<p>*Find out exactly how much your grandparents are willing to pay each year or in total. Many parents/grandparents are shocked to find that the full costs of private colleges can be $50 k a year. Even for low cost public universities, tuition, room and board can cost $25 k or more.
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<p>Exactly! It’s important to find out how much the grandparents have in this account. </p>
<p>Many grandparents think they have set aside enough for their grandchildren’s college costs, but they have no idea how expensive college costs are these days. Someone on this board had such grandparents - many times they had said that they had an account for his college costs, but then he found out that they only had like $25k in the account - not even enough for the first year. :(</p>
<p>I know a family whose grandparents had only ONE account set up for all of their grandchildren’s college costs, but no one was really “minding the store.” A few of the older grandchildren went to pricey schools and went thru all the money leaving the younger grandchildren with nothing. 
The grandparents had no idea that college costs had risen so much, otherwise they would have split the money rather then let it be “draw fund” that the older grandkids could drain. (Believe me, this caused HUGE trouble in a family where the younger grandkids were from one family and the older grandkids were from another.) Ok…off topic :)</p>
<p>Back to topic… :)</p>
<p>*After you find that out [how much your grandparents have set aside for you], figure out what you want: Urban, small town or rural atmosphere? Size of school (Size can range from fewer than 1,000 students to 50,000 students). Catholic or nonsectarian? Co-ed or female? Do you want a place where sports and Greek life are important? Are small classes important to you? Study abroad options? Research options? Any idea what you might want to major in or pursue for extracurricular activities.
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<p>Good suggestion!</p>