<p>Just a simple question...certainly the cost of a college education has risen drastically over the last 20 years. DH and I both attended state public colleges, tuition, room and board was less than $1000. a semester.<br>
DH is a saver and opened the girls 529 accounts the month they were born and has put money in each month as a regular expense. Even with that, it won't be enough to cover 4 years of private university tuition. It does help and I am thankful for it.</p>
<p>So the question is when did you start saving for your child's college education?</p>
<p>“Specifically” for college? Never…it was never our intention to have ‘college funds’, only to build the heck out of our retirement savings (maxing out 401(k) contributions for years) and build our regular savings to a comfortable level where we could ‘ding’ it $xxx per year along with current income.</p>
<p>We never wanted to lock in any particular account that would have any type of penalty or restriction if an emergency arose and we needed those ‘college’ monies.</p>
<p>I never saved for college - I only had one child at age 19 and since I didn’t go to college myself (was a single mom beginning at age 21) I have lived paycheck to paycheck for the past 16 years. Always had a job, always had health insurance, never had child support. Now my child is in college and we are both borrowing for her to be able to go.</p>
<p>I am 38 and once the parent loans are paid off I intend to start putting funds into retirement for myself.</p>
<p>Like many people in the 1990s, I opened UTMAs for my 2 sons and added money sporadically over a decade as I had the cash and/or received gifts from my parents. I had no idea how much public or private college would cost, only a vague idea that it would be a lot. I also had no idea how FAFSA worked. The intention was that the UTMA money would fund college, and any money left over would belong to the boys at graduation.</p>
<p>Once my sons approached college age and the costs became clearer, I started becoming more educated about FAFSA. I transferred the bulk of one son’s UTMA into a student-owned 529. He has enough total to pay for 4 years of his public college. The other son’s UTMA has performed very well by being invested in a mix of mutual funds and individual stocks. It was actually worth it to keep the funds fully invested in the UTMA rather than transfer them to an age-based 529 (which would have had a very low return). He does not have enough saved to pay for his private college, thus the incentive to maximize investment returns.</p>
<p>We also started as soon as the kids were born. Money in each kids’ name earmarked for college, and some in our name to be used as needed. For the kids we started with Savings Bonds (issued automatically from every one of DH’s paychecks), then UTMA accounts, Coverdell Education IRA’s, and PA Guaranteed Tuition Savings Plans. By the time 529’s became available, we were so close to needing the money that we didn’t bother converting.</p>
<p>The landscape kept changing and was confusing at times. What was the best (in terms of return, tax implications, etc) method of saving? Who knows. We probably didn’t do everything right, but one thing we always did is make that contribution to (whatever) account.</p>
<p>Even though we contributed the same amount to each D, D1 ended up with significantly more in “her” accounts due to some tremendous early growth in one of her mutual funds. Not quite enough to fully fund her undergrad, but close enough that we can pay the rest with current income.</p>
<p>There is enough in D2’s accounts for about half of her undergrad, but her COA is less than D1 and we can afford to pay-as-we-go. (We will have to dip into some of “our” savings for the two years that they overlap in school).</p>
<p>We are keeping track of how much we spend on “college expense” for each; if they end end significantly different DH and I will try to even it out. (For example, if D1 costs us 10K more than D2, hopefully we will be in a position to help D2 with $10K towards graduate work).</p>
<p>We started when we got married in the late 80s. Built a financial plan with a planner (starting at zero )and factored three kids in, state public school tuition. Socked it away little by little in mutual funds and Roth and other instruments du jour. I remember our planner telling us we’d need $80,000 for the first child and more for each subsequent child and I remember thinking he was nuts. Our friends who are full pay and then some at our flagship are over $100,000 for their #1 who is the same age at our #1. I just paid the last tuition payment for our #1 and our total out of pocket (not at our state flagship) ended up being $87,000 including his Staffords which we will pay off in tandem with him. I’m framing this last tuition bill and giving it to him at his graduation in May. We lived frugally and also somehow managed to pay off our mortgage. It’s difficult to watch the accounts drain but I guess as long as there’s enough left to retire we can call it a good life. We never had brand new cars or car payments and I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that we may never buy a brand spanking new car. We have several friends whose parents have “run out of money” and it ain’t a pretty thing supporting college age kids, themselves and their parents.</p>
