How much Debt is OK?

I take you were as prepared as I was for college costs. Welcome to my life raft. With Soph twins I feel your pain.....x2. My daughters take out loans for tuition and day-to-day living expenses, I pay rent, utilities, and they empty my pockets when I sleep for "chump change".

The way I see it is the student loan repayment schedule is a long one, with minimal payment amounts and when done with school they can make those small payments to establish a credit history and sooner or later I will end up paying the loans off when some solid investments pay out.

In hindsight I have a bruised arse from self inflicted kicks for not preparing better. In real time I have to"get over it" because this payment is a reward for having the time off my life.

ILVBB good question. Please don't take my advice too seriously because it is just some idle thoughts. But I think here's how I would look at it. Look at your "investment" and the look at the return for that investment. Ask yourself what you're buying. Are you paying for a college education that will reap financial security for your son --- or is your son just "attending" college and playing ball? If it is the latter I would consider pulling the plug and look for a less expensive solution to his future. He could move back home give up baseball and attend a local college. Many times we address the issue of academics vs athletic and we agree academics is much more important --- however when we are faced with an academic vs athletic decision many forget the rules.
I have a grandson and a son in college. Both attend SEC schools out of state. Grandson lives in Texas and attends LSU, my son lives in Tennessee and attends Auburn. Grandson does not play sports, lives on campus and pays for his own college with student loans, works, eats cheap, has a academic challenging curriculum and carries a "B" average. My son's college is paid for by MLB, he lives off campus, works a little, has a less challenging curriculum and has a "C" average. Son spends money much more freely than grandson by eating out, movies, clothes, games etc. I would be much more apt to send money to my grandson (which I haven't) than my son. At this point if my son call for financial assistance I would offer advice (not money). I could condense it all down to one (two part) question: "What am I buying and is it a good deal?"
Fungo

Fungo:

Thanks, my son is at a very academic school. He struggled the first 2-years. This year we had him tested for a learning difference which was diagnosed and he sought "treatment." He ended up this semester with better than a 3.5 gpa.

Your thoughts as to investment are "right-on" and as such, we have been willing to let him borrow (with me as a guarantor). The plan was for him to graduate with $40K in debt which we looked at as a way of keeping his feet to the fire.

However, with the downturn, we estimate that total borrowing will need to be nearly $100K for him to graduate. As of now, I don't see a way for him to pay off $100K of debt, so in reality, I will need to pick-up the debt. The only way we can do that is for my wife and I to sell out house of 20+ years (which is what the school told us we needed to do).

Back to my question, my son is growing as a person, becoming a good student, making friends, developing as a person that I am proud of. Yet, the choice is to mortgage both my son and our futures for an education which may or may not be able to support him.

Would I be "scaring" him for life we forced him to leave a school, friends and a baseball experience which have all helped him grow into what my wife and I consider a fine young man.

Here's a simple equation.

Complete college with whatever debt is necessary. Upon graduation run to the local National Guard recruiter. Pick a field with good training and join the Guard with the student loan repayment option. Upon completion of a 6 year committment student loans are better than 60% paid off if not more and you got some life skills and training under your belt.

Not to mention that with the current administration, deployments for Guard troops should go down. It's a great part time job with a retirement. It's a good deed done for our country.

Worked for me 25 years ago...should work again.

1BDad thats a great idea you have given. And there are other ideas you can explore. Do not pull him out of his current situation if he is happy , doing well and on track to get that degree. Do whatever you have to do to make it work.

quote:

Complete college with whatever debt is necessary. Upon graduation run to the local National Guard recruiter.

Good idea 1BDad....for the right situation. The only flaw I see is that it takes a certain kind of person to make that military commitment. Guard or not, this world has too many nuts to hedge a bet on deployment regardless of administration. I see it almost the other way. The administration will cut full time troops and we will rely on those who may have joined for reasons like the one mentioned. Do I want to see a social work major in a foxhole who is looking back at Dad thinking....Yea, great idea ?

ILVBB, this economy is getting to a lot of us, me included. I'm glad now Bum, Jr. selected to go to a university close to home. It helps having baseball and academic money, and our plan is to pay only interest on the loan until he finds a job and pays the rest. My wife and I are not shy about that.. we both paid our own way through college. Plus he shouldn't owe too much when he's done, around 35k.

