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I have already told my 13 year old daughter [Nicole] that she is going to have to pay for her coll. on her own by doing the student loans & grants ,ect.. We do not make enough money [We only get va disabality & ssi to live on] to send her to school, and she will work harder to get through it better. Unlike [IMHO] if we paid for her to go to school, it may get blown off and partied all of the time, [like I seem to see all over the place]

TMSuchman

If your daughter is smart and on top of her class and is able to get a scholarship to a top notched private college, by all means go for it.

However, don’t sweat the fact that state colleges offer in many cases, similar education without the big bucks associated with it. Hence, if she can’t get to a “classy” private college, I won’t sweat it.

Also, if you are a religious person (e.g. a Christian), I know of several outstanding Christian colleges with tuition fees comparable to government colleges.

Finally, remember this -— 70% of the jobs in this country, many of them paying quite well, DO NOT REALLY NEED A 4 YEAR DEGREE IN COLLEGE.

I have already told my 13 year old daughter [Nicole] that she is going to have to pay for her coll. on her own by doing the student loans & grants ,ect..

Don't forget the numerous scholarships that are available. I would think that at age 13, that's a good time to be gearing her up for good study habits and expectations for decent grades. She doesn't have to be a 4.0 student, but generally anything above a 3.0 will open her up to lots of "academic" type scholarships.

I worked my way through college, and I would recommend it for most students. She'll be more likely to use student loands wisely, and less likely to rack up unnecessary debt, knowing she'll eventually have to pay them back.

Good luck to your daughter.

We told our four the same thing! Oldest got a full scholarship at UMass, then went on to law school, where he got loans, too. But he's now an attorney in Boston, so he can start paying those off. #2 son wanted Carnegie Mellon, and now has the loans to show for it. He did get financial aid for the first couple of years, so that kept the total down somewhat, but it's still a chunk. He also finished in 3 1/2 years with two majors, because he'd taken so many AP courses in high school that he went in with almost a full year's credits. He in Grad school now, on a Fellowship, and he'd dearly love to teach college, but he'll likely go into the corporate world for a few years at first, so he can pay off the loans.

#3, and our only daughter got a 3/4 scholarship to a small, private, Catholic university and loves the place. #4 and youngest son is in his Senior year, and mulling over the options. He's thinking, to save money, he'll live at home for the first couple of years, attending a local state college. He can use that time to figure out a major, without racking up huge loans. Then, he can either finish at that school, or transfer to another for his upper level work.

I realized a long time ago, watching fellow students, that those who paid for their own education were MUCH more serious about it than those whose Daddies were footing the bill. We also told our kids that we'd paid for twelve years of Catholic school, so now it was their responsibility to invest in their own futures. Besides, we wanted some money on which to retire!

Remember to help her look at the schloarships available from VA, military and semi military sources(Officer Wives Club, AAFEES, etc) due to your past military experience. This is a source I bet your daughter wouldn’t think to check.

My dad was in his 60s collecting SS when I was in college. Didn’t realize that i was able to get some money from Social Security. I was still considered the same as a family member under 18 since I was at college.