Double post

[chrissyk]

double post

 

[Beth76]

I don't know really. It's going to depend on how old your kids are. We just started our funds a few months ago. Our boys are 4 and 1. We're putting in $50 a month (into each) right now. But, that's not nearly enough. We plan to put in larger amounts in the future, but I'm not sure what that's going to be. DH is the financial guy.

 

[Hillbeans]

Well, we currently put in $150 in the 529 and $150 in savings a month for our son. His accounts have grown nicely over the course of 4.5 years, although we just started the 529 last year but we xfrd in 1/2 of his savings account.

We'll have to adjust that a little for baby # 2 because there is no way we could save that much a month x 2.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Not perfect by any sense, but a help.........................


http://www.savingforcollege.com/college_calculator/

(not to be considered financial advce)

 

[EthansMom]

We max out the ESA's for the kids, so $2000 each year per child. It still won't be enough to completely pay for college by the time they get there, but at least it's something.

 

[wfloyd]

We are in Florida's prepaid tuition plan so it comes out to ~200 a month right now. After that is paid for, we will start to figure out what else might be needed (housing, more fees,...) and start saving for that.

 

[disneysteve]

I think the answer partly depends on where you are saving the money. Some plans, like a 529, must be used for college or else you pay taxes and penalties when you withdraw the money. Or you may just have a regular account that you have designated for college but in reality could be spent on anything at all. You don't want to overfund a 529 and have to pay the penalties to retrieve the excess money.

There is a good calculator at http://www.money.com.

We currently invest $400/month in DD's 529 which should give us about $125,000 at college time. That probably won't be enough but I'd rather draw from other accounts (or have her take some loans) to pay the difference instead of risking overfunding the 529. Plus there is always the chance of her earning some scholarships or grants which would reduce what she/we need to pay.

 

[janette]

So many factors, your age & their age when you start saving are big ones. Since I'm an older parent I concentrate on retirement savings for ourselves first. I'll be almost retirement age when my girls are in college so it maybe part of what we are using for college. The only disadvantage to the 529's are that they will be considered assets to the college student and that can hurt their chances for some financial aid. Often this isn't a factor because they won't qualify for other reasons.

A Roth IRA & a 529 are very similiar savings tools. Both have non-taxable earnings, if you don't max out your Roth every year you might want to look at that first before a 529.

Pre-paid state funds don't get a good review from many financial planners but with the stock market performing like it has the last 5 years they've looked better than when the stock market funds were earning well.

 

[chadfromdallas]

We currently invest $400/month in DD's 529 which should give us about $125,000 at college time. That probably won't be enough but I'd rather draw from other accounts (or have her take some loans) to pay the difference instead of risking overfunding the 529. Plus there is always the chance of her earning some scholarships or grants which would reduce what she/we need to pay.

$125,000 not enough?!?!

 

[icebrat001]

$125,000 not enough?!?!

Yeah, not enough. Many private schools cost $25,000 - $35,00 a year and that's just tuition. Then medical school ranges from $30,000 - $70,000 a year, not that parents have an obligation to pay for any of their child's education, it's a lot less stressful.

 

[lbgraves]

Unfortunantly that figure is low on the suggested scale of what 4-6 yos will need to get thru 4 years of college when they are old enough.

 

[minkydog]

We currently invest $400/month in DD's 529 which should give us about $125,000 at college time. That probably won't be enough but I'd rather draw from other accounts (or have her take some loans) to pay the difference instead of risking overfunding the 529. Plus there is always the chance of her earning some scholarships or grants which would reduce what she/we need to pay.

Holy cow! Where are you sending her to college?? DS18 is getting NO scholarships and NO public assistance, and we expect to pay about $1000-1500 per semester while he lives at home (double that when he goes to a state community college in Winter 2006). That is roughly $8-12,000 up to $24,000 over the course of 4 years. Of course I don't expect my DS to be a doctor--but he might play on on TV someday

BTW--we have saved nothing toward college, opting instead to fund our retirement and our handicapped son's rest-of-his-life. I figure my able-bodied/minded kids can just get off their butts and either earn their way to Big Wahzoo U. or get happy with El-Cheapo Junior College. We will gladly help where we can, but they might as well know there is no free lunch.

I have found that for most people a BS degree from Timbuktu U. is just a good as a degree from anywhere else. I have yet to have an employer think less of my skills because I went to the cheapest college in Alabama. And none of them have cared about my lofty honors transcript. Makes me wish I had partied a little more.

 

[disneysteve]

$125,000 not enough?!?!

I finished college in 1986 and med school in 1990. $125,000 wouldn't have covered my education back then. It certainly won't cover DD's 10 years from now.

DD is 9 and entering 4th grade, so 9 more years of public school before college in the 10th year. Assuming college costs continue to climb as they have for many years, a four-year bill of $150,000-$200,000 for a private school is not unreasonable to plan for. And that doesn't include books, living expenses, travel costs, etc. And then there is always the possibility of graduate school for some advanced degree.

ETA: I just checked. Tuition, room and board at my alma mater, Albright College, is $33,120 this year, so $132,480 for 4 years assuming no increase each year (which of course there would be). So $125,000 wouldn't cover college today if DD were entering college where I went.