I got really lucky with my younger boy. He received an appointment to West Point. They'll pay for everything, plus medical, dental, food, and a monthly stipend! Pretty good deal, and the finest school in the country in my book.

One left to go, our younger daughter. I'm just crossing my fingers that business turns around soon so I can help her out.

One thing I don't believe has been mentioned is what is his major?

What I mean is this; if he is an education major, does it make sense to go $75K in debt to make $30k a year as teacher?

Now on the other hand if he is an Engineering Major, is $75k so bad?

No offense to teachers, but you don't go into that profession for the pay.

One rule of thumb I have heard is that it should not total more than twice the annual salary of the profession he is going to go into - with the annual salary being at 5 years into the job.

A couple of examples:

A teacher in CA with 5 years experience would make around $50,000 a year - so they should not get more than 100,000 in debt in college.

A computer programer in silicon valley with 5 years experience would make on the order of 80,000 - so could go up to 160,000 in debt.

The theory is that the student will be paying the loan off over 15-20 years - and if they are at that level of debt, the burden will not be more than they can handle.

Hope this helps... I think I would build a spreadsheet of loan payments and projected salaries - and then keep it under about 10-15% (which this rule of thumb probably does.)

ILVBB - Another way to take his debt out would be to borrow against the equity of your house rather than selling it. Yes, that creates a payment. But the rate is low (at least now) and you can enter into a side agreement with him that he helps with the payment.

I've met your son, and it appears to me as if he has every expectation of being an economic success in life. When he is, there is a good chance that $100K in debt, and/or the payments on such debt, might not be that big of an issue in the context of his expected life earnings.

So the risk is that you use the equity in your house to take out his debt, and you are left with 100% of it. The best case is that he helps with the payments in his early working life, and before too long his earning power either takes the whole debt on, or pays it off outright.

That is more or less how we have decided to handle the college thing.

This is a really good topic with some really good suggestions.
It costs lots of many to raise children, most of the people that I know, whether they could afford it or not, had their children take out student loans, while they paid for all living expenses. Or their children worked through college to pay for expenses while the parents paid off their education. All worked together in the investment of their childrens future. If equity loans were needed or borrowed against 401K (if work anything) the agreement should be to help pay it back upon graduation.

This is an important and serious discussion one should have with their children during the HS years.

But many don't. The discussion should be your finanacial stand on paying for school and expenses, and what is expected from your student. Since our son wanted to go to play baseball (his choice) and probably could not work, it was agreed that he would take some of the burden from taking out a student loan. That narrowed down his choices pretty quickly as many of the schools recruiting him were private and very expensive.

Luckily things worked out well for him (and us) as his education was almost paid for and he incurred no debt, but he was aware of the fact well in advance, that it wouldn't be a free ride from us, regardless of our financial situation.

That was the way our parents did it with us, and both my husband and myself came from families that could well afford the 1,000 tuition per semester (well, don't laugh that was a long time ago and everything is relevent). Both of my brothers were going to school on loans, one avoided it by ROTC with and the other, just within the last few years finished paying off medical school.

I would suggest sitting down and having a discussion with your son, to let him know exactly where you stand and what his obligation has to be with the costs involved where he attends. The way we looked at it, my son had his whole life to take care of that debt, our years were limited to continue to earn, we didn't work for companies that gave us retirement benefits and who knows if ss would exist when we were ready to use it.

You wouldn't be scaring him, children should be well aware of the world around them and what is going on. Give him a choice, if you choose to pick up the financial debt, that may leave him to take care of you in your old age.

quote:

My wife and I are not shy about that.. we both paid our own way through college.

Bum, as nice as that sounds, remember college costs have likely skyrocketed since you were in school...

My dad talks about working over breaks and over the summer which would pay for that year's tuition and then he said he worked oncampus to have a little spending money.

A student now would have to have a pretty good job to pay for school completely for a year with one summer's pay.

With that said, I am paying for my college education through student loans. I'm looking at probably finishing undergrad owing roughly $40k.

ILVBB- I was thinking as Rob mentioned .

It is funny you posted this today as I was going to also post that same question from folks that have been there. With son going to college next year, it is a terrible financial environement. Add to that the large pool of students applying this year and it's a mess! (State Univ of NY apps are up 50% this year so safe (and cheaper)options are not a given.)

The school my son likes both for academic and baseball starts at about 35K per year. Since it is a D3 , no baseball money, and he is a good student, but not good enough for a lot of academic.

