So, how much does it really cost to put two kids through university?

[bibliophile birds]

They did make a very mature decision to attend school at the local community college

that is a very mature decision. it's really stupid to pay thousands more to take a basic class when you can do it on the cheap at a perfectly good community college (yes, i know they aren't all perfectly good). the only worry there is that things are sometimes difficult to transfer, as i learned the hard way.

 

[miss_thenorth]

So, wait--you can go to a college first to take some courses, then have the credits transferred to a university? anyone know if thsi can be done in Canada? (I really know nothing about university)

My son will more than likely go to a local community college and more than likely take a year oof, as he does not know what he wants to do yet.. My dd however, will be a veterinarian. Her mind is made up,a nd even the 7 years didn't deter her when I told her.

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

I have two kids in college right now. They are a year apart in age and the economy is lousy, so you can probably understand why I am broke!

That being said, my kids are not the best students in the world, but they did manage to get a couple of small scholarships. They also weren't so sure about what they wanted to be when they grew up. They did make a very mature decision to attend school at the local community college (which is a part of the State University of NY- SUNY system) to figure out what they wanted to do. They stayed on campus in a dorm for two years. Tuition and a dorm were about $8600 per year. This drastically reduced the amount of money that we had to pay for all of those basic classes like English 101, etc... One daughter became a Resident Assistant which garnered her a private dorm room at no cost. One will be graduating this year and going off to a SUNY school.

Altogether, the girls have saved us a lot of money and they will graduate with degrees from the SUNY system which is said to be one of the best values in the country for the education dollar. So far, neither one has had to take out a single student loan.

Wow, that is a great deal! I did a bunch of AP and IB stuff in high school, which helped so that I didn't have to take those intro type classes. But what an awesome set up!

 

[bibliophile birds]

So, wait--you can go to a college first to take some courses, then have the credits transferred to a university? anyone know if thsi can be done in Canada? (I really know nothing about university)

as far as i know, it's more about whether the university will recognize them than anything. if they know the university they want to get a degree from, i would have them inquire as to what community colleges or junior colleges they accept transfer credits from readily. my first transfers were from one uni to another and i only had problems with classes that didn't "match" the class descriptions at the second school. when i transferred my study abroad classes, it was a nightmare- mostly my fault for not checking ahead of time. apparently Tennessee schools don't see the value in taking Maori as a foreign language....

 

[Dace]

So, wait--you can go to a college first to take some courses, then have the credits transferred to a university? anyone know if thsi can be done in Canada? (I really know nothing about university)

.

No idea about Canada but that is how it is done in the States....you can even secure a guaranteed spot in the University system (meaning your option is not just a State school) after 2 yrs of community.

 

[TheMartianChick]

In the case of my daughters, the community college that they attend is a part of the SUNY system. In fact, even the website address is sunyxxxx.edu

The credits are readily transferable to most colleges and are definitely accepted by SUNY's 4 year universities. In fact one of the classes that both girls took is a music history class with a professor that is so difficult that the other SUNY schools will not require them to EVER take another music history class again! (They are both grateful as they are musicians!)

It just saved so much money to do things this way. The kids were able to have the time that they needed to figure out what they wanted to do and we weren't quite as stressed about the money as we might have been if we were paying more.

SUNY schools are also less than 2/3 the cost of most other state colleges. Here is a link to the SUNY website. This particular page has info about the ratings for the schools.

http://www.suny.edu/Student/university_others_say_about_suny.cfm

 

[hwillm1977]

there will no grants. And very likely no scholarships. It will be us contributing, and the kids having jobs while in school. the projection I got was around $100K for 4 years. I refuse to turn my kids out on their own with that kind of debt. Could you imagine just starting your life with that kind of debt already? We will be covering most, the kids will obviously have jobs.

No offense, but I would like to know dollar amounts, generally speaking. As in average rental costs etc tuition fees etc. Telling the kids to suck it up doesn't wash in my books. It's an education and their future, not a boo boo on their knee.

Well, I went to UNB... and graduated $58K in debt. I took two years of a biology (genetics) degree, and then transferred to Geology... so I had to go for 5 years to finish my bachelors instead of 4.

