Grants and my parents took care of my time at community college. I got loans for university that I’m still paying for now.
First two years: scholarship for tuition, summer job for transportation and books, and my parents paid for room and board since school was 2000 miles away.
Shortly after that, due to an argument, I was out on my own (my choice) and when I did go back to school I paid for it myself. Including a year as an exchange student in Japan. Sadly, I never graduated.
Roddy
My parents did not come from people who had college educations, but they hoped their children would. I had a savings account from around the time I was born and my parents contributed to it regularly. I was the only one of their kids to graduate with a four-year degree, so I think they felt it paid off. There was even a little left in there when I graduated, which is saying something considering I sprang on them the summer before my junior year of high school my plans to go to the second most expensive school in my state. Their attitude was, get in and stay in and we’ll spring for it.
Grad school was paid for by my employer*, less parking fees (which they wouldn’t cover) and the like $2 and change the school charged me six months after graduation when the legislature finally decided what fall term tuition should have been.
*Edit: I should say my employer at the time. I may talk a lot of trash about working for the bank, but their tuition reimbursement program was excellent. And it got more liberal just in time for the one B I made in grad school to not cost me any money.
Hmmmmm. I’m going to ask my sibs the next time I see them what the deal was for them.
I paid my own way for the first two years. I had a full-ride academic scholarship and only had to pay my room, board, books, etc. For those, I took out two $2,500 loans, one for my freshman year, one for my sophomore year. First year I lived in the dorm; second year I had an apt. with two other chicks.
During the summer of my sophomore year, I got married. I still had my scholarship, but now my room and board costs were covered. 
When I got my B.F.A., my husband decided to quit his job and go to grad school with me. We both had grad. assistantships.
Since I have always been the wage earner (mostly sole), I paid my student loans back myself.
Full scholarships/grants, except for a few thousand in loans my last year of college, which I paid back. I also worked lab jobs part time my junior and senior years. My parents couldn’t have afforded to send me to college if they wanted to. I went away to college, so that paid for tuition, books, room and board, and incidentals.
Free room and board at home for the first few years as a communting full-time undergrad, however I worked part-time and paid ( mostly ) my own tuition, books, entertainment and transportation expenses. After that I got a full-time job, switched to being a part-time student, moved out ( paid rent briefly ) and financed everything myself ( for the next decade - college became my after-job hobby 
).
My parents paid for 2 semesters. I had a loan, I worked, & I eventually got a job working 80 hours a week that also had education reimbursement benefits.
However, to hear my mother talk, she paid for it all. :rolleyes:
Tuition was paid for by merit scholarship. My parents paid for the rest during the school year and I got summer jobs. They felt my job ought to be to be a student. They don’t think much of parents who can afford to help their kids through college but instead leave them to start their lives in debt - my friend in grad school hadn’t cost anybody a penny because she went to a state school and had EVERYTHING everything paid for by scholarship; her parents’ sole contribution to grad school was a briefcase. My parents thought that was kind of shitty. YMMV, as usual.
My folks paid for the first three semesters. I paid for the rest.
We are paying for all of my stepdaughter’s education, because there is no way in hell she could pay for even one class at today’s tuition rates. She has a job and pays for everything else: rent, car, insurance, food, etc.
Parents are paying my undergrad tuition and room and board. They are doing so with the understanding that, eventually - not immediately, but at some point - I will pay back the loans, both the ones in my name and in theirs.
I work during breaks and part-time during the year to cover everything else. Once my freshman year my parents gave me money for a book I pretty desperately needed when I was between paychecks. Since I now have my own credit cards the chances of that happening are minimal. They also chip in towards airfare home on breaks, because they know otherwise I’d just save my money and crash with friends in town when they close the dorms. Other than that the only other support I get from them is of the intangible type - if I were to ask them for money for entertainment or incidentals or such they’d just laugh and say I should have gone to a cheaper college.
I paid every dime, undergraduate and graduate. No scholarships, no aid.
I did get a NIH grant for classwork in Indian/Chinese Studies one summer, but I dropped out halfway through the program because it was so stupidly set-up and either boring/incomprehensible.
Mom was poor, and as soon as I graduated high school I left for college. Paid for everything myself with loans, grants, and part-time jobs. Joined the Army after that to pay it all off.
Who should pay? I dunno. What you do after 18 is up to you. I’d pay for my kids, but I don’t know if I should pay. Then again, if the kid applies for financial aid they look at the parents’ income, so I suppose we do kinda expect parents to help.
