Financing Three at a Time
If putting one child through college isn't expensive enough, try enrolling three. Cindy and Pat McDaniel have two sons and a daughter enrolled in three different Texas colleges. Their oldest son, Ryan, is finishing up his fourth year at Texas Tech, while the Dallas couple's twin son and daughter, Colin and Kelsey, are freshmen at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, respectively.
It didn't take long after the birth of their twins for Cindy, a graphic designer, and Pat, a Web designer, to realize that 18 years down the road wasn't going to be a cakewalk. But when the time came, the cost of education still took them by surprise. Between tuition, books, and living expenses, "we couldn't really grasp the reality of it," Cindy McDaniel says. "It wasn't until my oldest son got closer to his junior year in college did we start to understand."
Luckily for the family, Cindy's father had contributed years earlier to the Texas Tomorrow Funds, a prepaid college investment plan. Because the fund favors in-state colleges, she encouraged her kids to look at Texas schools. Their hands weren't tied, she says, "but I was definitely crossing my fingers."
In the end, all three stayed in the Lone Star State, easing the family's financial load. After subtracting the grants and scholarships her children have received, Cindy estimates the family will owe around $120,000 in Stafford, Perkins, and PLUS loans, some of which she and her husband have already begun paying off.
The couple has also gone to a financial adviser, who has helped the McDaniels draw up a workable plan and reassured them that the burden shouldn't be crushing. The encouragement also translates into optimism that a college education for her kids is well worth the hefty price tag. "It's what I want for them," Cindy says. "So I'll just hang in there."
This story appears in the April 16, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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