Cristeen…..fwiw….
The 2 universities near me have fees and tuition of about $3000 a semester (most people take 2 semesters a year) for a full time undergraduate Bachelor of Arts type degree. It is a little higher in other disciplines.
This excludes any residence fees, meal plans, books, etc.
According to google, almost all universities in Canada are public.
Oh, I absolutely agree. It is completely ridiculous. Particularly since I've spent years answering phones, have plenty of experience doing it, and yet still can't get even a call back because I don't have a Bachelors. It's gotten particularly bad in this economic climate, although luckily I'm not actually looking any more. I was at the point (before I got pg with DS) that if I wanted a job I had to go through a temp agency for a placement so I could prove myself before being hired. Without a degree nobody would even interview me. And even most retail jobs wouldn't touch me because I had too much office experience, and was therefore "over-qualified". It's a really crappy double-standard spot to be in.
See, I tried that. I can't even get into the temp agency. Maybe I was trying the wrong ones. With Kelly Services I uploaded a resume, applied for 2 jobs on their job board and never heard a single word from anyone, either with Kelly or any employers. They don't have you come in and interview with a human. What was the point of 'joining'?
God I feel so old. 
25 years ago I put on my nice dress, went to the temp agency down the road, talked to a nice young lady and signed up. They called a couple of days later and I got a job alphabetizing dusty old files for an insurance company. In about a year I was hired on permanently, worked there eleven years. Did call center customer service for the last 5 years.
Ugh.
See, I guess it depends on your bank or which account you choose, but how could you NOT put money away?
Why wouldn't you want money to be no option when considering university?
Maybe you aren't aware of this, so I'll just share with you that many, many, many people struggle to provide food and shelter for their families and are unable to provide more than the basic necessities.
Maybe you aren't aware of this, so I'll just share with you that many, many, many people struggle to provide food and shelter for their families and are unable to provide more than the basic necessities.
Yes. Most financial planners tell you to pay your bills first and then pay your retirement savings and then, if you have the money, pay for your kids' college. (Kids can borrow money to go to college. You can't borrow money to pay for retirement.)
We're lucky enough to have the breathing room to save for college at our house, but not everyone is so lucky.
Most financial planners tell you to pay your bills first and then pay your retirement savings and then, if you have the money, pay for your kids' college. (Kids can borrow money to go to college. You can't borrow money to pay for retirement.
Hey, we went to the same financial planner! 
We ignored him, though. Our kids have 529s and we and DH's parents contribute to them as much as possible. We want to be able to make a lifestyle change when our kids fly the coop, and not having college bills is a part of that far-off dream of freedom. Also, we didn't have much college debt when we started our adult lives, and we want to pay that forward.
I like the treating college like tying your shoes that is what I do as well. For the record, DH has zero college, never went a day in his life. He has done very well for himself. I know that is very rare, and not going to college has hurt him. He could be doing better with a business degree. His clients sometimes research him before signing contracts and it has come out numerous times that they realized he does not have a degree. Sometimes they are impressed, other times not so much. I do have the degree and yet could only make a fraction of what he does. 
In my area we joke that you need a history, english or BA to wait tables and really, that isn't far from the truth. No degree and working at McD's is more a reality. In my dept at work, while we have no degree requirement for our entry level job that pays $12.00 an hour, we rarely hire anyone that doesn't have a 4 year degree. I've had some with a masters working for that. When you get 30+ applicants for the job and most have degrees, that is what you tend to hire.
Cristeen…..fwiw….
The 2 universities near me have fees and tuition of about $3000 a semester (most people take 2 semesters a year) for a full time undergraduate Bachelor of Arts type degree. It is a little higher in other disciplines.
This excludes any residence fees, meal plans, books, etc.
According to google, almost all universities in Canada are public.
The local community colleges are $36/unit right now for CA residents, they do not offer Bachelor's degrees (ETA - guess I should say FT is considered 12+ units)
CSU system (public school) is currently $5,472/year for CA residents, out of state students pay more
UC Berkeley (public school) is over $7K/semester (2 semesters per year not counting summer) for CA residents, out of state students pay more
Stanford (private school) is over $13K/quarter (3 quarters per year not counting summer)
Mills (private school) is over $38K/year
None of those prices include the various campus/school fees, room/board, class fees or books. And these numbers have increased dramatically in the last 15 years. When I was at community college, it was $9/unit, 1/4 of what it is now. What's it going to be in another 15 years when my kids are contemplating those classes?
