How many of you have College Savings for your kids?

[georgina]

I too had to pay my own way through college and will not expect my children to do that. The way costs have gone up, I don't see how they could, without taking on a huge debt. I had planned to go back to work full time to help pay, but my in-laws have opened 529's for them and funded them very generously. I hope I can do the same for my grandchildren one day!

 

[Va-bear]

Virginia has a REALLY nice pre-paid college plan. You pay for college at today's rate (for any Va. STate college - which are very good - or you can apply the value to almost any school...) For my older son the cost of 4 years of college was about 12,000 - total. So no matter what it REALLY costs when he goes in 11 years, it will be paid for at that rate. Great plan!

I will probably do 529's for them too - they have basic savings plans now. But knowing the tuition in fully paid for makes me feel wonderful

 

[IDoDis]

We have 15K saved so far for each of our kids. With one child only seven years away from graduating, I already feel behind. I don't want her to feel like she has to go to a school here at home because she can't afford it. I had to do that while my friends all went off to other schools. I'm hoping our kids get scholarships of some type to help out, but can't bank on that. With tuition rising nearly 10% a year, it will be expensive even if they both decide to stay here.

 

[kathi29]

We have a Florida Prepaid Plan for DD. She is set for 4 years plus fees. She should also have some money coming from an educational trust that my FIL wanted set up for the grandkids.

My parents paid for my college in full. DH's parents did not, yet his father wanted to help provide for the grandkids. My feeling is that since I don't want DD to think going to college is optional, I need to make sure it is paid for.

 

[imsayin]

My feeling is that since I don't want DD to think going to college is optional, I need to make sure it is paid for.

Yesterday, DS10 was talking about college, asking if it was optional. I said it is optional, but not for him! I'm the first generation of my family to go to college and I plan on continuing the trend. I know college isn't for everyone, but it is mandatory for my kids.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

We contribute to our state's 529 plan.

 

[mrsltg]

We never plan on "saving" for college for our girls. They are both currently in private schools to the tune of about $2000 per month. This will continue throughout their school years and the amount will increase when they go to high school to around $1500-2000 per child per month. With this tuition there is no way we could afford to put away more on top of the money we are already spending. Our plan is to keep on paying the same money per month until forever or, at least, until they are 22.

 

[DawnM]

yes, we have some and we plan to have a lot more by the time they finish high school.

DH is pushing for community college first, but I would like them to have options if they really want to go off to college.

My parents paid for my college and I would like to repay them by paying for my own kids' college education. I asked if I could repay my parents and they told me that the best way to repay them is to pay for my own kids' college. I thought that was the best thing they could have done.

Dawn

 

[kathi29]

Yesterday, DS10 was talking about college, asking if it was optional. I said it is optional, but not for him! I'm the first generation of my family to go to college and I plan on continuing the trend. I know college isn't for everyone, but it is mandatory for my kids.

I can't recall a time that I thought college was optional for me. My parents never let on that there was a choice in the matter. DD is being raised the same way. I'm not sure how things will work out with my stepson - I have tried to get through to him and we have a prepaid plan for him as well, but his mother just doesn't have the same outlook.

 

[DVC Sadie]

The best gift we gave our son when he was born was to invest in a mutual fund for his college education.

Throughout the years whenever he received monetary gifts, half would go into his savings account (for college) and he could spend the other half as he wished.

When he went to college, he not only had enough for tuition but for room and board as well.

Now, whenever a child is born into our family we set up a trust account so their college fund is ready when they are.

 

[StephMK]

We have 529s for each of our 3 kids & my dad makes contributions for each on their bdays. We have contributed monthly in the past & plan to bump it up when the baby starts full day school in the fall.

DD13 asked the other day if she had to pay for college & looked very surprised when I said -we'll see. We plan to help as much as we can. We're in a college town so she may go local & that should help some.

 

[DaisyD]

We don't have money earmarked for college. We just take it out of our savings when we need it. Right now oldest DD works full time and her company pays for her college too. She also goes to college full time. My DS goes to CC and we pay for that. If he wanted to go away for college we would pay for that too. When it is time for little DD to go we will pay for that too.

 

[jodifla]

Yes, we have the Florida Prepaid Tuition program for our son, and some other money set aside for expenses.

We want our DS to graduate with opportunities ahead of him, not be saddled with astronomical debt to prevent him starting his new life!

 

[ckoncurat]

I put $5 per child times their age in a 529 every month. (So my 10 year old gets $50, my eight year old $40, etc.) I have six kids, so this is just a drop in the bucket, but I want them to know I value their education.

 

[momof296&02]

Yesterday, DS10 was talking about college, asking if it was optional. I said it is optional, but not for him! I'm the first generation of my family to go to college and I plan on continuing the trend. I know college isn't for everyone, but it is mandatory for my kids.

I have told my ds10 the same thing!

 

[KelNottAt]

Currently, we are on track to cover 4 years of room, board and tuition at any in state university. If our children decide to go to a private college or out of state university, they will most likely have to make up the difference. Ideally, I'd like them to graduate from college debt free.

That's our position, too. Currently each one has about $75,000, so I'm hoping we can get DS's to $85,000 before he needs it (in 3.5 years ). I think if they need to take out loans we'll end up giving them the payoff amount for a graduation gift.

If either child quits or flunks out of college they'll have to pay us for the amount we spent to that point. They'll know this in advance and have to agree to it. Further, they will not be allowed to live at home if they quit or flunk out. (Well, that's how I feel about now. But, kicking them out to the street when they owe us thousands of dollars may be unrealistic.)

 

[DawnM]

Don't most states have that?

We didn't do that because we don't have any idea where we will be when the kids get to be college age and have you looked in to what happens should your child not go to college or choose to go out of state? I think there are penalties.

Dawn

Virginia has a REALLY nice pre-paid college plan. You pay for college at today's rate (for any Va. STate college - which are very good - or you can apply the value to almost any school...) For my older son the cost of 4 years of college was about 12,000 - total. So no matter what it REALLY costs when he goes in 11 years, it will be paid for at that rate. Great plan!

I will probably do 529's for them too - they have basic savings plans now. But knowing the tuition in fully paid for makes me feel wonderful

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Don't most states have that?

We didn't do that because we don't have any idea where we will be when the kids get to be college age and have you looked in to what happens should your child not go to college or choose to go out of state? I think there are penalties.

Dawn

No, most states do not have prepaid plans. They are REALLY good deals, though. Our plan in FL is transferrable to other family members if the student decides not to go to college. I think you can also cash it out in that case. If the student goes out-of-state, they get the current value of the plan (what it would be worth in-state) towards the expenses of the college that they attend. That's how I understand it at least. Either way, it was a really cheap "insurance" plan for my DD's education. 13K covered 4 years of tuition and 4 years of fees!

 

[kathi29]

Don't most states have that?

We didn't do that because we don't have any idea where we will be when the kids get to be college age and have you looked in to what happens should your child not go to college or choose to go out of state? I think there are penalties.

Dawn

Florida's plan has a pretty extensive list of reciprocal colleges.

As to whether DD chooses not to go to college, we've not presented that as an option. She can choose WHICH college to attend, I think that's a pretty good compromise.

 

[Chicago526]

No kids yet but our therory is that we will save as much as we can, only after our other savings goals are satisfied (retirement, etc). If we wind up with enough to fully pay for college, then lucky kid! If not, the kid(s) will have to come up with the rest on their own. We will contribute something, college is just too expensive for a person to go it alone, I feel. But unless our investments do extremely well, or we are just lucky to be able to save a boat load of money for them, they'll have to kick in decent portion of the cost themselves.