Some thoughts on college costs: - W or you need to be filling out a FAFSA form right about now - the basic form schools all use for determining financial aid. - does she have any basis for winning scholarships? She should be applying now - she could go to community college and live away from home - it would just require her to work and to learn frugality - not bad things, imho. Seems to me living away from home might be best for her? - she can take out student loans - alternative living arrangements can make college cheaper. My good friend's sister lived with a family as a "mother's helper" all through college. This wealthy family took her on many fabulous vacations, she went to school in the mornings and helped with the kids in the afternoon after they came home from school. My son's college town has co-ops where students commit a few hours a week to helping run the building (like a frat house without the frat) and it costs little more than half what the dorms cost.
I figured it out once when my oldest went to college. Costs were then about $20,000 a year for the excellent state school he attends, with dorm fees, meal plan, etc. He earns $3,000 of that himself working in the summer. Figure another $3,000 or so that I would have been spending anyway on food and utilities and gas and car insurance with him living at home (he doesn't need a car at school). If he HAD chosen to live in the co-ops, that would have cut his costs by about $4,000 a year. So in that case, it would have only cost me $10,000 a year above what current expenses were - and that's without him working any hours at all while in school. If he worked a 10-12 hour a week campus job during the school year, that would bring in about another $4,000 - cutting the actual cost to $6,000 a year. And you know what? I could live with my kid borrowing $6,000 a year in student loans, if need be.
My point being, that the somewhat overwhelming college costs are sometimes more manageable than you think, if you really break them down.
