If you help/ed your child with college tuition...

My parents paid for my college education and my "skin in the game" was my future. I wasn't interested in entering the working world without an education and my parents knew it. There were no repayment conditions for me or my brothers, but we were always good students and responsible people. It was unlikely we were going to become entirely different people just because we started college - especially because we had all worked very hard for years to be sure we would get into the schools of our choice. Our parents always had high expectations for us and we had always delivered. We did so because we were capable, wanted to make them proud, and we saw the long-term benefit for ourselves. Threats weren't required.

DH and I will do the same with our son.

Unless your kids have history that suggests sticking with college will be an issue, I wouldn't put conditions on it, personally.

no.. both dropped out . life happens. we aren't paying more.. but we paid at least 4 yrs of college for 2 out of 3 kids.

     I agree with the above and this is how it was for me and my siblings with my parents. This is also how DH and I did it with our son.  As a college student back then it was my father's trust and belief in me that urged me to succeed in addition to my own drive for my future. The last thing I've ever wanted to do is disappoint him. That kind of positive support really helped me and I think is much better than any kind of negative threats-repayment conditions if your kid drops out, quits, gets kicked out of doesn't finish a degree before he/she even starts college. Those things haven't even happened yet. 

I only had one child-a son. When it was DS's turn for college (he has severe ADHD) my ex and I decided to pay for his college tuition in full. He went to community college for the first two years, and then finished his degree at a state university. We didn't put any conditions on it-but positively supported him every step of the way. Firstly for kids like DS this is very important. Secondly I wanted to follow the path my father had set because I remembered how much it helped me.

Out of 4 children my parents had 3 finished college or the equivalent of.  I got 3 years in (2 AA degrees) and would have gotten a degree but back then there was no such then as a photography degree, at least not the kind I wanted which was a practical working degree in studio/wedding/photography-not fine arts. I did what my professors told me to do-I quit college, found a mom and pop studio and worked there for 4 years learning the business inside and out before starting my own business. This was back in the late 1980's, early 1990's. So while I didn't "officially" finish my degree, to me it's as if I did. I could go back now and get that photography degree but I don't see the point. 

You have to do what is right between your children and you. But personally I didn't think of my relationship with my son as being a bank. I didn't need any back up guarantees. I made the decision to pay for his college expenses. It was his job to do as well as he possible could. And that was his only job. I trusted him to do so. With our support (emotionally) he finished much better than we ever thought possible. 

We told our son that he should pay for the first semester. We would reimburse him for all the classes in which he made at least a C. This would give him the money for the next semester, and we'd repeat the process. Therefore, we'd pay for college, but he would have some investment in the process. He decided he didn't want to go to college. I might not have taken that approach if he had shown interest in higher education, but HS had been a battle and I didn't want to plop down $$$$ so he could mess around for 4 months (one semester).

We had DS sign a contract with us. We stipulated a GPA minimum, class attendance, and what expenses he would pay for and what expenses we would pay for (like health insurance and room and board). DS has a HUGE merit scholarship and needs to maintain it to stay at his private university. He did well his first semester, wobbled his second semester and almost got put on academic probation. That shook him up, as he had always been a straight A student and really loves it at his school. So he really buckled down and has done well for the past year. He has Asperger's, so he deals well with black and white criteria.

We didn't cap how many semesters we would pay for, but did say that when his college fund is gone, it's gone. So even if he meets our contract criteria, there is still only so much money in the vault. We were older parents when we had him and can't fund school indefinitely.

We will have DD sign the same contract next year when she goes off to school. Same situation with a private school and a merit scholarship, so the stakes to do well are high. But both will have enough money for grad school if they stay smart.

I was told years ago when I was paying for DH's tuition, that money invested in education is never wasted. I know I tend to have off the grid views. But I feel that a person cannot attend college without learning even if they don't stay, finish, whatever.

I had saved enough for each boy to go to community college and get an associates degree. Neither did get the associates but DS2 transfered to 4 year university and it took him an extra year because he went half time one year to afford to live off campus, but he graduated in Dec. with a BS degree.

DS1 will hopefully graduate next year from university. He has stopped and started. Changed paths. But I have supported him and he now has completed with great difficulty 3 years of college.

Not everyone goes a traditional path in college or even life I guess. Some people have kids who do well in school, go for 3 or 4 years and graduate from college. Some don't. As long as I have the ability to help my children with education expenses I will, even if he is 75 and I'm 103 when he graduates.

They had to take loans at university. I did not cosign any loans but I will try to help pay if I can. If I had done a better job of savings the debt would not be as much. I helped as much as I could and I will continue to help as I can when needed.

Life is hard. If I can make the road easier, I will.

My father paid my tuition but it was very inexpensive back then.

