Saving For College For The LO

drudolph11 · December 2014

So we recently got a brochure in the mail about the Gerber Life College Savings Plan thing which obviously got us thinking about this subject. We have had the dialog before but really didn't know where to start. From what the brochure said along with commercials i have seen on it, it seems like a good option and we are really considering it.

Anyone have experience with this particular program or does anyone have any other suggestions regarding starting to save for college? Im sure there are a lot of you who are curious about this as well!

Bluebell0315 · December 2014

We started a college savings account about a month after DD was born. We're going to do the same for DS. We thought about doing the Gerber thing, but ended up going to our bank and figuring out which type of account was best. We want them to try for scholarships, too, but just in case we want a backup plan.

lynndavid6912 · December 2014

I think my BFF is doing Gerber program for her kids, but I don't know much about it. My dad is the investment savvy one of the family and started a 529 plan for DD and we all contribute to it a few times a year. He'll probably do the same for DD2 and if not we'll start one. I was lucky enough to make it out of college (undergraduate and graduate) with no student loans due to scholarships, assistantships, and some help from my parents and I'd be so incredibly proud and happy if my kids are able to do the same.

MrsPope1770 · December 2014

My H and I are going to try to do $50 a month each in a savings account for her once she is born. When I finish my advanced degrees, I will up my contribution. Obviously this won't be enough to pay for it all, especially if she goes private, but we are planning for her to work hard/receive scholarships. If she ends up getting a full scholarship like I did, hopefully she won't blow her opportunity like her Mom and we will just have that money in savings for her for wedding/travel/whatever else. We figure it's a small amount each a month that will add up to a fairly sizable chunk when she is 18. She will not be aware of this account.

honkytonk_kid · December 2014

We will probably open a savings account of some kind in the next few years. We save pretty aggressively for retirement, which I feel will benefit our kids as much as or more than a college savings fund, in the form of not having to support us when we're old

I had a moderate amount of debt when I graduated, we paid it off within 4ish years. MH had no debt at all. He feels pretty strongly about kids paying their own way through college, I feel pretty strongly about having a good, full college experience (not partying, more like time for extracurriculars, study abroad, etc) without too much financial stress. Our compromise will likely be saving some, paying what we can at the time, pushing scholarships, and encouraging a reasonable debt: potential income conversation. Not planning to stretch ourselves too thin in order to fully fund college.

urani · December 2014

Don't go with the Gerber Life plan. The return on your investment is very poor compared to other options. I just did some quick googling but here's a link that breaks down some numbers https://www.divinsurance.com/personal-insurance-blog/bid/300224/Is-the-Gerber-Life-College-Plan-a-Good-College-Investment-Plan

PHNJenna · December 2014

I am glad you started this thread too! We were thinking a 529 as well, I know in our state there is a $25/month minimum, so definitely affordable for us now. BUT I also know that the 529 monies are considered parent(s) savings and will be considered on FAFSA when the child applies for student aid, but who knows what student aid might look like 18+ years from now...

ajacot924 · December 2014

We are doing a 529. I'm hoping we can pay for the entire 4 years. DH and I paid for ourselves and have the debt that goes with it. We don't want that for our daughter. I totally get the idea of paying your own way and earning it, but we think she will be doing that for the rest of her life. If we can give her this start, we want to.

drudolph11 · December 2014

katydid2014 said:
My husband and I feel strongly that we should pay for our child to go to college so that we can give them the best chance for their future that we can. My parents paid for me to go and his didn't which he is bitter about and doesn't want to put our kid in the same situation. If he ends up getting scholarships then great, that money can go towards another expense like a vehicle or living expenses. We haven't discussed actual savings plan options yet but we do need to figure something out so I'm glad this thread was started!

