Turn your College Expense into an Asset! (Not)

Why rent when you can own?

I love owning real estate, but it is not a universal good.  There are many situations when one should rent and being in College (or having a child in college) is 98% of the time one of them.  Never underestimate the fact that as listed parents of a student at VBU*  All of the listed "plusses" either aren't necessarily true, are patently false, or require such a cosmic alignment of the tumblers of chance as to be so rare that you would be foolish to rely upon them.

Save money versus renting?  Only if you never have pay for repairs, and the market does not plummet in the short three years (remember the Cherub typically must stay in the dorm year one).  

Properties from $95,000.00?  In an established University Town where VBU resides these "bargain" houses must be forty miles away, and the scenes of meth labs.

You are in Control of the living environment?  Assuming you can check in!

Can you find renters?  What will you do when they can't pay? Or Leave? Or damage the house?  Who will you call when the water heater fails and floods the place?  

All of these factor in reason not to buy, but to look upon the expense of rent as a fair price for the flexibility that renting gives you and your student.

When does the 2% of the time occur?

I would consider buying when the following exists: 

(1) You have two or more students likely to go to the same school - stretching out your time period from three years to five or more.  

(2)  You are not more than two hours away from the location.  

(3) The town has a good history of maintaining value (even after 2008).

(4)  You can pay cash.

(5)  You rental income (even taking into account that you are at least paying yourself the rent) brings you a return of 10% or greater.

(6)  You buy a two or three bedroom house (but not more) that your two children can share plus a rent paying roommate-friend.

* VBU stands for The Very Big University whose name I have changed in order to focus on the general experience of paying for college as opposed to trashing (or lamenting) one particular university.

Ho Ho Whore!

Santa is a fat money-sucking Elf.

The Miracle on 34th Street - this

Santa need not apply today!

Back in the day a trip to the Mall Santa was an exercise in innocent hope.  Now it is merely preparatory school to the fleecing of parents.  Until the late 1980s - Mall Santas were hopelessly ersatz with fake beards, hair, and stained outfits.  Malls and large department stores brought in Santa to lure shoppers to their stores - sort of like the the 99-cent shrimp cocktail in the casino bar in Las Vegas.

In The Miracle on 34th Street - Santa was very good and probably real or crazy and flanked by sadistic elves as in A Christmas Story.  A visit to Santa was free with parents taking the snappy-flash photo and for a price - the professionals could take one for those parents who forgot their camera or had the humility to accept that their photos sucked. 

No longer.

Finals Week Care Packages

The Resident Hall Association Strikes Again!

Mrs. Cardona must be very happy to be so loved.  December brings Christmas Lights, Office end-of-the-year parties, mistletoe, and at campuses like VBU across the country - Finals Week.  That end of semester week marks furious studying and writing.  Finals week marks the point when it is less important that the term-paper be perfect, than finished.

Apparently Finals Week also strains the stomach and body as well as the mind.  The VBU Residence Hall Association offers parents to fill out a card of encouragement - to be delivered FREE to our cherub during Finals Week.  For an additional $25.00 to $42.00 we can send one of four suggested care packages filled with "wholesome" and "high energy" snacks.  With names like the "Exam Survival Pack" and "Support Basket Pack & Cup of Inspiration" - the VBU Residence Association promises that not only will ordering be a snap and guaranteed to be loved by our student.

Then I can be just as loved as Mrs. Cardona.

What's College Worth Part III: Jobs you get

Going to College to avoid waiting tables...

Investment Broker and Financial Commentator Peter Schiff put out a devastatingly painful video this week titled "Is a college degree worth the cost? You decide."  Schiff rails against the myth that the college degree is a necessity:

President Obama promotes the myth that everyone must go to college. That if you don't go, your life will be ruined -- that you will end up waiting tables, or trapped in some other mundane occupation. The truth is, even with a college degree, you may still end up waiting tables, you'll just begin your "career" four or five years later, tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

The College Application Checklist

October is College Application Month! 

(It's also National Book; Work and Family; Breast Cancer Awareness; CyberSecurity Awareness; Filibpino American History; LGBT History; Bullying Prevention; Physical Therapy; Pharmacist; Polish American Heritage; Art & Humanties; Domestic Violence; Spina Bifida Awareness; Child Health; Lung & Clean Air; Dental Hygene; Let's Talk; Down Syndrome Awareness; Pastor Appreciation; and ....Arab American Heritage Month)

Perhaps it's not surprising that College Application Month gets crowded out.  

Here is the checklist we are given:

Making College More Affordable

Is Government part of the Problem or part of the Solution?

Few Elections for any executive or legislative office go by without some sort of promise to support education and make College more affordable.  With few exceptions - College Prices have increased at a greater rate than general inflation - often two to four times greater.  

Currently, the Obama White House has a number of programs to make college more affordable.  Most of these plans simply focus on making more money available to consumers to purchase a College Education: (1) Increase Grants; (2) Reduce Student Loan Interest Rates; and (3) Modify Student Loan Payments to be based upon income.  

Although aspirational goals are made to make College's reduce their costs - it is unclear how these incentives will outweigh the greater purchasing power of estimated 14.4 million of College Students.

The College Application Game

It's not as fun as the game called Life!

Our second daughter, H, is a Senior at OUR LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL (OLHS) and this means pursuing her college options.  The Senior Year is a bit schizophrenic - it is the capstone year to put the finishing touches on your High School Life and it is also the time to get ready for the great beyond.  

The College Counselors at OLHS put on a Senior Night and invited parents to attend to find out all about the process and paying for college.  They suggested a few helpful ideas.