We will probably go the refinance route. Then pay the monthly amount. We had the mortgage down to about 8 years left, but will probably refinance and start a new 15 year payoff period.

At least you know the amount, i am sitting here waiting for FAFSA time, and then waiting for the school to let me know what the real cost will be, not just the sticker price.(sometime in March?) I also have a daughter in her second year at a private college but she did well with her academic package. It still is a decent bill though.

I cant wait for his last HS season so I can relax, watch the games, and forget about this stuff!

So -bottom line, you are not alone and I am glad you opened this discussion so I might learn fro folks that are further down the road with this process.

Good Luck

Lets say a $50k debt is built up.

If they didn't go to college what would be the difference in salaries per year?

Spread that out over a lifetime.

Put a value on the college life experiences

My bet says that 50k is a drop in the bucket when all is said and done and a great investment with a positive return.

ILVBB,

I think this is a tough question for most of us.

Our family saved very little for college because we paid for private schools for both of our sons from K thru HS (and I also made career decisions during those years that limited my income but permitted me to drive them back and forth to private school).

Once they entered college, we wanted to keep our sons' debt burdens low. We have used home equity loans (later refinanced into one mortgage), and working more than 40 hrs/week to accomplish that. We don't regret helping our sons to the extent we have, but... we are feeling the impact on our retirement plans.

Going back 25 years or so, my father was disabled and my parents unable to help me or my 4 siblings with college at all. I graduated with a lot of debt, but paid it off over ten years. During that ten years, I estimate that for every $100 I paid on those loans, the 4-year degree increased my income by at least $500. My second job after college was at a "professional" level and absolutely required the 4-year degree.

If we were to start the college process over for our sons (and I'm relieved that instead we are almost done), I would consider putting more of the debt in my sons' names, BUT making the loan payments for them for their first few years after college, gradually transitioning to them making the payments after a few more years. As someone noted above, this helps establish their credit ratings.

Best wishes in your decision - I know it is getting even tougher in today's economic climate.

Julie

I should add to my above, that I am assuming the final bill from the school, after merit awards, and HIS student loans,will be about 20-25K per year.



We fully expect him to pay student loans also.

We will review it all when we get the actual costs and we may even say it is not do-able. It is hard to figure without the actual bills.

I have heard folks on here say that the sticker price is sometimes far off the actual price. Even have seen some folks say they ended up the same as a State school when all is said and done so I have no clue as to what to expect and we will have a family sit-down once we know the details.

Then, my next post after that meeting might be, ANYONE KNOW AN affordable school for a good student and LHP?"

quote:

Would I be "scaring" him for life we forced him to leave a school, friends and a baseball experience which have all helped him grow into what my wife and I consider a fine young man.

Do you mean "scarring" (to damage) or "scaring"(to frighten)? I think you mean scarring --- so my answer is I don't think so. He sounds mature so I think you would need to "force" him to do anything. I do think he should be fully aware of the situation and I think he could make some suggestions toward a solution. This situation isn't uncommon. MANY college students find themselves having to put college on hold for a period of time or make adjustments because of financial limitations. I have two brothers and a brother-in-law that have earned their bachelors AND masters degrees without student loans or parental assistance. They were already married when they received their masters and I would venture to say they are better people because they had to "earn" everything. Life is tough and we parents often find ourselves unable to provide the solution for every challenge that faces our "children". That's pretty much the way life is. I'm one of 9 children, parents divorced, mother was on welfare, I'm uneducated, I never played college baseball and I feel blessed. Life is good!
Fungo

quote:

They were already married when they received their masters and I would venture to say they are better people because they had to "earn" everything. Life is tough and we parents often find ourselves unable to provide the solution for every challenge that faces our "children".

Fungo, a very good point, as always. My hubby was about 30 when he decided to complete his degree to qualify for advancement at his current job. We had a 2-year-old and an infant, so he continued to work fulltime while he also went to college fulltime. (And he earned better grades than he had his first time in college.) I juggled as much of the home stuff as I could while also working fulltime. Hubby graduated and we all survived!

Julie

ILVBB,

One more thought about your particular situation.

You mentioned that your son is a little more than halfway through. I'm guessing that means he has completed 2-1/2 years and has 1-1/2 years, or possibly 2 years, left to graduate?

