Have you Saved Enough for your High School Junior to go to College?

High School Student Ready for College - Biddeford Savings Bank

Has this thought crossed your mind: “My child is going into his high school junior year – what can we do now about paying for college?”

Well, this is a challenging spot to be in – as a great many families have found out for themselves.

You cannot turn back the clock but there are still a few things you can do to manage the pain of paying for college.  A big factor is where your child goes to school.  Elite Private Colleges routinely cost over $60,000 per year these days.  However, State Universities are relative bargains – costing a third to a half of that amount.  Before you ignore the elite schools, know that many of them provide generous scholarship support.

For more information in this regard talk to the Counselors at your child’s high school.  My Google search of “paying for college” returned 383 million hits so there is plenty of information available online.  A good place to start is www.consumerfinance.gov.  There are also a few simple measures that one can take to help control costs;

  • live at home,
  • attend community college for the first 2 years,
  • work part-time.

Any of these options will help control the cost of post-high school education.