Navigating College Tuition: Discussion of Shared Financial Responsibility with My Son
As my son prepares to embark on his college journey this year, our family faces a significant financial milestone – an estimated total tuition cost of around $200,000 for a four-year degree. Given my current financial commitments, including a mortgage and potential job instability on the horizon, covering this entire sum is simply not feasible.
To address this challenge, I believe it’s vital to have an open dialogue with my son about the shared responsibility of funding his education. My vision is for him to contribute to the repayment of educational loans once he graduates and begins his career. It’s important for him to understand that while we are navigating these financial waters, my unwavering support and love will always be with him, regardless of our arrangements.
Preparing for the Conversation
To make this conversation productive, I’m looking to clearly outline the tuition costs and demonstrate how repayment could work over a timeline of 10 to 20 years, utilizing a loan calculator for clarity. This visual aid will help him grasp the long-term implications of student loans.
In terms of how to share the financial responsibility, I’ve sketched out a potential breakdown: assuming his grandparents might contribute $50,000, I could cover about $100,000, leaving my son to take on $50,000. However, this distribution might shift depending on my financial circumstances as we approach the time of enrollment. The plan would involve my taking out a loan that I would manage during his studies, with the expectation that once he graduates and secures employment, we would transition to sharing the loan payments.
It’s essential to consider that if there are changes in my employment status, he may need to take full control of the loan repayments until he is financially established. I would envision that as he advances in his career and possibly earns a higher income than I do, he would take on the entire loan repayment responsibility.
Seeking Guidance
I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to effectively broach the topic of shared financial responsibility with my son. This is uncharted territory for us, and insights or personal experiences from others who have navigated similar discussions would be invaluable.
Additional Context
Recently, my son expressed a desire to attend Purdue University (out of state) as an undeclared major, though he has shown interest in Mathematics and Statistics. Currently, he has also been accepted to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for a Statistics program, but the costs are