This is exactly where we are at. We both feel very strongly about being the ones who pay for our child's college. Not that we won't encourage them to get the grants and scholarships and what not and if they are able to get some kind of full ride then the money will be there for other things. I had absolutely no help at all and because of my mom's situation, getting loans was almost impossible for me. I ended up sacrificing a lot because i literally could not get the money to pay for the school i wanted to go to and i don't want that to be an issue or added stressor for my child. We feel like this is just one of our responsibilities as long as its what they want to do. Plus as pps have said, who knows what the loans/grants/scholarship programs will look like in 18 years and that scares the crap out of me for our LOs lol

Thanks for the advice so far some of these things i had never heard of that i can check out.

finallyourturn2 · December 2014

Our kids will be able to go to any state school in California for free. As long as they choose fresno state, San Diego state, or ucsd and live with family they won't have rent to worry about. Should they choose something else they will be on their own.

ruemorgan · December 2014

No specific advice here, but I'm with Navy Federal and I know they have a free financial consultant. We plan on making an appointment with them when we create LO's bank account to discuss our best options for saving money. I would imagine your bank has something similar as well to help educate you on all their services.

bakingmama123 · December 2014

Florida does a program called Florida prepaid, the year you start contributing it locks in whatever tuition is and you just start paying that off. My parents did this for me, H paid for his undergrad and grad degrees himself with loans etc and he will be paying them off a long time. We have agreed we will do the FL prepaid because H doesn't want his children to deal with what he is dealing with.

drudolph11 · December 2014

@bakingmama123‌ lol i actually grew up in Florida so ya i know all about that actually Florida offers a lot of programs which is pretty much all i am familiar with since i lived there while going to school. Unfortunately i now live in the frigid north lol and have no clue where to start. Maybe one day i will move back lol and get out of this god forsaken coldness lol

sweetmama17 · December 2014

bakingmama123 said:

Florida does a program called Florida prepaid, the year you start contributing it locks in whatever tuition is and you just start paying that off. My parents did this for me, H paid for his undergrad and grad degrees himself with loans etc and he will be paying them off a long time. We have agreed we will do the FL prepaid because H doesn't want his children to deal with what he is dealing with.

So glad this was brought up. I am in Florida too. I was all set to do a 529 because Florida started estimating how much college was going to cost (it was going to be something like 500 a month for a university plan starting now) BUT they changed the prices back for next year and you are once again locking in today's rates. So now I'm torn on what plan to do. With daycare it's so hard to commit another monthly expense. I'm really liking the 1 year University plan (that's about 45 a month and you can add additional years later)

For those doing 529s. Are you going with your state plan or picking another states plan? Florida's is ok, but there are no tax benefits to stay with Florida. But looking at all the options is overwhelming.

My parents helped with undergrad (along with bright futures) and I was on my own for grad school. If I hadn't had help with undergrad I probably never would have pursued grad school. I look at my loan payment and grimace but know that I make more than that per month because of my advanced degree. My DH had no help from his parents and it took him 8 years to get his BA with very little debt going to in town JC and University. I really valued my going away to school and hope to be able to provide that for my kids.

scrappypom · December 2014

We're doing a 529, and plan to help, but not pay for everything.

sweaver93 · December 2014

Personally, my husband and I set aside $200 each child(we have 2 right now, so it's $400 total, and will be $600 once this lo is here) per month, as well as a seperate $400 for us. We have discussed how it'll be, and don't want our kids to have to choose between working and going to school. We will encourage them to get a job (Part-time) to pay for extra wants and needs, we will also give them a car and allow them to stay with us while going to school if that's what they want. They'll also have to apply for scholarships as a requirement to get the money we have. We won't, however, tell them how much we have put aside for them because It's a toss up right now on what happens if they don't go to college after school. We've agreed to give them some of the money saved up, but probably not all until they are older. We may slow down on the amount to add more to our emergency savings once we hit a certain amount, but we don't want them to have to worry at all about money. Yet this way we also have some saved for our retirement and other needs. It's a win-win.

jap618 · December 2014

Darbie914 said:
We are planning to open a 529 plan for DD and this LO. We'll save as much as we can for them but in all honesty, it's something that they have to partially earn for themselves and we do not plan to pay for college for our kids in entirety.

We will encourage them to apply for scholarships, grants, etc, and we will contribute what we can. The rest they will either have to earn on their own or use loans.

