How much do you put into your kids' 529 (college fund) annually?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. We are fully funding our retirement account (1500 a month, HHI of 160,000) and there is nothing left over for college.

I forgot to add both my husband and I have pension plans at work, since 1500 a month is not going to fully fund retirement. Also we have two kids and kids' grandparents have no money to help with college.

[Anonymous]

We each do $4000 a year in 529s to get the max state income tax deduction. So that's $8000 a year. 1 child currently. If we decide to stay in VA we may start doing the prepaid plans, but we're strongly considering moving in the next 2 or 3 years, so are waiting on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is 10 months and we have about 4K in her college account. We put away $75 a month for her and plan on increasing that once she's out of day care. Our HHI is $160K.

Don't bank on having all the day care tuition once you're done with day care. I was shocked to find the money still flying out the door each month - sports fees, after school care, etc. I'd say that now that we're done wiht day care, I have about 40% of htat tuition leftover

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is 10 months and we have about 4K in her college account. We put away $75 a month for her and plan on increasing that once she's out of day care. Our HHI is $160K.

Don't bank on having all the day care tuition once you're done with day care. I was shocked to find the money still flying out the door each month - sports fees, after school care, etc. I'd say that now that we're done wiht day care, I have about 40% of htat tuition leftover

This is the PP. Agree. We have no intention of putting 100% of the day care costs toward college. We'll probably put something like $500 (1/3 of the monthly day care bill) a month away for college and the rest will go to our family expenses and savings which will include, among other things, additional savings for our retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do 10K per year for now, while we're earning strongly. However, i may start moving some of that money into a roth once we have enough for the first two years for each kid because I like the roth plans better, they're more flexible, and if the kids don't end up in college for whatever reason, penalty issues don't apply. I will be eligible to draw down my Roth when my eldest is a junior in college.

This is true -- Roth is a much better investment than 529.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We each do $4000 a year in 529s to get the max state income tax deduction. So that's $8000 a year. 1 child currently. If we decide to stay in VA we may start doing the prepaid plans, but we're strongly considering moving in the next 2 or 3 years, so are waiting on that.

Everybody should consider a PREPAID tuition plan if they can afford $1,100/month for 5 years - it is so worth it and I think a better deal than just a plain 529 savings account (and you still get the miniscule state tax write-off, like $200 to $400/year savings). 15 years from now, tuition alone could easily be $200,000 to $250,000 - that's a great return on a $55,000 investment (for a child age 5 or under). And the benefit can be applied to ANY school if your child goes out of state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We each do $4000 a year in 529s to get the max state income tax deduction. So that's $8000 a year. 1 child currently. If we decide to stay in VA we may start doing the prepaid plans, but we're strongly considering moving in the next 2 or 3 years, so are waiting on that.

Everybody should consider a PREPAID tuition plan if they can afford $1,100/month for 5 years - it is so worth it and I think a better deal than just a plain 529 savings account (and you still get the miniscule state tax write-off, like $200 to $400/year savings). 15 years from now, tuition alone could easily be $200,000 to $250,000 - that's a great return on a $55,000 investment (for a child age 5 or under). And the benefit can be applied to ANY school if your child goes out of state.

MAybe, but I think the trend of double-digit tuition increases has come to an end.

U.VA's tuition increase this year is 4%. I'm beating 4% in the market.

Granted, this is a reversal of fortune relative to recent years, but I think schools are under tremendous pressure to reprice.

[Anonymous]

We put 450$ a month for two year old for over a year now into a 529. My mom saved for my college since I was a baby and payed my entire Ivy college ed. I did mostly loans, and grandparents help for law school at an Ivy and ended up with $100k or so in loans. But, I worked at a big lawfirm and paid it off quickly. DH went to a state school, worked 40 hour weeks to graduate in 3 years with no loans. But, he had no time to study and did lousy. DD will hopefully have all the money she needs to focus on educating her mind and even some left for grad school. Hopefully we can "train" her to want all that education!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We each do $4000 a year in 529s to get the max state income tax deduction. So that's $8000 a year. 1 child currently. If we decide to stay in VA we may start doing the prepaid plans, but we're strongly considering moving in the next 2 or 3 years, so are waiting on that.

Everybody should consider a PREPAID tuition plan if they can afford $1,100/month for 5 years - it is so worth it and I think a better deal than just a plain 529 savings account (and you still get the miniscule state tax write-off, like $200 to $400/year savings). 15 years from now, tuition alone could easily be $200,000 to $250,000 - that's a great return on a $55,000 investment (for a child age 5 or under). And the benefit can be applied to ANY school if your child goes out of state.

MAybe, but I think the trend of double-digit tuition increases has come to an end.

U.VA's tuition increase this year is 4%. I'm beating 4% in the market.

Granted, this is a reversal of fortune relative to recent years, but I think schools are under tremendous pressure to reprice.

If you start with about $45,000 in your account, and if you can beat the rate of tuition % increases every year, then okay.

[Anonymous]

DH I have each put in $2500 per year (max MD state tax deduction) for 1 child. It may not cover everything but it's much more than I got from my parents.

[Anonymous]

We haven't this year as we've been paying down our own debts first. Child #1 is 4.5 and has about 20K in there, I think.

[Anonymous]

We do $7200/year, plus generally a contribution from grandparents of $5000/year. 1 kid, 5 yo, have about $70,000 total saved in a variety of accounts. I agree that the bubble likely will burst in the next 13 years, but have no idea what result will be. Thats' why we're splitting up savings between 529 plans and traditional savings/investment vehicles - to avoid potential penalties if all the college savings aren't required for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We put 450$ a month for two year old for over a year now into a 529. My mom saved for my college since I was a baby and payed my entire Ivy college ed. I did mostly loans, and grandparents help for law school at an Ivy and ended up with $100k or so in loans. But, I worked at a big lawfirm and paid it off quickly. DH went to a state school, worked 40 hour weeks to graduate in 3 years with no loans. But, he had no time to study and did lousy. DD will hopefully have all the money she needs to focus on educating her mind and even some left for grad school. Hopefully we can "train" her to want all that education!

[Anonymous]

we put in about $6K a year for our 3-year-old daughter. Will put in more when she's in public school and we're shelling out $5K-ish for aftercare instead of $15K for full-day preschool.

Odds are decent that we'll have inheritance money or help from one or both sets of grandparents, if need be.

I went to school on scholarship and hopefully my daughter will get some aid, but ideally I'd like her not to have to make her decision based on money, like I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:nothing and will put nothing. college bubble will burst by the time they are in college.

So it will be free and you won't have to pay anything?

that's right. i got 2 ivy league degrees for free so she can do it, too. i am certainly not going to pay $200,000k in today's dollars for some worthless never-heard-of-it degree.

Me too pp.

Freeloading off others

it works in both directions. smart people bring intellectual status to great schools in which more affluent but mediocre people share, so yes, they get something in return.

Harvard, Yale and other Ivies are providing enormous financial aid to middle class and lower HHI students because they want to maintain their status as elite institutions. They're buying the best students they can find with financial aid. There's nothing "free loading" about it. They attract the best students and maintain their elite status. The students get a good education.