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January 2011 Moms
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Have you started saving for college?

shortstaxshortstax
in January 2011 Moms

Have you started saving for college for LO yet?

According to most college cost calculators, we would need to save approx. $600/mo to fully cover college in 18 years. I can tell you that amount isn't feasible for us, but we'll save what we can.

Are you planning save for LO's college costs? How are you doing so-- savings, 529s, Coverdale accts, all of the above?

 

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Re: Have you started saving for college?

  • shortstaxshortstax
    Right now we have a small savings acct earmarked for DS, and I just opened a 529 for him. We're not going to be able to save to cover all college costs, so hopefully little man will have some amazing scholarship-worthy talent Wink
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  • CaniacMomCaniacMom member

    Not yet - we are playing catch-up on the older one.  He is a freshman in high school and we have not been saving enough to cover him.  Fortunately NC has great public universities that are not too outrageously expensive. 

    We'll start saving for LO in the next year or two.

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  • MarSamWhitneyMarSamWhitney member

    No,  I need to get around to opening a 529. I know we will help her, but hopefully she can get a sholarship, or even start out at a community college.

    She does have about 1,000 in savings bonds right now.  She got a bit of money from her bapitsm, and when people have given us duplicate toys, or clothes that are too small, I return it and stash the money away. Hopefully in 18 years she has a bit of savings from that too.



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  • CindiLu1CindiLu1
    I opened 529 accounts for both my girls when they were born.  Unfortunantly we can't put the $600 a month per girl into them each month but we do have a small amount deposited into their accounts the 1st of each month.  Every little bit helps.  In 17 years it'll probably just cover one semester.  LOL.
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  • SweetHurricaneSweetHurricane member
    Not yet. We're hoping that H stays in the Army long enough to be able to transfer his GI Bill to our kids. If not, we'll save what we can, but I do think that they should help pay for it themselves. My sister paid half and my parents paid the other half (though they offered to pay 100% if she stayed in state). I think that was a pretty good compromise.
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  • shortstaxshortstax

    imageCindiLu1:
      Every little bit helps.  In 17 years it'll probably just cover one semester.  LOL.

    Ha, I totally agree.

    Part of me feels that there's no way that college costs can keep rising at 7% a year forever (what the calc estimates.) Hopefully that decreases at some point. Then I'll be able to cover 3 semesters Wink

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  • broccolitreebroccolitree
    Yep. We have ~4k right now. According to the calc we used we could pay outright depending on howthe Hope scholarship goes, if she goes to UGA. Or, if she goes to somewhere like Emory, it'll take us roughly 100 years to pay outright based on current level of inflation vs saving. Lullllz.
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  • pawstech09pawstech09 member

    So that would mean I'd have to save $1200 a month, don't think so!

    My parents and FIL have started college savings accounts instead of giving birthday/Christmas gifts (well, they give a little something), and I'm extremely thankful for that! 

    I'm going to start looking into savings accounts at our bank one of these days when PR has a day off, right now we have any money that has been given to the girls in an envelope with college written on it, fancy ;)

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  • courtneyklvcourtneyklv

    lol..hell no!  When i went to a university my parents and I split the costs and took out loans.

      And I am not even using my degree.  My husband never went to school and does well..so we will make that decision later.  If daughter wants to pursue and education she can..if she wants to be independent and has other ideas, she can.

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  • honkytonk_kidhonkytonk_kid member

    Saving/paying for college is not a priority for us, at all. Saving for our retirement is a FAR bigger priority for us. Our kids can work, take out loans, get scholarships, etc when they go to college. If you get to retirement age without adequate savings, you are basically SOL. You can't take out a loan for that. When they are in college we will help as much as we can afford at that time. I won't feel guilty if they have to pay for college themselves, but I do NOT want to saddle them with supporting us in old age and/or poor health.

    We have an account for P that we will put his birthday/Christmas money in, and contribute some now and then, but we're not going to scale back our retirement savings for college saving.

    This is all based on the salaries of a RN and an IT guy for a non-profit- if somehow we became millionaires I would probably reconsider =)

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  • freeatlast2014freeatlast2014 member

    Yes, my MIL and FIL started a 529 and GrandFIL and GrandMIL started another 529. We received quite a few bonds so far and I have opened 2 small savings accounts that I will put any birthday/Christmas money in that he receives. We will try to add when we can but we are horrible at saving our own money let alone money for our kid! Bad...I know.

    I funded my education 100% by myself - both undergrad and graduate. Well, still paying ;) so I hope to help my child as much as I can...I know what a stress it can be for a student and I hope to give more than my parents were able to give. 

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  • Doodle2011Doodle2011

    I put $50/month into a 529c and $25/month into a savings account for her.  That's all I can afford right now, and honestly, from what I am reading I shouldn't even be doing that since H has NO retirement started, and since he has pretty much always been self-employed, he won't be getting anything from social security either.  It's scary, and all the financial experts say to fund retirement first, then college.  Oh well.  We will be Walmart greeters in our old age I guess. 

    The 529c got a nice initial bump from H's mom who wrote us a check for $1000 when she was born.  That was cool.

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  • freeatlast2014freeatlast2014 member
    imageDoodle2011:

    I put $50/month into a 529c and $25/month into a savings account for her.  That's all I can afford right now, and honestly, from what I am reading I shouldn't even be doing that since H has NO retirement started, and since he has pretty much always been self-employed, he won't be getting anything from social security either.  It's scary, and all the financial experts say to fund retirement first, then college.  Oh well.  We will be Walmart greeters in our old age I guess. 

    The 529c got a nice initial bump from H's mom who wrote us a check for $1000 when she was born.  That was cool.

    I was just watching this on the news this morning - they said college last cause kids can get scholarships and that no one will be there to support us when we are old!

    I should add - our 529 is losing money by the buckets - it's sickening. I hope this turns around...I know he has enough time for this but I would rather just leave the money where it has NO CHANCE of losing!! 

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