• Home
  • About Us
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy

Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

  • Home
  • Toolkit
  • Parenting
    • Baby Stuff
    • Books and Reading
      • Aesops Fables
      • Comic Books
    • Education
    • Family Time
    • Green Living
    • Growing Up
    • Healthy Living & Eating
    • Holidays
    • Parenting
    • Random Musings
    • Shopping
    • Stuff to Do
  • Money
  • Product Reviews
    • Books and Magazines
    • Discount Sites
    • Furniture
    • House Keeping
    • Reviews News
    • Toys and Games

Why Our Child Decided to Take a Gap Year

July 28, 2022 | Leave a Comment

Why Our Child Decided to Take a Gap Year

Our 18-year-old son graduated from high school this year. As most seniors do, he applied to several colleges in our area last fall. He got into all of them and received substantial scholarships to two of the colleges. He planned to start college this upcoming fall. And then his life was upended, which is why our child decided to take a gap year.

What Is a Gap Year?

For those who don’t know, a gap year is when graduating high school students take a year off before they begin college. They use that time in various ways, such as working to raise money for college, volunteering in the field they want to pursue, or traveling.

Why Our Child Decided to Take a Gap Year

In May, my husband got a new job 2,200 miles from our current location. Our son had always wanted to go to college nearby to live with us and save money. However, because we were moving in July, he no longer wanted to go to the colleges where he had received scholarships. He had to start his college search over again.

Unfortunately, the college scholarships that were plentiful in October had all but dried up by July.

He found colleges to apply to in our new location that accepted applicants on a rolling basis. He did get a few scholarships, but not nearly as many as he would have gotten had he applied to those schools in the fall.

To make matters worse, he would have had to pay out-of-state tuition because we hadn’t lived in the new state for 12 months before he wanted to start college. So, after careful consideration, he decided to take a gap year.

How He Plans to Use His Gap Year

Why Our Child Decided to Take a Gap Year

Even though he never considered taking a gap year, he’s warmed up to the idea. He’s made a long list of activities he plans to do for his gap year.

Volunteering

Our son has always been interested in volunteering. During high school, he volunteered more than 100 hours. He hopes to volunteer at a local cat shelter and the public library during his gap year.

Working

In addition, he plans to work part-time and save money for college.

Applying to College

In the fall, he will reapply to the colleges he applied to in July. Since he’s applying at the typical time students do, he’s hoping he’ll be eligible for more significant scholarships.

Final Thoughts

My husband and I understand why a gap year is the better choice given that we’ve recently moved to our new location and colleges in the area would be pricey. We are slightly concerned that he may decide not to go to college after this. However, our son was always the youngest in his class because he has a summer birthday, so taking a gap year may be the perfect way to give him more time to mature and qualify for larger scholarships.

Read More

Should Your Child Go to College This Year?

Financial Benefits of Optimally Spacing Childbirth

3 Mistakes We Made in the College Process

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Education, Money and Finances, Parenting Blog at KidsAintCheap Tagged With: college, gap year, scholarships

How to Afford Raising a Child with Special Needs

June 3, 2021 | Leave a Comment

Afford Raising a Special Needs Child

When you have a special needs child, you are faced with a double financial whammy.  Of course, there is the added expense for therapy, medication, counseling, tutoring, etc.  These expenses alone can put a family into debt as they try to provide for their child.  However, there’s another cost that is rarely discussed.  Because caring for a special needs child can be time consuming, often one parent has to quit their job or reduce their hours to part-time.  Now, there are not only added expenses, but a loss of income.  How can one afford raising a child with special needs?

Thankfully, there is assistance available, if you know where to look.

Get a Diagnosis

The first thing you must do is get a diagnosis.  For instance, if your child has autism, she likely can’t receive any therapy until she is officially diagnosed by a qualified professional.

You will need to talk to your pediatrician to see how to go about getting a diagnosis.  There are a number of experts who diagnosis special needs children, depending on what special need you think your child has.

How to Afford Raising a Child with Special Needs

Afford Raising a Special Needs Child

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

Once you have the diagnosis, you can begin to pursue therapy, if need be, and funding sources.  There are a number of places you should look.

See What Your Insurance Covers

Once you have the diagnosis, the next step is to see what your insurance covers.  All three of my children have special needs.  While my husband’s insurance didn’t cover speech therapy (some insurances do, but ours didn’t), it did cover applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy for our children with autism.

