I’m curious to know. There seems to be a huge variability depending on location, type of college, income etc.

43 comments

  3. $40k for trade school
    Flat rate, didn’t have to pay for books, material, tools, anything else.

  5. **My** pocket? Nothing. The bank of Mom & Dad paid around $50,000 for it and my grandparents left me $50,000 in their estate for it. I was very lucky to not have to take loans.

    I graduated in 2018 and I went to a school out of state so all in all my education was comparatively cheap.

  6. For a variety of reasons I accrued no debt during the two stints I spent in college. Scholarships, low tuition rates, worked and paid off the tuition balance before the terms began. State schools, 90s and 00s.

  7. I don’t know. I personally don’t think I paid for anything except rent and some books over the last 2 years of it. My parents and scholarships paid for the vast majority of it. I don’t know how much my parents had to pay into the Section 529 program that paid all of my tuition. I had some large scholarships, but I think I lost them after 2 years due to grades. I had one small scholarship that was guaranteed for 4 years.

  8. None. My parents were big on me going to college so I had all my expenses taken care of if I went to school.

  10. I went to a Big 10 school (respectable 2nd-tier school in the Midwest) in the 80s/90s. I paid about $5k for an undergraduate degree (1/2 of in-state tuition because I had a parent that worked at the university).

  13. I paid zero dollars but my parents probably spent… 130k? Tuition/room/board/rent/food went from 30 to 35k and then there were incidental costs probably. Thanks mom and dad!

  14. Do loans count as out of pocket? I left college with about $10k in loans almost a decade ago. I had no income going in, including from my parents, it was a public university in the state I am a resident, and I went to community college (for free) before transferring.

  15. I lived at home and went to a state university. That cut down on costs significantly.

    My parents didn’t pay anything. I was responsible for any balances. My first 3 years, most of it was covered through scholarships and financial aid like pell grants. Then in my last year, I qualified for a large grant that more than covered my bill and ended reimbursing me for all or nearly all of what I had paid previously, so I probably came out pretty close to even at the end.

  17. I graduated this May from a state school with around 36k taken out in student loans. Graduated on time and didn’t have any family financial help.

    Every semester around $50 to $200is in textbooks. Junior and senior year my rent was $450 a month. Average $40 to $80 a month in utilities. Groceries probably $150ish month.

    I had a work study job during the school year and worked in the food service during the Summer to save up money.

  19. Around 20k ish over 4 years. With the state paying my tuition with no other scholarships

  20. My parents paid for it so I didn’t pay anything out of my own pocket.

    I went to a state school. My parents were upper middle class.

  21. When I was young my mom enrolled me in a college savings program that covered most of tuition so I didn’t have to pay much there. I took out loans to cover my living expenses, but also received some grants and had a part time job to help cover the costs.

    Graduated from a 4 year university after 5 years with about 27K in debt. After working a few years I went on to get my masters which cost me about 50-60K.

    Overall I feel I got an excellent return on my investment and have no regrets.

  22. I didn’t pay any of it, my parents had a 529 plan set up, but I still took on loans because the 529 plan wasn’t enough to cover all 4 years.

  23. Went to college in early 90’s. I paid zero out of pocket as my parents paid for it. I don’t remember how much it cost, but it was a public university and I did not live on campus.

  26. Mom and dad paid for room and board. The army ROTC scholarship paid for 100% of tuition.

    I paid for books, which was about $300-500 per semester.

    Med school was also on the army, 100% tuition, books, and board exam fees. The stipend was also enough to pay for apartment rental, food and incidental expenses.

  27. My family collectively paid about $56,000 for 5 years of tuition (2009 – 2014) and 1 year of housing. My tuition was just shy of $10,000/year and my housing my freshman year was about $6000. I went to an in-state state school and got 2 bachelors degrees.

    My parents divorced when I was young and my dad owed my mom roughly $12,000/yr in child support until I turned 21. According to their divorce decree, that money was to go toward my college tuition upon turning 18. My mom pocketed the money but my grandmother, her mom, provided $10k/year for my 5 years. After my freshman year, I began paying for my own housing, food, and books out of pocket from student jobs.

  32. $15,000 for a few classes and room and board (and the scams that go along with it) the GI Bill did not cover

  33. No out of pocket cost for me, personally. My parents, grandparents, and some generous scholarships covered my tuition and that privilege is not lost on me… especially since my school was $44k/yr.

  34. I graduated from a private university with a masters degree with about $20K of debt. My parents probably paid around $20K of tuition for me as well.