DD got a full scholarship to a university we pay only room & board. Her skin in the game is that she doesn't like the 'only' university we could afford if she looses her scholarship so she works hard to maintain the required GPA

My DS also got a full scholarship at a different university the one DD goes to only offers him 2/3 so he weighed his options. DH made it like he'd have to borrow the difference, I'm not sure if he meant it or not. But it doesn't matter DS choose the full scholarship.

My sister helped her keep DS with undergraduate costs but she made them front the money each semester and she paid them back. My niece has her masters my nephew cut his losses at community college and paid his own way thru welding school.

My daughter is responsible for all of her own expenses at college - spending money, gas, car insurance, etc. We pay for tuition, food, and housing. My husband's parents died when she was young and we are using his inheritance to pay for our daughters to go to college. His parents would be glad that we're doing that. Our oldest daughter is finishing her second year and has done really well. Her grades are great. She has worked a part-time job during the school year and works during the summers. She likes money.

We were very upfront with her about the cost of attending college. At the very beginning of her college search we told her we had X amount of money to work with and that we'd help her find the best school that fell under that amount. She had a certain type of college in mind and she knew she'd need to get a good merit award. She worked hard, got an excellent ACT score which led to a great merit award. She also got a generous renewable scholarship that pays for $5000 of her schooling each year. She needs to maintain a certain GPA to keep it. We feel like that is having some skin in the game. She knows it's expensive and that she gets four years on us - that's it. We made sure she was aware of how much it would cost her out of pocket to attend an additional semester. We also made a point to send her to a school with a really good four year grad rate. We've been lucky. She has always been an excellent student and likes to learn things. It's gone really well.

We have been saving for college since before dd was born (ds was about 15 months when we had our first meeting with a financial planner). We told both kids that we were prepared to pay the equivalent to a Virginia state school -- so if they went in-state we'd pay it all, if they went out of state they'd have to take out loans to make up the difference. Dd (and all her friends... smart kids) chose to stay in-state. We're very lucky here in Virginia to have such an excellent state university system. We pay her tuition, room, board, food, car, etc. She really asks for very little extra money because she has a work-study type of job, plus money from summer. She's only had the car for her senior year because of needing it to get to her internship. We had no conditions, but if she had been messing around, failing, etc. we would have told her that she needed to rethink. However she has taken all opportunities that have come her way, and really embraced the whole college experience. It was an excellent investment in her future.

Ds on the other hand always hated school and told us right up front that he did not want to go to college after high school. He spent several years at home, taking a few classes at our community college, doing an internship at the Smithsonian, playing computer games, mowing lawns, etc. Then he decided to move to Georgia to live with some friends and go to school there. A few years of maturity totally changed him. He worked for a year before starting school, totally paying for everything. Once he started school we started paying everything just like we do for dd. He has a sporadic part-time job but had to quit his full-time job that had paid all the bills the previous year. His tuition is lower than Virginia's (he's considered a Georgia resident now) so we're getting the better end of that deal. We also had no conditions on him but again if he'd been wasting our money we would have had a chat. Fortunately he's taking it all VERY seriously. I am shocked actually. lol. My kid who HATED school now texts me things like "Mom! I'm really mad, I missed two questions on the exam and I should have known the answers! I ended up with a 94%." lolololol... omg, I'll take a 94% any day.  -- Again, it's an investment for his future and this is what we've been saving for all these years.

In fact, because of good returns on the money we will probably be able to help with graduate school also which neither one is expecting (we haven't mentioned it yet). Ds's program is actually one of those five-year ones where you end up with a master's degree at the end of it.

Yes we did. We said we would pay the balance after his scholarships. Got almost zero credits for freshmen year. Made to come home go to community college ( not a bad thing). But had to pay those loans himself

As of fall 2017 I will have 2 kids in college and will be paying for it w/o strings. My only caveat is that if you drop out then you don't get anymore money unless you go back at a later date. I've always felt strongly that if my children wanted to be successful that I would go to the ends of the earth to help them as long as they did the legwork first.

We paid for our 3. Luckily they all got scholarships, youngest got enough scholarship money that the school gave her a check every semester - it helped pay for books. Grad school was on them. DD1 got a loan for hers, DD2 worked and went part time for her Masters, DS is almost done with his PhD, he was a GTA, got his tuition paid for and a stipend that was enough to cover living expenses for the duration. It was great when all 3 were finally off our payroll! 

This is how it is/will be with our youngest. She has goals and going to college is one of them. Based on her past behavior we won't set any conditions.

We pay tuition, room. and board. If he was to lose his scholarship because of bad grades, he would have to make up the cost. If he stays longer than 4 years, he may have to take out a loan. He will also pay for his own parking pass next year because that is his choice. We pay for books, he takes care of the spending money.

I would also halve a problem paying for a fraternity since it is discretionary spending