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I was lucky enough to come from an chinese family, so college was pretty much paid for and financial costs wasn't really discussed when we applied - just whatever the best school we got into. I had an older brother and a younger sister. Bro went to U of Penn, sister went to Berkely, and I went to Carnegie Mellon. All out of state as well. But now, looking at my salary and the estimated tuition rate when our 2±1 kids get to that age, I'm thinking it's going to be hard to swing as the wife's career is on kid-haitus and may not get resuscitated.
Here's where the wife-blog comes in. I'm asian, she's white. She wants our kids to go to a state school, get a nice job in-state, and live near us. I more expect my own path - get into the best school possible anywhere, get a nice job anywhere, and live anywhere. Kind of opposing views huh? I can see the allure of having a family network nearby, since growing up I never really had uncles, aunts, grandparents over more than once every few years, so having weekend bbqs and 12x birthday parties does sound like fun. The wife grew up in that environment and misses it now that her family has spread out as well. I feel like it's my responsibility to pay for college in full at the best college possible, while the wife doesn't want us to go into debt mortgaging the house and 401ks to pay for it.
So arguing about stuff so far out in the future is pointless, as we'll save how ever much we can, so I decided to do the math:
State U
2012: ~23k/year with ~4% annual increase with inflation = ~46k * 4 = ~$188k
CMU
2012 ~62k/year with ~4% annual increase with inflation = ~125k * 4 = ~$500k
Times ~2 kids... and that's a lot of scratch.
I need to ask my parents as to the actual specifics of the financial aid, as I didn't care or really manage my finances (what allowance? chinese kids dont get allowances!) until I graduated college, but looking back now, I guesstimated I had earned ~55k before getting my first real job. And since I didn't do taxes until my first real job, don't think I paid a dime in taxes >_>
+ Show Spoiler +Highschool Job - Office work ~$412.50
Riding powerwheels - Toys'R'Us ~$900.00
Freshman Summer internship ~$7,200.00
Sophomore Summer internship ~$7,200.00
Junior Summer internship $0.00
Senior Summer internship $12,150.00
Masters Stipend (2years) $27,000.00
Total: $54,862.50
So what's the current plan? Save a mil for 2 kids to go to school! 529 plan is almost 0.1% of the way there! Then pray they get grad school funded. I'm currently leaning on pushing them towards engineering (like dad!) or medicine (specifically dentistry - 4 day work weeks and hot hygienists? yes please!), but probably thinking too far ahead. Just ranting a bit.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OYCNj6F.png)
This guy is going to farm me a lot of gold before he goes to college.
 
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It's times like these I'm happy to live in a country with free, high end education.
I think I'd let them go to the state school 
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On June 25 2013 10:33 PiGStarcraft wrote:It's times like these I'm happy to live in a country with free, high end education. I think I'd let them go to the state school
High five from germany yo!
Also, I am very interrested as to how time perception must change once one becomes a parent. As of right now, I do not think the world is stable enough as to garantee that money will still be worth anything in 20 years, or classical education still hold any value.
edit: cute photo btw :3
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State school doesn't mean low quality. I go to Texas A&M and it's a top 2-10 engineering school. Keep in mind the "return on investment" - many, many state schools are in the top ten for *something,* and when you get to the top 10, they're getting a stellar education. It's all about how your kids fit there.
And for god's sake, *please* don't force your kids into a certain profession. Let them do what they love, and don't push them too much. The thing I love the most about how my dad handled my upbringing was that, while expecting things of me, he didn't control me and force me to do it his way. Let your kid work out the best way to do things for himself, imo. He'll be much more independent that way as well, so he might be less tied to a state school or being close at home as well if you want him to get the best place possible. If my dad had tried to force me into business (I'm an engineer) I would have hated it. And keep in mind that a school that costs 60k a semester is not going to earn your child 6x as much more money as a well respected state school at ~8-10k a year.
I got into Cornell, but when it comes down to it, they're both very very similar in computer engineering, and A&M is significantly less expensive. And things like internships and experience (at least in the engineering field which you mentioned) are waaaaaaaay more important than GPA. My manager essentially implied to me once (I work at IBM), she would rather hire somebody with a 3.5 and lots of real life experience than a kid with a 4.0 (even if that's good) with no experience. If your kid goes to a state school, and spends time getting internships, joining clubs, and getting real world experience he'll be really really well off.