    ​

    I’ll self-plagiarize a rant I posted a while back on a similar question:

    ​

    >Tuition is expensive and increasing in price, but the discussion around how oppressive tuition is–like all political discourse–is a little disingenuous.
    >
    >tl;dr: Undergraduate degrees at public universities are not super expensive, and there are many opportunities for students to get financial aid. Private universities can be very expensive if students aren’t receiving generous financial aid.Politicians would lead you to believe that it’s impossible to graduate with less than $100K in debt.
    >
    >
    >
    >The truth is that most public universities in the US have in-state tuition prices of around $10K-$20K per year for undergraduate tuition. These are excellent universities that provide outstanding opportunities to their graduates. A few examples:
    >
    >- Cal Berkeley (University of California): $14,225 / year
    >
    >- UCLA (California – Los Angeles): $13,258 / year
    >
    >- University of Texas – Austin: $11,752 / year
    >
    >- University of Michigan: $16,178 / year
    >
    >- University of Virginia: $19,244 / year
    >
    >- University of Utah: $8,893 / year
    >
    >In addition to that, there are costs for room and around $1K-$2K/year in books.
    >
    >But it’s also worth noting that most (85%) of all students receive some form of financial aid. Also, universities compete for good students, with top universities getting top picks. Top universities will offer scholarships to top students, but still accept students that are slightly below top-status, without offering scholarships to the *lesser* students. What that means for students, is if they get accepted to a top-tier university, they may not have scholarships offered to them, but they would likely be offered scholarships if they selected a school that is a step down from the top-tier university.
    >
    >Where students get into trouble is if they (1) choose to go to a private university or out-of-state public university without receiving a scholarship offer to that university (Baylor is a private university in Texas with annual tuition of $50K; Stanford is a private university in California, and tuition is $56K–compare that to $10K-$15K for public unis); and/or (2) if the student goes to a top university and pursues graduate degrees without a scholarship or grants.
    >
    >Where I will agree with politicians is that schools will heavily market themselves to the student and paint a compelling picture of how great the student’s life will be if they go to their university–which is borderline predatory when talking to 17- and 18-year olds. And the high cost of tuition can actually be used to manipulate students; for example, Baylor may offer a student a $20K/year scholarship, while UT-Austin may only offer a $5K/year scholarship. That may seem to the student like Baylor is giving them a better value, but it still means the student would be paying $30K/year at Baylor versus $7K/year at UT. And many (if not most) programs at UT are as well respected as those same programs at Baylor.
    >
    >But by having a minimal level of street smarts, students can graduate with a very well respected degree in the US without taking on six figures of debt.

  36. I like how the question is written in the past tense as though I won’t be paying on that until the day I die. 💀

  37. It cost me about $25k. Same school is now going to cost me about $100k for my daughter. That was a public university; if were a private, it would probably be more than double that.

  38. State flagship, about $tenk at the time, would be around $twentyk now.

    Had a scholarship.

  39. It’s wild how quickly college became so expensive. My best friend worked in the summers to pay for school. He graduated high school in 1999 and went to college. He worked construction, maybe making $10 an hour in the summers. He would put everything he made towards tuition and room and board, and his mom and dad would each match. He graduated in four years and didn’t owe a dime. My wife graduated six years after me and my best friend did. She went straight to college and graduated in 4 years, and owes $150k.

  40. A few hundred $$ a year for books and parking. I had a full scholarship for tuition, and I lived with my parents (free) while i was in school.

  41. I borrowed around $90k for undergrad at a private university. Going to University of New Hampshire wouldn’t have been much cheaper, so I decided to get out of NH to a school where I would have more career opportunities. I’ve been able to pay them just fine, but def not looking forward to increased payments come September.

    Fortunately, I was aware of the gravity of the decision to borrow so much, and it only took me 2.5 years after graduating for my salary to exceed $100k. Even so, it’s frustrating, because having that sort debt makes it difficult to save. It also leaves a sense of precarity, because if I ever found myself out of work, the money would dry up much faster, and I’d have to face the consequences if I was unable to pay

  42. My parents and some merit scholarships paid for it. Didn’t qualify for financial aid.

    I went to a state school, but as an out-of-state student.

    It was about $150K total.

  43. I went to a community college (started in August 2015) for the first two years to get general education requirements out of the way (~$8000 total). Then I did 3 years and 1 summer at a university to finish out my degree, including living on campus and meals (~$65,000). I have $8,000 left to pay off on my loans.

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