Affording College in a Difficult Economy
If you are in college now or planning to attend college in the near future, the national recession is making the task of paying for a college education even more daunting. Perhaps you were counting on help from your parents, or as a parent, feel you should be providing the best education possible. Parents of students attending college or prospective college students have every right to be concerned. But you should also know that even with dire economic news, there are lots of ways to afford a college education.
As a father of five children I fully understand how difficult paying for college can be. My oldest son decided not to go to college and attended a police academy instead. The cost was modest compared to college, so it did allow me to devote more money to the other kids in the family. My second oldest son wanted to go to a small private college to learn a trade. While I was able to pay some of the costs from savings and current income, a parent Plus loan and student loans covered most of the cost. My daughter started at a private woman’s college with a scholarship for half the cost. She later transferred to a state university, and the cost of attending dropped by more than 50%. Again some savings, student loans, and paying for what we could from our current income has covered the costs.
Not everyone can save money in advance and with today’s economic uncertainty, most of us are on edge when it comes to affording college. I started saving in mutual funds for each child and learned to move money from growth funds to more conservative money market funds as it got closer to time to pay for college. This helps ensure that you are not taking too much risk with your money.
My third son is 19 and will