March 20, 2007
College Talk 101
You know how I feel about college, but what about a view from a Generation X’er? Ben from MoneySmartLife and I decided to talk about how certain view points can change from the perspective of a different generation. I am graduating from college this May (thank God!) and Ben is starting to save for his son to go to college. His son is not even a year old and he is already writing an apology letter to his son.
I hope you decide to attend college someday and experience all it has to offer, except the loans of course.
 We started saving money in a 529 plan before you were born but I’m afraid it just won’t be enough.
 We’ve been saving heavily in our retirement plans since we were married, at the expense of a college fund, because you can get a loan for college but we can’t get a loan for retirement.
P.S. In state tuition is much cheaper. Go Mizzou!
College Tuition Costs Gone Wild – An Apology letter to My Son
The letter, while sad, is definitely an indication of where our country is going and how college costs are skyrocketing. I recommended in my post Financial Insecurity in America that financial education be a mandatory course for our children. If Ben were to take the time to make sure his son understood how to manage money, not to get into high interest credit card debt, and life a frugal lifestyle that enabled him to save some money, he might be in a much better position after college to land on his feet and not mired in a huge amount of debt. Good luck!
Scholarships, modest living standards, and employment - plus (maybe) a small, low interest Federal loan will allow most people to go to college. That investment will pay a huge ROI.
Nothing is as expensive as ignorance. But careless life-style spending can ruin it all.
This baby will be able to go to college if he wants to badly enough!