The local community colleges are $36/unit right now for CA residents, they do not offer Bachelor's degrees
CSU system (public school) is currently $5,472/year for CA residents, out of state students pay more
UC Berkeley (public school) is over $7K/semester (2 semesters per year not counting summer) for CA residents, out of state students pay more
Stanford (private school) is over $13K/quarter (3 quarters per year not counting summer)
Mills (private school) is over $38K/year
None of those prices include the various campus/school fees, room/board, class fees or books. And these numbers have increased dramatically in the last 15 years. When I was at community college, it was $9/unit, 1/4 of what it is now. What's it going to be in another 15 years when my kids are contemplating those classes?
Thanks for pulling those numbers together, I had no idea how much they raised the cost! I paid less than $2000/yr for a CSU education in 1999. Big increase!
ETA for typos
And they wonder why so many people do not have degrees... Holy cow the costs are unreal! All this is making me sick. While I want my kids to have a decent start in life and I want them to have the upper hand (degrees help) I cannot fathom paying that kind of money. Hopefully they will be able to get scholarships (fingers crossed on the VA). And sometimes I kick myself thinking I could have transferred all my benefits if I just stuck it out in the military 9 more years. Oh what a lifetime that would have been... Then again I'd only have 6 yrs left...
Tuition has been steadily increasing in my state for years although I didn't realize how bad it was until I looked yesterday. It was really discouraging to see how much tuition had gone up on the community college and college level since I went. Next year it's going to cost nearly $8000 (up 10% from this year) for in-state tuition and fees at the state university I went to as compared to about $2200 when I started in the late 90s.
I found a chart comparing 1998/99 tuition to 2008/09 tuition costs at the school as well as the median household income in our state for the same years. The tuition increased 139% while median household income increased 17%. I was kind of thinking maybe I'd try to start saving, but at this rate, I'm not sure what difference it would make.
No wonder there've been student demonstrations on the news. 10% increase in one year?
For the first 15 years we were parents, we lived on one income, my DH's, and I focused on raising the kids and running our home. I recently returned to work full time mostly to pay for our kids education. Our goal is state university and no debt. For us, this is attainable. Even though we weren't able to save for their college up til now, we never got used to living on 2 incomes.
I like this idea! We live on one income as well.
Tuition has been steadily increasing in my state for years although I didn't realize how bad it was until I looked yesterday. It was really discouraging to see how much tuition had gone up on the community college and college level since I went. Next year it's going to cost nearly $8000 (up 10% from this year) for in-state tuition and fees at the state university I went to as compared to about $2200 when I started in the late 90s.
I found a chart comparing 1998/99 tuition to 2008/09 tuition costs at the school as well as the median household income in our state for the same years. The tuition increased 139% while median household income increased 17%. I was kind of thinking maybe I'd try to start saving, but at this rate, I'm not sure what difference it would make.
No wonder there've been student demonstrations on the news. 10% increase in one year?
I know the following sounds absurd but I'd thought I'd relay: I went to a state university in the early '80s. The tuition per semester at that time for in-state residents was $490. This thread peeked my interest and I looked up current tuition for same in-state students: approx. $5.5k per semester (almost $11k per year not including books, fees, living expenses). I totally understand the backlash against high higher education costs...even in my current city, the costs of state schools are outrageous compared to what students paid even ten years ago.
One of my theories is that the availability of student loans have encouraged higher institutions to raise their tuitions and fees. Thus, students can "afford" their educations via loans. This in turn creates the incredibly negative cycle of reducing scholarship opportunities because kids have the opportunity to get degrees through loans and then are confronted with payback upon graduation even though the economy doesn't support their educated status. I have my own, very personal, and political feelings about this whole mess...but I won't go into it here. I'm not a conspiracy person by nature, but I think there is a very real and underlying problem here that isn't based on normal inflation. My two cents. Apply it to your college fund.
What's it going to be in another 15 years when my kids are contemplating those classes?
There's really no telling. Education, in general, is going through a lot of changes. More families are homeschooling at the lower levels. More online resources are becoming available. More people can't afford any post-secondary education, and/or are being crushed by student loan debt. I don't think any of this is sustainable, and the system is going to change. Your kids may be facing insanely expensive educations...or they may be facing something we can't even properly visualize at this time.