Over my four years of college, average annual expenses worked out to about:
$8,000 scholarships/need based financial aid
$10,000 parents
$9,000 loans
$8,000 me
I worked about 15 hours a week during college, and I worked full time every summer. I had no car. Luckily (for me. Not so much for them), both of my parents happened to be out of work when the financial aid calcs were done for my senior year, which meant about $10,000 in additional “free” financial aid that year which would have otherwise been paid by me/loans (future me).
Loans are now down to about $15K from $37K, and most of that scholarship money was from my keeping my grades up, so I paid or will pay for most of my college expenses. I’m really glad I had the money my parents gave me, though. It made the difference between going to my first choice school and going somewhere else, since I couldn’t have taken on much more in loans than I did.
I paid for everything. True, during my undergrad, my folks let me live with them, but I took care of tuition, books, and other expenses. It was many years later, after working full-time, that I went to law school, so there was no question there: I would pay the tab for the whole thing. This time, it’s true that the debt is in both my and my wife’s name, but I’m looking after it.
In that thread I wasn’t at all questioning the parents paying for college - but I did not understand them also paying for all of their college student’s transportation costs, clothing, etc. such that all he needed to work was to earn money for eating out and buying pot.
For undergrad my folks paid for tuition and dorm costs at a state college, minus scholarship cash I got. I bought my books and paid any other expenses. Didn’t have a car - my folks would never have dreamt of buying me one, insuring it, etc. Had a real sweet 10-speed…
For law school I was on my own. Had a number of teaching/research assistantships that covered tuition and paid stipends, lived in some really cheap places, and graduated debt free.
Of course, while in HS I was clearly informed that I needed to work and save money for college …
My parents paid for it all with the following conditions:
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They would pay for a state school, no private schools.
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We had to take at least 15 hours a semester and maintain a B average.
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The money would be cut off in 4 years, so we had that long to graduate.
I thought it was a good deal, and I graduated in 4 years from the University fo Texas.
Scholarships paid for tuition and most of my books + food + entertainment money. Part-time jobs during the schoolyear and full-time employment during the summers provided the bulk of my savings and extraneous expenses. Sometimes it seems I actually had more disposable income in college than I do now.
When my sis and I lived on campus, my father paid the dorm fees. When we moved into our off-campus apartment, he helped us with rent during the school year (we were responsible for bills and for summer rent). He did so out of love and, I think, appreciation for us having all the other costs covered. And for this I’m very grateful. We could have easily stayed home to keep costs down (college was just a five-minute drive away), but it just wouldn’t have been the same.
Undergrad: I had a grant/loan, I had a job, and my parents covered what was left over–a few hundred every couple of months. It drove my mom nuts until my brother got there and she realized I was cheap in comparison (rent had gone way up and my dad didn’t want Bro to work since he had a tough major–it paid off too).
Grad school: I was married by then and my husband was working in his field, so that’s how. It was cheaper, too. I had a couple of internships and small jobs but that didn’t cover much.
Undergrad: I had a full scholarship and I worked various jobs. My grandmother bought me a car. My parents paid for my car insurance and gave me a little spending money here and there.
Med school: I did the “Northern Exposure” arrangement–I committed to four years of primary care in rural eastern KY in exchange for enough to pay for just about everything. My folks still paid for my car insurance and some occasional spending money. I also took a $10,000 loan in my fourth year that my mom co-signed for; I used it for interview travel expenses, moving expenses, a new computer, and a trip to Italy. I’m still paying it back, and the interest rate is so crazy low that I’m in no hurry about it.
I just took a faculty job that comes with free tuition privileges, so I’m going to start working on an MPH next year on their dime.
I no longer remember the exact amounts, but my university was paid for with a combination of:
[ul]
[li]“full tuition” scholarship from the university (in quotes because the amount of the grant remained the same from year to year, even though the actual cost of tuition went up – ultimately about $6k of tuition wasn’t covered)[/li][li]Pell grants and maybe one or two other small federal grants[/li][li]I think I had a small (maybe $5000) scholarship from my high school system for the first year (or maybe first two years)[/li][li]my parents contributed a small amount each year ($2-3000?)[/li][li]student loans, which was the bulk of the money, aside from the scholarship[/li][/ul]
I lived on-campus at a uni 1500 miles from home, so room and board was a part of school expenses. I also had work-study, which helped pay for books and a small amount of entertainment (movies and diner with friends, for example); plus summer and part-time off-campus jobs on occasion which was mostly for random living expenses (I didn’t return to live with my parents over the last two summers, so I paid the summer dorm fee on my own, along with groceries).
This was a small, private, very expensive university. Without the scholarship, I couldn’t have even considered going there.