college for three kids?

Question

I am worried about my kids future, how is 2 normal people with normal income gonna put three kids to college?

Answer 1

Start planning now. Talk to a financial advisor at your bank.

Encourage your kids (don't push them) to get good grades and participate in sports and after school activities so that they may be eligable for scholarships, bursaries and/or academic awards.

They may be able to get funding through the government, corporate sponsorship (if they have a good job) or you may want to encourage them to join the army (military will pay for education).

Last would be for them to get student loans but this is not an ideal way to start out your adult life as loans are usually overwhelmingly large (a standard college grad will have 20-30,000$ worth of loans by the end of their time in school) and ilarge amounts of interest is acrued from the day of graduation onwards.

Answer 2

Unfortunatly the middle class ranks often get the shaft here. You can talk to financial advisors and start saving now. Realistically though your children may need to finance their own education through student loans. Many middle class families are now in the same situation. My family didn't make enough to send me to school but they made to much for any financial scholorships.

The only other thing I could suggest is make sure you and your children work together on finding scholorships their junior and senior years of high school. Most high school councelors now have access to several different opitons of paying for school.

If in the end you still come up short don't be affraid to send your kids to a community college for the first 2 years. They are much smaller, your kids can live at home and their tuition could be as little as 1/4 the traditional college cost. This way when they do transfer into the larger university they will be able to finish their last two years as a traditional student and also be eligible for better loan opportuinities since they will be at a Junior level. Freshmen and Sophmores are not eligible for as much in student loans as Juniors and Seniors.

Good luck, and from a student that was raised by a family who didn't value education THANK YOU for caring about your kids!

Answer 3

One major problem with financial aid is that the middle class often gets left out. Middle class families often have to struggle because they can't afford to pay themself and their kids aren't eligible for as many loans/grants as lower-income kids.

So, how do you help your kids? Make sure they are scholarship material. There are literally TONS of scholarships available. And they aren't just for academics, although that does help. But say you have a child who isn't great at academics get them involved in sports or in community service work. You can start looking at scholarships now to see what your kids will need to qualify. Go to fastweb.com

Also, you can start talking up community college. It really is great. They can go there for a couple years and then transfer into a university. This will save a ton of money and by the time they transfer they should be well enough into their academic career that they can hold down a job as well. Many students in high school hear negative talk about community college. There really is no reason for it. They have higher student teacher ratios, some of the educational material is just plain better because it's not driven by politics, its an easier transition from high school to community college, its cheaper, and quite literally anyone can get in.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

well i come from a family of 5 i go to Columbia U my brother goes to a suny. Would recommend a couple of thing save only in your names for college because if you have money in the name of the child they will take it before they give out anything. financial aid is all a scam to being with. If you do some thing smart with respect to the tax codes it bad under the financial aid system. Also pres bush increased tax deductions tax deductions for college tuition. encourage your kids to do well. Save money be smart in picking a school amazing, state, community, make sure they pick a good major

Answer 5

start saving. i am about to be 18 but i feel you, if u are middle class then u are stuck, because u are not rich enough to pay for everything yourself, but u are not poor like my family and cant have the government pay for everything! my mom gets SSI so my efc is 0, but like i said start saving, gets some bonds and get cds from the bank, invest in somethings that will earn u money off the interest rate. cds are the safest way to build some wealth, also make sure ur kids do the best they can in school. have them participate in sports or try and push them to get straight a's, also if they go to fastweb.com when it is time to start looking for scholarships, they will find so many out there. go to the website yourself, when u go to the website you have to fill out all this crap, but it helps, it asks about your grades, sports, clubs, hobbies, health like if u are lcinically obese or if u have ADD and etc, it ask if u are over 5'10 for a girl and 6'2 for a guy. all sorts of stuff is on there and after u fill out the info it will narrow down scholarships that could benefit you personally, no one wants to keep seeing scholarships thjat are for people who are in the top ten for their class when u may be number 105 in ur class rank

there is money out there u just have to work hard and be patient to find it!

Answer 6

Scholarships, Financial Aid, and Prayer will help you through. Start saving now for their future! Have them work small jobs when they are able and take so much from their check and put it in cds to save where it can't be touched! Also stay on them about grades bc scholarships are so helpful.