WWYD

[AppleDumpling]

I would let your daughter keep her share of what is essentially an inheritance from her grandfather, and let her make the decision. While her investment has a longer time to grow, the cost of college tuition is going up rapidly, so she may/will need more to pay for the same degree her siblings have. Seems to me the fairest way to handle it.

 

[sam_gordon]

So maybe the multiple accounts made it easier initially to ensure some level of fairness.

And I was referring to you continuing the account for the future grandkids that don't(?) exist yet. Maybe you already have grandkids, not sure.

I too had two 529 plans that were started with money initially from the in laws. Between the initial deposit, and monthly deposits my wife and I made for 15-18 years, my kids were lucky enough to graduate loan free.

I have kept one of the 529 plans open and have continued to make monthly deposits. My financial planner argued against it saying the money would be more flexible in my retirement accounts but the emotional side of knowing I was setting aside money specifically for the future grandkids education out weights the flexibility in my mind. He agreed as the money is still being saved.

I am long used to making the monthly deposit as I have been doing it for 18 years. Just have to continue it for another 18 years and will then have to figure out how to fairly distribute the money between the grandkid(s) or heirs if there are no grandkids.

Yea, we kept talking about needing to put monthly money into the 529 for the kids, but somehow just never did it. So all of the money is just the initial amount and whatever it rose to.

First grandchild is on the way.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not that you can go back in time but instead of splitting the dollars equally I would have give oldest the most, the middle slightly less and the youngest the least. They would have all been around the same range but this would account for years of growth for the younger 2.

In hindsight, that makes sense. Splitting things equally at the time made sense then.

 

[kdonnel]

Yea, we kept talking about needing to put monthly money into the 529 for the kids, but somehow just never did it. So all of the money is just the initial amount and whatever it rose to.

First grandchild is on the way.

We started with $25 a month per kid, then when we realized we could afford more we increased the monthly amount. Even with that small amount for years, time was on our side.

Plus both kids received the lottery funded Zell Miller scholarship which paid 100% of tuition. The 529 went to pay room and board expenses which are much greater than tuition.

 

[sam_gordon]

Plus both kids received the lottery funded Zell Miller scholarship which paid 100% of tuition. The 529 went to pay room and board expenses which are much greater than tuition.

We got some lottery funded scholarship money too, but the maximum is only $2500/year. DD2 qualified for that (the other two got lesser amounts), but her school screwed her out of a couple hundred (don't get me started on that) her first year, and since she's finishing early (her school is on quarters), she doesn't even get the full amount for this year either.

 

[_19disnA]

The kids all know/knew we set up the accounts, but they never learned how much we put in or (to our knowledge) how much any of them built up to.

Part of deciding where to go to college is about how much it costs/how much in loans are needed etc. So they chose a college without knowing how it would be funded? If the one child applied for any sort of student loan, wouldn't they need to know how much was in the account so they knew how big of a loan to apply for?

Personally, I think you decided previously to split the money equally 3 ways and the fact one child used more/less than another should not change the original distribution.

 

[sam_gordon]

Part of deciding where to go to college is about how much it would costs/how much in loans are needed etc. So they chose a college without knowing how it would be funded? If the one child applied for any sort of student loan, wouldn't they need to know how much was in the account so they knew how big of a loan to apply for?

We told them we had some money for them. I think we told them how much we could give them (from the 529) each year, but we never told them where the money was coming from. We just said "college account". I can't give you specifics, but so far it's all worked out.

 

[The Mayor]

I'm going with the majority and thinking it's technically your DD money and she should keep it. Your other two children used all their money for their educations and I don't your DD should be denied all the money you set aside for her because she didn't need it all for hers.

 

[easyas123]

If they were my kids...and they all made their own choices in terms of school, loans and whatnot? Then I'd encourage DD2 to roll it over into a Roth.

 

[barkley]

DD1 used all of hers on a bachelor's degree, still needed some student loans, but is teaching and is SUPPOSED to get some of the loans wiped off if she remains a teacher.
DS had four more years for his plan to increase, used all of his on a bachelor's degree, still needed some student loans. He graduates in May and is still looking for a "career" job.
DD2 had an additional two years for his plan to increase, used part of hers for an associates degree (finishes in March), and didn't need student loans. She has a part time job, with hopes to do Disney College Program next year and then who knows.

I would let your daughter keep her share of what is essentially an inheritance from her grandfather, and let her make the decision. While her investment has a longer time to grow, the cost of college tuition is going up rapidly, so she may/will need more to pay for the same degree her siblings have. Seems to me the fairest way to handle it.

I agree that it should remain the youngest's. all of the siblings made choices about their educational pursuits. that one had more time due to age for her account to grow AND that she took a less expensive option does not diminish or eliminate her rights to what was set up as her INDIVIDUAL education (or in lieu of education a retirement option) fund. as was pointed out above if she chooses to return to get a higher degree in the future the cost will likely be higher. additionaly if like her siblings she ends up with some student loans to cover any short-fall she's going to be likely looking at much higher interest rates (I was shocked to see what the current rates are for fed loans as compared to what my oldest's are at from less than a decade ago-nearing double) so any 'bonus' she aquires by compound interest due to her age could easily be a wash-out due to increased costs. even if she doesn't opt to go on for further education I believe that her 'share' of a gift should not be used to offset the expenses of a sibling who has already exhausted their own share.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Stays DD2s. Giving the money to the sibs seems like punishing DD2 for her more conservative financial choices.