How much are you saving for college?

[Anonymous]

The projections of what college is going to cost in 15 years are outrageous -- $200-500K and up. I'm curious, how much have people saved so far, what year do you expect your child(ren) to enter college, and how much/how frequently are you saving?

For us - $25K, 2024, $600/month.

[Anonymous]

Zero.

[Anonymous]

We have about $60K in a 529. DS will start K this fall.

[Anonymous]

DS1: $7K (in-laws probably $10K), 2022, $0/month, but daycare costs stop in 4 months and then we plan to start

DTwins: $0K, 2026, $0/month, but daycare costs stop in 4 months and then we plan to start

Oh, and DH want them to go to very expensive colleges!

[Anonymous]

I'm with you PP, although aftercare is a b***h.

[Anonymous]

We have a 22 month old and we have $10,000 right now, with a goal of $20,000 per year (I was unemployed for almost a year so we're behind.)

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else think those projections are simply unsustainable? Are we looking at another housing bubble with college costs?

[Anonymous]

I've heard there may be a bubble in tuition costs. It will be interesting to see.

I'm saving enough for the projected cost of three years of college. That's my happy medium. I assume I'll still be working and will be able to pay as we go for most of it, but the savings is a nice cushion. I plan to pay through a master's degree.

[Anonymous]

The next bubble is definitely in the education sector.

[Anonymous]

DD will be 2015 - we've saved 12k and save $2,500/year, enough for the MD tax break. The rest we will pay out of pocket or do loans if needed. We got a late start, but have decent income and have paid for private before (are not now) so barring anything unexpected....I think we can handle.

I think we are going to give DD funds to pay for the equivalent of public university - and if she wants to spend more, go elsewhere, the balance will be her responsiblity. That approach could change if our income increases or if our overall financial picture really improves. Its not bad now - its just not $30k for college a year good.

[Anonymous]

We save $900ish a month for both children, but we started our savings with a $50K bonus I received in 1999.

Our kids are in 7th and 4th grades and we have about $200K saved. The ILs have 529s for them as well but have not told us how much is in there.

[Anonymous]

Zero.

Education is the biggest load of bullcrap out there. I got myself a bunch o' fancy degrees from top schools up the wazzoo, fat load of good it did me.

You can't teach common sense, and if you ain't got that then all the book-learning in the world won't amount to more than a hill of beans.

[Anonymous]

None. We have savings, but it's not for college. And we have five children, two of whom are already in college. Both are on full scholarships. One of them truly is brilliant. The other is just your average kid. It's not that difficult to get scholarships and grants. We expect our kids to work hard if they want to go to college. We'll help with extras if we need to, but we won't need our savings to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. We have savings, but it's not for college. And we have five children, two of whom are already in college. Both are on full scholarships. One of them truly is brilliant. The other is just your average kid. It's not that difficult to get scholarships and grants. We expect our kids to work hard if they want to go to college. We'll help with extras if we need to, but we won't need our savings to do that.

ewww.

[Anonymous]

"How much have people saved so far" - about $113,000 total for two children

"What year do you expect your child(ren) to enter college" - 2017 and 2021

" and how much/how frequently are you saving? " $600 monthly total