A testimony from Adie
Throughout our daughter’s high school years, we saved up little bits here and there, knowing that college tuition was soon coming. Some years my husband got a bonus, and we usually put most of it aside into the college fund. Other unexpected cash, such as from garage sales, also went into the fund.
We learned that our home state of Georgia has a wonderful perk for in-state college students: if the student has maintained a B average or better during high school, then they are eligible for the HOPE scholarship. This pays full or almost-full tuition at the state universities as long as the student maintains their B average in college.
Except, that is, for homeschool students. The rules are different for all graduates of “non-accredited” high schools, including homeschools. If homeschool students have a B average in high school, they must pay full tuition the first year of college. Then, if they still have a B average, they become eligible for the HOPE beginning in their second year. But they also get a tuition reimbursement for their first year.
So, in essence, we lent the state the amount of tuition for one year. In our case, the tuition cost was $4,000. After our daughter’s first year was complete, we applied for our tuition reimbursement and soon received it. With our son only two years behind his sister, we banked that money so we could repeat the process when he began college.
At the end of our son’s freshman year we again received the tuition reimbursement, and then we had $4,000 in our bank account, unnamed. Thoughts of travel went through our heads, but only briefly. A certain young man had started visiting our home often, and a mother’s instinct told me that we may be planning a wedding before too many months had passed. $4,000 set aside would be a very good start on a wedding budget.
Last December, during their senior year, Daniel asked for Greta’s hand in marriage. A May wedding, soon after graduation, was planned. My husband told the happy couple that we had $4,000 set aside, and we would save up another $1,000 to add to that. Anything over that amount would be their responsibility.
On May 22, they had a beautiful afternoon wedding in a little country church, with about 150 family and friends there to celebrate with them. A lovely hors d’oeuvres reception and country dance followed the ceremony. They had worked hard to make it uniquely their own and asked friends and family to help out in many ways.
I kept careful records of every purchase, every expense. When all was totaled, the wedding had cost us $4,863!
Adie Noren is a wife of 31 years, mother of three grown children, and grandmother of two. She and her husband paid off their mortgage one month before the wedding! She writes about crafting and homemaking on her blog, Make and Do.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Clare C. says
Great story! My parents too offered me $5,000 (17 years ago) to use towards a wedding, house, car, or whatever we chose. I chose the wedding and had to budget the money myself. I ended up $12 under budget and we’re still happily married today. I hope to follow the same sort of plan with my 2 girls.
Lise says
What a lovely story! Thank you for sharing.
Jocelyn says
BEAUTIFUL story I am a new first time mother and THAT is what my dreams would sound like.
Made me cry lol.
<3 thank you for sharing
Meredith Crawford says
LOVE LOVE LOVE this story…. One thing that made me change my spending ways and really really want out of our debt was our daughter and wanting to be able to provide all of this for her… in just 2 short months I’ll be out of all the credit card debit and start to plan for savings for these specific things- this timing is great for me and I love this inspiration story.
carrie atkinson says
I think it is great to take advantage of the HOPE if you can- I live in GA too, but my parents paid for all of us to go to a really wonderful Christian school out of state. I had quite a few scholarships which helped, but they still paid a large amount of money. In the end, they have said it was the best investment they ever made- all four of their children went to this school in KY- because of the spiritual dividends that came from our experiences there. My Mom, who had stayed home all of our lives, went back to work so that we could go there, and I plan on doing the same for our kids. College is a scary place, and the first time a child has independence and is outside the influence of parents, it is a real blessing to be in a Christian atmosphere. I want to an ivy league grad school, and I paid for that myself, but I will be eternally grateful to my parents for the sacrifices that they made in paying for our college completely even though it was more expensive.
Christina says
I love it! Thank you for sharing. I think we should move to Georgia when my husband and I have kids–that’s an awesome deal on tuition. 🙂 I love how you planned ahead and weren’t caught by surprise when big things like tuition (x2) and a wedding came along.
Susan says
So Adie and her family rolled their tuition ecbs from one child’s tuition to the other. LOL
Crystal says
Too funny! 🙂
Jessica says
I went to a private in-state school and it was actually cheaper than any of the public schools I looked in to attending. While I would like to say I finished debt free, I cant. I completed two bachelors degrees in four years and lived completely on my own for the last year and a half with only $4,500 in student loan debt. I have paid cash for the first two semesters of Grad school and hope to complete my masters without any loan debt.
Private schools in some cases offer more scholarships and discounts.
I know some other people have asked for tips and below are some that really helped me:
~ Make a savings goal chart of all planned expenses during the school year. I worked and worked a lot during the summer (60+ hours). Over half of each paycheck went into savings to cover expenses like my cell phone bill, car payment, car insurance, ect during the school year.
