When wealthy parents won't pay for college
Some well-to-do moms and dads tell their kids they're on their own for higher education. What are their options?
Many parents can't afford to pick up any of the cost of sending their kids to college. But what if parents have substantial income and savings but refuse to help out?
A majority thought their kids should contribute a small portion of the total, while close to one-third thought they should contribute up to half. Only 7% thought children should contribute most of it and 2% believed children should be responsible for the full amount.
Washington Post personal-finance columnist Michelle Singletary recently referred her readers to a Reuters story about well-heeled parents who believe their kids won't properly appreciate their college education if the parents chip in. Singletary disapproves of that. She wrote: We know that even the brightest students can't count on getting scholarships or grants. So, either the child gets a scholarship, or he or she has to work like a dog while trying to take classes and/or take out costly education loans.
That made us wonder: What exactly are the options for students whose well-to-do parents won't help pay for their college education? A Web page at FinAid provides some answers. (It turns out FinAid gets this question a lot: "Some of the more common questions received by FinAid come from students seeking help because their parents refuse to provide any help for a variety of reasons, including misplaced priorities.") (Post continues below.)
The fact is, no matter what parents think, they're considered responsible for paying to educate their college-bound child, if they can. Stepmothers and stepfathers are too, FinAid says. So when the child applies for financial aid, they'll want to look at your income too.Students' options
Students, what can you do if your affluent parents won't help?
- Get your parents to fill out the free application for federal student aid, known as FAFSA. If they don't, you will be cut off from any need-based grants or loans. However, you may be eligible for higher-cost unsubsidized Stafford loans.
- Look for schools that provide merit aid not tied to ability to pay.
- Wait until you turn 24, which makes you an "independent student." You're also independent if you're a veteran, married or have kids. FinAid adds:
Before 1992, one could become independent if the parents didn't claim the student as an exemption on their tax returns for two years and the student provided evidence that he or she is self-supporting. This is the old definition, and is no longer valid.
- Get your mom and dad's parental rights terminated in court.
- Some parents won't fill out FAFSA because they're not paying their taxes. If that's the case, FinAid says:
If you have evidence of your parents' tax evasion, you could consider turning them in to the IRS, since the IRS does provide a reward for such information. (If your parents are sufficiently wealthy, the reward could pay for your education!)
Sound harsh or over-the-top? Unless you're an independently wealthy teen, understand that affluent parents who won't help out with college costs are limiting your options. Reuters says:
If Mom and Dad aren't contributing any money at all, it's the student who's going to have to come up with the difference -- by dipping into any savings they might have, working part time while pursuing their degree, or taking costly loans.
Singletary asked her readers for their opinion. Not one response she shared sided with well-heeled parents who refuse to help their kids. Those readers appreciate that tuition and other college costs are a much greater burden than they used to be.
Parents, if you are helping foot the bill, you're perfectly within your rights to set some ground rules and demand financial responsibility. For instance:
- Require that your child work part time during the school year and full time in summer. The money earned will help pay agreed-upon living and college expenses.
- Your child must stick to a budget. If you have yet to raise a financially aware child, this is your last chance. Set limits on spending and track it.
- Your child must graduate on time. Too many students are dragging it out. According to The Washington Post:
Fewer than half of students graduate in four years at 33 of the 50 state flagship schools. The overall four-year graduation rate is 31% for public colleges and 52% for private ones, the federal government reported this year.
If the kid can't do these very basic things, then cut them off.
What do you think? Are parents who can afford to help with college but don't being selfish?
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My parents 42 years ago refused to pay a dime for my college as they saw it as a waste of money. I was a girl. I was a good girl, no mouthing off, no smoking, no drinking, no breaking curfew, did all of my homework, blah, blah, blah. They forced my younger brother to go to college and chose his major, one he hated. He has never worked a day in his life, became mentally ill from all of the drugs he took in college. Parents divorced, father married a girl my age. Put her through 14 years of college and grad school. She now makes $65,000. per year. I think after taxes it took her 10 years of working to break even on the cost of her education.
I put myself through one year from money I had saved from high school jobs. Dropped out and banged around in crummy jobs until I was 23 when i started my first company. I read and read and became self educated. I started several more companies over the next 35 years. I saw my parents very little. Hadn't seen my father or mother in 15 years. Annually I would call Dad just to let him know i was still alive and in one of my last conversations with him he said, "I never was very good at picking a winner." Nice, but late. My last call was from his wife a year later, crying and telling me how Dad needed help, he had a stroke and it was very hard on her having to take care of him and she needed money to hire help so she could work. I told her it didn't sound like a very good investment. It is not that i am angry but when I was 18 and needed them to just help a little with my education, I was a bad investment. Dad was VP of a fortune 500 company. He had the GI bill for his college from World War II.
I know what it is to be homeless basically at 18 and it is too young. I have taken in 6 children who were all abandoned by their parents between 9 and 18. It is important for these children to have a support system and college is not the answer for everyone but someone to guide them into the future is always the answer. I disagree with this article in some respects because in some cases parents shouldn't pay and in some they should, it depends upon the child. The final point is that parents need to recognize who the child is and what is best for that individual child and you do that by knowing your child. The answer depends upon the child.
This article appears to be casting a disparaging glance on the wealthy as if they are all cold and cheap. More of the liberal media's attempt to cleate class warfare. And I hope this reporter remembered to claim as income that lunch that her company bought her last Friday before her child turns her into the IRS for income tax eveasion.
So! I'm a 4.0 student with honors and wealthy parents that can't afford college. Seems a little messed up.
Fewer than half of students graduate in four years at 33 of the 50 state flagship schools. The overall four-year graduation rate is 31% for public colleges and 52% for private ones, the federal government reported this year.
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