Tuition was around $4000, Books and supplies were generally $1200 each term... rent was $1600/month (split between me and three other roommates... you could stay in a dorm room that you have to share with another person for about $7000/year, cafeteria food included)... bills (heat, electricity, cable, phone) were a few hundred more each month, food I tried to keep to $40/week (including going out)... and I worked part time to cover any 'fun' expenses.

It adds up really fast

I don't know about transferring credits from colleges... I went to UNB Saint John for my first two years, and when I transferred to UNB Fredericton (SAME university, different campus) the first year biology was different and I was made to take it over again.... you can check directly with the university though to see if they work like that... I know tuition at our community colleges is only $2600/year.

ETA: If I had it to do over again, I would take a few years off to learn what I really wanted to do... after finishing the science degree and working a few years... I went back to college, took a graphic design course and that's what I do now... but I still make more per hour at a part-time waitressing job (that I could have had with no schooling debt) than I make as the production coordinator for our local newspaper.

 

[okiegirl1]

I'm going to school now. I'm doing my generals at a community college and transferring to a 4 year. Because this happens so much, my c.c. and 4 year work together regarding what credits transfer. You just have to call the 4 year and see what they will accept.

as far as the kids, they are young enough they can do their part. They can make straight A's to increase the chance of a scholarship. In their senior year, they can take classes that are college credits. They can take vo-tech classes to make sure what they want to do when they grow up. The kids need to be as involved if not more in their future. And yes, at 16 they can start working and adding to the college fund.

 

[patandchickens]

So, wait--you can go to a college first to take some courses, then have the credits transferred to a university? anyone know if thsi can be done in Canada? (I really know nothing about university)

I do not know for sure but I seriously doubt it. "Colleges" in Canada are mostly quite a lot different than "colleges" in the states. In Canada it is mostly just vocational-training programs... in the US it is mostly liberal-arts programs, same as universities.

So you could look into it but I really doubt it would help you any.

For Americans, I would point out that the thing to do is to find a community college that has an existing relationship with the college you want to go to, and see if you can get coursework *pre approved* for transfer or at least determine whether they have approved that exact course for transfer from that exact community college before. Not always, but often, a larger state school will have a pretty regular arrangement with one or more local community colleges, where they can tell you in advance that Yes they will accept this this and that courses for transfer credit (but not such-and-such other course(s))... this is BY FAR the safest way to go, because as others have said, ti sucks to have taken a course, invested the time and money in it, then be told it doesn't count and you ahve to re-take it.

The reason that courses do/don't transfer is the college/university's assessment of whether they are close enough in content and rigor to their own. I used to fairly regularly get sent syllabi from local community college courses to look at to say whether they should/shouldn't be given transfer credit for the Ecology courses I taught (in a SUNY system school). If large swaths of topics were missing from the syllabus, or if there was some evidence that the rigor of the course was at the level of "what color is the sky, a) blue or b) plaid?", then I would advise not accepting it for credit; if it seemed to be reasonably comparable to what we had, I would advise accepting it. Note that this can change from year to year - there were situations (not many) when our institution would accept a particular course taught at a particular other school during some years but not others, if the instructor/syllabus changed greatly.

The main reason I want to make sure my kids have documentation as American citizens (to which they are entitled, along with Canadian citizenship, since I their mother am American) is to be able to get out-of-state rather than foreign-national tuition rates should they decide to go to college/university in the US when they grow up

Pat

Pat

 

[murphysranch]

My daughter has been going to community college for two years. She's now married, with three kids, and on all sorts of assistance. She's turning 24 next month. No, we are not contributing. She was an honors and AP student in high school, but became a meth addict and was homeless for two years. We spent her college money on the property where we live now.

So how does she do this? She on a Pell Grant, and lots of other small grants. In fact, she has been accepted into 5 colleges and has decided to attend Washington State Univ Vancouver for her jr and sr year. Her tuition for an out-of-stater? $19,600 for Jr year, then $9600 for her Sr year, since she'll be a resident by then. How will she pay for it? All but $1300 has already been committed so far by again the Pell Grant and other assistances. No pay back.

Would I recommend this route for other children? No. But there is lots of assisance out there that many of us are completely unaware.