I found this article on MSN called 6 Reasons Not to save for kid's college.
6 Reasons Not to Save

Hmm, I don't know if I agree. But it makes me think. What are your thoughts?

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I say everything in moderation. Yes, save for your retirement. But put some aside for college too, every little bit helps. I agree with having your child/children help with their own education also. I think that is very important, I think if they work to fund part of it, it won't just be your hard work for 4 years of them partying.

I don't see a lot of their points as valid. Yes, if you put the money in their name, they might not get as much financial aid. This is a no-brainer with me: put the money in your names! In the event your child doesn't go to college their not going to use the money to go to Paris to 'find themselves'. We have set up a college fund for ds in our names - a low risk mutual fund that is doing great. How hard is that?

Yes, they can finance it themselves with college loans. Problem is, they are not as low as they used to be, and many people get stuck with huge loans when they find in the real world that they aren't making the money they were told to expect in their field. So they have these huge loans that stop them from being able to stay home with their own kids, and sometimes makes it impossible to put anything aside for their Own kid's education, and They end up the same way taking out college loans. No Thank You.

Where is it written everyone has to go to the 25,000 a year colleges? You go where you have funds to go. Oh and here's another one - both my parents died young. They died shortly after I attended college. They didn't Get to retire. I know in most cases this doesn't happen, but in my case it did. Don't put your eggs in only one basket.

I just think if your child wants to enter a field that they are going to need a degree - and lets face it there aren't too many places even Now that don't want some kind of degree, what about the kids that don't go because their parents didn't at least give them a hand? I know this won't be a popular opinion, but I think these kids are done a mis-service, unless the family is truly poor, because then their education will be taken care of with taxes. I would like to say that I helped ds's future, even if I had to put a dollar a week into a jar and put it away for 15 years. True, it Wouldn't be much. But it would at least show that I tried! Ok, off my soapbox.n my soapbox:

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I actually do agree with some of the article. If you do not own a home - you should be saving for that first (a home within reason, of course...) and you should contribute the maximum to your retirement plan/401K, etc second. If you have money to spare after that, then you should save for the kids.

Example - my DH was able to get a full ride through school, thanks in part to his awesome grades, but also to the fact that my inlaws didn't contribute a penny to his education. They each had parents willing to pay for their education, but chose to not go and got minimum-wage earning jobs, therefore preventing them from helping their own children. Anyway - because his parents don't have much more than their home, he was able to get a lot of scholarships/grants, and never took out a single loan getting a bachelor's degree at one of the highest priced private colleges in our state.

However, since my DH has done well for himself and also put himself through graduate school, he has been financially rewarded for that and our children will be unable to get scholarships/grants based on need - they will only be eligible for those based on grades. We HAVE to save in order to help them out - I'm not saying that we will pay total costs - that's a different debate. However, if something terrible were to happen (DH became disabled, unemployed, etc) I would cut the college savings before I cut out our retirement savings for the reason that the article stated "you can't get a loan for retirement."

I totally disagree with the end of the article where they tell about how successful you can be without a college degree. I think the chances of that are become less and less. The entry into a low-paying job is becoming a bachelor's degree and the entry into a high-paying job is becoming a master's degree. I'm not saying that it isn't possible to be successful without a degree - I know that everyone knows some go-getter that is successful without a degree. However, you will all probably agree that you know MORE successful people WITH a degree than without. Besides, anyone who has been to college understands that the most important part of college is finding out about YOURSELF - not just what you learn in the classes. I will be very upset if my children do not attend college - and dare say that will only happen over my dead body. I am raising them the way my parent's raised me in relation to college: WHEN you go to college....instead of IF you go to college. That one word will make all of the difference.

Sorry so long!

My husband doesn't want to save for college, but he did say that if we have some money when the time comes, he would consider helping them out. I think that they should pay for some of their own, but I still want to help them get ahead in life and not start out will thousands of dollars in student loans. We'll see.

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Debbie 3 years
Sadie 21 months

No one helped me out when I went to college, it was funded entirely by grants, financial aid and part time jobs. I was able to pay off the debt in full within 2 yrs after I graduated. When my kids were growing up I wanted to save for their college education but until I paid the bills and spent a little on family fun there was very little left. My daugher is now in college, she is paying for it the same way I did. This summer she made enough to pay off the bills from her first semester, she hopes to continue doing this all thru school so that she doesn't graduate with a huge student loan bill.

I couldn't imagine NOT paying for my children's education, and we are planning for that . For me, I feel it is part of my responsiblity as a parent. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but my husband does. He struggled through paying for school and we don't want our kids to do that.

I do believe that I need to put money into my kiddos education 529 (which is in my DH's name). However, this is after we max out our 401k and add extra to our house payment. My DH figured out how much we would need to put in yearly to pay for 4 years of college and we can not do that.

I do believe that our retirement comes first and an emergency cash fund for unexpected bills. If not then we will be a burden on our kiddos.

My husband had almost 60,000 in student loans. Now the first year of school was on scholarship. He lost that because his grades went down. Now we have been paying his loans for about 8 years already and have about 8 to go at almost 400/month. He says make the kids pay for their education, I say if we can help even just a little why not? I dont want the boys to have to struggle for the first few years. Not be able to buy a nice car, or live in a nicer apartment or even delay purchasing a home because they have this HUGE debt weighing them down. This article makes sense and has many great points but I am certain I dont want the burden of paying for school left on my kids shoulders 100%.

I feel like I came off sounding like a heartless mother. I wanted very much to save for my kids educations but it just wasn't possible. When my kids were growing up their dad was in the Air Force, the benefits are great but anyone who served as an enlisted member the pay sucks. I stayed at home as long as we were financially able to swing it and then I went to work. We had no savings of any kind for anything until the kids were much older. I didn't mention in my earlier post that I did pay for her books for the past three semesters, it was all I could afford. She insisted that I not do it, but I told her it was something I was happy to do.

You are not a bad mother. You did what you could and what you did was wonderful. We are never here to judge each other but to support each other wherever we are on our path of life. Hugs

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