We live in North Carolina where the average instate tuition is about $7k. I told both my sons their whole life that I would pay for a Bachelor's Degree at the in-state school of their choice.

My older son decided to go to college out of state. I paid $50k and stopped there. I told him the rest was up to him and now has about $25k in student loan debt he is trying to pay off as quickly as possible.

I told my youngest as he looked at schools that his total budget for college is the same $50k I spent on his brother. Room, board, Tuition, fees, etc... If he needs more than that, he will have to pay for it himself. If he spends less than than, I will give him the remainder.

He was accepted to all of the schools he applied to. He has spent the last 3 months making up his mind where he is going to go. He announced to my wife and I this week that he is going to enroll in the local community college for his first year and then transfer to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte after his first year. He has been accepted into a direct transfer program so as long as he has a 2.5 GPA or better he will be automatically accepted into the College of Business at UNCC. He did some research and discovered that there is a shortage of Logistics and Supply Chain Management graduates. He likes the idea of the career and it fits his mindset. Plus graduates can make well over $60k first year.

He also informed us that he is planning on staying home for at least his Freshman year of college to save costs and so he can continue his current part time job and save money for an eventual apartment near campus.

He then told me that he did the math. This route to his Bachelor's degree will cost a total of $24,000 in tuition, fees and books. He told me he in looking forward to receiving the remainder of the $50k in cash at graduation...

It is possible to get a good education and not be asshole deep in debt when you graduate!!!

My son went to a very pricey school. I paid half and he paid the other half. He lived at home for all four years. It worked out very well for him, very little debt and a great career. Give your kid a hug, he's made a very good decision.

Very smart of him to go to a community college the first year. No need to pay more for the core classes you can get at a community college for a lot less.

I whole heartedly endorse your son’s community college decision. The only thing I would recommend is that he thinks about two years in community college.

I went to community college in Prescott for two full years and finished with an AA before transferring down to Tucson and the University of Arizona. There’s a terrific junior college system in Arizona and EVERY credit earned is transferable to a university in state.

They refer to “lower division” and “upper division” courses. With few exceptions, most of the first two years are filled with general education requirements. It’s a whole lot easier to learn college chemistry in a traditional lab with a full professor lecturing, rather than in an auditorium with lecture delivered by a TA from India. That’s true of several lower division requirements.

I finished college owing $10k, essentially all for apartment/living expenses. Good luck to him

Congratulations on a son that makes good decisions!

As crazy expensive as colleges can be-out of state and private schools-it is still possible to go on a reasonable budget. The key is that he knows what he wants, and he has a plan to get that degree in an economical manner. He's not going for the traditional 4 years of partying regardless of cost.

Years ago, my older step-son, an Ohio resident, asked me to help him with tuition and other expenses at Youngstown State.

I took a look at his grades, not all that great, and the fact that he was spending a lot of time with his band.

I told him that I was not going to support partying, and I set the following conditions: He would pay for his tuition, books, and other costs up front. At the end of the semester he would send me his grade report and an itemized total of his costs. I would reimburse him per this schedule:

• Anything less than a C, zero reimbursement
  
  
• C: 50%
  
  
• B: 75%
  
  
• A: 110% (full reimbursement plus a 10% bonus)

His grades immediately jumped from mostly C with the occasional B, to mostly A with the occasional B. He was trying to bankrupt me.

My child got through VCU in 3.5 years, with a tiny student debt (<$7K) by working THEATREVCU and Target.

I am going to pay the debt as a gift to her.

Wisdom on his part. Be thankful!

Congrats! I got a full scholarship for my bachelors so my parents bought me a new car which was awesome! I didn’t even ask for it but really appreciated it. It was win win lol

Good on you and good on him.
My father gave me the same offer. I chose to go to 2 private Universities. I worked a lot during school and in the summer. Made it out with just over 20k in debt. Hammered that out in about 3 years after graduating.
Had I been better with saving money in High School (started working at 14) and college I could have done it with zero debt upon graduation.

If I had it to do over again not sure I would have gone the private route.

I went to a JC and then transferred to a 4 year. Lived at home and financed it all myself from 2 Jobs.

I do agree with the alumni network being important especially when trying to get that first real job after graduation.

My two oldest boys, a year apart, go to Virginia Tech. One went the community college route, one went the full 4 year route. They are both finishing their Junior year.

One caution about doing the CC thing is how those credits will play into the final GPA. The son who did CC crushed the general ed courses, but only got "pass" for those classes from Tech.

What this means for him is that none of those CC classes go into the calculation of his GPA. His GPA is based entirely off of his mid and upper division electrical engineering classes. EE is hard. His GPA reflects that.

My other son's GPA is better, as he has the benefit of grades from those easier lower division classes to help prop up his GPA when the hard stuff hit.

All of this is moot if your son gets straight As. But if not, make sure you consider that impact, as well as the transfer-ability of all the credits. There were some inefficiencies doing the CC courses as well.

CC is still a great way to go, just make sure you are cognizant of all the plusses and minuses.

Rob

CC is a great way to go. That's the route I took. I did 1.5 years at CC before going to a university.

It's definitely much cheaper but I also found some of the courses to be easier because faculty were there to help you. You'd get the instructor instead of a graduate student serving as TA.

In my opinion, there's no sense in doing core courses at a university unless you just have the money to burn.

A lot can change in the time he's at CC. He might even decide he doesn't want to do logistics and supply chain management. The market for graduates might change by then. But at least he's not going to go into debt for it.

If I were in his situation, I would do 2 years at CC and then junior and senior year at UNCC.

It sounds like he made a great choice financially. UNC charlotte is a good school......

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It sounds like he made a great choice financially. UNC charlotte is a good school......

not compared to chapel Hill

quote:

Originally posted by imfrogman:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It sounds like he made a great choice financially. UNC charlotte is a good school......

not compared to chapel Hill

UNCC is a 100% better choice if you desire an engineering degree!

Very proud of my daughter, she chose a great Christian school, is working hard to do a 4 year program, in 3 years. Just finishing up her Freshman year, near the top of her classes. Looks like her plans are succeeding. So proud of her!!

Smart young man.

Congratulations.

His method of optimizing his tuition resources is ironically (?) in line with his major as logistics and supply planning is getting the goods delivered at the lowest possible cost.

Being that supply planning is my field, I'm surprised that there's a "shortfall" of available people. It's a good field and I suppose the logistics part will help insulate him from his job going overseas.

Also, just a tip: after he graduates, if he can get into working for a medical company or, even better, clinical supply (supplying for clinical trials), he will be very secure and well-paid.

Good luck to both you and your son.

One of my kids is a UNC-Charlotte grad. We have no debt accrued for that endeavor.

Solid choice. The school is up-and-coming and there seemed to be way less of the SJW nonsense prevalent in Chapel Hill.

Nicely done.

-----------------------------------