Saving $$ for Kids College, do you think you put enough away

[Lewski709]

I don't. I don't think I put enough away for retirement either. Geez, it's difficult. I make a fair salary, but trying to save for college for the kids, life insurance, retirement and pay off the house, keep money in savings, I just don't know how to do it all and I consider myself financially wise.

 

[cinmell]

Nope, probably not . At the rate I'm saving and the rate of tuition increases, I'm thinking the college fund will only pay for our daughter's first semester! I can't imagine what the cost will be in 15 years.

 

[FINFAN]

Nope. I am not even sure if we have enough put away for groceries next week! We will do our best, and hope to take over any student loans the kids may have to take out. If we can't cover the expenses ahead, we will cover them after. At least I sure hope we can take that burden of fof them.

 

[Planogirl]

We have a fund for DS' education but it's been kind of wobbling around the last few years. As for retirement, I don't think we're close to where we need to be. We have two pensions and an OK 401K but we need much more!

 

[minniecarousel]

With one finished with college and one with one more year, I am so grateful that neither of them chose a private college. State Universities in California are pretty good, & the price was nice too. (whew! almost done! they're on their own for grad school!)

 

[shep]

no, but its a start

 

[Mishetta]

Unfortunately, we live paycheck by paycheck....altho my DH does have money taken out to contribute into a 401k plan thru work.

Regarding college, we were not able to put anything away after bills & groceries are done & private school tuition paid. We did come into an inheritance a couple years ago, & instead of getting outselves out of debt, we put it away for our DS's education. It was a nice amount for 1 child to attend college with. Then we had (surprise) baby #2 & we split the money between the 2 boys so now neither have the full amount but it's a good start. Hey, how will they learn responsibility anyway if we pay for everything?

 

[katerkat]

No, the cats already told me they don't have any desire to go to college. We plan to start socking away any monetary gifts our kids get upon birth, but we really haven't thought beyond that. Considering our kids are at least two years away from being born, I think we have a bit of time to plan.

 

[aprilgail2]

I try to put away 50-100 a week into her college fund and my brother has his own college fund for her and I think he is putting about the same into it (she is an only child, only grandchild and only neice so if there is anything to get she gets it)....my mom puts money away from her and my daughter owns half a house so when it comes time for college if she needs more she can always mortgage her half of the house! I also have a U-Promise online account for her but that only has about 500 in it right now....my brother is a teacher and he is adament about wanting her to go to college and not having to struggle with paying for it like he did. It took him so long to finish college because he could only take what courses he could afford so he doesn't want her to have to go through that.

 

[maleficent1959]

I voted yes, I think so, but I should add a caveat -- provided that my children don't choose Harvard or Yale! Then I think we'll probably come up short.

 

[Alice28]

This is one area of our finances where I think DH and I are on top of it. Both of our boys received substantial monetary gifts when they were born, and we contribute $30 a month to each account. They are 2 1/2 and 6 and already have close to $7 grand each....their grandparents give them pretty nice birthday gifts directed specifically to those 529 accounts (plus a toy or two of course)...I think by the time they roll around to college age, it will have increased dramatically, both by contributions and interest. We also are going to encourage our kids to go to a year or two of junior college first to get their general education, and then move on to the university of their choice for their majors. I did that and it worked out perfectly, and DH wishes he did that cause, as he says, he farted around so much the first two years, his parents shouldn't have been paying university prices---you can get just about the same education for your general knowledge at a JC. I went to college in the Bay Area and very few of my JC professors were contracted to the JC- some taught part time there, part time at Stanford, part time at UC Santa Cruz, etc...I was only paying $80 a semester at the time (90-92), but was having some of the same professors as kids at $8,000 a term at Stanford.

 

[Lewski709]

I REALLY like that idea Alice. Boy, how many times did my major change in the first two years..........3. I didn't know if I was coming or going.

 

[CamColt]

Originally posted by shep
no, but its a start

Ditto!