<p>We started saving money when we got married in the mid 1980s but we never saved specifically for college. It’s a good thing we saved, because we were able to pay off our mortgage before my husband lost his job (the first time) and then we had enough money to get through his six years’ of unemployment. We kept saving during the next job, again a good thing, because that job was lost also. I heartily advocate saving, whether you say you’re doing it for college or retirement or a rainy day.</p>
<p>At birth as well. Regular, if not monthly contributions. One set of grandparents did the same. When it was clear that S1 was covered financially, moved all the excess funds to S2’s account. But will spend all “college” savings down at about the mid-point in S2’s college career and so the remainder will be financed through current income.</p>
<p>We also contribute regularly, if not monthly to retirement savings (especially H who has always been self-employed).</p>
<p>Started saving at birth, with the goal of having one year’s total current cost for a private university saved by age 5, two years of the total current cost saved by age 10, and three years of the total current cost saved by age 15.</p>
<p>We figured that this strategy would allow us to adjust our savings rate based upon market performance and college cost inflation as we went along.</p>
<p>We were assuming that private university costs would increase at least 4% a year and therefore at least double between when our children were born and when they would be going to college.</p>
<p>Started off by opening oldest child’s account with $6,000 and initially saving $3,000 a year. </p>
<p>Never saved for college. Fully funded retirement. Both parents worked full time. DH’s income paid for all of our “regular” expenses…and my income paid solely for college (and my retirement).</p>
<p>I would recommend that you start saving as soon as you (the possible future parent) hit puberty. I know it seems early, but you really have to keep up with inflation.</p>
<p>We never saved. I was a stay at home mom & I went back to work when my oldest went to college. We had some savings to fund the first year, and we have used my income solely to pay for school. No new furniture, new cars, new carpet, vacation, etc.</p>
<p>We began saving for our DD’s college education two days after she was born (1994), by opening a UTMA account consisting of Exxon stock. This account has been added to since then by monthly allotments from my pay; stock splits and reinvested dividends have caused this account to grow quite nicely (it will be converted to a 529 sometime in 2011). </p>
<p>We’re fortunate here in Alaska to receive an annual PFD check (Permanent Fund Dividend, which are shares of North Slope oil revenues given to each Alaska resident), roughly $1,000-$2,000 per year, since we moved here in 1993. Every penny of DD’s PFDs have been invested in her various 529s and CDs. We continue to make monthly allotments to several of these savings devices; all birthday, Christmas, etc. money also goes to savings. Additionally, large chunks of my PFDs go to her education savings accounts. </p>
<p>We’re additionally fortunate here to have the “UA Scholar’s Award,” which provides $11,000 over four years to the top 10% of each high school graduating class attending an Alaska university. Also, the “Alaska Performance Scholarship,” soon to be inaugurated, awards up to approximately $4,750 a year based upon GPA and ACT/SAT scores, again, for attendance at Alaska universities.</p>
<p>DD, however, is currently expressing interest in attending an Outside university (hopefully with generous merit and/or athletic scholarships). Regardless, whether she stays here or goes south, I’m thankful we’ve been able to save for her education since birth. The money she doesn’t spend on an undergraduate degree can be used for graduate school, that first home, whatever. It’s hers.</p>
<p>No savings in the '80s (we were in grad school).</p>
<p>No savings in the '90s (we were in another country, currency, and economy).</p>
<p>Started the '00s by trying to build up our retirement accounts.</p>
