Hellobee Boards

We're saving as much as we possibly can. We'll pay for 50% initially with LOs taking out loans for the other 50%. We want them to have some skin in the game when it comes to earning their education.

No particular philosophy...we max out LOs 529 each year, and the rest of our savings is in various investments. We'll see what college costs are when the time comes, and where we are. I wouldn't beggar us to pay for his college, but I hope to pay for as much of it as possible.

We set up a 529, and put in a lump sum. We don't plan on contributing any more into that account. It might help pay for 1-2 years, maaaaaaaybe. We'll try to help more if we can when the time comes, but I'm expecting LO to find a way to make it work with what we've set up. Apply to every single scholarship in the planet, teach them to value money early on so they start saving, open bank accounts for them, etc.

I think it's difficult to say how much money you will need exactly. I just plan on saving as much as I can and really encourage DS to get scholarships. If it's not enough money then that's all I could do and he will need loans or make a smarter choice in where to go to school.

Our philosophies about college are: 1) higher education is becoming a requirement for many positions already and will only trend that way going forward, 2) state funding of public universities has been declining rapidly over the past decade, which impacts the availability of scholarships and grants (less available overall than when I went to college 10 years ago, for sure), 3) like any long-term savings goal (a home, retirement, etc.) it makes so much more sense to start as early as possible, even if you can’t contribute a lot. I guess, I just can’t imagine knowing that LO is likely to have a bill for $100,000++++ due 20 years from now, and not at least attempting to save towards that now to defray future expenses. If she doesn’t go to college, it isn’t like we lose all that money, even if we do have to pay a penalty to withdraw and use it for other reasons.

Even if college costs didn’t increase at all over the next 15 years when LO will start college, it’s still a HUGE expense for most people to take on. Of course, the costs will increase from what they are today. College is an expectation in our families, and we feel a definite responsibility to help pay for LO’s college costs. We won’t be able to save to cover the entire amount, and I have no problem with taking out some loans for school – but, I don’t think loans automatically make someone a better or more invested student, and I do think that they have a direct impact on LO’s future planning (i.e., I could have bought a house much sooner than I did if I wasn’t paying almost $600 a month in student loans. Ditto for my husband. We would have much more in savings now if we were not paying out those amounts each month, or could own more income-earning investment property, etc.)

LO has two 529 accounts, which we contribute to monthly. Additionally, her grandparents gift substantial amounts to her college savings accounts each year, which we are extremely grateful for.

We're doing the best we can now, understanding that of course, our retirement comes first, as do other necessary spendings and savings.

We have a savings account for both and both have a college savings account from grandparents. I'm not worrying about paying the entire cost, but I would like to pay as much as we can so they're not saddled with a bunch of student loans like I am.

Just saving $! It's soo tough to save $ for the far future when I just want to make sure we're okay to add an extra kid in the near-er future!

We're just going to save, teach her to save, and we'll make do when the time comes! My parents paid for all of my college tuition (and private at that!) while we just finished paying DH's loans for school. So I'm in the camp of helping as much as possible, while he is okay with her taking on some loans. Either way, we will be teaching her good $ habits!

@AmandaB8: Average in state college tuition right now is about 9k/year, with the average higher education inflation being 6%, kids going to college 18 years from now will pay $25k/year, so $100K for public in state college is pretty much guaranteed for kids born this year.

We have no plan but we Max out 529 each year.

Savings, DH or me working associated with a university, Europe. Some combo will hopefully allow our kids to get a good education at a decent price

@Mamaof2: Precisely. I learned a lot from having to pay back 60K in student loans (that I'm still paying, though thankfully close to being done with), and I think it gave me a good work and financial management ethic. I definitely don't want LO to miss out on opportunities that I did because I worked through college and was loaned to the gills, so I do hope that we can help her as much as we can based on our financial situation at the time, but we decided not to take the 529 route (especially since they can count against her in applying for financial aid/loans) and work on securing ourselves first. Too many things are changing around college, and who knows, she may decide to join the circus instead.

We have decided not to save for college and instead put that money toward retirement/building our savings. When the time comes, we may help with costs (my parents did), but it is not a guarantee.

We are in Canada and have RESPs. By putting $2500 in per year we get the max back from the government - $500. So we are putting away $3,000 per year plus interest specifically for DS's future tuition. Anything else we will just pay as it comes up - costs aren't huge here. We plan to pay fully for education, as our parents did for us. It helped us out so much by not having debt.

My husband is a veteran so unless they change the laws of our state, which is possible, our son will be able to go to public school with free tuition. DH also works as a professor at a private college which will allow DS to go there tuition free or use the college exchange program to go to college tuition free at several private colleges.
So right now our college savings are based on 1) a lump sum we received from my grandpa to start his 529, and 2) monthly contributions that will project to cover DS room and board. We also ask all relatives to contribute to his college fund in lieu of gifts.

We realize neither option is a guarantee that he will get free tuition since DH would have to be working at the college in 17 years and it's possible our son will want to go to another school completely but that's what we are doing now until OUR student loans are paid off and some of our other financial goals are set. Furthermore, we are semi-supporting my parents (hello sandwich generation), so I think this as good as it's going to get for a few years.

DH and I got no help from our folks for college or law school. And my folks can't support themselves now. We worked our tails off to get our UG degrees with little to no loans and we are set to pay off $300K in law school loans in under 8 years so I don't feel like we have to give our son 100% free schooling. It's taught us to be super frugal and smart with our money. Plus we do not want our kids to have to support us like we have to with my folks. So I think we have a good balance now.

As to 529 limitations, we are looking to put more money into a Roth IRA for our son in the future since those funds can always be used for educational purposes. If they don't get touched, they will just accrue to his own retirement.

We plan on giving LO a set amount towards his education per year just from our savings/investments and anything above that he will have to finance himself.

@Mrs. Carrot: As long as the parent is custodian, 529s are parental assets for loan reviews so they don't count against your child any more than any of your other assets

I have never bought into the idea that being required to take out loans makes someone automatically more vested or committed to their education. My brother and I both had private university completely paid for by our parents and we never took it for granted. We were well aware of the value and incredibly grateful that our parents gave us the opportunity. We took our studies seriously and worked hard, finished in 4 years, went on to great jobs and were never again financially dependent on our parents in any way. I think it's really something that has just become a party line that parents tell themselves to make themselves feel better about not saving for higher education. There are other ways to teach your children about financial responsibility, that still allow you to set them up to enter their working years debt free (which I think is one of the single best things you can do for your kids).

We have a 529 for her. I'd love to have 100K saved by the time she goes to college. Not sure we'll get there but I'm confident we'll have a good chunk to pay all/most of the costs.

@AmandaB8: well, I graduated from a private college almost 20 years ago, it cost $100k. That same education costs $ 250k now.

I am conflicted. I don't know if those private universities provide some kind of benefit that is worth their cost.

@gingerbebe: And if that's the case, it's easy enough to turn off the cash drain. I have no problem telling my kids "I will happily pay your tuition as long as you are earning XXX GPA". Just because I plan to support my child's higher education that doesn't mean I HAVE to (one more reason we choose to invest more heavily outside of 529s than inside of them). But I'm not going to not plan for something so important just in case I have a kid that wouldn't be grateful for it. ETA: We are not saving for higher education at the expense of saving for retirement. We are specifically limiting the number of children we plan to have to allow ourselves to save for both.

@DillonLion: Congrats! That's a HUGE accomplishment and something to be extremely proud of. We have some small student loans for my husband and I've debated paying them off just to not have them lurking, but for now the interest rate is lower than what we're earning by investing so it doesn't make sense to pay more than the minimum payment.