Your kid is cute 
Edit: Also, at least in the engineering and science field, grad school isn't really necessary unless they want to teach or do research. Source: lots of career fair recruiters and our own campus career team (and A&M has possibly? the largest engineering career fair in the nation).
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You really don't know how much your university costs were? Nobody pays that much.
And as for you foreigner types, if your university doesn't end in -ford, -bridge or -burg, gtfo. :p
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On June 25 2013 10:33 PiGStarcraft wrote:It's times like these I'm happy to live in a country with free, high end education. I think I'd let them go to the state school
It's neither free nor high end. But we can do worse.
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Teach your kids how to get grants
-> Buy beach house.
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CS bachelors at a state school will probably make more than an African literature bachelors at Harvard (assuming the state school is of good quality). I'd say to just save as much as you can and wherever your kids want to go let them go, and if there's leftover money then oh well.
Assuming you don't make a boatload of cash, you probably won't be paying full freight and your kids might get scholarships to attend a certain school anyway.
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I have no problems with a state school for a correct major, but many of my co-workers tell me stories of their kids going to community college and being (in-general) bums by engineering standards. The few that are making something of themselves mostly did go to state schools after not getting attractive offers from reach schools, then plan on getting graduate degrees afterwards. Yes, CS doesn't need higher than a BS now, but in the future, who knows? I work for an international company and know they valued higher education/institution in their hiring process, even years into the workforce. Personally looking back, I didn't even apply to the state school since I had already gotten accepted by UI: Urbana, which was already a decent engineering school. Plus I didn't really want to see that many highschool folks for the next 4 years. Individual HS-experiences may vary lol.
On June 25 2013 11:43 Jerubaal wrote:
You really don't know how much your university costs were? Nobody pays that much.
I didn't really pay much attention. It was a small verification back in 1998 when I was making the decision between Cornell/CMU, as CMU's cost was ~35k total at the time but CMU's FAFSA had gotten a betetr package: ~12k grant, 10k loans, which my parents said was manageable (Bro was in college at the time, sister 2 years after). I paid it all off before the interest started accuring; mostly with the graduate stipend money I suppose.
On June 25 2013 11:38 Alryk wrote:
And for god's sake, *please* don't force your kids into a certain profession. Let them do what they love, and don't push them too much. The thing I love the most about how my dad handled my upbringing was that, while expecting things of me, he didn't control me and force me to do it his way. Let your kid work out the best way to do things for himself, imo. He'll be much more independent that way as well, so he might be less tied to a state school or being close at home as well if you want him to get the best place possible. If my dad had tried to force me into business (I'm an engineer) I would have hated it. And keep in mind that a school that costs 60k a semester is not going to earn your child 6x as much more money as a well respected state school at ~8-10k a year.
Too late! My boy can't quite talk well yet, but I'm putting that toy stethoscope on him! Of course, I know it's waaaaay too early to have that "whatdoyouwanttodowithyourlife" talk, but I'm just trying to get a grasp of the worst-case scenario that my kid is (not-asian) enough to get into and want to go to a 'top tier school'. I joke with my wife that if he goes to an ivy league he can room with the next Zuckerberg, but if he goes to a state school, he'll room with Dzhokhar! (slight exaggeration)
I'm not very serious about anything yet as the wife is going to do everything possible to keep him from playing 'video games' non-stop like me! hah
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On June 25 2013 19:01 Burrfoot wrote:
I'm not very serious about anything yet as the wife is going to do everything possible to keep him from playing 'video games' non-stop like me! hah
Thats gonna be a real hard one :O
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Well, he has officially figured out the swipe to unlock an iphone. Time to check if he sent any emails!
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On June 25 2013 16:31 krndandaman wrote:
I would recommend helping your kids find their interests and then supporting it. I know when I have kids I want to help them find their passions/talent and then use all the power I have to help them cultivate those passions and talents. If that is successful, colleges will be paying you to have them.
Yes I strongly agree with this point of view instead of pushing the kids in a certain direction that you have decided to be "the right one". Pushing the kids in a direction they may not like can in fact become counterproductive.
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It's great that you're saving now, but don't get too stressed about it. State schools are actually a good option a lot of the time, many of them offering honors programs that keep class size smaller and allow for better research opportunities. A lot of my friends who ended up at the state school are getting lucrative and prestigious internships that will probably lead to careers. On top of that, most private schools that are worth going to have large endowments and can meet you halfway with paying for college. I know for example that Princeton makes sure that everyone who they accept will be able to afford to go there, and at JHU (where I go), it was actually cheaper for one of my friends to go here than the state school because he got good aid.
