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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
saving for college
So how much do you budget to save (per child) for college per year? My DH and I are talking our budget talk (especially with the holidays coming up) and we don't know if we are right on/too high/too low for college savings for our almost 4 year old and almost 2 year old.
How much has anyone heard college costs will be in 15 years???
Don't want to be too personal, if anyone is comfortable sharing...please share what you do! Thanks!
Re: saving for college
We aren't saving anything. Growing up we knew that we were expected to go to college and that we would figure out a way to get ourselves through it. My brother and I were fortunate enough to get full rides for college, but my sister will graduate with around $70K in student loans. My parents are helping her out more now since there are no other kids at home. Even though they are helping her, it is expected that paying off the loans will be her responsibility.
If we had a ton of money, I'd be happy to put away money for our kids, but at the same time, I think it's good for them to work for it too. In high school, I knew I had to work to get the grades I did so I could get scholarships for school. Had that expectation not been set, the drive may not have been as intense to do as well as I did.
I agree. My parents did end up paying for my college (well all but one year) but all through high school they told me they weren't going to, that it was up to me. I so badly wanted to go to Drake or St. Thomas but I couldn't afford it. I refused to graduate with huge student loan debts. So, off to UNK and UNO I went. I dont' regret my education but I do still wonder if I would be on a different path having gone to another school.
Ok, back to the point. We are saving money for Evan now but it's not much. My parents put away money for him as well and they will for the new baby. That money isnt' necessarily for college but that's likely what we'll use it for. Our kids WILL go to college! With the estimation of college prices in 15 years I doubt that money will be able to even cover one year but it's better than nothing.
love is for every her, love is for every him, love is for everyone
I put money away each pay period for each child, it's automatically taken out and put into their account so I don't forget (we do this for us too, pay yourself first). This is for their first car, wedding, college, etc.
We also have other options. Our house will be paid off the year Elsie goes to college. I have a whole life insurance policy that we can "borrow" from to help with college. They both have life insurance that at age 20 (or 21, I can't remember) will be worth a small amount of money or we'll continue paying on it and give it as a wedding gift. Grandma's saving some money for them.
Ditto the expectations. I expect my kids to do well in school and if not dh and I will be by their side helping them excell.
My parents started a College savings plan for our boys and my niece a couple of years ago and they put something in it at the end of each year, like a few hundred dollars. I put a little (very little) into it as well for the boys each month, but it's not much. I have no idea what will end up being in there.
DH and I both had to pay for college ourselves. His dad and stepmom helped him out a lot, but he was required to pay them back for it all, so it wasn't a handout. If we had the money to pay for it, I probably would, but don't see that happening.
They will be expected to go and will know they need to pay for it on their own.
DH and I were both told that our parents would pay for our college education (bachelors degree) and that was it (no car, wedding, etc... we paid for those ourselves) and we will be doing the same with our children. We were expected to go to college and we will expect the same from our children.
For our kids we are currently putting 5K annually into a 529 (which will be 5k/kid) with addtional financial gifts from family added in as well. We will be upping that when the kiddos hit 5, depending on our financial status. We want to be able to afford any school our kid is accepted to and is a good fit for him/her. Both of us chose to go to schools that were 30-40k annually, and it was great to have our parents behind us, not setting a limit on price.
I think you need to do what feels best for your family-obviously, my thoughts are very different than the others who have posted. Just set your goal and work to reach it.
We put $1,000 per child each year into a 529. I want to help them as much as possible with college. Mine paid for whatever my work didn't reimburse, so my expectation is that we will help with what we can and they will get loans, work reimbursement, whatever for the rest. We do it at tax time every year (and it's a NE tax write off).
Edit: Not sure if you've talked to a financial advisor, but they can tell you what college will be estimated at when your child gets there. And it's not cheap!! Our $1,000 per year will not pay for 100% of their tuition when they are college age.
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Alissa Jean
9.10.2004
I need a job there..
We put some $ aside each month into an extra account in our name. We don't know what we will do with it, could be 1st car, wedding, college, etc. As our tax guy said for us to stay away from any of the "college plans" in case she doesn't go to college, joins the military or gets a full ride. While we would love for her to go I also get that its not for everyone and don't want to be stuck with some college savings plan. That said, dh pd for his college by himself. My parent split mine with me. Dh went in state and all 4 years of his college was less than 1 year of out of state for me. My biggest thing is I want her to go to whatever school she wants and we will make or find a way for that to happen when the time comes. (Okay, I secretly have my fingers crossed for a smart kid who gets into Boston college so I have a cool place to go visit).
Also, our financial guy said with our financial situation we would be best to take out a 2nd on our house for "college money" as we could then write off the interest and it would be lower interest than student loans. He also mentioned something about about our investments and things we could do with those but all of that depends on dh's retirement and that all depends on the contract of the future which we all know how those negotiations go.
I was putting more in and now have cut back. There isn't a lot in there for both of them.
I'm concerned that if I put this great deal of money aside for them and then they choose to not go to college. As much as I want them to go to college and expect them to, it is ultimately their choice.
My focus now is taking care of dh and I. I'm trying to put us in a good financial position now and for retirement so if we want to help the girls out with college then we will be able to in the future. I want to have the house paid off by the time they are in college or high school.