This. DH is a financial advisor and we have the start up money set aside to open the 529 once she's born. We'll then contribute and save for her but by no means do we expect to cover her entire college career.

Lorabean · December 2014

My parents did pay for all of my undergrad and I want to do the same for my children. However they didn't just secretly have accounts set up for me. I learned about the stock market and how to invest wisely from a very young age; and that knowledge is priceless! I think it is so important to get your kids to understand money and how to invest for themselves.

ashleyrh661 · December 2014

jennypm said:
Am I the only one who doesn't plan to pay for my children's college? Neither H's parents nor my parents paid for our education (H just finished his bachelor's and I'm working on finishing mine now) and neither one of us is bitter about it. We don't have a ton in savings, as it is, thanks to previous divorces for both of us and I would rather work on our retirement, at this time.

That's not to say that I won't help them as much as I possibly can. If they want to live at home and attend college, they'll be able to live here rent free. They can also get scholarships or take their core classes at the local college and then transfer to a larger, in state university later on. For my girls, I know their dad won't help out with a dime, so it will all be on me and H to help them and I just can't afford to do much.

This.

I'm personally more worried about retirement then college at this point. We have a local junior college and a state university in town and our children can go there and live at home and graduate close to debt free. This is the option my parents gave me. They would paid for my tuition at a state school but I could live at home or pay for my own housing somewhere else. I choose to go away and graduated with the debt. But that was my choice not my parents fault for not paying for it.

janda426 · December 2014

jennypm said:
Am I the only one who doesn't plan to pay for my children's college? Neither H's parents nor my parents paid for our education (H just finished his bachelor's and I'm working on finishing mine now) and neither one of us is bitter about it. We don't have a ton in savings, as it is, thanks to previous divorces for both of us and I would rather work on our retirement, at this time.

That's not to say that I won't help them as much as I possibly can. If they want to live at home and attend college, they'll be able to live here rent free. They can also get scholarships or take their core classes at the local college and then transfer to a larger, in state university later on. For my girls, I know their dad won't help out with a dime, so it will all be on me and H to help them and I just can't afford to do much.

This is kind of where I'm at. H parents paid for all 3 of their kids tuitions, which is amazing, but unless H gets promoted to a manager (actually likely but he doesn't know if he wants that responsibility) we wouldn't be able to do that. His one sister had a full ride and they only had to pay room and board for her as well. H tuition was $35,000 a year AND he did an extra graduate year!! I'm sorry but no, we cannot afford that.

There's nothing wrong with doing core classes at the local community college then transferring. We also have a great university in the area (that I'm currently attending for nursing school) and they could easily live at home and drive to class. I don't see the point in moving far away and going into debt just for that dorm experience. Sure the memories may be great but I never did that and I'm getting along just fine.

My mom is broke as broke can be so her paying my tuition was never an option. I'm not really bitter about it, it kind of seems like my responsibility to get my college degree. I'm the oldest of 9 so she'd have to be a millionaire to put us all through school.

cafecreme · December 2014

urani said:

Don't go with the Gerber Life plan. The return on your investment is very poor compared to other options. I just did some quick googling but here's a link that breaks down some numbers https://www.divinsurance.com/personal-insurance-blog/bid/300224/Is-the-Gerber-Life-College-Plan-a-Good-College-Investment-Plan

This. I either suggest a 529, or savings account. If you end up saving a considerable amount a few years down the line in a savings account, you can always put it in a CD.

EDWHIP · December 2014

In my family, going to college was never a choice, but an expectation. I was very lucky to have all four years paid, but I am not saying what my parents did should be the norm. I can't say what the World will be like in 18 years, but I am pretty sure with DH and my salaries we will not be able to pay for college in full. Having said that, we did open a 529 and try to contribute as much as we can. I can't speak to the Gerber fund, but I like the idea that it can only be used for school. If DD grows up and decides she doesn't want a 4 year traditional education, she can use it towards any other type of schooling to advance her career. Also, the way tuition has skyrocketed in recent years, it's going to be much more difficult for our children to pay for college than it was for us.

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