How much do you put away for child's college?

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

We save about $1000 each year for our son, who is 10. Fortunately, his tuition will be free if he attends the university at which my husband teaches. So we are basically just saving for room and board.

 

[bethy]

We put about $250 per month each into 529 plans and have since the girls' births. (so we save $500 per month total tax free out of our pockets). I also received a small inheritance from my grandparents that went into those funds. And then I plan to have the girls put half of all the money they earn as kids (via babysitting ,etc) into those funds.

That'll cover a bit of it. We plan to make up the difference with me someday going back to work while they are in college and with them working part time and summers too. I want them to go away from home to 4 year institutions - good ones. Even if they don't get merit scholarships we still want them to go away to college. (they won't get much financial aid).

 

[neatokimmo]

I put other because I fully expect DD to earn her college free ride by keeping a B average in high school. We have a lottery.

If the lottery is toast by the time she goes to college, I'll pay for it out of pocket. If I'm broke, she can do community college for 2 years first. All the classes feed directly into BA/BS programs at the state university.

 

[Leajess99]

I posted earlier about the prepaid plans in TX. They are extremely flexible. My oldest plan is good at ANY state school for the number of credits. The younger ones is good for a certain $ amount- depending on the school it might not buy enough credits (ie., UT Austin 110 7 semesters vs. UNT 124 or whole degree). They have up to 10 years to utilize the contract so if they want to backpack in Europe for a year or join the Army for a tour, the money will be waiting for them. If they chose a private school or out-of-state school - the plan will pay the average state school costs to that institution with the student paying the difference. Also, if they get a scholarship or simply chose not to attend, the money we paid in (little interest) can be refunded to US or we can move the plan to another relative (like our niece or nephew). All in all, sounded like a brilliant idea to us. Ideally it would be awesome for them to get scholarships for tuition and use the refunded plans to pay room and board!

Thank you for explaining that. I was just curious as I would hate to see anyone lose money if their child decides to go elsewhere for college.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We're DGP and give each DGC $500 a year for their college plan. $1000 the first year to start.

 

[amylevan]

I feel cheap in comparison to most here. My son is 7 months, and we put $25/month in a 529. Any christmas money from grandparents also goes in there (was $650 this past christmas).

I earned full tuition scholarship for academics, so my parents only picked up my room/board. And my DH's mom paid for a portion of his schooling and the rest he got in student loans. So I guess we don't see the need to save thousands, we know there are other alternatives. We would rather push our savings towards retirement and paying off our mortgage early. (And if all else fails, we have a large fund that we inherited that is not necessarily earmarked for anything. We expect to use it for retirement, but since we save for retirement as if that wasn't there, we could use it for college.)

 

[momofrrr]

what a timely topic for me. We just received our daughter's financial package today for TCU......are you ready for this? $42,998.00 per year!!!!!! All I can offer is start before they are even a thought to you.

 

[Tisha_PA]

I answered none because my in-laws fully funded college accounts for each of our kids when they were born. They are fairly wealthy and don't want us to worry about saving for the kids' college. If the amount in their accounts doesn't cover it all, they plan on paying the difference for us when the time comes.

 

[MELSMICE]

what a timely topic for me. We just received our daughter's financial package today for TCU......are you ready for this? $42,998.00 per year!!!!!! All I can offer is start before they are even a thought to you.

Crazy........isn't it?

We don't want our 3 DD's saddled with loans. We will help as much as we can. We are showing them all their options & what the future will hold depending on where they go. A loan repayment means just about nothing to a 17/18 year old at this point & we can not in all good conscience have them come out of school with thousands of dollars in loans.

We are within weeks/days of making their final decisions & sending in their acceptance letters. Talk about stressful for everyone!!!!!

Our oldest decided to stay home so there was no room/board & she had a nice merit scholarship. She attends a private school. When all is said & done she will probably have about $10,000 in loans.

 

[iheartjacksparrow]

Well, I'm no where near having kids yet, but I am a college student. My father happens to work at the community I attend, so we didn't have to worry about the first two years of school. NExt year, I will be switching to a four-year univeristy and I will take out loans and will be expected to pay them myself. I may end up getting some money from my grandfather, but like my mother, he will probably wait to give me the money for AFTER I graduate.
ADVICE:
I think this is something for a lot of you parents to consider. I think it's great that you are saving money for your children, but I really think it is in your best interest to give your kids the money AFTER THEY GRADUATE. This way, you can encourage them to work hard for scholarships. You also have to consider that sometimes your kids might not complete college for whatever reason. A lot of my friends ended up not completing school...one of them just missed home, the other got kicked out for drinking! Imagine putting all that money away, and your child wasting it by getting kicked out!! I'm not saying it will happen to your kids, but waiting till their completed makes it kind of a reward for them. Plus if they decide to go to a cheaper school, you can save the extra money for their wedding, etc.

Good luck to all you parents out there--you're all doing a great job!

 

[crisi]

Retirement is fully funded.

$1000 a month per child (there are two) plus the occasional bonus or stock grant. Right now, they could afford to live at home at go to a state school. We are continuing to save in the expectation that they may choose private or grad school.

 

[Piecey]

We do $50/month and will up it to $100 a month when the baby is born. We opened a 529 awhile back.

I am shocked at some of the amounts on here! Maybe because DH and I both paid (more accurately: are paying) for our own educations but we have no intention of fully funding their educations, just helping out.

 

[averysmom]

We have two kids and we put 300.00/month into a family RESP. The government matches it by 20% - so not counting interest, we do 4300/year.

