This is scary http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2015/04/25/nearly-3-out-of-5-american-workers-have-this-much.aspx
Community colleges are state schools too. If low income students can use need based aid to attend a public cc, why shouldn’t they be able to use it at a public 4-year university?
It’s more difficult for low income kids (who may be babysitting siblings while parents work, or be working themselves to help cover rent and utilities and food costs, who can’t afford test prep or AP classes or ECs that look great on an app but cost money) to get high stats than it is for kids from middle income families who aren’t struggling with those issues. I want my taxes to give disadvanted students an opportunity to succeed, so (if I’m giving them money anyway) why would I limit them to a cc?
I don’t see why it should matter if you have $100k in a 401k and $25k in savings, or have $150k in a 401k and only a few thousand in liquid savings. I don’t see that as a lack of savings if the worker has a large 401k/IRA/pension.
If the topic is still, “How much did/will you have saved for child by college time?” we were able to fully fund college for our 2 boys by the time they started college. This was achieved by starting when they were very young, getting help from grandparents, and making some larger 529 plan contributions when my earnings were higher. One unanticipated benefit was that when I lost my job with 1 in college and 1 graduating from HS I didn’t panic because funds were already set aside for their college. Another unanticpated benefit was son #1 traveled the long (but cheap) road of community college + state school and has some college money left over for his next major expense.
You are right! And the language! The “disturbing” find, and the “frightening” proportion of workers could actually include someone with $1mm in home equity and a $2mm IRA.
You are correct - there is NO way people on here are average. Common responses: A) Have grandparents who are able to pay for education, B) Pay out of current income AFTER years of paying for a private school (1%ers) C) yes, OK, save in a 529 by being frugal, D) Live in a state with low cost State Universities and cover full freight.
Exactly, this thread is WAY skewed toward those who have been fortunate enough to save enough (with some scrimping), received a ton of merit aid, grandparents “aid”, or can pay outright.
Started a uniform trust to minor account for my daughter when she was 5. I consider my stock picking ability well above average and averaged returns of approximately 16% per year over the past 11 years. I know some like the 529 plans, but I prefer picking my own stocks, and wasn’t worried that with a UTMA my daughter can decide to do with her money whatever she wants to. So I’ve saved two years worth of college costs, and I can pay for the remainder with what the house has appreciated in value. I live outside of San Francisco. I make low-mid six figures and the job and house have made saving for college a breeze. CA is great, but can’t wait to leave next year when she goes to college.
We did save enough for both kids to go to a private college for all four years, though not without some cutbacks during the two double-tuition years when our kids overlap.(One also got a merit scholarship, so that helps!)
But they will graduate debt free and so will we. I realize our situation is very uncommon and am grateful for it. IMO, most people don’t have enough saved, not because they spend frivolously, but because it’s just not possible to save enough. This is why it’s so important for parents to tell their kids exactly what they can expect from them in terms of college money before they even start looking.
And for the parents who choose the granite and steel kitchens, nice cars, and vacations, then balk when it comes time to pay for college, well, they’re not necessarily wrong. They just have different priorities from many people here, and they need to make those priorities clear to their children well in advance of the college search.
We’ve have savings, but ZERO explicitly set aside for college. Was counting on kids getting merit scholarships. It worked out for S1.
We are still paying our own student loans, and happily show our kids the statements to show them why loans were a bad idea (for us). We both got BS degrees which were essentially BS. We had to go back to school for “useful” degrees. We have tried to teach our kids to learn the errors of our ways. My junior has set herself up well. She has a near perfect GPA with lots of AP and 99th plus percentile test scores. We are crossing fingers that her 1480 PSAT will qualify her for NMF. She plans to go to an in state school, as she qualifies for full tuition at all of them. She does look at job prospects and potential income as she evaluates majors. Our state also offers a Regents scholarship for any student who takes certain classes and maintains a certain GPA and test score. This is a stackable scholarship that will cover her room and board for a couple of years. She is open to out of state schools if it means she doesn’t have to take out loans. I am glad she isn’t just book smart. Very rarely, in my opinion, is it worth it to take on undergrad debt. I wish we had been smarter and been able to save, but we need to protect our future too so our kids aren’t taking care of us when we are too old to work.
5-6 k for each kid and that’s all. we made them aware of this since kindergraden to get loans, scholarships, or jobs. First one up for college is doing great at working toward free ride 
When I came to this country I had less that $100 with me. I had to work as a waitress to pay for my graduate school and board. I was determined not to let my kids pay for their education.
So I started to save for their college when they were burn. At the time, there was no 529, so I saved in the gift fund for minor. Then one day a friend told me to do prepay so we don’t have to worry about investment returns. Since our dream have always been for our kids to go to univ. of Michigan, we used savings to pre-pay both kids’ college. Later we also invested in 529. Now both kids’ tuitions are payed for. The gift fund and 529 grew to $150,000. I guess the gift fund will be theirs to buy houses one day.
Gosh…reading all that? Not touching the OP question!! I’ll just say “enough”.
Enough of what? I guess I need to be more clear. We have $150k now when my son is going to college this Fall. D is in her 3rd year of college. I didn’t touch the college saving for D’s 3 years in college.
No, that wasn’t for you @JH8888
just after reading all the posts and the mommy wars, class wars comments, I’m not answering the OPs Q other than to say Ive saved enough!
Plus it’s awesome you did not dig into the savings!!
We did not save anything for college. it did not make sense to us. D. attended UG on full Merit scholarship and we paid for her medical school using combo of our paychecks and 401K withdrawals. The reason that it did not make sense for us to save for college was that it made much more sense to have all our savings in 401K. it saved us lots in taxes at the time when we needed to accumulate as much in savings as possible. it worked very well!
If we were too young for the 401K withdrawals without penalty, then we would have borrowed from it.
@MiamiDAP: You DID save for college; you saved into your 401k and then withdrew from there. You just chose the 401k as you savings vehicle instead of, say, a 529 or some other investment.
I guess, we did. We did not have to use it for college though. The biggest saving so to speak (if we start counting everything!) is your kid’s hard work - this will save you a bundle if the kid continue being smart beyond just working hard and choose the college wisely instead of chasing the Ivy / Elite names .
Tell them kids to work hard and stay smart in their decisions. Eventually it pays off to them more than you, but the 17 y o may not see this way. Best wishes!
And if you saved enough to pay full pay at a private medical school (about $50,000 a year…so $200,000), you aced FAR more than an undergraduate tuition bill at your instate public universities would have cost.
But yes…you DID save.