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raising a child is one of the most expensive things you will ever have to put up with....you think going to college for 4 years when they are 18 is a lot?
Think about the 18 years of feeding, clothing, and providing for them.
you should push them in the direction that they want to go, not where you want them to go
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Can't wait for the update in 20 years.
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On June 27 2013 03:01 Alryk wrote:You'll have to have a lot of "guys day out" days with your son then, so your wife doesn't interfere with proper starcraft education!
Hah, except I suck at starcraft. We do watch the occasional WCS tournament though! He likes when Colossus are on the screen with laser pewpews.
On June 27 2013 04:08 Race is Terran wrote:
raising a child is one of the most expensive things you will ever have to put up with....you think going to college for 4 years when they are 18 is a lot?
Think about the 18 years of feeding, clothing, and providing for them.
you should push them in the direction that they want to go, not where you want them to go
Even though I could have paid for my house in cash, I took out a 15 yr mortgage to build wealth so that when the kids are in college in 17 years, we'll (hopefully) be able to pay for edumacation with aid stuff and have enough left over to buy a Playstation 8 in retirement... I keep track of my finances monthly and did notice a 100% increase in general grocerial spending just in the first year, and +150% in one-off charges that probably aren't - like clothes, furniture, etc. It will only get worse once I have to start buying +2 airline tickets and 2x $0.99 kids meals, then transition to club sports fees and data plans -_-
On June 27 2013 04:21 icydergosu wrote:Can't wait for the update in 20 years.
I already have his future planned; screw all this snobby advice from random underage gamers decrying pushing kids into specific professions and sports! With my superior asian genes granting unparalleled intellect and naturally huge calves combined with my wife's aryan heritage providing the broad muscular upper body; my son will be the #1 draft pick in whatever sports we FORCE him to play! As illustrated in this graphic:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wuMwkiK.png)
Yea, he'll be Time Person of the Year too with a quad-doctorate in law, medicine, dentistry, and computer science.
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On June 27 2013 09:16 Burrfoot wrote:Show nested quote +On June 27 2013 03:01 Alryk wrote:You'll have to have a lot of "guys day out" days with your son then, so your wife doesn't interfere with proper starcraft education! Hah, except I suck at starcraft. We do watch the occasional WCS tournament though! He likes when Colossus are on the screen with laser pewpews. Show nested quote +On June 27 2013 04:08 Race is Terran wrote:
raising a child is one of the most expensive things you will ever have to put up with....you think going to college for 4 years when they are 18 is a lot?
Think about the 18 years of feeding, clothing, and providing for them.
you should push them in the direction that they want to go, not where you want them to go Even though I could have paid for my house in cash, I took out a 15 yr mortgage to build wealth so that when the kids are in college in 17 years, we'll (hopefully) be able to pay for edumacation with aid stuff and have enough left over to buy a Playstation 8 in retirement... I keep track of my finances monthly and did notice a 100% increase in general grocerial spending just in the first year, and +150% in one-off charges that probably aren't - like clothes, furniture, etc. It will only get worse once I have to start buying +2 airline tickets and 2x $0.99 kids meals, then transition to club sports fees and data plans -_- Show nested quote +On June 27 2013 04:21 icydergosu wrote:Can't wait for the update in 20 years. I already have his future planned; screw all this snobby advice from random underage gamers decrying pushing kids into specific professions and sports! With my superior asian genes granting unparalleled intellect and naturally huge calves combined with my wife's aryan heritage providing the broad muscular upper body; my son will be the #1 draft pick in whatever sports we FORCE him to play! As illustrated in this graphic: Yea, he'll be Time Person of the Year too with a quad-doctorate in law, medicine, dentistry, and computer science.
how does taking out a 15 yr mortgage build wealth? Don't you accumulate interest during those 15 years....?
What are you doing with the money that you didn't use to pay off the house immediately? Pls tell me its not just sitting in a savings account
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Just get your kids reasonably smart. Much cheaper, and better for them in the long run.
I've got a bachelors and 2 masters, all from pretty decent state schools, and I have minimal student loan debt. My parents didn't pay a dime in tuition (they helped a little with books/rent and stuff like that, but not a lot). It isn't that hard to get schools/states to pay for your education if you are reasonably intelligent. You may just not go to ivy league.
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EPT
