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Comment by pyrrhotech | Hacker News Reader

I dunno, state schools are still pretty cheap. My sister's tuition with room and board is $10k per year. If you are someone smart enough to be an entrepreneur in your late 30s, you should have a corporate job paying 150k+ and can save all 4 years worth in a matter of months with a bit of determination.

And health care, while expensive, isn't as big of a deal as most people make it out to be. Get a high deductible plan and a family of 4 can be insured for <$700/month. If you are starting a business in your late 30s you should have a lot of savings already. While annoying, this shouldn't stop you.

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> If you are someone smart enough to be an entrepreneur in your late 30s, you should have a corporate job paying 150k+ and can save all 4 years worth in a matter of months with a bit of determination.

It takes 10 months to save $40,000 if you're putting away $4,000 a month (which is half of take-home pay at $150k). If you are someone smart enough to be an entrepreneur in your late 30s with a corporate job paying 150k+, your children are probably smart enough to want to go to an expensive college.

> Get a high deductible plan and a family of 4 can be insured for <$700/month

Looks like it can be done for quite a bit less than that, when ACA subsidies are taken into account (or when expanded Medicaid is taken into account if the other adult family member also has no income...I think all the states where tech startups are common went along with expanded Medicaid).

But presumably you are going to have co-founder(s) or employees. The decision is not just for yourself or your family. Your co-founder(s) will have to accept the same situation and anyone you employ would also be expecting health coverage.

Where?!? University of Wisconsin, for example, is $24k in-state with room and board.

To get through college for $10k/year in many places, you'd need to go to one of the state's lower-tier schools in a small town and live at home. Not many state flagships are in the business of charging less than $20k.

She goes here: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl...

She does live at home. If she lived at school it would be about $17k

You said "with room and board," which implies living in university housing. That would do it.

Most of the SUNY (New York State) schools charge about $8k per year in tuition and fees. On top of that, they would need living expenses of about $10k per year to live near campus.

Unfortunately, without working more than 20 hours/ week, a college student isn't going to be able to come up with that $18k per year on their own, but they could get more than half way there, which doesn't leave a ton of support the parents would actually have to provide.

Sure, it's not impossible or nobody would be doing it, but it's still more expensive (a high deductible is still a "cost") and comes with a lower chance of success. Obviously that's going to shift trends in a more conservative direction.

considering that 250k for a couple puts a person in the top 2% in the nation, its not as easy as you make it sound to pull off 'just getting a 150k salary job'.

it's a hell of a lot easier than becoming a successful entrepreneur

Your comments make one want to ask: if it's so easy, why didn't your parents save up the money to send your sister to a better school?

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