“Fully Funded College”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is putting money in a college fund have anything to do with a gift tax? Never worried about it and put $10-30K per year in.

Gift tax applies to transfers of funds to any person, including your children. In fact, particularly your children. It's intended to prevent people from circumventing estate taxes by giving their kids $$ before they die. There is one special exemption that allows you to put $70,000 in a 509, but it has to be spread over 5 years, so I'm not sure that it really changes much. If you give someone an amount over the gift tax limit and don't pay the gift tax or file to apply against your exclusion, you are violating the law. You probably won't get caught unless you get an IRS audit.

The money in a 529 is still considered to be the parent's.

No, that's not right. Search it on the google engine: https://us.axa.com/goals/saving-for-college/questions/529-plans-gift-tax-exclusion.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
When will our yahoo politicians (both parties) do something about the obscene cost bubble in college education?

Do we really believe our university are that much better than top universities in europe that don't have sushi bars and fifty million dollar gym facilities?

Did folks see the article that U Michigan has nearly 100 paid staff in its diversity office, alone?

Sanders at least talked about cost but didn't connect the dots that affordability requires a reduction in the operating costs of these places.

That was one thing that really annoyed me about his “plan”. He clearly had not spent much time on college campuses to see where the $ was going.

+1.

Universities may, ironically, be the most poorly managed institutions of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any advice for someone with a ten year old and no college savings so far? It has not been possible, but our situation and HHI have recently changed for the better, and we need to start saving. Is a 529 the best vehicle at this point? Seems like maybe not...

I still think putting money into a 529 would be good in your scenario, given the likely state tax break and the ability for the money to grow tax free. If I were you, I would aim to have four years of in state tuition saved. And maybe four years of room and board on top of that if you can swing it. Figure out how much your need to save per year, earning a conservative 4%, and then save that amount. And he sure to start talking to your child to set expectations. You can explain that if he or she decides on a private college, you will provide only what you would spend on an instate public college and he or she would have to make up the difference with loans, scholarships, grants, etc. I would also start talking about the effects of high student loan debt on other life goals. And have an offer to gift him or her the money saved for grad school of he or she gets and chooses a fullride somewhere.

We have two kids and live in NYC. We are on track to save half of an in state tuition plus r&b and fees for each boy. Hopefully, we will be able to benefit from our state's Excelsior Scholarship(I think that's the name) by maxing out pretax retirement so that we can reduce our AGI to under $125k and quality for the scholarship. We're going to give them the same talk as I suggested for you when the time comes (they're only 5 and 7 years old).

Do you have a lot saved for retirement? If yes, maybe consider tapping into wOrth IRA savings to pay for school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any advice for someone with a ten year old and no college savings so far? It has not been possible, but our situation and HHI have recently changed for the better, and we need to start saving. Is a 529 the best vehicle at this point? Seems like maybe not...

I still think putting money into a 529 would be good in your scenario, given the likely state tax break and the ability for the money to grow tax free. If I were you, I would aim to have four years of in state tuition saved. And maybe four years of room and board on top of that if you can swing it. Figure out how much your need to save per year, earning a conservative 4%, and then save that amount. And he sure to start talking to your child to set expectations. You can explain that if he or she decides on a private college, you will provide only what you would spend on an instate public college and he or she would have to make up the difference with loans, scholarships, grants, etc. I would also start talking about the effects of high student loan debt on other life goals. And have an offer to gift him or her the money saved for grad school of he or she gets and chooses a fullride somewhere.

We have two kids and live in NYC. We are on track to save half of an in state tuition plus r&b and fees for each boy. Hopefully, we will be able to benefit from our state's Excelsior Scholarship(I think that's the name) by maxing out pretax retirement so that we can reduce our AGI to under $125k and quality for the scholarship. We're going to give them the same talk as I suggested for you when the time comes (they're only 5 and 7 years old).

Do you have a lot saved for retirement? If yes, maybe consider tapping into wOrth IRA savings to pay for school?

Roth IRA, not worth.

[Anonymous]

This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

Of course you are right to be outraged. I'd say try telling the politicians but they're too busy getting their kids in to Harvard to care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

It’s likely your income will increase too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

I have two in college right now. Each is in a college that the total costs are about $42k a year for each. We earned around $100k when the first was born and now earn about $190k. We were able to save for both of them to graduate without loans. We planned for more and thus have a surplus.

It is doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

I have two in college right now. Each is in a college that the total costs are about $42k a year for each. We earned around $100k when the first was born and now earn about $190k. We were able to save for both of them to graduate without loans. We planned for more and thus have a surplus.

It is doable.