~Never buy books from the bookstore. They are so much more expensive.
~Take lunch to school. I commuted to school daily so I made sure to always pack a lunch to eat. This kept me from running out and grabbing fast food.
brookeb says
I’d like to second this. I work at a private college, and I think that people often don’t apply because they assume that the listed tuition price is what they’d have to pay. We give out so much in non-loan financial aid, especially for outstanding students. There’s also often a lot of funding for activities (like support for research) that larger schools aren’t able to offer to their students just because of their size.
Lisa says
This reminds me of my own wedding! My husband and I were going to do our wedding all on our own, when my parents blessed us with an unexpected gift of $2,000. (They budgeted well, because that same year, my sister got married and they gave her the same gift, right on the heels of their retirement!)
We used that money to pay for the venue and a few other things, like my dress (which was my dream dress at my set budget – thank you, God!), and then proceeded to ask for help. Our amazing family and friends provided us with music, cakes, decorating, floral arranging, photography, videography, a simple sandwich buffet, etc. The day was uniquely “us” and made even more special by the involvement of everyone we love. Plus, it’s just fun to tell people how we had our dream wedding for under $3,000 😉 Blessings to you and your family!
Amara says
I also am a proud state-college graduate!
Crazy Coupon Lady says
How sweet and inspiring! I wish I had paid cash for college for myself… i didn’t know any better, lol. When my children attend, however, we will be paying cash!
Julie says
Very sweet story. Thank you for sharing it. Thinking of college and weddings is daunting when our oldest is only eleven. It’s encouraging to hear how possible it is to do these things without debt.
Melissa says
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing. May 22nd is also my anniversary going on 6 married years together and couldn’t be happier.
sam says
This is a great story! Nobody has to go in debt over a wedding, or wipe their parents out. My wedding cost $3,000, including my dress and my husband’s suit and shoes. Granted, this was 19 years ago. We did this very simply, catered a meal for 200, had friends help with music. We still have people tell us how much fun our wedding was. And my husband still looks great in that suit!
Laura says
Same with us: $3000, 19 years ago! The important thing about a wedding is starting a strong lifelong marriage, not the little stuff. Having a budget really does help you focus on what is important to you.
Deana says
Great story…very inspiring…thanks for sharing 🙂
Anitra says
That’s awesome! Going to an in-state school definitely helps with college tuition.
Note to highschoolers and their parents: think LONG and hard about the cost before deciding to go to a private university. My husband and I both attended an expensive private college (10 years ago), and we will probably finish paying off our combined student loans around the time our own children are ready to go to college.
~T~ says
Don’t be afraid to apply and compare, though. Private colleges turned out to have more scholarships and aid available for our son than the public colleges and overall cost was considerably less!
vicki says
the private college i am currently attending gives me a $15,000 merit scholarship for the first four years here. without that scholarship, i would not be attending college.
as ~T~ said, don’t be afraid to apply and compare. the college i am attending waived my $40 application fee because one of my high school teachers graduated from here. all he had to do was write a letter “supporting my candidacy”. many colleges offer waived admission fees for applying online, receiving letters from alumni, etc.
Spendwisemom says
Enjoyed your story! This year we have 3 kids graduating and possibly 2 weddings and we are committed to paying cash for everything. We also gave our daughter a budget for her wedding and it is amazing what you can do when you have limits. You really have to figure out what is important to you. Our two college kids will graduate with master’s degrees and no debt at all. We have a son graduating from high school too, and we will also instill in him the importance of getting an undergraduate education without debt. It is difficult, but you can do it if you are committed.
Karen S. says
How wonderful!
Our city’s public school system has a similar program in place for tuition — hopefully it will still be in effect when our kids (6, 4, and 1) go to college.
anne says
What a great story! I love this series.
Julie says
This is a wonderful story. It brought a smile to my face. Thank you for sharing it.
Nora@ The Dollar Hollering Homemaker says
Great Story! I so wish I paid cash for my degree, I’m sure your children are very grateful for such a wonderful gift!
Kassandra Wood says
I am head-over-heels in love with this story! Allen and I are parents to Tayah and Tyler who are also 2 years apart. We are a working, middle-class family and I often wonder what the high school and college years will bring! This is truly inspiring and touches my heart! Thank you for sharing!
cat says
I love the how we paid cash for xxxx stories. They are always great!! TFS
Sarah K. @ The Pajama Chef says
that’s great!!
Amanda says
That’s awesome! What a great story. 🙂
Anon says
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story!