If your kid doesn't spend their 529, what will you do with that money?

[Anonymous]

Is it theirs to spend? With conditions or without?

[Anonymous]

Move whatever I can to Roth IRAs for them and leave the rest in the 529 for them to use for any future grandkids.

[Anonymous]

Roll it down into younger siblings, then grad school if needed.

Our goal is that everyone gets an undergrad degree debt free.

It should zero out in the end.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the kid, grad school, roth ira, or Able account.

[Anonymous]

I’m pretty confident that my DC will go to college, and we won’t qualify for aid. Given that, we are funding enough to cover 90-100% of in-state tuition and we will come out of pocket for anything other than that. I’m not at all worried about wasting these dollars.

[Anonymous]

DS just graduated and has about $10k left in the 529. Saving it for grad school. We have a separate account to cover DD's undergrad, probably won't have anything left in that because her school is more expensive.

[Anonymous]

We are saving 100% for future generations. Iras are also funded each year but would have done that w/some if they weren’t. Paying for college out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

We have about 100k left. Just about enough to do 35k Roth each for 3 kids.

[Anonymous]

We have a lot left over for DC1. He can use for grad school. If he doesn’t go then he can save for his kids. I don’t think he needs a rollover, he’s got enough money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty confident that my DC will go to college, and we won’t qualify for aid. Given that, we are funding enough to cover 90-100% of in-state tuition and we will come out of pocket for anything other than that. I’m not at all worried about wasting these dollars.

OP here,

I've got enough put away for about 6 years of in-state tuition and room and board for each kids. I've told my oldest that he has a budget of $X total, and he's found some schools, a couple safeties and a couple matches where the NPCs say he could get the degrees he currently wants debt free. The ones he likes best would come in at the top of budget, and would probably require him to get a job and earn his own spending money, but that's fine. That is what this money is intended for.

But now, as he's getting ready to apply, he's realizing that there are programs where his stats will give him huge amounts of automatic merit, and where he would be able graduate with significant savings. These schools aren't as good a fit in other ways, but they aren't bad schools, just not exactly what he has been saying he wants in terms of size, location, extracurriculars, other subjects he wants to study on the side etc . . . So, he's asking "What happens to that money if I don't use it?" It's a good question so I'm trying to sort out how to answer it.

[Anonymous]

I gave it to my kid and told them to save it for grad school but if they didn’t go to grad school they could use it for a downpayment or something (didn’t want to leave it in the 529 in case they didn’t go to grad school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move whatever I can to Roth IRAs for them and leave the rest in the 529 for them to use for any future grandkids.

This exactly.

[Anonymous]

Not leaving it for “future grand kids” when I have no idea if my kid will have any.

[Anonymous]

I think this depends a little on whether you have extra because you ended up able to cash flow some expenses (but can still withdraw from the 529 tax free) or whether you saved more than the total cost of all your expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I gave it to my kid and told them to save it for grad school but if they didn’t go to grad school they could use it for a downpayment or something (didn’t want to leave it in the 529 in case they didn’t go to grad school).

So you paid the withdrawal tax on it? Or, did you cheat on your taxes? Curious.