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Mom Will Help You Get Into College, But Won't Help You Pay For It, Says a New Poll
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Teens
Moms are less likely than dads to have a financial plan for their children's college educations. Credit: AMagill, Flickr
They say a mother's work is never done, but one survey says mothers are falling down on the job of saving for the kids' college.
A new poll found while mothers push kids harder than dads to succeed in school and get into college, they're not as involved in planning how to pay for it.The survey found that 76 percent of women say it's important for their kids to get a college degree, as opposed to 66 percent of men, and they're more likely than fathers to work to get them accepted. Moms are more likely than dads to help kids research schools (89 percent of moms vs. 62 percent of dads), help with the applications (87 percent vs. 62 percent) and discuss college with them (83 percent vs. 64 percent).
But when it comes to how to pay for college, moms are handing it over to dads. Among those families that were planning how to pay for college, 85 percent of fathers said they're taking primary responsibility for the planning, and only 65 percent of mothers. Only 56 percent of women knew how much their households had saved for college, compared to 65 percent of men, and 67 percent had factored the cost of college into their overall savings, compared to 75 percent of men.
"There absolutely is a disconnect," Dipti Kachru, assistant vice president of marketing for OppenheimerFunds, the financial firm that sponsored the survey, told ParentDish. The study polled 1,725 adults who are parents of at least one child 18 or younger who's not yet in college.
"There is this overwhelming engagement in sending their kids to college ... versus their actually taking action on the financial side of the business," Kachru says. "The action is not up to the what it's required."
Mothers are probably too overwhelmed with all their other responsibilities to focus on college costs: "There are only 24 hours in the day," Donna Winn, president and CEO of OFI Private Investments, a unit of OppenheimerFunds that manages college savings plans, told ParentDish.
"It's the important versus the urgent," says Kachru. "But they don't realize that important is going to turn into urgent, and then it may be a bit too late."
According to the College Board, the average cost of attending a private, four-year college has gone up to $26,273 this school year, and a public college costs $7,020 on average.
Winn says she has observed that many mothers spend time online, reading parenting sites and seeking advice on raising children, but she hasn't seen too many conversations about how to pay for college. So OppenheimerFunds' college savings Web site has added a section targeted directly to mothers.
"We want to catch the women's attention and say: 'Look, have a dialog with your spouse ... and start to save in any ways you can,'" says Winn. "We're hoping that by starting this dialog and making this dialog broader, we can start to affect change."
With college costs rising at about 6.5 percent a year, parents' savings have to do more than beat inflation, says Winn. She suggests they explore all possibilities to boost the college fund, including setting aside a fixed amount regularly, having children get part-time jobs and using rebate rewards from credit cards.
Winn and college fund managers like her take heart in some of the findings of the study, which shows mothers are more willing than fathers to make sacrifices to pay for kids' college, such as dining out less (77 percent of mothers, compared to 69 percent of fathers), buying fewer electronics (76 percent vs. 65 percent), buying fewer clothes (75 percent vs. 64 percent) or giving up vacations (66 percent vs. 59 percent).
But the sacrifice is worth it, says Winn. She points out that households led by a college graduate have an annual median income of $101,099, while those led by someone with a high-school diploma or GED certificate make only $49,414 a year.
"If you bother to save for your kids' educations ... Their average income will be twice than if you don't go to college," says Winn. "You set your kids for life."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
11-10-2009 @ 10:21AM
Elizabeth said...I absolutely agree with this article, because in my case it was true,
although since I don't have a father, my mom did a little more to help me pay for it. Her solution was to get student loans, which I didn't want because here it is years later and I am still trying to pay them back, but can't afford to because of the economy, and now have terrible credit because of them. I would like to go back to school to finish, but where am I going to get the money from? It's really a catch 22. I wish my mom and I had been more practical about college finances, since this was something she really wanted for me (I wanted to backpack across Europe and find myself). I'm looking for avenues to find money, but at my age (23) it's tough, because I'm not old enough to qualify for the returning to school grants, not young enough for the first times, and not enough credits for the middle ones. If Obama really wanted to do something good for my generation, he would make it easier to pay back student loans, and give us longer to do so, given the current job market!
