The paper was quite interesting today - I'll share some articles.

I just had to say first, I stopped for gas on the way to work yesterday and the place was JAM packed. Usually Saturday mornings are pretty quiet. Looked like everyone was heading out to enjoy the nice weather. I am clearly not the only one raring to get out of the house.

Likewise, it had been weeks since I had gotten gas. O.M.G. It jumped like 50 cents a gallon it seems. I was just quite surprised. Of course in the paper I saw $4.25 gas in the Bay Area. (Mental note - fill up on gas BEFORE next trip to Bay Area). I am hoping we don't have to pay $4/gallon when we drive to LA in May, but is why we'll take the subcompact instead of the roomy van. Oh yeah, it will suck, but it will cost considerably less. 20 mpg vs. 35 mpg. Pretty significant. I guess the plus side is we have a free room so we planned 2 full days to drive. (If we were planning night time driving and all that to save hotel costs, then more room would be pretty necessary. There is no leaning back the seats or stretching out the legs. But during a leisurely day drive it won't really be so bad - have certainly done it before.

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Anyway, the first interesting article I saw today was if those "keep the change" programs were really a ruse to add more fees. Interesting. Of course I didn't realize that Wachovia's program was so lucrative (5% interest plus 5% bonus for the money you keep an entire year?)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perfin24feb24,1,124283...

Another interesting article was on a topic I already saw. Government was questioning private foundation status of some of the big colleges just so FLUSH with endowments. Likewise, Stanford just announced they are offering free tuition to families who make less than $100k/year.

I am not sure what their student demographic is, but I found it interesting most of the other colleges offered significant tuition breaks to families making up to $150k. Yet the college square in the middle of the most expensive area of the entire country caps it at $100k. I had quite a few friends go to Stanford. It would be hard to live in the Bay Area and make less than $100k.

But for me, sounds good. I guess as we approach college age with the kids we will have to study the caps. If we have to cut our income $20k/year to save $50k/year? You know? Something to consider... Definitely something to try to plan around.

Likewise, room and board is waived for families living on less than $60k.

There will definitely be quite an unfair advantage for people coming in from other areas of the country. I mean can you survive in the Bay Area on less than $60k? Hardly. But I guess life isn't exactly fair.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/753472.html

Sorry, I think you have to register to read that article.

If you aren't registered with sacbee, found this:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1277397/stanford_tilt...

But the sacbee link has some interesting illustrations.

Anyway, I also found this article interesting because it listed current tuition rates.

Annual tuition:

Stanford - $35,000
UC - $8,300 (Berkeley, UCLA, Davis, etc.)
State - $3,500
Community College - $590

I have no idea what private school cost when I went to college in 1994.

State was about $2,500/year so it really has not gone up considerably. (Phew. All I have heard is rates have double, tripled, whatever).

UC used to be in the realm of $6k/year if I remember correctly. It really hasn't gone up too much either. The general rule of thumb was that it cost about twice as much as state. It is also part of the public school system.

Community College - rates have remained steady. I read recently the rates have not risen in decades.

Anyway, California may be expensive as a whole, but when it comes to education you get your money's worth.

I would say my entire education at State (& a class or 2 at community college) was less than $10k - including books and supplies.

I was working on a Masters' and it was $7500 at my alma mater (for a 3-year program, & it was quite affordable to come up with $2500/year). I mean this was for a very excellent, prestigous program. I am considering driving 4 hours round trip once a week to go back and finish my degree. I don't like any of the other options available to me since I moved. I took one class at a private school in San Francisco. IT cost twice as much and I wasn't particularly impressed. It will be worth the gas. But I haven't priced it recently either.

This is why I don't have any student debt. Worked minimum wage jobs and just paid as I Went. Went to school for 5 years. Not that it was exactly easy. But my education did not really cost that much.

Likewise, the illustrations in the article show room and board at $10-$14k at these various colleges.

Yeesh!!!!!

I think room and board is a terrible deal where I went to school, and some of these places. I have to tell you I lived on my own, outside of the school, and didn't pay anything near in that range. Nor would I have to today. & yes I am talking about the most expensive area in the country.

It's certainly a regional thing.

But yeah, you can see why I am not freaking out about college. Stanford could be free, and costs haven't really risen that much from when I went to school almost 15 years ago. & I am not buying the whole room and board thing costs 4 times as much as the education. Plenty of other living options.

Phew!

& beyond all that, 2 generations of our family have gone to college for pennies, and have risen our economic status from poverty to just about upper middle class. So, yeah, if we have to pay a bit more for our kids to go to college. That's okay with us. We know our college degrees were steals. We don't mind giving back now that we have the means.

Of course, there is a flip side to this. I had a client come through who sent their daughter to USC last year. They are retired and paid $50k for her child to attend USC last year. O.M.G.

They said she was in architecture and so I mentioned that my good friend had gone to Cal Poly and majored in architecture, as well as her brother. I just mentioned because it was quite intensive, so I made a comment that it wasn't exactly the kind of degree where you could have a life or a job with (as they could probably use some help paying for this). So they certainly agreed and we discussed how intense the program was. BUT they were quite impressed my friend got in to this particular State school. They said it was probably the best program around and QUITE intense. Their daughter had not gotten in. So they felt this was their only alternative. !!!

They also said there were too many females so it was easier for males to get in. YEah, I remember it being primarily male when my friend was there, so yes, a lot has changed.

But I have to tell you, coming across so many people in love with expensive private schools, usually for no real good reason, and you know my stance on it. At first glance I just thought they were CRAZY. LOL. So it was really eye opening to hear their side of the story. I mean I talk to a lot of wealthy people every day who have to send their children to the "best schools." My opinion is they just buy into the name brand. So this was a really different story than I usually hear.

I came home and told dh I hope that our kids don't want to be architects. LOL. I said, "add architect to the list of insanely expensive educations." I had doctor and lawyer on the list. At least those pay well. (In theory anyway). I know my friend is not making much money in architecture - for sure. I mean if my kid has to be a doctor, we're going to help them. We understand some career paths will be expensive.

Likewise, you have to consider if it is worth the cost. Is it worth shelling out $200k for an architecture degree???? Not entirely convinced. O.M.G.

However, I don't want to squash my kids dreams either; whatever they may be.

So yeah, college may not be as expensive as I have been hearing it is. Locally. BUT it might be 10 times harder to get into state school than it was when I was a college applicant. Yeesh.

likewise, it is really hard to get a feel of what the college situation will be when my kids hit college in 15 years or so. I am sure much will change. All I can do is plan for the worst and hope for the best.