if you have a tight budget like Leppek did for his education, doing everything you can to make college cheaper is the first step. When filling out financial aid tools like the FAFSA, make sure you put your income if you will be supporting yourself. It\u2019s also smart to evaluate the price and reputation of colleges you apply to so you get the most bang for your buck. You want to go to a school where you\u2019ll get a solid education, but you don\u2019t want to burn yourself out trying to pay for it as quickly as possible \u2013 and sacrifice your education in the process. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to learn how to prioritize to get things done. Schoolwork is always the first thing that people want to get done, but you also need money to survive,\u201d said Leppek.<\/span><\/p>\n

For students juggling a full-time job with being a full-time student, there are going to be some sacrifices. But, making room to relax sometimes and have a fun college experience is the third priority.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGet your school in, work in between, and then you\u2019ll decide how much fun you can have,\u201d said Leppek. \u201cTry and mix as much work, fun, and school as possible. College experience is the most important thing for everybody.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

See also: <\/i><\/b>College Work-Life Balance: How to Fund your Education Without Sacrificing your Education<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Then of course, there are families that combine student work and loans with parental help. <\/span>Katarzyna Wolanska, IT Quality Assurance Engineer at Peterson\u2019s, also has a son and daughter in different stages of higher education. Wolanska\u2019s son began taking psychology courses at <\/span>Arapahoe Community College<\/span><\/a>. At the time, he was able to utilize the FAFSA for financial aid and a government loan. However, it wasn\u2019t a good fit and his GPA dropped. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that happened I said, \u2018are you sure you want to do that? Let\u2019s think about something different maybe,\u2019 and he switched to software development and he really liked that,\u201d said Wolanska. <\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, since his GPA was low, Wolanska\u2019s son no longer met FAFSA requirements and lost the aid and loan. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe lost the loan, so I decided to give him the boost and pay by myself for two or three classes to make up that GPA dip,\u201d said Wolanska. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wolanska\u2019s son was unable to re-qualify for the FAFSA, so she took a step back to re-evaluate her son\u2019s post-secondary education.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was pushing him and I was thinking, maybe it\u2019s too early for him, maybe it\u2019s not the right time,\u201d said Wolanska. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wolanska\u2019s son is now working full time. While she says she hopes he goes back to college someday, she knows it is not the right choice for him at this point. Wolanska\u2019s daughter is currently in high school, and she wants to go to college for art and graphic design. Wolanska expressed that she wants to do a few things differently as her daughter approaches her post-secondary education. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor my daughter, I\u2019ve been trying to save for those first couple classes but I think she knows that she has to take a loan and she has to pay it off once she graduates. I will help as much as I can, but I don\u2019t want to do the same thing that I did with my son and put myself into debt,\u201d said Wolanska. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another factor is distance. When Wolanska\u2019s son attended college, he continued to live at home, while her daughter wants to go away for school.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter really wants to go to California. I don\u2019t want her to be by herself but at the same time I don\u2019t want to make the same mistake I made with my son. I want her to be independent. So, if she decides to go to a school outside of Colorado, I will let her do that, although it is more expensive,\u201d said Wolanska.<\/span><\/p>\n

To mitigate the costs, scholarships are another important topic of conversation between Wolanska and her daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to her about scholarships as well. She wants to go to art school, and we are looking for scholarships for that. And, we will fill out the FAFSA and see what happens,\u201d said Wolanska.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every family treats higher education differently. Some parents do not pay for college, others pay for all of it, and there is plenty of in-between. The Strongs, Leppeks, and Wolanskas are just a few examples of families making financial decisions about college, but there are many ways to go about this. Understanding the true cost of college, how to earn scholarships, and how to save for this expense are all important for families undergoing the process of higher education.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past October, Inside Higher Ed came out with a report on how families pay for college. The report placed the average amount that families spend on an undergraduate education per year at $26,458. The report also found that parents chip in almost three times more than students, 28 percent of the total cost is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":8535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1602,1674,528,1836,23,90,526,424,445],"class_list":{"0":"post-8837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scholarships","8":"tag-1602","9":"tag-college-expenses","10":"tag-education-expenses","11":"tag-esa","12":"tag-fafsa","13":"tag-financial-aid","14":"tag-paying-for-college","15":"tag-scholarships","16":"tag-student-loans","17":"ad_tags-ap"},"better_featured_image":{"id":8535,"alt_text":"Mother and teenage daughter are in the kitchen researching colleges and filling out university applications.","caption":"Mother and teenage daughter are in the kitchen researching colleges and filling out university applications.","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":2048,"height":1365,"file":"s3:\/\/pcom-wp-media\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/10123716\/iStock-482888366.jpg","sizes":{},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":8533,"source_url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/10123716\/iStock-482888366.jpg"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Pay for College | How do Families Pay for College<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How Families Pay for College. 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