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11-10-2009 @ 11:16AM
Kirstie said...As a current college student who is paying for university [well, what isn't covered by scholarships] on her own, I think that having a college education simply handed to you from your parent's saving isn't necessarily the best thing. And my school (a private, 4-year university) is a lot more expensive then this article states - heck, their 'private university' cost is more on par with the cost of the public state school in my state! Anyway, I digress .. I have friends who, like me, will have a ton of loans to repay when we're done, and friends who don't have responsibility for a single dime of their tuition. The kids who pay on their own are by FAR more invested in doing well and getting what they're paying for from their education. The students who don't have any personal financial stake in their tuition are much more likely to party and screw around.
Being personally responsible for getting an education really does up the ante and make students take it more seriously. You want it so badly? You need to work for it yourself. Would it be nice if my parents could have just said here, have 100k and go to college? Yes, but I highly doubt I'd value it as much as I do knowing I have to pay back my tuition dollars on my own.
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11-10-2009 @ 12:30PM
SKL said...I remember when I was working on my law degree and MBA, and I applied my newfound MBA finance skills to figure out how much I'd have to make annually in order to pay off my student loans. Believe me, that was motivating - I knew I would have to have a competitive GPA and resume or I'd be doomed. I doubled down and got into some good habits that spilled over into my working years, and I paid off my student loans in 7 years (total about $100K back in 1992, which would obviously be a lot more now).
I wouldn't have it any other way. Because once I paid off those loans, my work ethic didn't change, and I was able to become completely debt-free, give a lot to people in need, and save for the level of comfort and security I chose. Yes, I went through very hard times when my salary was barely more than my debt payments. I had a scare when I was informed I had a month to find another position, when my student loan payments were $1000/month and I had a car payment and rent too. But those were also opportunities to learn coping skills of all kinds. People don't realize how much they can do until they really have to.
If your parents can afford to help you, that should be seen as a luxury, and not necessarily of the "more is better" variety.
As for the negative slant of this article toward women, I find it ignorant. I think it's much more important to encourage a child to be the best HE can be, and to utlize all the resources available to him, than to promise a slush fund for what he's not motivated to pay for. Why aren't they trashing dads for not spending more time doing that? Why is it always that no matter how much a woman does, it's not enough? Except for single moms or moms with deadbeat husbands, what is wrong with some division of labor (especially considering that most husbands earn a lot more money than their wives)? Maybe things get done better in families where there is an effective division of labor? But this article basically says: if I trusted my kids' dad (if they had one) to do the right thing saving-wise, that would make me a lousy mom.
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11-10-2009 @ 2:21PM
LS said...Have the authors of this article ever heard of TEAMWORK???
If not, let me explain.
Between my husband and myself, I am the "teacher minded" of the two of us, and he is the financial brain. I have spent my life in various jobs that employed my teaching and nurturing skills. He holds a Master's Degree in Finance. When it comes to our son's educational future, who do you think would be better for setting up and monitoring a financial plan for college... the man with the degree in finance, or the woman who finds balancing a checkbook boring enough to cause her to want to throw herself off a cliff.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am absolutely capable of balancing a checkbook, and do it every month. But when it comes to the investment side - that's where my husband's (my son's father, by the way) lies.
HE is very capable of helping our son with his homework, but I am far more patient.
To read this article, my husband should be sitting down in the basement, watching Simpson's reruns, while I am working with my son on his homework, researching colleges, AND managing all our finances. All while making dinner and scrubbing the floors... AFTER I've put in a full day's work.
Sorry. That ain't how it works. We play to our strengths. I do the "nurture" thing, he does the "finance" thing.
Open your eyes, people. Sometimes it's ok for women to Sometimes it's ok to SHARE the burdens (yes, the burden) of raising kids.
FATHERS ARE NOT THE ENEMY. Please stop acting like they are.
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11-10-2009 @ 11:26PM
julie said...My husband and I differ on saving for college. I had college paid for by my parents and did not appreciate it in the least. Higher education was not supported by my husband's parents do to personal beliefs, so he never went. I think parents should pay for some of school, but that kids should do their part to earn their degree as well.
