Affording College Costs in the US

vandsmith
Posts: 348
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 12:16 am

Re: Affording College Costs in the US

Post by vandsmith »

teller wrote:
> This is mainly geared to US citizens living abroad since the college costs
> there are stupid ridiculous. We're still a few years away until our child
> will be graduating, but we've been having this discussion on what to do if
> and when our child decides to go to college. If we decide to remain
> overseas until the kid graduates, then we are really stuck in terms of
> being able to help him afford the exorbitant costs of US universities. We
> are not official residents of any state and do not own any property so
> claiming in-state tuition is not a possibility. Additionally, one must
> establish at least one year of residency in a state before in-state tuition
> rates can be credited. Numbers vary a bit, but the average cost per year
> based on in-state tuition is $9K, out-of state-tuition is around $25k and a
> private is around $34K--this is tuition only; room, board, and general
> living expenses are extra. We put money away each month in a 529 account,
> but even then it would be very difficult to afford a public university
> out-of-state, let alone a private school for an entire four years.
>
> One option is looking at universities in Europe or Canada, where the
> tuition is a bit cheaper. Obviously scholarships are another possibility
> but there is no guarantee he would receive them. I really would like to
> avoid having the kid take on any major student loans--it really stinks to
> start out one's career in thousands of dollars of debt.
>
> Another, perhaps more obvious option would be to move back to the US a year
> or two before the kid's graduation and establish residency--but it would
> also mean pulling the him out of IS to a DS in the middle or near the end
> of his high school years simply due to college costs.
>
> Have any of you parents, particularly those who are US citizens, faced this
> dilemma with your kids? If so, what did you do?

RE: Canadian universities - your kid would still be int'l student, which usually doubles the tuition amount. It can be/is very pricey.

i would guess it depends on what program your kid is interested in.

good luck!

v.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@vandsmith

For international students the costs of somewhere like UBC are comparable to the cost of McGill.
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