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

[RadioFanatic]

I have $5100 in my 2 year old's 529 - I put in $200 a month. I would love to hear others with 529's, what they decided to put their money in - mine are a bit riskier bc of son's age but admittedly, it stresses me out.

 

[shaylahc1]

My plan is to have $10K saved for each kid by the time they graduate from high school. That is enough to cover tuition for 2 years at our local public college. Anything beyond that they will have to pay for themselves. I lived at home and worked my way through college, between that and a scholarship I graduated debt free.
It has never been my intent to give my kids a free ride to college.
If they end up getting a full ride scholarship the money is theirs when they graduate to do with as they please.

 

[nchulka]

I didn't read through all the post, just the first and last pages. Am I the only one who thinks that by 18 (college age) kids should have to make it on their own. I would have never thought or expected my parents to pay for my college and neither did my husband. We were married when we were both still in college and would have felt like babies if mom and dad were paying for it. My loan was paid a couple of years ago, and we have about 2 1/2 more years on my husbands. I'm planning to encourage my kids to participate in a program our state has in high school that will completely pay for 2 years of community college including books and everything. After that they will be 20 and on their own.

 

[ccgirl]

What does fully funded mean?? I hear a lot of people say their retirement was fully funded. What does that mean? I know there are retirement calculators out there. According to those; I would need 1 million dollars to live at the same level I do now. I can't imagine having 1 million dollars right now or even $700,000 not taking into account inflation.

When people say fully funded do you really mean you have that much saved?

 

[allison443]

I didn't read through all the post, just the first and last pages. Am I the only one who thinks that by 18 (college age) kids should have to make it on their own. I would have never thought or expected my parents to pay for my college and neither did my husband. We were married when we were both still in college and would have felt like babies if mom and dad were paying for it. My loan was paid a couple of years ago, and we have about 2 1/2 more years on my husbands. I'm planning to encourage my kids to participate in a program our state has in high school that will completely pay for 2 years of community college including books and everything. After that they will be 20 and on their own.

Everyone's situation is different. My dh and I essentially put ourselves through college, and we both put ourselves fully through grad school. We are committed to paying four years of college including room and board for each of our kids. We want to do that and are doing it happily. We want them to start out with no loans and with a college degree. (Any grad school is on them!)

This is just our situation, and what we have decided to do. I am not criticizing anyone and I'm only posting because it's different from your opinion that at 18 kids are on their own. We do not have any program like you mentioned you have in your state.

 

[crisi]

What does fully funded mean?? I hear a lot of people say their retirement was fully funded. What does that mean? I know there are retirement calculators out there. According to those; I would need 1 million dollars to live at the same level I do now. I can't imagine having 1 million dollars right now or even $700,000 not taking into account inflation.

When people say fully funded do you really mean you have that much saved?

I suspect most people mean that they are putting the maximum into their 401ks that is permitted - as opposed to having every penny saved that they need right now.

 

[crisi]

I didn't read through all the post, just the first and last pages. Am I the only one who thinks that by 18 (college age) kids should have to make it on their own. I would have never thought or expected my parents to pay for my college and neither did my husband. We were married when we were both still in college and would have felt like babies if mom and dad were paying for it. My loan was paid a couple of years ago, and we have about 2 1/2 more years on my husbands. I'm planning to encourage my kids to participate in a program our state has in high school that will completely pay for 2 years of community college including books and everything. After that they will be 20 and on their own.

The best gift my parents gave me was funding college so I left without student loans. That set me up to buy a house when I was 21. That set me up to pay off a house before my 40th birthday - as well as "fully funding" that retirement. That set me up to be able to save for my own kid's educations. To do so was a sacrifice on their part, and one I'll be eternally grateful for. They've asked me to repay that by doing the same to the best of my ability for my children, and I'll ask my children to repay it by doing it to the best of their ability for my grandchildren.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

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

Wow - I have almost $1800 in my account. Guess I am doing well!

 

[SLM]

I didn't read through all the post, just the first and last pages. Am I the only one who thinks that by 18 (college age) kids should have to make it on their own. I would have never thought or expected my parents to pay for my college and neither did my husband. We were married when we were both still in college and would have felt like babies if mom and dad were paying for it.QUOTE]

Everyone's situation is different-and every parent has the right to make their own decisions regarding college.My husband I had parents that paid for college-we were (and I know my daughter is) extremely grateful not to have loans when we graduated. She is also grateful for the experience of living away from home is a small, liberal arts college. She never could've saved the money by eighteen and would've had thousands of dollars of debt. We could do it, so we did. And you're right-I would not have been happy to pay for college if she decided to get married before she graduated. She would've had to make a choice.

 

[abmitch01]

ok, how the heck did you get that much in your Upromise acct?

 

[jodifla]

We have a prepaid tuition plan, so DS's tuition is covered at a 4-year state college in Florida. We will also have a substantial account for things like room and board and books.


Really can't imagine doing anything less for a child.

 

[StephMK]

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..

Yes, I have told her this & she has a cousin that just got her MA in Graphic Arts. She just opened her own website w/some friends & they do promo & ad work.

