Sue

I know, if it wasn't for BE I wouldn't have known that either. It certainly is an eye opener, lots of things to consider. All this higher education stuff and the cost of it is scary. Our son is a Junior and the quicker the time is going, the less prepared we feel.

Jerseygirl

The next 2 years will fly by. We started uni visits during the junior year. The school my daughter went to expected all SATs to be sat early senior year and all uni applications to be in before the end of the first semester. Early uni applications were encouraged...so most students knew before Christmas of the senior year what uni they were going to.

meauxna

Boot camp.

Jerseygirl

You shouldn't assume we do not pay UK taxes...we are also British taxpayers.

Sue

What for him or us?

made of kent

I wrote this days ago and then the site went down and couldn't post it, so I saved it, so a bit out of sync.

I have kinda, kinda not put money aside for college, I started paying money to the credit fund in the UK when my kids where born, but since moving to the US, I not sure if I am still paying it as went into the darkness on the bank account! (red) when not monitoring it! fool! and still finding out what companies we owe!
only £20 a month each and I own them £500 each in money, I got after their birth, (but used on better things at the time)
I will get to the point soon I am a rambler!

If you are new to the US and having to set up home all over again, I discovered Upromise, and ebates, upromise is directly linked to 529 plans BUT you can request that checks are sent to you to invest as you wish, which is my plan.
In a year I have $150 (a piss in the sea), but as I am not working and needing the basics of life, this worked for us, plus alot of the companies will have other coupons ect, on the site to save you money, I brought a ton of gardening stuff, I got 15% off the tranaction though upromise and 5% rebate with in the real world is may be an 17-18% discount.
I use both sites as they have different promotions and rebates, Sometimes I can't do the math in my head so I set up my order on both sites to see which is cheapest! almost consistently they have been cheaper than amazon or other companies...but not always so check on line and locally, before committing, (I have had as many as 6 orders the the same company through different sites) I got a chest freezer delivered yesterday from GE and it was $200 cheaper through my hubbies work, than best buy, upromise or ebates so shop around ect. (time vortex, I got phoned yesterday by their "satisfaction" survey, and the girl was very confused as was I as it turned out I brought direct from GE, but it is owned by best buy or vice versa?? but delivered and supplied by another retail company
that reminds me, not only rebates and coupons, Loyalty cards and internet, we got a TV flat screen plasma HD bells and whistles blah blah, cheaper through Upromise, than in store did despite trying to get the price in store! got home, ordered online through upromise $150 cheaper, got a free portable DVD player priced at $179 also not available in store promotion, $30 back through Upromise and $50 in best buy vouchers, not only that they upgraded our card so we get more savings and best bit, picked it all up an hour later from the local best buy store
but always check the prices on these sites, as I said they do mainly come up cheaper but sometimes they don't, and also check the companies out, I had one bad experience, although it did work out in the end.
I don't tend to buy new, as I am a second hand Rose, so most of our purchases have been done that way, but some stuff just doesn't come up very often second hand so I am quite impressed with our savings.
So if you are moving and starting out again, and tend to buy new, you will make a bit, as well as save a bit on purchases. but remember to hunt the internet and locally, a bargin isn't a bargin, if you fall for the hype of a 50% off sale, when you could have brought the item next door for less anyway!
remember neither of these sites add interest to your money so get it out as soon as you can.
Also Grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends of the family can also contribute to your children or yourself, by signing up, and they can subdivide it so say 4 grandchildren they can ask for each child to recieve a 1/4 each.
http://www.upromise.com/welcome
Last point I promise!!! I think saving for retirement is more important than childrens future debts as they have a life time to pay them off, once retired you can't go back and reclaim those years. I am hoping that my little dribs and drabs will help them in times of crisis.
someone else said I would rather give a deposit on a house than college, and I remember in a phone convo with a friend who was an American Med student, and told me in the convo he owed $120,000+ dollars in 1994, "did you buy a house by mistake!" he later said that, he told his dad this and his dad, did some calculations and worked out that if they had indeed brought him a house at the beginning and rented the rooms to other students, he would actually be in credit! even assuming damage to property
the next year he told me they had done just that for his sister youngest of 5 and 10 years younger than Glen, as she too wanted to be a doctor, don't know the outcome as we lost contact after that.

Bob

If the kid moves back to the UK for a gap year, they'd just need to have moved back for A-levels or something.

Greencard would show that you weren't moving to the US for temporary reasons, so yeah, shot in foot...but it's easy enough to waste a couple of years if you want to go for none international rates, which still generally aren't to bad unless your doing something lab heavy or going to a top end place.

rayburke

The two decent Texas Universities (A&M and UT) are circa 4000 USD per semester, or 8k per year for fees - if you are a state resident. Probably need the same again for accomodation, the dustbin lids can take out a low-interest loan and you can re-pay it for them - easy peasy!
Ray

scrubbedexpat097

I disagree with your "two decent Uni's"....there are plenty more in the state of Texas just as good and with lower fees

No Aggies or Longhorns in this house..

ChocolateBabz

Which do you rate Sugarmooma ? - I should advise that at present 'The Dude' wants to be a concept car designer, vet who doesn't have to put animals down or game designer

rayburke

Sorry! I live in a world dominated by Aggies and Longhorns, it makes for interesting conversations about who plays the best football, drinks the most beer, etc...!

rayburke

A&M for the first two (Agricultural and Mechanical) - none for the third, he just needs to play a lot of games...!

scrubbedexpat097

Agree with Ray for the first two. A&M churns out all the vets in Texas

My two both started at Univ. Houston but son went on to Sam Houston (all to do with a girl and being in love) UH art school was vey good, that's where my daughter graduated from but I'm not sure if any of the U's around here specialize in game design.

Mind you the Dude will probably change his mind a million times between now and then...

Bob

I wouldn't go to Texas then....Virginia Tech ain't bad for the US...MIT ain't bad...

Coventry in the UK would be better, sadly.

Although even better would not to get into the industry, concept design ain't anything like he thinks it is, basically it's crap...it'll be about 20 years of grunt work designing AC switches before going to glovebox locks etc before actually getting any conceptual work.

Having mates who worked for Bentley, Audi, VW, Honda and Lambo...the closest anyone has gotten to real concept work is a mate doing custom car parts mostly for the Landrover export market, and that's designing rims and bullbars for the most part.

As for games designer, Fullsail in Florida ain't bad, Chamlain in VT, there's also Digipen....but really, don't bother waste the money, just do it, work on mods, get a degree in something general you want to do, work on personal projects etc and then you'll possibly get a chance in games, most of the courses are a crap waste of time and money.

ChocolateBabz

He is only 10. I fully expect him to change his mind by the weekend I remember when all he wanted to be when he grew up was a monkey - yes really