My son started his first day of higher education yesterday. I have always told him that his mom and I will pay for college as long as he goes to a state school. Since we live in NC that is not a bad deal. After many college campus visits and much conversation on where he would go and the associated costs, he decided to complete his first year at the local community college and stay at home.

His first Semester Tuition was $1,300.

He will be transferring to University of North Carolina Charlotte for his Sophomore year where tuition is about $3,000 per semester. His total tuition for a Bachelor's degree will be about $22k.

It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

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It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

Of course.

Congratulations! Mrs 12GA and I gave our two children the same gift. My son graduated with a Masters in Special Education a couple weeks ago and has accepted an offer to teach in a high need public elementary school. My daughter recently moved back home and started her Masters program for Library Sciences at the beginning of the summer.

Feels good to see a plan come together don’t it?

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Originally posted by armedprof:
His total tuition for a Bachelor's degree will be about $22k.

It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

Yep.

IIRC, my bachelor's degree was ~$25k all told, back in the early 2000s.

Although I had a decent number of nearly-free credits for lower level stuff from things like AP classes and CLEP tests.

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:
My son started his first day of higher education yesterday. I have always told him that his mom and I will pay for college as long as he goes to a state school. Since we live in NC that is not a bad deal. After many college campus visits and much conversation on where he would go and the associated costs, he decided to complete his first year at the local community college and stay at home.

His first Semester Tuition was $1,300.

He will be transferring to University of North Carolina Charlotte for his Sophomore year where tuition is about $3,000 per semester. His total tuition for a Bachelor's degree will be about $22k.

It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

That is very impressive. Good job all around.

Yep. I took 52 credits at the local community college @ ~$700 per semester (1993 - 1994). My diploma reads the same as everyone who took all 128 credits at the University I graduated from.

Way to be thrifty!

I would recommend maxing out the possible credits for transfer from your local community college to NC Charlotte. I did the community college gig and only needed 18 months at a university to obtain my B.S. in Civil Engineering. I saved a boat load of money and went on to get my M.S.

i agree in-state school tuition is a reasonable expense

daughter graduated from UNC-Charlotte a few years ago - she is employed so we are happy for her

no debt

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As long as there is no discernible difference in quality of instruction.

Is there? Why can some schools charge very high tuition and turn away high caliber students?

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:


He will be transferring to University of North Carolina Charlotte for his Sophomore year where tuition is about $3,000 per semester. His total tuition for a Bachelor's degree will be about $22k.

It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

Yes sir. Good on you and good on your son.

I did the same thing (but paid for it myself). I snuck into my 4 year school and got an appointment with a counselor. I did this only to scam, and see which classes would transfer from JC to my 4 year in my degree program. When she figured out I wasn’t a student she was pissed but helped me anyway. I immediately dropped a class I was in that wouldn’t transfer. Did JC for everything I possibly could, then transferred to the state 4 year (UT school system) and completed both of my degrees. First 2 of 5 years I ran my own business, last 3 years I worked in my field, starting at the bottom, and working my way up the ladder as I finished my degrees. My senior year of college I was making 63k base (80k with OT and bonus) so when I graduated I didn’t have to look for a job, I already had it. And my employer paid for the last year of school via tuition reimbursement. Best thing you can do is work in the field of your major, take a low position, and chances are they’ll do tuition reimbursement, then give you pay increases each year and the job you want when you get that degree. So many are lazy today and just want to party and smoke the weed. Kudos to you sir. Teaching that boy right, economics, dollars rule the day. I’m convinced these other kids want to get as far away from their parents as they can and rack up the debt out of state, with out of state tuition.

I had multiple academic scholarship offers in and out of state. But they only paid for tuition and books, dorm was on me and mandatory dorm first 2 years if out of state. And there were rules with grades, etc. I said screw all that and did it all myself so I didn’t have someone hanging over me dictating. I’m about to start a double MBA trek and same deal as you. I know the college I want to go to (local) with a good rep, and not a fortune. My employer reimbursed for about 3 classes annually so I’ll take one class, year round for the next 6 years. In the end, won’t cost me a dime.

Good deal for you and him.We got into the prepaid Florida college plan years ago for ours and will be needing it soon. We no longer have any community colleges,which is the downside for us as be did the 2 years community college and 2 years state college. It will be interesting but not as bad as it could have been.

I dont think kids should have free education. They should have some skin in the game. AT MOST, I might offer my kids to pay half of their tuition if they pay the other half.

Just my opinion based on seeing totally entitled assholes because it was all given to them for free.

I will not buy my kids a car outright either. I will match them dollar for dollar, but I'm not paying for their car. I can buy them a brand new BMW cash if I wanted, but if they can only come up with $2500, then I'll match that and they get a $5000 car.

You are correct. told my son that you do your part and I do mine. He scored high enough on his ACT to get 67% of his tuition paid for. I pay the rest. No student loans. I’ll have about $25k in his engineering degree. He also drives a $1200 Camry to school. It can be done if you are frugal.

When I transferred to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1966 the students were raising hell because tuition had gone up to $80.50 per quarter. That wasn't a lot of money even in 1966.

Same deal with our two. Got them graduated with good degrees and we did it with no loans. Yes, we skipped a few trips and didn’t eat out as much. It was worth it.

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He will be transferring to University of North Carolina Charlotte for his Sophomore year where tuition is about $3,000 per semester. His total tuition for a Bachelor's degree will be about $22k.

Unfortunately, tuition, is typically (except at the most expensive universities) not the highest cost of a college education. Good luck to your son, you and your wife.

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:

It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

I never went to school, but am finishing up a degree online, paying as I go. No debt.

My daughter is in college, working as she goes. She's taken out a loan once. I've sent her a little bit, but everything else, she's done on her own, plus some assistance received for her grades (scholarship). She will graduate with nearly no debt.

That sad 22 thousand s nothing. There are a lot of students graduating professional programs today 350,000 in debt, and it's not uncommon to be 50-100k in debt for many students (who graduate with no job prospects).

Because I work full time and can't attend school, I take online classes. I travel a lot, and take the books with me. I do two classes at a time to get the instate tuition (and because I can't handle much more than that while working), for six credit hours. It's slow, but it's something I should have done several decades ago. I pay as I go, buy my books discount, used, online, and I don't attend a high-dollar school. I have a payment plan each semester, paying by the credit hour and breaking it down into monthly payments. It's all pretty civilized, really, and there will be no debt when done.

I would HIGHLY recommend he complete a A.A. or A.S. with the community college.

You may already know all this, but incase you dont:

All UNC system universities have an agreement with the community college system. If a student earns a 2 year degree from a NC community college, they enter as a junior and enjoy everything that comes with that status. This leaves them two years or less to graduate with their bachelor's degree. I was able to finish in 3 regular semesters and one summer semester after transferring from a community college.

I see no benefit in paying the university costs to just take general education classes that are exactly or nearly exactly the same as what the community college offers, and will be unquestionably accepted for transfer credit.

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:
It is possible to finish school without being asshole deep in debt.

Yep. Have your parents pay for it. Your kid is smart!

I had a similar agreement with my folks; so long as I made the grades, they paid for my undergraduate degree. My grad school was all on me. I'm almost paid off on those loans.

The cost of "education" (a goddamn piece of paper in a frame) is ridiculous. I paid for the frame, too BTW.