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11-11-2009 @ 12:19AM
Hayden said...I agree with you Julie, I think parents can help out as well as the student. What's wrong with community college the first 2 years then you transfer over? and what about grants and scholarships? What about the student working part-time? In this economy, Susie Orman says kids should get college loans,part-time jobs, and find other ways to pay for college. How is parent supposed to save for retirement? I don't want to depend on my kids when I get old. I help out with books,supplies, and the rest they do.They also started at community college and transferred over. Kids nowadays need to be independent.
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11-11-2009 @ 7:39AM
Heather said...Everyone says to invest in those college savings plans, but those are expensive. They advertise just pennies a day. But that is for 1 share. To get any money saved you must by many shares. The one I wsa quoted ended up being at least $90 a month. For a low income family that is expensive. Then when the economy crashed a lot of people lost money in thier savings plans, they are not going to have as much money as orignally quoted when it was bought.
I have told my dd she is going to have to get loans. I will help as much as I can to help her pay them back.
I have a better idea how about schools go back to being a place of education and not a business and cut thier fees so people can afford to go.
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11-11-2009 @ 8:53AM
LS said...honestly, either way, it's expensive, but it's MORE expensive to pay for the loans than to put money away now.
If you put money away now, it EARNS interest... perhaps pennies on the dollar, but those are pennies that are going into your account.
If you wait, and take out loans, it's you who is PAYING the interest, not earning it. So now, you are paying those pennies on the dollar, rather than squirreling them away in a bank account somewhere.
So if you haven't started saving yet, and you still have time to do so? I would start putting those pennies away now. Every little bit helps, and if it really is only pennies a day, empty your change purse every couple of days, or put away every $5 bill you get... something, rather than paying those interest rates to some bank!
11-11-2009 @ 10:26AM
SKL said...I agree with saving, but also really study what's available in the way of student loans (and grants), as well as tax and other government incentives for saving. I believe the government-guaranteed loans are interest-free until 6 months after graduation (at least they used to be). The guarantee fee comes out up-front but it works out better than if you had to pay interest (at least it used to). The interest rates may be subsidized. There are also lots of grants, etc. depending on the family's income. I'm not saying saving isn't better than borrowing - especially considering that Congress can change the subsidies prospectively - but it's best to do the research so you can compare all the options. In a way, if you are a low-income or moderate-income family, your child can have an easier time paying for his education than otherwise.
The other thing is that folks shouldn't look at private college fees as the baseline for the cost. As far as I know, every state has public colleges, and anyone can get a good education in a public college if he applies himself. Many states have great incentives to support good students who choose to attend public colleges. We don't all have to drive Rolls Royces, and we don't all have to go to private colleges. (I didn't for undergrad.) A teen who really wants to go to a private school can work to earn scholarships, get a job, and/or investigate every possible financial aid option. It can be done and has been done many times over, but it's not for everyone.
11-11-2009 @ 3:15PM
Kirstie said...SKL - some government loans are interest free until 6 months after graduation, some aren't. It depends on your income levels and what other types of aid you're getting which type you're offered. (I get both, actually.) Another awesome thing about those types of loans is that if you work in certain fields after graduation for a certain amount of time, these loans can be partially or completely forgiven by the government! One example of this is teaching - if you teach in a low income area as determined by your state, then over the course of five years your federal student loans are forgiven. It's done by percentages, so that if you only work in a low-income school for 3 years you're forgiven a portion but not all of the loans.
Also, one thing that's worth considering is that despite the 'sticker price' of private universities, it's sometimes (for a student who is a high achiever) actually MORE cost effective to attend a private university then a public school, because with a larger endowment and less students competing for scholarships, more of your education might be financed by the university. I know that was the case for me - I applied to many of the public universities in my state, and because of scholarship funds I receive here it actually costs me less to go to my school (which is the most expensive school in my state) then to go to most of the other schools in the state would have cost me in tuition.
Not that there's anything wrong with a public university, please don't take it that way - my second and third choice schools (and it was a hard decision) were both public schools.
Bottom line? If a student is willing to work hard for what they want, both before they get in and after they graduate, going to the school of your choice IS possible.
8-23-2010 @ 1:39AM
Christian said...The report is pretty accurate. I helped my kids apply and pick a university. The thing is because my husband and I went to college and graduated we make too much to get financial aide. Our tuition bill is about 105,000 thousand dollars per year and I pay it in monthly installments. My husband supports our family in every other way. There are some moms out there who know exactly how much school costs and they earn the money to pay for it.
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