In his specific case, it might make economic sense to continue with the current college rather than hoping to eventually finish up at a lower-priced college. Classes and degree requirements do not always transfer smoothly from one school, even to a similar degree at another college. It's possible that he could end up paying for (and being out of the workforce for) an extra semester or two because of a transfer or a "sabbatical" from college.

Julie

quote:

PS The cost of attendance has gone up nearly $10K per year over the past 2-years.

ILVBB,

Your son is a wonderful/key hitter on a team/program with a huge upside.

Can you explain that number? I checked the website.
It shows that for the 2005/06 year, the cost including room, board, tuition and other items, including incidentals was around $32,500.
For 2008/09, it is listed at around $38,500 for the same items or a total increase of $6,000 over that 3 year period. This isn't cheap. However, the school is still listed as one of the very best for the cost by many reliable organizations.
That doesn't seem too bad compared with many top universities and the cost escalators being reported.
Your number of $10,000 per year for the past 2 years, or $20,000 total increase in 2008/09 vs your son's freshamn year seemed high, so I checked the site before posting.

Having been in a situation of evaluating transfer costs, our experience is you would need to add one additional year of college and associated costs because of the transfer/credit issues, as Julie also posted.

With all due respect, the cost of attendance that we evaluated prior to my son's attendace was $30k per year which was the published cost (I still have my worksheets where we evaluated the options that my son had at the time). The cost today is $38.5 a nearly $10K increase. My wording was incorrect and should have read "nearly $10K over the past 2-years."

In that I have two son's both in private schools, I am evaluting what is best for not only my eldest but my youngest. Additionally, when you have been unemployed for more than three years with a disabled wife, you need to consider what is best for the family.

I apologize if I mislead anyone. My question was general in nature as I did not want to get into the specifics of my families personal and financial situation.

I am learning it is not worth it to post on this forum anymore. You may offend someone or your motives may be challenged. I offered up a general question that I wanted some general advice; I am sorry if anyone was misled.

quote:

Originally posted by fsmjunior:
One thing I don't believe has been mentioned is what is his major?

What I mean is this; if he is an education major, does it make sense to go $75K in debt to make $30k a year as teacher?

Now on the other hand if he is an Engineering Major, is $75k so bad?

No offense to teachers, but you don't go into that profession for the pay.

Starting pay in our district is 42K out of college. The top end is 97K. It's not six figures. But it's not bad pay either. But if my kids wanted to be teachers they would not be in expensive high end private colleges. They would be at high end state schools.

ILVBB,

Dont stop posting on this site. Does not matter if its 10,000 over 1 or 2 its still an increase. We all understand exactly where your coming from. I and a lot of people understand how difficult it is right now with peoples economic difficulties. My son had a D1 scholarship to a private school, after much prayer and discussion my son asked out of the NLI and it was given to him. He is as I have said many times at a JC. In two years we will be doing a lot better. Like you, dont need to get into specifics.
For your son it is much more difficult because he is already at the school and is thriving. That would be a very difficult decision to pull him out now. Nobody can really advise you ILVBB, its just a personal decison that your family has to make.
For us it has worked out well, my husband is recovered from a serious illness and is on his feet so we are preparing for our son to go to a 4 year school after JC.
I pray that you are able to work this out however it is best for your family now, and its future. I think a lot of people will be going through this difficulty in the next couple years.
I think We would try our hardest to keep our son at the school, but that isnt always what is best for entire family. The problem with posting for anyone is you asked a general question and people are trying to help so they get more specific, and sometimes we dont want to go into personal problems our families maybe having. I always enjoy your posts and you contribute a lot to this site. hang in there and pray that God will keep the door open for your son to stay where he is. Always remember also that sometimes where God closes one door he opens another. God Bless and hope everything works out. fan

ILVBB, I second Fan's advice. With your situation I would advise son to take on more of the burden, he'll understand. Best wishes, Pop up.

ILVBB, no way will we let you slip away on us! It's a great question and one that I'm sure has many, many of us puzzling more than a bit over what the coming years will bring.

I dedicate "Stay" by Jackson Browne to you.

Krak

quote:

Originally posted by ILVBB:
In that I have two son's both in private schools, I am evaluting what is best for not only my eldest but my youngest. Additionally, when you have been unemployed for more than three years with a disabled wife, you need to consider what is best for the family.