Depending on the quality of your insurance, you may be surprised to find that it covers more than you would have expected.

Talk to Other Parents

If you’re in contact with other parents of special needs kids, make sure to talk to them.  They can give you tips for where to find resources, whether they be federal or state aid or grants.

You can find other special needs parents at support groups and in places like Facebook groups.  If you homeschool, you may find special needs parents in your homeschool groups because a surprising number of kids who are homeschooled have special needs.

The more people you can talk to the better because each parent has a different story and different places where they’re getting help and support.

Apply for Social Security Income (SSI)

Another option is to apply for social security income.  Based on your family income and your child’s disability, you may qualify for SSI.  You will need to fill out some forms and make an appointment at your local social security office.  There, you will have an interview about your finances and your child’s disability.

Of note, if your child qualifies for SSI, you will also be able to cover your child through Medicaid.

If you don’t have private insurance but make too much to qualify for Medicaid, look into getting insurance through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Open an ABLE Account

Afford Raising a Special Needs Child

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

An ABLE account allows you to save money in a special account just for your special needs child’s medical and living expenses.  You or other relatives like grandparents can deposit up to $15,000 a year.  This tax-advantaged savings account does not tax the income earned by the account.

Another advantage of this account is that if your child qualifies for governmental assistance, such as SSI or Medicaid, the money in their ABLE account does not disqualify them for services on a financial basis.  Meanwhile, the money in the ABLE account can be used for their education, food, housing, support services, and an array of other needs.

Find What You’re Eligible for With Your State

Another fabulous tool to use is Benefits Finder.  This tool asks you to input some information about your child and his disability.  It can then help you see what benefits your child may be able to receive and what agencies to contact to pursue these options.

Determine If Your State Supports School Choice

Many special needs children simply don’t get the support and intervention that they need through the public school.  If your state supports school choice, you may be able to apply for funding to help provide your child with the education they need, whether that be through homeschooling and using tutors and therapists or through a private school, which would otherwise be unaffordable.

I’m in the state of Arizona, and they offer Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA).  I have one child who has both dyslexia and a speech issue, so we applied and qualified for the ESA scholarship.  Through those funds, I was able to get my child a private dyslexia tutor and a private speech therapist.  Paying for these things out of pocket would have cost my family $800 a month, which is not sustainable.  Thanks to the scholarship, I could afford to pay for that.  My child has now graduated successfully from both therapies.

Indiana is planning to launch a similar program, and Mississippi has several scholarships available for students with special needs.  You can find out if your state offers a similar program by going to the Ed Choice website.

Final Thoughts

Raising a special needs child can be exhausting, but it’s also rewarding.  However, the financial costs of getting your child the help he needs can be financially draining.  One special needs parent I spoke with when we first learned of our children’s disability said she and her husband ended up filing for bankruptcy because there were so many interventions she had to pay out of pocket.

There are resources available so that seeking help for your special needs child doesn’t have to decimate your finances.   With these resources, you should hopefully find ways to afford raising a special needs child.

Read More

7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy Your Kid a Car

How to Help Your Teen Create Healthy Sleep Habits

Sensory Integration Strategies for Children with Autism

7 Common Types of Behavioral Disorders in Children Every Parent Should Know

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Growing Up, Medical, Money and Finances Tagged With: autism, disabilities, grants, health insurance, scholarships, special needs

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About The Author

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Basic Principles Of Good Parenting

Here some basic principles for good parenting:

  1. What You Do Matters: Your kids are watching you. So, be purposeful about what you want to accomplish.
  2. You Can’t be Too Loving: Don’t replace love with material possessions, lowered expectations or leniency.
  3. Be Involved Your Kids Life: Arrange your priorities to focus on what your kid’s needs. Be there mentally and physically.
  4. Adapt Your Parenting: Children grow quickly, so keep pace with your child’s development.
  5. Establish and Set Rules: The rules you set for children will establish the rules they set for themselves later.  Avoid harsh discipline and be consistent.
  6. Explain Your Decisions: What is obvious to you may not be evident to your child. They don’t have the experience you do.
  7. Be Respectful To Your Child: How you treat your child is how they will treat others.  Be polite, respectful and make an effort to pay attention.
Best Parenting Blogs

Copyright © 2022 Runway Pro Theme by Viva la Violette