Iowa | wayneNWAR - 4/22/2013 06:42
I will have to check on not listing the farm assest's but I thought there was a question wanting to know how much our specific farm assest are. The u of a is gonna run us in the 19,000 to 20,000 range. He could go to school here in town for the first couple of years or he could even commute to the u of a as its only 45 miles away. There are lots of things he could do to lower the costs but unfortunately he doesn't want to and I realize that is a whole other issue. I am probably wrong but this makes me feel much less obligated to just pay the tab when I know we could be getting by much cheaper as this is how I have always had to live my life. Tommy I have learned to respect your thoughts and oppinions and I do have a question for you if you feel like answering it. Did you have your children work on the farm and pay them a wage to let them help pay for school? If you dont feel comfortable answering that by all means dont. I know I am probably a terrible father but I feel kids should have to work for there goals and learn sometimes we cant do everything we want just because we want to.
I have always had hired help. I told my kids when they were little I'd pay them whatever they were worth as a replacement for someone else. So, for most things, by 12 years old they were making the same wage as a high school or college helper. 40% of their pay went to their college fund, 60% was theirs to do with as they pleased. For quite a while, I was paying my college-aged helpers $10. So for easy figuring- 10/hr gross to my kids, $4/hr into college fund. Then less 5% State, 10% fed, and 7.65 FICA. So they only netted a bit under $5/hr--BUT-- McDonald's was paying $7.25, which netted about $5.50, AND they would have had vehicle expenses AND they would have had WAY WAY less hours per week. They were in a feedlot or hog barn at 6 AM every Saturday growing up while their friends were still in bed...
They were NOT paid to "help mom" (pick green beans out of the garden, for instance) , mow the lawn, etc- that was their contribution to setting at the table and having a roof over their heads. But they made a lot of money, mainly due to a lot of hours, and helped fund their education a bit.They screamed like crazy for years and years when their paystub showed the college deduction, but ended up thanking us often when they got to college and weren't taking out loans. Now, after college, they are so much further off than if they had a loan payment! |
College financial aid questions.