I'm hoping when she gets a little older, things will kick in better for her. She wants to open her own little art shop & I've told her she needs more education about how to run it, etc. She is the one I'm really curious about watching grow up. Definitely beats to her own drummer & has her own ideas.

 

[deerhart]

I have $5100 in my 2 year old's 529 - I put in $200 a month. I would love to hear others with 529's, what they decided to put their money in - mine are a bit riskier bc of son's age but admittedly, it stresses me out.

My oldest son's portfolio with % invested

Aggressive Age-Based Option:
Vanguard Growth Portfolio 20%

Moderate Age-Based Option:
Vanguard Moderate Growth Portfolio 20%

American Century International Growth Portfolio 10%

American Century Growth Portfolio 25%

Vanguard Aggressive Growth Portfolio 25%

And my youngest son's portfolio (they are 3 school years apart)

Aggressive Age-Based Option:
Vanguard Growth Portfolio 20%

Moderate Age-Based Option:
Vanguard Moderate Growth Portfolio 20%

American Century Growth Portfolio 20%

Vanguard Aggressive Growth Portfolio 20%

Vanguard Growth Portfolio 20%

My oldest son's portfolio is outdoing the youngest but not by a ton (its like $30 difference).

We also have about the same mix on our 401(k)s. Last year I averaged about an 11-30% return on all our accounts (11% on the 529's, 30% on dh's 401(k)). This year I am hovering at about even most days with the stock market fluctuating so badly. We made up everything that was lost in 2008 by the end of 2009 and really haven't lost anything this year either.

 

[Ava]

Our DD is only 1 year old, and we don't really have any savings specifically set aside for her college yet. Her grandma started a savings account for her when she was born, but I don't know how much is in there. We also have an account for her with money she's received as gifts & a little that we've earned through UPromise.

I'm still paying on my own student loans; when I've paid those off I'd like to be able to take that monthly payment (or at least part of it) and put it in an account for DD's college. My parents weren't really able to help me pay for college at all, except for a bit in loans that they took in their name. I'd like to be able to do more for DD when the time comes, and guide her towards finishing college with as little debt as possible.

 

[LovableGluttons]

What does fully funded mean?? I hear a lot of people say their retirement was fully funded. What does that mean? I know there are retirement calculators out there. According to those; I would need 1 million dollars to live at the same level I do now. I can't imagine having 1 million dollars right now or even $700,000 not taking into account inflation.

When people say fully funded do you really mean you have that much saved?

Yes, we have saved that already, more than that actually. It was very important to us not to have to rely on Social Security nor the militry retirement. We're hoping to make a difference in the world someday which is going to require a hefty income to do.

I worked 12 hour night shifts for the first 15 years our of college to minimize the amount of time my children spent in daycare and to do my part to build our portfolio.

We continue to load our Roths, DH's 401K, my 403b, our mutual funds, and save for the kids to go to college should what we have now not be enough.


Compound interest is a marvel!

 

[JamesMom]

What does fully funded mean?? I hear a lot of people say their retirement was fully funded. What does that mean? I know there are retirement calculators out there. According to those; I would need 1 million dollars to live at the same level I do now. I can't imagine having 1 million dollars right now or even $700,000 not taking into account inflation.

When people say fully funded do you really mean you have that much saved?

I think people mean that they are putting the maximum annual limits on their 401(k) and IRAs each year. It takes decades to save up to your 'number' that's why it is stressed to start early and often. A lesson some of us in our early 40s are beginning to realize

 

[StitchBuddy]

We have save by buying into our state pre-paid program. So my DD 13 can go to any state college and tuition is paid, plus we have a Roth IRA to cover the other expenses. Hopefully we won't have to pay to much out of pocket.

 

[disykat]

I'll list our "plan" since I haven't seen anyone else say the same. Our oldest will be a senior next year. We'll pay off the house in March. He is a good student so will get a few scholarships, so we're hoping to pay OOP (with money we had previously used on the mortgage + extra principle payments) and pretty much cover his expenses. We're saving our four years prepaid tuition plus a few other little investments for the two years when both our kids are in college. Then we'll be back to OOP for the youngest's last two years.

We hope to provide four years at the institution of their choice, but a private school's merit aide package would have to be pretty good to make it an option. If they need extra years, they'll probably be getting loans. They'll also have summer employment during college and part time during the school year most terms.

From his yard work through the years and two summers of employment, our oldest will have about 5K saved to contribute. Our younger son isn't as good at taking on odd jobs, but wants to start working next summer (which gives him 3 working summers) so hopefully he'll catch up.

We've always lived on one income since I was a SAHM, so the prepaid tuition was purchased with my income the years I worked while they were in school. I'm currently unemployed, so when I'm employed it will be easier - but it's doable either way.

 

[MaryC]

Hubby + I worked several years before + alot while attending good schools for under + grad.

No way I'll put DD through that. So, we saved alot before we did "extras" like take trips to the Mouse, so we wouldn't ever tell her "sorry, we spent the money on luxury stuff, now you can't attend college." Just so she knows what work is, she has a lawn mowing business- mowed two today in 92 degree heat.

Not everyone can save for college, and no matter how much you plan, a crisis (or two) may arise... just do the best you can as often as you're able.