Layout:
Home > Tending My College Blossom

Tending My College Blossom

March 26th, 2010 at 03:22 pm

Yesterday I wrote an entry about our first year of college at our house, likening it to new attempts at gardening. (Well, minus the doing away part of so many of my gardening feats - luckily my girl is a plucky little blossom!) It was definitely an "our" experience, as our oldest daughter has gracefully executed her freshman year, while we, her parents, muddled our way through the finances.

We've learned much this year....

Living in the dorm afforded my oldest great access to the school and all that it offers. We looked at the meal plans, and ended up picking an appropriate one for her. She didn't have a need for a car up there, with free city bus passes offered to students and plenty of rides to/from home (we always give the driver gas money, whether asked for or not.) We relied on the campus bookstore, buying used and ebooks as available, and selling them back. This wasn't the cheapest route we know, but it was the easiest. So many times, my daughter had to have specific editions, or a book list was posted less than a week before classes started.

A good start with many areas for improvement in "our" sophomore year...

The first area of savings, as it turns out, is that my daughter will be moving off campus for her housing next year. (Had she wanted to stay on campus, it would have been fine too;-) A good friend of my daughter from high school and her family relocated to this college town. And the mom, seeing great real estate opportunity in this very depressed area, has purchased several houses near the campus, one that is housing her own daughter, and come next fall, my daughter too. Even with a very generous amount for groceries, etc., her room/board/meals expense will be cut in half. (As an aside, we too had looked into buying something in the area, but for the moment, this alternative seems way less of a hassle.)

My daughter also was able to get a job on campus (a very difficult year for those!) She works as a sub in the dining hall for the remainder of this college year, and has a contract putting her on the schedule starting in the fall. She has been coming home monthly to earn a few dollars and to retain a position at an assisted living dining center for the summer. Usually she's been able to time it to holidays and school breaks. This summer she'll also work at our local school's pool as a swim instructor.

Her college offers a plan where college credits are charged up to a certain number, and then free after that point. She made good use of this during her first year, and will continue doing this next year. Books are definitely an area to cut costs on, and now that she knows more about the system, we'll search out more savings for the coming year.

We're hoping that these saving measures will allow us to reduce or even eliminate student loans for her sophomore year (the last one with a single kid in college for a while.) It's kind of like a pay-as-go plan for college, and I'll readily admit there are far superior ways, involving planning better and saving in advance. Well, we did the best that we could...and we can only move forward on this journey. It's definitely a learning process for all of us, that's for sure!

Take care!!

4 Responses to “Tending My College Blossom”

  1. snshijuptr Says:
    1269619063

    If I may inject that if you are offered subsidized Stafford loans that you should take them. They will go directly toward her expenses and your family can set the money aside in even a moderate growth savings account. The loans are no interest until she begins to pay them. This will allow you to have a bit of money saved up for her graduation as she either tries to find a job or prepares to start graduate school. When the loans are due, use the savings to pay them off immediately.

    I think of it as an emergency fund that you immediately pay back in full upon getting a job. It's a buffer for the (hopefully nonexistent, but realistic) time between graduation and a career.

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1269646216

    Thanks for sharing. We have 5 years until college starts and it feels like what we have saved is so small. It is hard to imagine how it will be in 5 years!

  3. Homebody Says:
    1269694418

    We did a pay-as-you go plan for daughter #1 and we made it.... then 3 years later she went back to school into a different field! I worked hard during the two years she lived in Sacramento (she went 2 years to the JC locally then transferred).

    Second time she paid her own expenses (except we ended up building a home due to cheapness, thinking we would sell, now we are landlords!).

    Anyway you will make it through somehow... hang in there.

  4. LittleGopher Says:
    1269699295

    Yes we will, Homebody, I have no doubt :-)

    I think what makes it so hard is that you don't know real dollar amounts until the very end. Last year (and this year too) we raced to finish our taxes and the FAFSA.

    On the student aid report last Feb, we qualified for $400 in aid. This year is a little better, but I'm sure it will change by next fall. We then found out at March's registration that the college costs weren't finalized until June for the following fall, which was a 9% increase over the previous year. Then come August, we are awarded actual dollars, and find that somewhere along the line she qualifies for near $8000 in scholarships and grants. (Some of the money came with Obama's new help for middle income families, but until we opened that letter we were thinking the $400 amount from last Feb.)

    This coming year we're working on the assumption that the college costs will increase 8-10%, and with a move out of the dorm, I think we can pay the costs outright, though we will heartily welcome any scholarships and grants of course. (She has and will continue to apply for them like mad!)

    The following year, we introduce my second girl to the college mix, and it will be more to learn. (And for me, it's the not knowing ahead part that drives me batty. I'm learning about patience and letting go...the hard way:-)

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]