Well, in our state it has to do with the massive decrease in state funding for the university system. Similar things have happened in CA. The state used to pay well over half the cost to fund the universities. For my university, it's now down to about 25%. Guess who gets to make that up? IMO, student loans have had to increase because no one can reasonably earn enough money to pay tuition by working part time.
just a thought on scholarships. esp. those going to college on scholarship.
i see this with students around me. not all of them of course.
coz if you are not committed and you are not a high achiever going to college on a scholarship is TOUGH.
i have seen kids around me. it is terrible how much stress a scholarship puts on them.
and how many classes they have to take and the grades they need to make.
sometimes i wonder - for those students - if a scholarship is really worth all the stress they have in their life.
If I can add one thing that is slightly off subject...To those that are saying that their children know that they are expected to go to college, I would say, please don't do that. I know you want the very best for them but my parents did that and you have no idea what that does mentally if they were to decide not to go or don't know what they want to do straight out of high school. They may feel like failures if they don't go or have trouble deciding what to do and may end up in school for a long time (and end up crushed by debt) trying to become something that you can be proud of. Just be happy that they are happy and healthy. 
Yeah, no kidding. When I was a kid I knew I'd go to college, because my parents and teachers had this attitude. I have yet to recover, or forgive.
I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so I found a college that looked good (to my naive 17-year-old self), applied, prayed, got accepted, got good grades, and got a Bachelor's degree. I had job skills for a brief period after graduating, but within a year I either forgot them or they became obsolete. I have a buttload of debt and I work at a minimum wage job that I don't like, because it's the only job I can do. If it weren't for my fiance and my mom paying some of my bills, I wouldn't be able to survive right now. During my last few job searches, I actually got more responses when I left my college education off my resume.
I don't want to do that to my kids. I'm going to tell them, "Plan first, and only go to college if your dreams require it." (Or if you're wealthy enough to go to college for the fun of it, I guess.) If they're gonna be up the creek without a paddle, better that they be there without student loans at least.
Yes, that was my fiance's job until recently. It's not as fun-and-games as it seems in the movies (most jobs aren't), but it's apparently still pretty enjoyable as far as jobs go, depending on what type of tester you are. Although, as with most of the video game industry, there is tons of overtime.
For the record, THQ in Phoenix AZ pays $10.50 per hour for full-time testers and $9.50 per hour if you're a temp worker. But you could become a supervisor or team lead and get paid more, or you could use it as a foot in the door for being a game producer, artist, etc.
Yes, that was my fiance's job until recently. It's not as fun-and-games as it seems in the movies (most jobs aren't), but it's apparently still pretty enjoyable as far as jobs go, depending on what type of tester you are. Although, as with most of the video game industry, there is tons of overtime.
For the record, THQ in Phoenix AZ pays $10.50 per hour for full-time testers and $9.50 per hour if you're a temp worker. But you could become a supervisor or team lead and get paid more, or you could use it as a foot in the door for being a game producer, artist, etc.
Thanks for the information. I assumed it probably wouldn't be a high paying job, because there's probably a ton of people who want to do it. My sister looked into becoming a helicopter pilot and the starting wage for that is around $12 or $15/hour here, which seems insane to me.
I'm sort of sorry I gave a serious answer in this thread because now every time I read "How are your kids going to go to college?" I think "On the bus."
Yes, that was my fiance's job until recently. It's not as fun-and-games as it seems in the movies (most jobs aren't), but it's apparently still pretty enjoyable as far as jobs go, depending on what type of tester you are. Although, as with most of the video game industry, there is tons of overtime.
For the record, THQ in Phoenix AZ pays $10.50 per hour for full-time testers and $9.50 per hour if you're a temp worker. But you could become a supervisor or team lead and get paid more, or you could use it as a foot in the door for being a game producer, artist, etc.
Our friend who is a contracted tester for games through a large software company makes low six-figures. *Very* different than most kids are picturing when you talk about testing video games, though (quality control versus "fun"). Entry level tester would definately make over $50K. Virtually all have degrees, most in computer science.
There seems to be a lot of variety in pay scale for video game tester. I have a cousin who does it and I would be very surprised if he earned more than 15$ an hour - no where near $50 000.
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