how much do you have saved for your kids for college so far?

[budbeerlady]

Interesting read!

We were doing better at the 529 savings plan until Dh was laid off in 2007 and has been stuck at about 30 hours a week since late 2008. Anyway, Dd has $7,500 in 529 plan right now. I hope to easily double that in the next 7 years for her. (IF things improve, please, pretty please economy!)

Doesn't sound like much to have $15,000 + in there but we will continue to pay the $7,200 a year that we currently pay in tuition for her (or whatever tuition will be when she is done with high school.) $12,000 a year in college will not cover the whole bill but its better than nothing! She will have to work her bottom off to pay for her books, etc. during the summer like I did. And she will have to work hard in school, my ACT score opened a few doors and my wonderful parents helped me out a lot. It will be doable but she has to contribute also.

 

[prncess674]

No, graduating in a pre-law curriculum does not require any additional schooling then any other undergraduate degree. Now if you want to go on to law school that's a whole other issue (but that is grad/professional school and won't be paid for through most state programs of that kind)


We have about $3000 in 539 plans for the kids and about another $2k in savings bonds. I would love to contribute more, but I am paying off both DH's and my college/grad schools (to the combined total tune of $150k as we each now have about $75k and that was even with 75% of my law school tuition being paid by scholarship)

I think you misunderstood my point. My point is most undergraduate degrees require somewhere between 120-125 hours, which averages 15-16 credit hours per semester based on 8 semesters. Most students sign up for approximately 15 hours per semester. If little Johnny drops even one class then he is off track to graduate in 8 semesters. Also it is common for freshman to change majors and then have classes that may not fulfill the basic requirements of their new majors. Sure every major has a few fill in the blank electives, but those can be quickly filled with classes due to changing majors.

The original Louisiana poster mentions that her son is a junior in high school and has already declared a major of pre-law. I might just bookmark this thread and PM her in 3 years and see how many times he changes his major. A junior in HS can express an interest in one day becoming an attorney but he also should be exploring other career possibilities and as a parent you should be giving him the opportunity to talk to persons in a variety of professions.

It also is worth mentioning that LSU does not offer a specific pre-law degree.

Does LSU offer degrees in Pre-Law, Pre-Med, or Pre-Dentistry?
LSU does not offer degrees in Pre-Law, Pre-Med, or Pre-Dentistry. Students interested in Law School, Medical School, or Dental School are advised to graduate with a degree in a related field, but not limit themselves to a Pre-Law, Pre-Med, or Pre-Dentistry degree.http://www.lsu.edu/paurec/faqs.shtml#prelaw

 

[abmitch01]

one thing that def isn't working for us- Upromise. Have had it attached to all our credit cards for years and I think we have a whopping $10 accumulated, lol

 

[deerhart]

DD10 is already asking if people "have" to go to college. She wants to be an artist and is not a fan of school. Some form of higher education will be pushed as much as we can.

let her know that most artists have bachelor degrees in the arts. Degrees come in everything from music and dance to cartooning, painting, sculpting, photography etc..

 

[budbeerlady]

one thing that def isn't working for us- Upromise. Have had it attached to all our credit cards for years and I think we have a whopping $10 accumulated, lol

I don't even have that much, LOL! I think it took me 5 years to get the $3 that is in there.

 

[Virgderon]

one thing that def isn't working for us- Upromise. Have had it attached to all our credit cards for years and I think we have a whopping $10 accumulated, lol

DD graduated college last year. After years of having Upromise, I just cashed out for $167.00. I'm using the cash for tickets to see the Chicago Bears. After paying for all that college, and still paying on college loans, I figured that $167 was mine.

 

[ccgirl]

one thing that def isn't working for us- Upromise. Have had it attached to all our credit cards for years and I think we have a whopping $10 accumulated, lol

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I thought I was doing something wrong.

 

[Happiest mommy]

I wish we had a pre-paid plan here in New York or that we could pay a pre paid plan from Florida we would definetly do it but as of yet we have nada.

 

[deerhart]

I think you misunderstood my point. My point is most undergraduate degrees require somewhere between 120-125 hours, which averages 15-16 credit hours per semester based on 8 semesters. Most students sign up for approximately 15 hours per semester. If little Johnny drops even one class then he is off track to graduate in 8 semesters. Also it is common for freshman to change majors and then have classes that may not fulfill the basic requirements of their new majors. Sure every major has a few fill in the blank electives, but those can be quickly filled with classes due to changing majors.

