College savings--GAH!

[Anonymous]

So we finally decided to start 529 accounts for our kids, who are 3 and 5. I lazily googled to find an estimate of how much we should be saving per kid each month. Apparently, I should be putting aside $670/month for my 3-year-old! WTH? We are solidly middle-class, thought definitely on the lower side of the income range for two-professional families in DC. And $670, times two (plus more, since 5yo is heading to college sooner), is WAY out of our ability to pay.

Then again, my parents didn't pay for my college. (Not that they didn't want to--they couldn't afford it.) But I would love for our kids not to end up with the kinds of loans we have.

Those of you who make under 200k/year--how much are you saving for your kids/ college?

[Anonymous]

OP, will the projected savings cover private or public tuition? Just curious.

Our HHI is 130k and we save $1200 per month ($600 per kid), plus an additional $2k at the end of the year (kids are 3 and 5). The thing that makes this doable for us is 1. We don't live in DC, so our housing overhead is low and 2. our older kid is in public kindergarten. We also live very frugally.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that pretty useless post, 12:50. This is a forum set in DC.

I make $240,000 a year and I save every cent of that for my kids' college, since I have a sugar daddy AND a fairy godmother who pay for everything I might need, such as housing, shoes and vacations. See, wasn't that pointless to read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for that pretty useless post, 12:50. This is a forum set in DC.

I make $240,000 a year and I save every cent of that for my kids' college, since I have a sugar daddy AND a fairy godmother who pay for everything I might need, such as housing, shoes and vacations. See, wasn't that pointless to read?

I'm 12:50. For what it's worth, I live in Baltimore, which is 45 miles away from DC. Plenty of people live here and work there.

[Anonymous]

Our hhi is 135 and we save 500/ month for our 2yo. We won't be able to keep that up when our second child is born next spring.

[Anonymous]

OP here: FWIW, that response wasn't from me. PP, the calculator I saw was pretty generic--it estimated cost based on a university that costs $25k/year today, with an annual increase of 6 percent. Or something like that, which sounds pretty outrageous to me.

I did public school all the way through my master's degree, and our kids are both in DC public schools. We live in a small house and are pretty frugal, but I just can't see putting aside even $1000/month for college. We make a little over $150k. Oh, well. Maybe we can just never mention the accounts to the kids and it'll be a pleasant surprise that there's any $$ at all.

[Anonymous]

We put in $400 for each of our two kids every month, and have done so since birth.

When I get a bonus at the end of year year (typically $10K or less before taxes), the entirety goes into those accounts.

We have $220K saved and our kids are 14 and 12. We intend to pay for their college educations without loans, which may mean they will attend state schools (fine by us).

I think we will be ok.

[Anonymous]

^^^PP here, our HHI is $170K.

[Anonymous]

You do what you can, OP.

Contrary to public opinion you do not have to pay your child's full tuition throughout college. Not everyone can, not everyone has to. If you support your child in other ways (mainly emotionally, academically, etc) you can work with your child to help get them through college.

My parents set aside a small amount of money for my brother, but had none for my sister or I. I worked my way through college. I want to have a college fund for my kids, but there's no way I can pay the full amount every year so we will have to work together. I will do what I can, they will have to do what they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for that pretty useless post, 12:50. This is a forum set in DC.

I make $240,000 a year and I save every cent of that for my kids' college, since I have a sugar daddy AND a fairy godmother who pay for everything I might need, such as housing, shoes and vacations. See, wasn't that pointless to read?

Why the hostility? I read 12:50's post as not living in the district, which he/she doesn't. Even if this post was from Iowa, you need to chill the f--- out.

[Anonymous]

Doing state prepaid tuition program is far les expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do what you can, OP.

Contrary to public opinion you do not have to pay your child's full tuition throughout college. Not everyone can, not everyone has to. If you support your child in other ways (mainly emotionally, academically, etc) you can work with your child to help get them through college.

My parents set aside a small amount of money for my brother, but had none for my sister or I. I worked my way through college. I want to have a college fund for my kids, but there's no way I can pay the full amount every year so we will have to work together. I will do what I can, they will have to do what they can.

That is unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do what you can, OP.

Contrary to public opinion you do not have to pay your child's full tuition throughout college. Not everyone can, not everyone has to. If you support your child in other ways (mainly emotionally, academically, etc) you can work with your child to help get them through college.

My parents set aside a small amount of money for my brother, but had none for my sister or I. I worked my way through college. I want to have a college fund for my kids, but there's no way I can pay the full amount every year so we will have to work together. I will do what I can, they will have to do what they can.

That pretty much sums it up. You do what you can (without shorting retirement savings) and figure out a plan, with your child, when s/he become college-age.

[Anonymous]

Since we are paying $24,000 a year for day care at this point, we are holding off on college savings for our 4 year old and 1 year old for now. Can't do it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do what you can, OP.

Contrary to public opinion you do not have to pay your child's full tuition throughout college. Not everyone can, not everyone has to. If you support your child in other ways (mainly emotionally, academically, etc) you can work with your child to help get them through college.

My parents set aside a small amount of money for my brother, but had none for my sister or I. I worked my way through college. I want to have a college fund for my kids, but there's no way I can pay the full amount every year so we will have to work together. I will do what I can, they will have to do what they can.

That is unbelievable.

PP here. I know. But we were the first women in our family to go to college, they simply didn't expect us to (and this wasn't even that long ago!)