Financial educator: how I talked to my children about the cost of college

This test as told is based on a conversation with Julie BeckhamDeputy Vice-President of Financial Education and Development and Strategy at Rockland Trust Bank. It was published for duration and clarity.

I grew up in a middle -class family and I was lucky that my parents paid for my studies at New York University. Nyu was still expensive in the 1990s, but it was the type of dear that a middle -class family could still afford with moderate sacrifice.

Today, as a financial educator, I still consider myself the middle class, but I could not pay the total cost of college education for my two children, who are 18 and 21 years old. This is true for many families, thanks to the cost of climbing university.

For this reason, I was very intentional to speak with my children to pay for the university – from the moment they started high school.

Here’s how we planned together to manage the cost.

Choose more affordable schools

Schools with a lower but more affordable profile can offer better return on investment to many families. Bringing children to consider this can be difficult because colleges are so good in marketing. Sometimes going to a “name brand” school is less degree and more on booty.

Ask your children what they like in a well -known school. Then provide alternatives that have the same characteristic, at a lower price. The Boston College is popular near the place where I live because of its football culture, but the same atmosphere can be found elsewhere at a much lower price.

I told my children to consider schools which may not be well known or to have all the booty but which are nevertheless special. These schools can give talented students more financial assistance and a chance to stand out.

Understand what you can afford and tell your children

While my children approached the university age, their father and I talked about the amount we could allow ourselves to pay for their education. It is based on what works for each of our budgets.

My children should pay the difference between the cost of their college and what we can cover as parents.

I recommend that parents are very honest at what they can afford, so that students can decide if they are ready to accommodate student loan debts to cover other costs.

Abandon the guilt of what you cannot cover

Sometimes I feel guilty for not being able to pay all their education. But this is my reality and what I can reasonably allow myself.

Although I am a financial educator, I could not afford to start saving for the university until my children were adolescents. When I did it, it was very simple: to transfer a small part of each pay check to a savings account that I appointed “college”. It was not a 529 college savings plan, it was not much money, and it was not very sophisticated, but it was a start.

It is easy to criticize ourselves as parents, but we must recognize that we often do our best for our children.

Request grants and scholarships

Small subsidies and scholarships may seem insignificant against the huge invoice of the university, but they add up. You think that $ 500 will not make a bump, but when you pay $ 80 for a book, you realize that $ 500 can be useful.

I helped my children apply by looking for opportunities, reminding them of deadlines and encouraging them to work on applications. Sometimes they were not happy to write another test, but I reminded them that it would take an hour and that they could get hundreds of dollars.

Ask for more financial assistance

Once you have applied for schools and received your financial assistance packages, you may notice significant differences in the amount of aid of your student from each school. If this is the case, you can ask a school to correspond to what a comparable school has provided.

I tried this twice. Once, I called the financial assistance office and they said they couldn’t make changes. But another time, I was asked to send an e-mail to the other offer, and they would see if they could adjust the financial assistance package. It never hurts to ask.

Consider obtaining your diploma early

My son is about to obtain his university degree a year earlier, which is a huge economy for our family. He did so by following advanced placement lessons (AP) in high school and winning some additional credits during the college. It was difficult work, but it will probably save thousands of dollars to our family.

College evokes many feelings for parents and children. There is so much pressure to take this step. It is useful to remember that this is only the first of the many stages. Although it seems important, it is the decisions that we make every day that really have an impact on our lives.