Average college savings for children

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I just looked at how much is in each of our 3 kids' 529 plans. Based on a 7% average return rate, and an annual college inflation cost of 4%, it looks like we will have 2 years of a public state school covered for them. We are contributing $100 a month in each of their accounts, and sometimes their grandparents contribute a bit.

We are really focusing more on our retirement savings. We are on an accelerated pay-off plan for our mortgage, and we are on schedule to have that paid off before our oldest starts college. We should be able to cash flow 2 years of community college for each of them while they live at home, plus use their 529s for a two years of a 4-year university.

I'm comfortable with our plan. If we were to increase our contributions to save up for 4 years of college, we would need to sacrifice family vacations and/or retirement funding. I think it's a balancing act.

 

[Njord]

We're planning on cashflowing most of it. She is not going to university in the US though. We're shipping her off to either Germany or France where it is far, far cheaper (she has EU citizenship, but even without it, it is still usually way cheaper to go abroad). I'm not interested in any of the three of us mortgaging our futures just so she can go to college.

If she wants to stay here, she can get an apprenticeship or go to community college. But uni here she can forget about unless she manages a complete full-ride somewhere.

 

[kcrew]

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[Kriii]

Back when the kids were young, we lived within commuting distance to two Ohio universities and put money in the Ohio pre-paid plan, which was discontinued years ago in favor of an Ohio 529. Rusty Scupper is very fortunate to have funded everything through the pre-paid plan, which was truly a great deal. We figured attending the local college with commuting to save money was the obvious path to take, as it was what dh and I did. We moved from Ohio and opened a separate 529, not a state plan, and will cash out the Ohio pre-paid since our child is going to attend college out of Ohio. Between the two plans, scholarship money and spending the money currently paid in high school tuition on college, we should be able to cover college tuition without debt as long as graduation is within 4.5 years. Moral of the story: It's easy to plan on the cheapest option (commuting to the colleges close to our home in OH would have probably cost 50K over four years for everything), but it is most realistic to plan for the unexpected. Child 1 is going to college this fall and has no interest in the types of colleges I envisioned (big state universities), nor would they have been the best for her. Not everyone can save, but do the best you can IMHO. College is mighty pricey and kids will need help! Edited to add: (for Rusty Scupper's benefit! We are cashing about double what we put into the Ohio pre-paid...it was definitely the smart plan to purchase! Just wish we had put more money into it at the beginning, instead of assuming we could slowly fund it over several years. Glad things have worked out so well for your granddaughters. What a kind thing for you to do!)