ILVBB, first of all PLEASE do not leave this site. We all appreciate your posts and while what you are asking, and the responses you are receiving, can be personally embarassing I can tell you you are not alone. I have spent the last three hours on an Excel spreadsheet trying to figure out how it will all work. And I'm not sure it will! I pray to God that my family will get through this financial mess--the roof partially caved in on my business yesterday from a massive snowstorm and I'm not sure how to pay for it all--and while things look bleak I keep telling myself "there's always a way".

You are not alone. I know that's no solace coming from a poster you have never met, but I believe in God and I believe God will get me through this and will get you through it, too. I'm definitely praying that you will.

My suggestion is you make some tough decisions. Perhaps you start by dropping the private school for your two other children. My three kids were all raised in public school and have done quite well.

Another option is to actively seek scholarships for your son based on your financial hardship. Pell Grants, student-loans where the interest is deferred, etc. I pray everything works out for you!

ILVBB,

please continue to stay on. This is a free place where people can hide behind there computers and bash others for thier pleasure. Dont let them disturb your peace. There are many others here that like to give good vibes. For you situation IMO money is the most important thing. Baseball can come in a distance second ( sorry ). Your son can play as much baseball once he makes enough money to support himself. The day has long past when you can drop out of HS and work on an assembly to support a family. Nowaday even proffesionals can have the bad cycles. As they say the rich get richer and poor get poorer. Placeing Money as the most important thing in life is not being shallow, its reality.

ILVBB, Please ignore those things that rub you the wrong way. I know these types of discussions can turn too personal (and sour) and shouldn't be taken too seriously. That's the reason I preempted my first comments with "ILVBB good question. Please don't take my advice too seriously because it is just some idle thoughts.
Many of us have felt the economic squeeze -- me included. My retirement was primarily in the stock market and you know what happened to that. Hey if misery loves company you and I have a lot of people in our circle.
Fungo

quote:

If my son left his current school, would I be "scaring" him for the rest of his life? Or should a parent be expected to sacrafice everything to help your kid pay for an education which in these times is not affordable?

My personal experience is that there will be no scarring. Conversely, if your son perceives later in life that his parents sacrificed too much, that will result in scarring.

40-some years ago, my parents and I were in a similar situation. I was a sophomore at a small liberal arts college, whose cost of attendance today is the same as your son's. It had been a stretch to enroll at that college, but working about 10 hours per week coupled with some scholarships allowed me attend. Then, the price of eggs fell drastically, and poultrymen, including Dad, began losing money. The decision my parents took was to wind down the chicken business, and astonishingly, to join the Peace Corps! This was a very wise move on their part--teenagers when the depression hit, they had spent their adult lives to that point being careful with money, but wanting to give their children the advantages that they hadn't had. I was the last of the 4 children, and this was an opportunity to do something else, and maybe do some good also.

My parents had effectively zero income, but possessed the property of the vacated chicken farm. So I wasn't eligible for need-based aid, excepting my junior year, during which a federal program briefly only counted income and not assets. My choices were to either leave the private school for a more affordable state school, or find a good paying job with flexible hours. I was able to find such a job, and I stayed at the private school, emerging only slightly in debt--about a half year's cost of attendance. I worked 35 hours a week, and gave up most of the structured extracurricular activities I'd been involved in. The midnight bridge games and the pursuit of coeds continued.

So life was different than it had been, but I was surely unscarred! In fact, I think the tradeoff amounted to a net positive for me. Furthermore, in retrospect, had I gone to a state school, it would have been yet another different life, but probably just as good. It's often said that college is the best years of a person's life. I don't know if that is precisely true but the 4 years I spent in college, under either circumstance, were wonderful.

My parent's lives became vastly richer. I'm not going to describe here what they did or the people(s) they touched during the second half of their lives, but I will always be proud of them and so pleased that they didn't sacrifice "too much" to make sure their child could continue an idyllic college life.

Since this is a baseball board, I suppose part of the question is: How much should parents sacrifice so that their son can play baseball in college? Before I became a parent my answer was simple. After high school, the time for games is over, unless a player can get somebody to pay him. Now that I have high school kids who conceivably could play in college, it ain't so simple!

quote:

Since this is a baseball board, I suppose part of the question is: How much should parents sacrifice so that their son can play baseball in college? Before I became a parent my answer was simple. After high school, the time for games is over, unless a player can get somebody to pay him. Now that I have high school kids who conceivably could play in college, it ain't so simple!