I'm the PP you responded to. Thanks for your reply. How much did you save each year, and starting from what year? We have @ $18K per kid saved so far. We are able to save $3K per kid a year (we are very far behind in retirement and have been focusing on maxing out the pre-tax savings and the Roth IRAs). We don't have anything saved in taxable accounts for college (or for retirement, either, just for an emergency fund).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

I have two in college right now. Each is in a college that the total costs are about $42k a year for each. We earned around $100k when the first was born and now earn about $190k. We were able to save for both of them to graduate without loans. We planned for more and thus have a surplus.

It is doable.

I'm the PP you responded to. Thanks for your reply. How much did you save each year, and starting from what year? We have @ $18K per kid saved so far. We are able to save $3K per kid a year (we are very far behind in retirement and have been focusing on maxing out the pre-tax savings and the Roth IRAs). We don't have anything saved in taxable accounts for college (or for retirement, either, just for an emergency fund).

You need to save more or plan on two years at local community college while liv8ng at home. $3k per child will not be enough. Make thebudget cuts now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article in the NYT infuriated me:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html

We have only started making @ $185k recently, and have started to save aggressively for retirement finally. But apparently colleges think we will be able to pay $70k a year per kid for college. And that is in today's dollars; our kids will be college age in @ 10 years, so who knows what they will expect is to pay. It'll be instate university for our family, apparently.

I have two in college right now. Each is in a college that the total costs are about $42k a year for each. We earned around $100k when the first was born and now earn about $190k. We were able to save for both of them to graduate without loans. We planned for more and thus have a surplus.

It is doable.

I'm the PP you responded to. Thanks for your reply. How much did you save each year, and starting from what year? We have @ $18K per kid saved so far. We are able to save $3K per kid a year (we are very far behind in retirement and have been focusing on maxing out the pre-tax savings and the Roth IRAs). We don't have anything saved in taxable accounts for college (or for retirement, either, just for an emergency fund).

Don't listen to these people. Prioritize your retirement - get that on stable footing first. Do what you can on the student loan savings. You can borrow for education, you can't borrow for retirement.

[Anonymous]

Many of you are INSANE. We do not have a ton of money and has always focused our money into retirement. My son went to nova and got his associates, we paid as he went. He transferred to UVA for year 3&4 and got a partial academic scholarship, we also paid the difference as he went. He had a job before he even graduated up in Reston at a tech company that he started last week with a starting salary of 85k. Got that job through the UVA network. So so glad we were never wealthy enough to afford private. My son is in an incredible spot thanks to state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of you are INSANE. We do not have a ton of money and has always focused our money into retirement. My son went to nova and got his associates, we paid as he went. He transferred to UVA for year 3&4 and got a partial academic scholarship, we also paid the difference as he went. He had a job before he even graduated up in Reston at a tech company that he started last week with a starting salary of 85k. Got that job through the UVA network. So so glad we were never wealthy enough to afford private. My son is in an incredible spot thanks to state schools.

Thank for you sharing this. It's been shocking to hear posters calling people horrible parents, just because they can't put away thousands of dollars a month for each of their kids' college years. Or the truly crazy ones, calling people trolls for daring to give one kid slightly more money than another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is putting money in a college fund have anything to do with a gift tax? Never worried about it and put $10-30K per year in.

Gift tax applies to transfers of funds to any person, including your children. In fact, particularly your children. It's intended to prevent people from circumventing estate taxes by giving their kids $$ before they die. There is one special exemption that allows you to put $70,000 in a 509, but it has to be spread over 5 years, so I'm not sure that it really changes much. If you give someone an amount over the gift tax limit and don't pay the gift tax or file to apply against your exclusion, you are violating the law. You probably won't get caught unless you get an IRS audit.

The money in a 529 is still considered to be the parent's.

No, that's not right. Search it on the google engine: https://us.axa.com/goals/saving-for-college/questions/529-plans-gift-tax-exclusion.html

NP, but no, you are wrong. The account owner controls the money, can change the beneficiary, and can even take the money back for himself, despite the gift tax treatment you point out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of you are INSANE. We do not have a ton of money and has always focused our money into retirement. My son went to nova and got his associates, we paid as he went. He transferred to UVA for year 3&4 and got a partial academic scholarship, we also paid the difference as he went. He had a job before he even graduated up in Reston at a tech company that he started last week with a starting salary of 85k. Got that job through the UVA network. So so glad we were never wealthy enough to afford private. My son is in an incredible spot thanks to state schools.

Thank for you sharing this. It's been shocking to hear posters calling people horrible parents, just because they can't put away thousands of dollars a month for each of their kids' college years. Or the truly crazy ones, calling people trolls for daring to give one kid slightly more money than another.

The funny thing is many of these people socking away a ton of money have to do so because their kids are not good enough to get into a good state school.