 

[deerhart]

ADVICE:
I think this is something for a lot of you parents to consider. I think it's great that you are saving money for your children, but I really think it is in your best interest to give your kids the money AFTER THEY GRADUATE. This way, you can encourage them to work hard for scholarships. You also have to consider that sometimes your kids might not complete college for whatever reason. A lot of my friends ended up not completing school...one of them just missed home, the other got kicked out for drinking! Imagine putting all that money away, and your child wasting it by getting kicked out!! I'm not saying it will happen to your kids, but waiting till their completed makes it kind of a reward for them. Plus if they decide to go to a cheaper school, you can save the extra money for their wedding, etc.

Good luck to all you parents out there--you're all doing a great job!

The great thing about the 529 plans is that if the child doesn't attend school, I can roll the money over to a different child who does with no penalty. Also, I can remove the money and just pay the state tax penalty on it and then give it all back to me!

 

[MickeyMom:)]

My oldest is turning 20 this Aug. and she will most likely be attending Georgetown in DC...We always agreed to fully fund them thru their Bachelors Degree and the rest is up to them.....I figure by the time they have their 4 year degree they can work part time and get some loans if need be....Having said that I never expected for her to attend a school like GT. She already did her first 2 years at our local community college, which was fully awarded. So now its time for mom to step up to the plate....She has been awarded a ton of scholarships and some financial aide so we are awaiting what the final number will be...She is a very smart and very involved student and could of gone to a state school for a free ride and finish her degree there, but wanting to study law and being able to get into GT she can't refuse such an opportunity....She also is looking forward to being in her "playground"....That's what she calls DC, she is very political and has internships lined up.....Now when I get the formal paperwork and financial package she can pick me up off the floor.

 

[MickeyMom:)]

ZERO - the beauty of having well to do inlaws. At the birth of each of our girls my inlaws presented us with a check in the amount of 100,000.

My older sister started a wedding fund for each one of her nieces and nephews as well (she and my bil have no kids of their own) and each has 5,000. However, when my sister heard that our kids were pretty much taken care of education wise she gave each one an additional 2,500. In our family we feel like education and marriages are the two events that can mean so much to ones future but that can cost so much. If they don't marry by a certain age the money is thiers to do with as they please. When my hubby and I finally bought a house she instantly mailed us a check for 10,000. I love her to bits.

T.

I am sure that you really really really know how blessed you are.... That's nice!!! That scenario would really give me a "GREATS" night sleep...

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I am very fortunate, my mom gave me $25,000 for each one of my 3 children to help pay college expenses. I have a 23 yr old who won a scholarship but dropped out of college (he says it isn't for him ) I have a 21 year old in college that we are paying & have been paying the tuition since 2006 without touching the money from my mom.. and we have a 17 year old who will be entering college this coming fall. If she doesn't get a scholarship, we will have to touch the money from my mom since I cannot afford to send 2 at the same time. My 21 year old does buy her own books. She was going to go away & pay her own room & board, but she has decided to stay put until she goes to Law School... if that happens in 2011, she will help pay for things too. If she decides to change her major and stay local, she will do as she is now, just books.

 

[crisi]

We do $50/month and will up it to $100 a month when the baby is born. We opened a 529 awhile back.

I am shocked at some of the amounts on here! Maybe because DH and I both paid (more accurately: are paying) for our own educations but we have no intention of fully funding their educations, just helping out.

My parents funded mine. My husband had loans. We didn't marry until we were almost thirty, but we knew each other in college and post college. The difference in a head start between me, without loans, and him, with them, was incredible. I was able to start my 401k, buy a house.....he ended up in bankruptcy.

And we can afford it. And its unlikely our kids will qualify for ANY financial aid. I remember when I got a National Merit Scholarship. Good deal right. My dad made too much money - it was honorary. I had never heard of that before, but I got a ton of scholarships starting out - and $200 worth of actual funding. Most of the merit scholarships I won were means tested.

 

[Leajess99]

Well, I'm no where near having kids yet, but I am a college student. My father happens to work at the community I attend, so we didn't have to worry about the first two years of school. NExt year, I will be switching to a four-year univeristy and I will take out loans and will be expected to pay them myself. I may end up getting some money from my grandfather, but like my mother, he will probably wait to give me the money for AFTER I graduate.
ADVICE:
I think this is something for a lot of you parents to consider. I think it's great that you are saving money for your children, but I really think it is in your best interest to give your kids the money AFTER THEY GRADUATE. This way, you can encourage them to work hard for scholarships. You also have to consider that sometimes your kids might not complete college for whatever reason. A lot of my friends ended up not completing school...one of them just missed home, the other got kicked out for drinking! Imagine putting all that money away, and your child wasting it by getting kicked out!! I'm not saying it will happen to your kids, but waiting till their completed makes it kind of a reward for them. Plus if they decide to go to a cheaper school, you can save the extra money for their wedding, etc.

Good luck to all you parents out there--you're all doing a great job!

Check into transfer scholarships. I wish I had known to do this as it could have saved me a ton. I did still get one for a year but a friend transfered to a different college and half of her tuition is covered by the transfer scholarship for the time she is at the university.

 

[Longsx3]

DD(13) has a Florida prepaid plan, 4yrs University plus fees and 1yr of Dorms. All in we paid between 11-13K., what a great deal considering todays cost are 23K plus she still has 4yrs to go. Also she will have Bright Futures and GI Bill money...they will pay her to to go to school basically.


In Florida you would not be guaranteed to get into an upper tier state school with a 3.0.

I put other because I fully expect DD to earn her college free ride by keeping a B average in high school. We have a lottery.

If the lottery is toast by the time she goes to college, I'll pay for it out of pocket. If I'm broke, she can do community college for 2 years first. All the classes feed directly into BA/BS programs at the state university.