We hope to have a year or 2 for each kid paid for from their funds. As long as things go on schedule we should have our house paid off by the time our oldest is in his last year and our youngest is starting. We figure without the mortgage payment we will be able to make college payments. We would be willing to take on some debt if needed and we have nothing against the kids working to contribute some for their edcation.

This is of course if the kids want to go to college.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Originally posted by Alice28
This is one area of our finances where I think DH and I are on top of it. Both of our boys received substantial monetary gifts when they were born, and we contribute $30 a month to each account. They are 2 1/2 and 6 and already have close to $7 grand each....their grandparents give them pretty nice birthday gifts directed specifically to those 529 accounts (plus a toy or two of course)...I think by the time they roll around to college age, it will have increased dramatically, both by contributions and interest. We also are going to encourage our kids to go to a year or two of junior college first to get their general education, and then move on to the university of their choice for their majors. I did that and it worked out perfectly, and DH wishes he did that cause, as he says, he farted around so much the first two years, his parents shouldn't have been paying university prices---you can get just about the same education for your general knowledge at a JC. I went to college in the Bay Area and very few of my JC professors were contracted to the JC- some taught part time there, part time at Stanford, part time at UC Santa Cruz, etc...I was only paying $80 a semester at the time (90-92), but was having some of the same professors as kids at $8,000 a term at Stanford.

An Ex-boyfriend in High School had this arrangement with his parents (so did his Brothers.) They went to the local community college for two years, and then a university for the other 2. She would pay for the 4 years if they kept their grades up. Anything after that was out of their pocket.

We are saving for DD, but I doubt it will be enough. It is better than nothing though.

 

[Ellester]

We try, $50 per month per child in their 529's (we are on one income). Plus, my oldests' Godparents give her a nice monetary gift each year to put in there. We didn't pick such wealthy Godparents for dd2 though. We are more concerned with making sure DH has the max going into his retirement. You can always finance a college education, you can't finance old age! I paid my way through college with scholorships, loans, and jobs and I turned out OK. So, we'll help the kids all we can, but retirement comes first.

 

[Kermit]

No, not yet. But we're planning on moving in the next year or two, and we're going to get a 15 year mortgage. I figure that the extra money we end up with when we don't have to pay a house payment every month will cover what we haven't managed to save.

 

[CEDmom]

I think we have things pretty well covered. Fortunately for us DH refinanced the mortgage before we even met so it will be paid off in about 4 years. Also we have just 1 child and I work part-time. Actually our wanting to pay for her education and retire before we're 80 was a big factor in my deciding to continue working part-time after we adopted DD. DH and I have the max amount withheld for our 401(k) accounts and part of my paycheck goes directly into an account for DD's education. Our biggest concern right now is whether we can swing private school because our public schools are not great. However, like another poster said if she wants to go to Harvard we're toast .

 

[Meriweather]

We must have done something right.
DS graduated from college last March.......owing nothing! He did work all summers and took a year off to work and transfer schools.

DD gratuates in May and will have money left. She also works part time and summers.....by choice (for spending money).

 

[nativetxn]

We just paid for Travis's tuition. We did not have a college fund.

What really worries me is our retirement

 

[GoofItUp]

I don't have kids, so I'll tell you what my parents did for me....

They told me early on that college was extremely important. My dad has a college degree, my mom does not, so she was really stressing the importance all growing up. We had savings accounts that we had no access to which my mother would send the vast majority of money we got for birthdays, stockshows, etc, to. I spent the last 2 years in high school applying for scholarships. I was organzied beyond belief and was awarded about $20,000 in scholarships based on merit. My parents bought me a car and paid my insurance and college was up to me. I worked a part time job, attended school full time (Texas A&M all 4 years) and graduated debt free. And I didn't miss out on a thing in college....it was the time of my life!

I know there are different circumstances to consider, but I don't think making your child responsible for college is necessarily a bad idea.