make your family’s finances your business

We’ve set a goal to pay cash for our daughter’s college education, and because I’m such a big numbers nerd, I’ve been keeping track of our costs down to the very last dollar.

Since her junior year is now in the books, it’s time for a update.

The Exact Breakdown

Tuition/Room & Board/Books: $10,143

• Tuition = $3059*
• Room = $2950
• Board (Meal Plan) = $3800
• Books = $334

*After scholarships

Fees: $1328

• Required Campus Fees = $888
• Technology Fees = $290
• Sports Combo Pass = $150

Sorority: $2465

• Dues & House Maintenance: $1032
• Moms/Dads Weekends, Flowers, Musical Production = $1433

Total: $13,936

What’s Not Included:

Spending money – Lindsey is responsible for her own spending money so I don’t have costs for things like eating out, snacks, toiletries, school supplies, clothing, laundry, gas, etc.

KU Dyche Hall Flickr photo courtesy of ensign_beedrill

Junior year came in $765 higher than sophomore year. Room costs were $400 lower, books were lower by almost $300, and sorority expenses were $1400 higher, so that accounted for most of the difference.

Here’s our running total for the first three years of college:

• Freshman year: $17,435
• Sophomore year: $13,171
• Junior year: $13,936
• Total: $44,542

You can see the breakdown for freshman year here and sophomore year here.

Being a KU Orientation Assistant is a great summer job. Photo courtesy of Lindsey Mayfield

How Our Family is Paying Cash for College

We set an ambitious goal of paying for college without debt, despite the fact that we had very little saved for college going in. Here are the things that have helped us do that so far:

• We chose The University of Kansas, an in-state school with affordable costs. KU also offers a four year tuition compact so that tuition costs are locked in for four years.

• Lindsey earned academic scholarships, which brought the cost of tuition down even more.

• Lindsey has worked during both the summers and the school year so that she can pay for incidentals. She’s also very frugal and a good steward of both her money and ours, which we appreciate.

• A couple of years before Lindsey started college, I started setting aside my earnings from freelance writing/blogging into a account earmarked for her college expenses. Even though the amounts I receive are often small, faithfully saving each one and getting a slight head start has paid for a chunk of her college costs. The remainder we pay for out of our monthly cash flow.

So that’s a real-life look at one family’s first three years of college expenses. Anything surprise you? Are you saving or paying for college right now?

Note: Lindsey and I blogged for two years on the U.S. News & World Report education site. Our blog was about college from both a parent and student points of view. You can read our archived blog posts at  Twice the College Advice.

This post is part of Penny Pinching Party, Works for Me Wednesday, and Fabulously Frugal Thursday.

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