 

[chadfromdallas]

Thank goodness I'm not going to be a doctor Colleges are just so pricey these days

 

[Hillbeans]

I figure my able-bodied/minded kids can just get off their butts and either earn their way to Big Wahzoo U. or get happy with El-Cheapo Junior College. We will gladly help where we can, but they might as well know there is no free lunch.

I have found that for most people a BS degree from Timbuktu U. is just a good as a degree from anywhere else. I

LOL Minkydog...!

My parents only had about 1/3 of my college money saved, but I went to a 2 year CC first, and then on to a 4-year school for my BA degree. All in all, my 4 years of college cost under $20,000 - the most expensive years being my Jr and Sr years at around $8,000 each. I don't expect to pay for my son's (and next child's) whole education, but I firmly believe in a college education and I want to have some money aside for it and the rest can be taken in the form of savings, scholarship, loans, etc.

My husband had to take loans out the wazoo for his college (expensive private college in PA, but he threw the Discus and got 1/2 scholarship). We just paid the last of those loans off for his B.A. the same month he finished his Masters Degree which was paid for by his current job.

EDITED TO ADD - Unless i'm a millionaire, I don't plan on paying for my kid's graduate school if they go.....that's on them. Many great companies help pay for tuition these days, and unless my son becomes a Doctor, which I don't expect, he can do just like his mom and dad and get a job and get an advanced degree while working.

 

[chrissyk]

I agree that $125K will not be enough to fund a private college when a young child today starts school at 18. I'd like to save more than than in the 529, but I hadn't considered the possibility of penalties for overfunding it. I just assumed that the overage would be used towards graduate school (which is just about a requirement in many fields these days). We're planning on doing the state prepaid plan for tuition, fees, and housing, but that's our "insurance" plan. The 529 would be for either a more expensive private undergrad and/or for grad. I don't know about worrying about reducing the eligibility for aid...by the time I have a college-aged kid 20+ years from now, how do I know that there's even going to be any aid

 

[monarchsfan16]

The only disadvantage to the 529's are that they will be considered assets to the college student and that can hurt their chances for some financial aid.

We just finished the financial aid process. I have a 529 and it is actually considered the asset of the parent. In my case it was my father's asset and therefore not calculated into my financial aid numbers at all (I live with my mom). And that wasn't law breaking or anything; that's just how it works. It can still affect the amount of aid that the student receives, but to a lesser extent. They automatically calculate every cent of the student's assets into the expected family contribution, but only a percentage of that of the parents. If money is going into a savings account you may want to have that account in the parent's name, but have its sole purpose be for Suzy's education, for example, because the college will expect less of it.

 

[KelNottAt]

We have 2 kids. We save $150 per month per kid. My mom kicks in another $25 per month per kid. That's about all we can afford on a monthly basis...we put much more emphasis on retirement.

Aside from the monthly savings, we also have pre-paid a year at any Maryland public university.

If everything goes according to plan, we hope to pay "cash" for DS's first 2 years. Then, when he's in years 3 & 4, DD will be in years 1 & 2. It's during this "overlap" that we see ourselves using the savings and pre-paid. Then in DD's 3rd & 4th years, well...um, not sure...hopefully cash again.

I thought we were in pretty good shape until yesterday. That's when DS decided he'll need to get his masters right after his undergrad. ("Ya know, Mom, starting teachers make more if they have a masters.") Then, DD announced she wants to be an eye doctor. I didn't have the courage to ask whether optometrist or ophthmologist. (She wouldn't know the diff, anyway.)

 

[justhat]

I just want to agree with DisneySteve's assessment of college tuition. My husband is in medical school at George Washington Univ. in DC and undergrad tuition there is $37,000. Add in another $10,000 for room and board, and another $1000 and change for books and other expenses and they suggest that the yearly costs will be $49,350. They just changed their tuition pricing to be the same for all 4 years, so what you pay when you enter is what you pay each year, instead of having it go up each year. So multiply that $49,000 by 4 years-just about $200,000. And that's just undergrad. Medical school there is about another $50,000 per year, though I know that's not really included in 'saving for college'.

Fortunately for me, my parents started saving for my college education when I was very young and they had enough to cover my 4 years plus graduate school(I had a full time job every summer and part time job during the year all 4 years to pay for my personal expenses). My husband, OTOH, had to pay for all of it himself, college (which '98-'02 cost around $38-40,000/year) plus medical school, so we owe tons in loans right now, and will for quite sometime in the future. We want to have 4 kids, so we know we won't be able to fund 100% of each one's college and graduate education (if they go), but we'd like to be able to help as much as we can so that they don't end up owing a fortune when they graduate like we do.

 

[Chicago526]

$125,000 not enough? Maybe if your kids go to Harvard or Yale.

To me, unless a person is going into a field where a $$$ school's name on the diploma will count for something, I never understood why anyone would go to a $$$ private school, when you can get as good an education at State U.

I'm paying for my kids to go to a state school. If they want to go to $$$ College, then they need to get grants, scholarships, or a great paying part time job to make up the differance in cost.