Saving for your kids' education

[marsupial]

So, I take it nobody wants to buy a bumper sticker.

Well, I married a psychologist just so that we'd get free therapy. Otherwise, great idea.

[marsupial]

So with the 529s, if you are likely (or at least hopefully) going to be making an interstate move or two before your children start college, would it matter/affect your benefits or tax savings?

[BlueHair]

I plan on being poor enough that the government will pick up the tab.

[Tick's wife]

We didn't save for our kids' education. I paid my way and Tick paid his way, they can pay their way. The oldest just finished her first year at BYU. She got a scholarship and financial aid. It's okay to not save for their education.

[marsupial]

We didn't save for our kids' education. I paid my way and Tick paid his way, they can pay their way. The oldest just finished her first year at BYU. She got a scholarship and financial aid. It's okay to not save for their education.

You and danimal feel the same about this. I don't. I feel like we have a little extra each month that we could save for them, so we should. They shouldn't have to start out their careers burdened by excessive student debt because we didn't plan ahead. I would like to at least cover their tuition, books and fees. They can get a job, scholarships, and take out loans for all their other expenses. After all, I am not saving so they can freeload.

[CardiacCoug]

Speaking of paying for college, I thought this was interesting. College is kind of a scam these days. I don't think BYU is as bad as most other schools though.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion...-debt.html.csp

Amid all the uplifting cliches at their commencement ceremonies, graduating college students won’t hear a line applicable to some of them — you got ripped off. Student debt just surpassed the country’s credit-card debt for the first time. It is projected to top $1 trillion this year, according to The New York Times, when it was less than $200 billion in 2000.

For the class of 2011, the mean student debt burden is nearly $23,000, up 8 percent from a year ago.

There’s no doubt that graduating from college brings a significant economic advantage, but that doesn’t excuse the waste and self-satisfied lassitude of American higher education. Colleges appropriate tuition dollars from America’s students with an ever-accelerating voracity, yet don’t deliver any additional educational benefits — indeed, they do the opposite. Higher education is one of the sectors of American life that most desperately needs a thorough re-conception.

What are students going into hock for? In their book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa sift through data that only Bluto could relish. They cite the work of labor economists Philip Babcock and Mindy Marks showing that in the early 1960s, college students spent 40 hours per week on academic work; now they spend only 27 hours per week. In 1961, 67 percent of students said they studied more than 20 hours per week; now only one in five study that much.

[Moliere]

So with the 529s, if you are likely (or at least hopefully) going to be making an interstate move or two before your children start college, would it matter/affect your benefits or tax savings?

I'd imagine you could leave what you've invested in the account and open a new account whatever state you move to, but you'd better check the plan document to make sure. As Ted has stated, you can pretty much invest in any state's plan but you might get a financial incentive from your home state to use their plan.

Being in Texas and having no state income tax I'm pretty much free to use whatever plan I want so there is no financial incentive given. We've decided to use Utah's as it tends to be better rated, which usually means decent investment options and low fees.

[Moliere]

We didn't save for our kids' education. I paid my way and Tick paid his way, they can pay their way. The oldest just finished her first year at BYU. She got a scholarship and financial aid. It's okay to not save for their education.

I used to say this and still do to some effect, but MJ and I have decided to give the kids an opportunity to "work" around the house and yard to earn money, some of which will be put into their college fund (basically a savings account they can watch grow). We'll also put what we can into a 529 account without them knowing. I had two sisters that never went to college and my parents had the same plan as yours (kids pay their own way) so I want to avoid having my kids not attend college. It sounds like your kids have better heads on their shoulders.

We figure we'll let them know about the 529 plan at some point when they go to college or right before. Then if they get scholarships or have money left over after graduation they can have what's left. If they don't graduate then mom and dad get another European vacation.

[CardiacCoug]

OK, I was interested so I looked at how much class undergraduates attend at an elite college like Stanford. ($12,900 tuition + room and board).

First Day of Classes: September 26
Week off: November 21-25 (Thanksgiving)
Last Day of Classes: December 9

First Day of Classes: January 9
Last Day of Class: March 16

Doesn't seem like very much class to me. Maybe Rich Lowry's article is right.

[pellegrino]

Well, I married a psychologist just so that we'd get free therapy. Otherwise, great idea.

I'll cross you off the list.

[Paperback Writer]

We didn't save for our kids' education. I paid my way and Tick paid his way, they can pay their way. The oldest just finished her first year at BYU. She got a scholarship and financial aid. It's okay to not save for their education.

Probably need to consider what will happen if a child doesn't quality for an academic scholarship and if Uncle Sam comes back with an expected family contribution amout of $20K or above. Basically, Uncle Sam is saying that the family can afford to pay for the child's education but the family is unwilling to and there will be little to no financial aid.

Such was my case and it has caused problems in my family later in life. It's kind of crappy when a student (by himself) can't afford to go to BYU as a Freshman. My parent's attitude was "I paid my own way back in the day". But college was more affordable in previous generations and it's basically impossible today for a minimum wage earner to pay for college by himself.

[mUUser]

We didn't save for our kids' education. I paid my way and Tick paid his way, they can pay their way. The oldest just finished her first year at BYU. She got a scholarship and financial aid. It's okay to not save for their education.

Funny how 2 sets of loving parents can look at the same issue and come to polar opposite conclusions.

[creekster]

OK, I was interested so I looked at how much class undergraduates attend at an elite college like Stanford. ($12,900 tuition + room and board).

First Day of Classes: September 26
Week off: November 21-25 (Thanksgiving)
Last Day of Classes: December 9

First Day of Classes: January 9
Last Day of Class: March 16

Doesn't seem like very much class to me. Maybe Rich Lowry's article is right.

I think that tuition figure is a little low. For the year tuition and fees at stanford is oging to be about 40k. Room and board not included, of course.

[Donuthole]

I think that tuition figure is a little low. For the year tuition and fees at stanford is oging to be about 40k. Room and board not included, of course.

Yes, I was going to make a joke about CC having accidentally googled "Samford" but even Samford is $21,942 for annual tuition.

[Surfah]

I think that tuition figure is a little low. For the year tuition and fees at stanford is oging to be about 40k. Room and board not included, of course.

Yeah, that's $12,900 a quarter. Fall, Winter, Spring (ends in June). Summer has a reduced rate.