College Savings

[statsman 5693]

I don’t want a CR or even a DT discussion- just thoughts on the smart play. I have one child, in the 7th grade. We have 300 type 1 Texas Tuition Program credits (would cover three years at UT or four years at most other state schools in Texas) and a little over $30K in a 529. 
 
Watching the volatile policy shifts of student loans, what’s the smart play? I know interest payments in current loans have been suspended for 2.5 years; if they are still suspended in six, I probably have my answer. 
 
What are the chances this is like the mid-80s immigration reform (created to be a one time thing, and hasn’t been repeated in 35 years, but a lot of people bet on a repeat)?

 What are y’all’s thoughts and strategies? Should I get the money out of a 529 account and put it in a more general use find?

[CooterBrown 18288]

Keep it in a 529 but maybe move it to a self directed fund if you think you’re better at it than the professionals running the fund. That way if you do need it for educational costs you can take advantage of the tax savings. If you move from a 529 to a regular brokerage account, taxes will be due on the gains.

[Dahobbs 18330]

2 hours ago, statsman said:

I don’t want a CR or even a DT discussion- just thoughts on the smart play. I have one child, in the 7th grade. We have 300 type 1 Texas Tuition Program credits (would cover three years at UT or four years at most other state schools in Texas) and a little over $30K in a 529. 
 
Watching the volatile policy shifts of student loans, what’s the smart play? I know interest payments in current loans have been suspended for 2.5 years; if they are still suspended in six, I probably have my answer. 
 
What are the chances this is like the mid-80s immigration reform (created to be a one time thing, and hasn’t been repeated in 35 years, but a lot of people bet on a repeat)?

 What are y’all’s thoughts and strategies? Should I get the money out of a 529 account and put it in a more general use find?

Keep in mind, you can now use 529 funds for a lot more than you could in the past. You could also change the beneficiary if you ended up not needing it for the kid. Hell, maybe go take some classes yourself if you want. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10807]

agree with the above, would definitely keep the funds in the 529. College is shit tons expensive and the "add-on" non tuition is where the expense is. Tuition sucks and all but the non-tuition crap is going through the roof.  You cannot ever have enough saved. (putting my last of 4 through now)

Edited August 30, 2022 by MonkeyDoughnut

[gyroprotagonist 2597]

8 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

You cannot ever have enough saved.

this.  we also have the texas tuition thing and 529 plans that we started at basically birth.  12 years later and we are projected to have a public school covered, but doing the math on a private school...yeesh...back to the salt mines.

[immamac 44383]

8 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

agree with the above, would definitely keep the funds in the 529. College is shit tons expensive and the "add-on" non tuition is where the expense is. Tuition sucks and all but the non-tuition crap is going through the roof.  You cannot ever have enough saved. (putting my last of 4 through now)

What does that even mean? Is there other fees outside of tuition or are you talking room and board? 

[fattyflattie 4640]

1 hour ago, immamac said:

What does that even mean? Is there other fees outside of tuition or are you talking room and board? 

Also looking for clarification. My understanding was loans can be used for any of that.  

[MonkeyDoughnut 10807]

2 hours ago, immamac said:

What does that even mean? Is there other fees outside of tuition or are you talking room and board? 

Yeah, basically everything outside of tuition... statsman saying he's got a lot of Texas Tuition credits, but tuition is only about 40% of the cost of attendance - room and board & misc, travel etc can cost a ton depending where your kid goes.  

Extras like:

sports - "Big Ticket" to go to sports - $225 + $150 for Red River ticket

parking - Living in dorm - garage parking $250 - 500 per semester

Kid flying home for breaks (varies on where live obviously) but $1-2k year, out of state 5k+ (all the times they will need to fly are the premium ticket windows - holidays etc)

[MonkeyDoughnut 10807]

1 hour ago, fattyflattie said:

Also looking for clarification. My understanding was loans can be used for any of that.  

Depending on what plan or fund you have you can, loans for sure.  I'm just saying no matter what you think you have saved it will likely be more than that unless something changes in the near future.  I haven't even touched on Greek Life expenses if your student decides to go that route as they definitely tack on even more expenses.

[CooterBrown 18288]

Parents have no business paying for Greek bullshit, sports tickets, etc. Make those entitled fucks pay for something. Jesus.

[immamac 44383]

1 hour ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Yeah, basically everything outside of tuition... statsman saying he's got a lot of Texas Tuition credits, but tuition is only about 40% of the cost of attendance - room and board & misc, travel etc can cost a ton depending where your kid goes.  

Extras like:

sports - "Big Ticket" to go to sports - $225 + $150 for Red River ticket

parking - Living in dorm - garage parking $250 - 500 per semester

Kid flying home for breaks (varies on where live obviously) but $1-2k year, out of state 5k+ (all the times they will need to fly are the premium ticket windows - holidays etc)

Uh...yeah that's not "cost of attendance" that's spoiling your kid and paying for them to live way outside of their means. 

