Most families believe these will happen and that their children will do ok, however, it is not that simple. Mom and dad will pay for the lion’s share of an undergraduate degree for their children.
Now comes the harsh reality of getting an acceptance letter, a final award letter and the sinking feeling that most of the solution is cash flow or parent loans. It is not what was hoped for or even close to being affordable. The 5 phases of grief come into play and we often hover around anger and denial for a long time.
Families have this incredible feeling of “Let’s rally the troops” and they cut costs, initiate an extreme budget, couponing, stop vacations, using mattress money and every other way they can imagine solving this problem. It is unrealistic to think you will not have debt to pay for something that you have not been able to save enough money for over 18 years. Let me say that differently, if you have not saved $100,000 per student over the last 18 years, what makes you think it is reasonable to pay $100,000 over the next 4 years to get through college?
Most families cannot do that. Then they panic, settle for and start lowering their expectations. You do not need to go to a 4-year school out of the gate, try a community college, go to the commuter in-state school, do only web-based programs, and more. Few will change the course. After all, your child earned their way on and you told them they could go for the past 18 years. You decide you will “just figure it out, we always do and it always works out,” right?