The original Louisiana poster mentions that her son is a junior in high school and has already declared a major of pre-law. I might just bookmark this thread and PM her in 3 years and see how many times he changes his major. A junior in HS can express an interest in one day becoming an attorney but he also should be exploring other career possibilities and as a parent you should be giving him the opportunity to talk to persons in a variety of professions.

It also is worth mentioning that LSU does not offer a specific pre-law degree.

Does LSU offer degrees in Pre-Law, Pre-Med, or Pre-Dentistry?
LSU does not offer degrees in Pre-Law, Pre-Med, or Pre-Dentistry. Students interested in Law School, Medical School, or Dental School are advised to graduate with a degree in a related field, but not limit themselves to a Pre-Law, Pre-Med, or Pre-Dentistry degree.http://www.lsu.edu/paurec/faqs.shtml#prelaw

First off, that isn't limited to just pre-law type studies (and there are very very few universities that actual offer a pre-law degree). which was MY points. A pre law study takes no more work then any OTHER degree. Thus ANYONE who misses a class runs into the same problem. It really isn't all that hard to make up 1 or 2 missed classes by taking 18 credit hours in your later years.

When I started undergrad we were actually advised to take 12 credits per semester our freshman year and then make up the 2 classes in our Junior/Senior years by taking 18 credit hours twice.

Even changing majors, it is all on your planning. One of my DH's good friends changed his major from history, to art, to poli sci and still graduated in 8 semesters (no summer school).

Too many kids go in without a plan of attack at all and end up taking classes just to take classes. These classes don't fulfill a major or a required course and thus end up being wasted.

My pre-law study was a ploi sci major, heavily focused on sociology, and an anthropology minor (which was 2 required courses from being a major, had the credits but not two of the remaining required courses).

 

[prncess674]

First off, that isn't limited to just pre-law type studies (and there are very very few universities that actual offer a pre-law degree). which was MY points. A pre law study takes no more work then any OTHER degree. Thus ANYONE who misses a class runs into the same problem. It really isn't all that hard to make up 1 or 2 missed classes by taking 18 credit hours in your later years.

When I started undergrad we were actually advised to take 12 credits per semester our freshman year and then make up the 2 classes in our Junior/Senior years by taking 18 credit hours twice.

Even changing majors, it is all on your planning. One of my DH's good friends changed his major from history, to art, to poli sci and still graduated in 8 semesters (no summer school).

Too many kids go in without a plan of attack at all and end up taking classes just to take classes. These classes don't fulfill a major or a required course and thus end up being wasted.

My pre-law study was a ploi sci major, heavily focused on sociology, and an anthropology minor (which was 2 required courses from being a major, had the credits but not two of the remaining required courses).

I am really not understanding your hostility. I was merely pointing out that most students don't have a plan and end up wasting credits and changing majors which make it difficult to graduate in 8 semesters. Students need to have some sort of back up funding for the strong possibility that it will take more than 8 semesters. Having an ACT of 21 is probably a good indication that her son in an average student (50th percentile) and managing 18 credit hours might be a challenge. Sure, many students graduate in 8 semesters, but it takes lots of hard work and dedication, parents/students need to be prepared for additional financial burden.

 

[deerhart]

DD graduated college last year. After years of having Upromise, I just cashed out for $167.00. I'm using the cash for tickets to see the Chicago Bears. After paying for all that college, and still paying on college loans, I figured that $167 was mine.

We have racked up almost $300 since 2002, but alot of that is online shopping. Now that we have a CVS, I do get some money from that (I also use the ecoupons they have). For example, I will buy bounty paper towels when they have a sale on them, usually get a CVS coupon for them and have a manf coupon and then use the upromise ecoupon (which puts $2.00 in my upromise account).

It's not a ton of money, but every little bit helps.

 

[deerhart]

I am really not understanding your hostility. I was merely pointing out that most students don't have a plan and end up wasting credits and changing majors which make it difficult to graduate in 8 semesters. Students need to have some sort of back up funding for the strong possibility that it will take more than 8 semesters. Having an ACT of 21 is probably a good indication that her son in an average student (50th percentile) and managing 18 credit hours might be a challenge. Sure, many students graduate in 8 semesters, but it takes lots of hard work and dedication, parents/students need to be prepared for additional financial burden.