That's like saying it's super expensive to have a high schooler because you have to buy them lunch every day and pay for their new car, insurance and gas and all the dates they go on too. Lmao

375 for all sports and RRS is a steal btw. 

I get that the college account can pay for those things, but that isn't part of the education cost. 

I haven't looked at tuition and room and board and a while so I just did, it's not that much more than the late 2000s when I was in school - the high end has just gotten exorbitant. 13k including meals laundry and a 300 per semester bevo bucks and 200 off campus credit is... Uh not bad by any stretch of the imagination. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10807]

When my kids were first born cost of attendance was around $9,500. When I sent them it was 3 times that. All I know is more is better and you'll never regret any extra education savings.

 

[South Austin 53230]

Reading this book now and highly recommend it.  It's mostly frightening, but also a little comforting.  And the author admittedly doesn't have a ton of answers (because the answers vary widely depending on your kid, your financial situation, your college targets, etc.), but he provides a lot of the questions you need to be asking. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by South Austin

[Dahobbs 18330]

11 hours ago, immamac said:

Uh...yeah that's not "cost of attendance" that's spoiling your kid and paying for them to live way outside of their means. 

That's like saying it's super expensive to have a high schooler because you have to buy them lunch every day and pay for their new car, insurance and gas and all the dates they go on too. Lmao

375 for all sports and RRS is a steal btw. 

I get that the college account can pay for those things, but that isn't part of the education cost. 

I haven't looked at tuition and room and board and a while so I just did, it's not that much more than the late 2000s when I was in school - the high end has just gotten exorbitant. 13k including meals laundry and a 300 per semester bevo bucks and 200 off campus credit is... Uh not bad by any stretch of the imagination. 

That's in-state tuition. Out of state is crazy expensive. 

[Jerry Callo 8960]

They nickel and dime you for all kinds of bs fees.  In addition to the crap tacked on to each tuition hour.  Last year, we had to pay $65 for orientation.  Not in-person orientation.  Not live Zoom orientation.  Pre-recorded video orientation.

Now that she's in an apartment, we give her X amount per month for rent, food, utilities, etc.  She gets to budget to make ends meet.

[immamac 44383]

32 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

That's in-state tuition. Out of state is crazy expensive. 

Hasn't it always been? 

[South Austin 53230]

5 minutes ago, immamac said:

Hasn't it always been? 

The book I referenced above discussed that.  In response to the market crashes of 2001 and 2007, which entailed many states cutting subsidies to public universities, those schools increased out-of-state tuition considerably (along with in-state tuition, of course).  It was always more expensive to attend another state's public university, but now out-of-state tuition is rivaling private schools.

[Dahobbs 18330]

17 minutes ago, immamac said:

Hasn't it always been? 

It has been more. But out-of-state tuition has increased significantly more than in-state. 

Here is the registrar information from 2002: https://registrar.utexas.edu/archived/schedules/fall2002/fr-tuition.html

flat rate tuition at $2,500.00 for in-state and $5,500.00 for out-of-state (both numbers liberal arts 12+hours)

Current tuition: https://onestop.utexas.edu/managing-costs/cost-tuition-rates/

flat rate tuition in-state $5,400, out-of-state $19,300 (again, liberal arts, 12+ hours)

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Dahobbs

[South Austin 53230]

3 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Here is the registrar information from 2002: https://registrar.utexas.edu/archived/schedules/fall2002/fr-tuition.html

flat rate tuition at $2,500.00 for in-state and $5,500.00 for out-of-state (both numbers liberal arts 12+hours)

It was about $1,400 for me in the mid-90s.  Law school at about $4,000 was a steal.

[CooterBrown 18288]

1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

It has been more. But out-of-state tuition has increased significantly more than in-state. 

Here is the registrar information from 2002: https://registrar.utexas.edu/archived/schedules/fall2002/fr-tuition.html

flat rate tuition at $2,500.00 for in-state and $5,500.00 for out-of-state (both numbers liberal arts 12+hours)

Current tuition: https://onestop.utexas.edu/managing-costs/cost-tuition-rates/

flat rate tuition in-state $5,400, out-of-state $19,300 (again, liberal arts, 12+ hours)

 

Which school has that in-state rate?  Cockrell is $12,968 (in state) and $44,000 (out of state) for 12 hours and every other one I tried was $10,500+ for in state.

Edited August 31, 2022 by CooterBrown

[Dahobbs 18330]

53 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Which school has that in-state rate?  Cockrell is $12,968 (in state) and $44,000 (out of state) for 12 hours and every other one I tried was $10,500+ for in state.

You're looking at a full year. I was quoting per 12+ hour semester for liberal arts (as indicated in my original post). 

[Beau Vine 55869]

On 8/30/2022 at 4:33 PM, immamac said:

What does that even mean? Is there other fees outside of tuition or are you talking room and board? 

Tons of them.  The course I used to teach had a $100 "technology fee," and then when it went online there was a $150 fee added for that.  Business and engineering courses charge a $60 fee here because the state doesn't like "differential tuition," so the colleges make up for extra costs with this fee. 

[Beau Vine 55869]

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