![]() The purse strings were particularly tight during the first nine years of Ava’s life, when they lived off Kofke’s roughly $42,000 teacher salary as his wife stayed home to take care of the girls. For years, they often walked around the grocery store with a calculator in hand. Paying off debt while building up their savings wasn’t always easy. That sum is where they’ll pull some of their college funds from, but it also includes their emergency savings, as well as some smaller buckets for fun expenses like vacations and a celebration for their 25th wedding anniversary in a couple years. Otherwise, they’re debt-free, with $82,000 in savings accounts outside of their retirement accounts. They still have a small, 10-year mortgage with $800 monthly payments. That didn’t pan out exactly as planned, though they’re not far off. The idea was that they'd free up money in their monthly budget for college bills. When Ava was born, they set a goal to pay off their mortgage by the time she went to college. The Kofkes have always been vigilant about paying down debt and saving. “You may not think it when they’re in first grade and you’re helping them with their homework, but that does pay dividends in the future,” he says. Between the scholarship and her parents’ savings, the plan is for her to earn her bachelor’s degree without taking on debt, says her dad, Danny Kofke. ![]() ![]() But it was also the path to major savings on a college degree.Īva, a freshman at the University of Georgia, has her tuition covered thanks to the state’s Zell Miller Scholarship, which rewards residents based on test scores and GPA. Working hard in school was necessary for the sake of learning, of course. With two teachers for parents, it’s little surprise that Ava Kofke grew up hearing a lot about the importance of good grades.
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