There's no hostility. I am simply pointing out that your statement that a pre-law study will take more then 8 semesters is very misleading.

What I quoted you saying above, is not what you said previously.

 

[tinkarooni]

one thing that def isn't working for us- Upromise. Have had it attached to all our credit cards for years and I think we have a whopping $10 accumulated, lol

You really have to work too much at the Upromise thing. We have been lucky that we bought a car one year that gave us several hundred dollars. I haven't been able to pay as much attention to it lately but there can be all sort of strange ways to make $$$ in it, it's sort of like couponing to me....sometimes I focus on it and sometimes there just isn't time. We have made about $900 in the past 7 years. I'm really happy with that.

 

[averysmom]

Our children are 8 and 5 and we have just over 11 000. It should be more, but we lost all of our interest profit when the markets crashed a couple of years ago. We do 300/month - and then the gov't contributes 20% in grants - so really we do 360/month. College here in Canada isn't as expensive - if our kids live at home (and most do) and do either of the very good univeristies in our city - we expect tuition/books/etc. to be between 5000-7000/year. I think we're on track.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Then again, DD7 is planning on being a rock star so she probably won't need college for that.

HEY! Maybe she can be friends with our friend who wants to be a commedian!

 

[Virgderon]

We have racked up almost $300 since 2002, but alot of that is online shopping. Now that we have a CVS, I do get some money from that (I also use the ecoupons they have). For example, I will buy bounty paper towels when they have a sale on them, usually get a CVS coupon for them and have a manf coupon and then use the upromise ecoupon (which puts $2.00 in my upromise account).

It's not a ton of money, but every little bit helps.

Seems to me like you are doing really well! I have been a member of Upromise and Mypoints as long as I can remember. I have been doing Mypoints since 2000, and I have cashed out for about 550 dollars worth of gcs with them. Some people would say it's not worth doing for 50 dollars a year, but it is a kick to get a $25 gc twice a year or so for nothing but clicking and occasionally purchasing through their site.

 

[deerhart]

with mypoints I do NOTHING but the click through emails, some of the click through stuff on the site (for 5 points) and every once in awhile the free spins and stuff and I have almost 20k in total points accumulated.

I do the same thing with bondrewards (nothing but the .05 click throughs 95% of the time) and I have cashed in 2 $50 savings bonds.

With Upromise, I do things like buying my new vacuum cleaner online and then picking it up at the store (bought through Best Buy got almost $8 back).

If we had a grocery near us that was involved with upromise back when the grocery had TONS of things in it, we would have made a bundle (probably about $10-$15 a month easy) *sigh*

But, one thing is you have to make an effort to use these things. I have the toolbar that alerts me and if I am shopping online and its not a upromise store, then I know I usually have another rebate type place that does take it (for example DH just bought stuff from Dick Blicks, not on upromise, but is on ebates - another $3.00 back in our pockets).

 

[sau418]

Back to the retirement issue, I have a Roth that we max out each year and DH has an account too, we are funding both retirement and college at the same time. It means that we are not keeping up with the Jones's, but by no means are we poor either.

DH went to pricey schools for both undergrad and graduate and I did for graduate school. We would like our girls to have those same opportunities if they so choose.

 

[LovableGluttons]

DH and I do fully fund our retirements. DH retired from the Air Force after 20 years, has an annuity from that, we've fully funded our roths since 1993 before we had kids. We've spent all 22 years (this Oct) living off one income while the other funded our retirement, savings, college for the kids. One of our mutual funds we started with the year after we were married..... 1989! DH was 21 and I was 22.

If DH should pass away before me, I would receive a portion of his retirement in addition to life insurance. Since we're accustomed to living off one income, the surviving spouse would just continue to do so.

We were not the norm among our friends. We drove old cars, I learned to use coupons and to rebate pretty extremely. It took DH 2 years to find emloyment using his MBA after he retired from the military. If we were dependent on two incomes to survive, we would have had to use savings to keep aflot.

I figured I could buy a new car every 4 years or put my kids through college.

 

[abmitch01]

someone asked about max Roth contributions. I checked the IRS site and it's 5k for 2010 if you are under 50, 6k if over