I don't think anyone was offended ILVBB nor were your motives questioned. You posted a great question and one that we have all had to, or will have to, think about at some point. You are facing some tough decisions and we are all with you on that.

There's some great advice here from people, but more importantly, your question will hopefully open the door for parents who need to sit down with their kids and have an honest and frank conversation with their soon to be college students about what is expected on both sides.

We made some life decisions early on that limited our potential for earning and therefore saving for college, but which we believed would help prepare our kids for school in the long run. We have only been able to help with college on a limited basis - cellphone bill, car insurance, gas and repairs, etc - they have covered the rest with scholarships, grants, work study and student loans. Early on we heard they were the "only ones" who's parents did not foot the whole bill for college and we did feel some measure of guilt that we couldn't do it. But as they have matured they have let us know that they appreciated their college experience so much more than their friends who did not have to share the financial burden. They felt invested in it and worked that much harder to finish because they saw the cost adding up. Three have graduated with $20-25,000 in loans (that includes grad school) and #4 will be right there with them when he finishes next year.

Hang in there ILVBB - we're all pulling for you!

P.S. My spouse has also been unemployed for four years due to disability, so I can also relate to the additional stresses involved with that family situation. Thanks for being so honest with your situation - you never know who might read what you posted and realize that difficult circumstances can be overcome.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

Originally posted by fsmjunior:
One thing I don't believe has been mentioned is what is his major?

What I mean is this; if he is an education major, does it make sense to go $75K in debt to make $30k a year as teacher?

Now on the other hand if he is an Engineering Major, is $75k so bad?

No offense to teachers, but you don't go into that profession for the pay.

Starting pay in our district is 42K out of college. The top end is 97K. It's not six figures. But it's not bad pay either. But if my kids wanted to be teachers they would not be in expensive high end private colleges. They would be at high end state schools.

That was exactly my point; you just stated it more clearly.

I just firmly believe your debt should be based on expected income. Beleive me, I have many friends who are teachers that went to expensive private schools on Student Loans.

K mentioned FAFSA, and I'd like to expand on that.

No matter who you are (particularly in these times) it is WELL worth it to fill out those forms ASAP. You need to have done your 2008 taxes but, like everything else, it's best to get in line early.

For those who need help, it's essential. (Free money, guys!) Even for those who don't, please take the short time to fill out the form as there is a Change of Circumstance option that can be filed for Pell Grants as late as July, I beleive. Are you quite certain that your family won't be impacted by the loss of a job, illness, or other serious disruption this year?

FAFSA

This is a great question and I thought some good meaningful advice was given. There is nothing worse than finacial stress especially when it comes to our kids. I can't offer any specific advice other than some great points made and possibly seek some financial advice. If you let this build un inside it can seem worse than it is.
I would not encumber your family home unless absolutely necessary.

ILVBB

The question you asked was a great and timely one.

Please do not be put off in asking further questions.

I am hoping that this discussion (which you thankfully opened!) will give you , me, and others some idea as to how other folks dealt with this.

I,for one, thank you for your inquiry and I hope things get better for you in the upcoming year.

Best wishes!

Just a quick comment on FAFSA - you can fill it out Jan 1 using estimated numbers and then file an adjustment when you get your taxes done.

ILVBB, very tough decision. Not worth much but you have lots of support here!

Good luck with whatever you and your family decide. Unfortunately this is a very common problem now and will start to be more widespread with the economy the way it is.

My oldest,not a college athlete, transferred from one CA state university after 1 1/2 years to another CA state school. You would think all his general education units would have been transferable to the new school. Unfortunately even with same major many of the units weren't counted so he'll end up graduating in 5 (or an additional semester) years. So really research transfer if you think you have to go that route.

ILVBB,

I can't imagine having to go through the decision making you are going through. Hopefully someone on this thread has given you an idea of how to help. I have a senior in high school so I have not experienced the financial part of college yet. This thread has certaintly opened my eyes as to what it can cost. There is no way my husband and I can afford what some of the universities charge for tuition. Louisiana has a TOPS Scholarship Program for students who maintain a certain GPA and ACT score. My son has qualified for TOPS which pays a good part of tuition. Looking at the figures on this thread, he will have to stay in state, no ifs, ands, or buts. Good luck and I will say an extra prayer for you.

I would suggest your son look into being a resident assistant. At my daughter's school, TCU, RA's get free room and board...that would take a nice dent out of the cost equasion for your son if his school does something similiar.