“Going to college” is a complex, six figure, multi-year project with a lot of moving parts, and a 66% failure rate.

To get a rough idea of what college costs, look at the College Board’s typical annual college budget study.

Average Estimated Undergraduate Budgets, 2019-20- Research – College Board

Making a success out of college these days is really difficult, particularly if you are going to need student loans (70%).

A solid four-year financial plan will improve your chances of success.

Every college or university will have a “Cost of Attendance” page on their website. This will give you a starting point. It will be important to understand Net Price Calculators. Most schools will have one on their website. If they don’t, there are generic NPC’s on the Internet.

Your parents are going to need to take the lead in preparing the financial plan. You can be a big help if you are an expert with Excel or Sheets, but this planning is going to require a detailed knowledge of the family finances, including Federal taxes.

The plan will consist of all the forecasted costs of attending college, and the projected sources of funds to meet those costs over four years (or the projected term of the degree).

The potential sources of funds include:

• Scholarships
• Grants
• Student work-study income
• Other student income
• Student savings
• Family contribution
• American Opportunity Tax Credit (This can be a source of as much as $10,000 for many families.)
• 529 Savings Plan funds
• Federal Loans: Student and Parents
• Private loans

Yes, doing the financial planning for college is this complicated.

Notes

Rule of Thumb for Student Loans

Two out of three students who matriculate don’t graduate and get a “real” job, i.e. a job that pays a college salary. If you need student loans, you need to be very cautious. Limit your student loans to 50% of the starting salary of job you have targeted upon graduation. For example, the starting salary for a high school teacher where I live is $40,000. That salary would support $20,000 in student loans. ( If you don’t know why you are going to college, how can you plan your student loans intelligently?)

I recommend college students have a budget. Here’s my favorite template.

College Student Budget Worksheet

Here’s an explanation of Net Price Calculators.

https://www.usnews.com/education…

Here are a couple of useful books:

Kalman A. Chany with Geoff Martz, “Paying for College Without Going Broke,” (New York, New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2016).

Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder, “The New College Reality: Make College Work For Your Career,” (Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2012).