<p>Savings for Happykid’s college fund began February 15, 2010. The plan was to have the fall’s expenses at our local CC in the bank before she had to start classes and buy books for the fall semester. Since she scored a tuition and fees scholarship for her first year there, this means that now we have the equivalent of one year’s CC tuition and fees stashed in the bank. If her scholarship is renewed, by the time she finishes her AA, we will have the equivalent 2 1/2 years of CC tuition and fees saved, which will be about half the cost of one year at our state flagship U.</p>
<p>The week they were born. We did three things simultaneously.<br>
Saved enough for retirement so we could retire at 65 and no more (before kids we were “over-saving” for retirement)
Paid our mortgage ahead enough so we would be done with the mortgage when our kids hit college … hit this one on the nose
Paid into UTMA and then 529s accounts … monthly payments … not much at all when they were young at all but increased as they got older.</p>
<p>After 20 years … we’re on track to be able to retire at 65 … the mortgage is paid off … and at least two kids will be able to go to college; we’re still working on the last guy but by the time he is in school we should have him covered unless another financial meltdown occurs.</p>
<p>Paying ourselves first and the power of compunding were definately our friends in this quest.</p>
<p>When the first baby was 5 weeks old, H and I had a 5-hour-long discussion about whether or not I would return to work or be a SAHM. In the end, we realized that with 1 income there would never be retirement savings. But, with 2 incomes we’d have retirement savings AND college savings. So, I returned to work. We opened UTMAs within a week.</p>
<p>Over the years we’ve added a MD pre-paid plan, an age-based 529, stock (inheritance), and good ol’ cash. Thus far, each kid has ~$100,000. That meets our goal of fully funding 4 years at a MD state school. </p>
<p>As it turns out, S is not at a MD state school and D probably won’t end up at one, either. But, we got lucky. Son has a 90% scholarship to his school and we pay our 10% with monthly cash flow. That means his college savings can become D’s when she’s ready. </p>
<p>The only catch would be if S loses his scholarship the picture will be a lot less rosey. So, we’re delaying the new car, new carpet, new roof, water heater, and kitchen for 3 more years. Best case scenario is you’ll hear the world’s biggest sigh of relief coming from Winston-Salem on May 19, 2014. ;)</p>
<p>I’m learning a lot from the parents in this community I’m 24 years old, engaged with no kids, getting married next year. My parents never saved for my college fund (or my brother’s or sister’s) because no one in my family had gone to college and they were just assuming that we wouldn’t either - I don’t even think they ever thought about it. I self-funded through scholarships and work; my brother went straight to work after a short vocational program; and my sister is paying her own way through a small public university through a combination of scholarships and loans. It’s cheap enough that Stafford loans cover the tuition and fees and she lives at home and works for expenses.</p>
<p>So I plan to start saving for my children’s college funds right after they’re born.</p>
<p>We started when the kids were born with UTMA’s, but then switched to a real estate investment strategy where we would be able to tap equity and the income stream to pay for college, and have the income stream to fund a big portion of retirement (in addition to 401k’s).</p>
<p>However, DW wanted to stay home for a few years after kid #2, the .com bust not only hammered our portfolios but led to several long stints of unemployment for me, DW changed careers into something a lot lower paying but that made her a lot happier, then the mortgage crisis wiped out most of the equity we had in our properties. What a ride!</p>
<p>Bottom line is that we didn’t feel we had adequate resources to be full-pay at private colleges without substantial borrowing (we are at that “sweet” spot where the schools say we can afford to, but we can’t without sacrificing retirement savings and a whole lot of other stuff), hence my “handle”. S got some decent merit at some schools, so he had a decent selection, and ultimately chose our in-state flagship, which just happened to be the cheapest! Win, win.</p>
<p>There is enough in his college account to pay for the year when we will have two in college. We are also seriously talking about moving to a cheaper town after #2 graduates HS, which would free up significant cash flow.</p>
)and factored three kids in, state public school tuition. Socked it away little by little in mutual funds and Roth and other instruments du jour. I remember our planner telling us we’d need $80,000 for the first child and more for each subsequent child and I remember thinking he was nuts. Our friends who are full pay and then some at our flagship are over $100,000 for their