Middle class & 529

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again,

I went to a Harvard-type school and I can't imagine saving 150K for college. At 160K per year I had 10-20K in financial aid which would be much more today (after a congressional investigation). Anyway, I earned & applied for scholarships to help pay for college and all it did was replace the "need" award.

I know that 529 says it doesn't impact FAFSA (up to 5%) but the fine print is that each university gets to decide how to facto it in and the elite universities are tough to predict. I don't want to invest in the state tuition plan because no one in our family has attended state universities so it's likely my child will end up at a private school as well.

Our HHI is $180k and we have saved $250k for our two kids, ages 16 and 14, mostly in 529s. It can be done.

We max out retirement savings.

How did you do this? Seriously can you tell me your monthly budget breakdown? We have a similar HHI (about 20K less but we're younger) and have three young kids, all still in daycare. We save a lot for retirement -- not quite maxing out but close -- but haven't saved a penny for college yet. Our plan was to throw most of the daycare money into college savings when daycare expenses end, but many people on this board and elsewhere say that between aftercare, summer camps, and other expenses things just don't get much cheaper, which is a scary thought.

How did you manage to save so much? Please inspire me!

Probably bought a house for 60% less than it's current worth before the bubble.

[Anonymous]

How did you do this? Seriously can you tell me your monthly budget breakdown? We have a similar HHI (about 20K less but we're younger) and have three young kids, all still in daycare. We save a lot for retirement -- not quite maxing out but close -- but haven't saved a penny for college yet. Our plan was to throw most of the daycare money into college savings when daycare expenses end, but many people on this board and elsewhere say that between aftercare, summer camps, and other expenses things just don't get much cheaper, which is a scary thought.

How did you manage to save so much? Please inspire me!

Not the PP, but I put whatever I can into the 529...even if it is just $50 a month.

This year, b/c the market was so great, and the account already had money in it from birth-age 4, we actually earned $4k in investment income alone! And I was broke this year so I barely contributed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

How did you do this? Seriously can you tell me your monthly budget breakdown? We have a similar HHI (about 20K less but we're younger) and have three young kids, all still in daycare. We save a lot for retirement -- not quite maxing out but close -- but haven't saved a penny for college yet. Our plan was to throw most of the daycare money into college savings when daycare expenses end, but many people on this board and elsewhere say that between aftercare, summer camps, and other expenses things just don't get much cheaper, which is a scary thought.

How did you manage to save so much? Please inspire me!

Not the PP, but I put whatever I can into the 529...even if it is just $50 a month.

This year, b/c the market was so great, and the account already had money in it from birth-age 4, we actually earned $4k in investment income alone! And I was broke this year so I barely contributed.

PP here. This is what we have done as well. We started saving in 1997, when DS1 was born and have contributed every month. Any extras ($1K at the holidays from grandparents, $3K bonus at work) have gone into the funds. As soon as we got rid of childcare expenses, that amount went in as well.

It is true that we bought our house in 2000 and so paid less than what people pay now. But diligence pays off, regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again,

I went to a Harvard-type school and I can't imagine saving 150K for college. At 160K per year I had 10-20K in financial aid which would be much more today (after a congressional investigation). Anyway, I earned & applied for scholarships to help pay for college and all it did was replace the "need" award.

I know that 529 says it doesn't impact FAFSA (up to 5%) but the fine print is that each university gets to decide how to facto it in and the elite universities are tough to predict. I don't want to invest in the state tuition plan because no one in our family has attended state universities so it's likely my child will end up at a private school as well.

Our HHI is $180k and we have saved $250k for our two kids, ages 16 and 14, mostly in 529s. It can be done.

We max out retirement savings.

How did you do this? Seriously can you tell me your monthly budget breakdown? We have a similar HHI (about 20K less but we're younger) and have three young kids, all still in daycare. We save a lot for retirement -- not quite maxing out but close -- but haven't saved a penny for college yet. Our plan was to throw most of the daycare money into college savings when daycare expenses end, but many people on this board and elsewhere say that between aftercare, summer camps, and other expenses things just don't get much cheaper, which is a scary thought.

How did you manage to save so much? Please inspire me!

Not pp but my guess is once kids are out of daycare - which is costing you what, $3,000 or $4,000 a month?, things will be much easier.

We pay our nanny $3,000 a month (daycare would cost very nearly the same for us), and we hope to be nanny free in 5 years or so. That $3,000 - plus what I hope is another $2 or $3k in income by then will easily fund 529s.

[Anonymous]

OP - Don't save for college in your roth IRA - that's bad advice.

As a PP suggested, save for yourself in your Roth IRA first. After maxing out your retirement, setup 529 plans for your kids.

If your HHI is less than 190K, you can also do a coverdell IRA for each kid. You can contribute 2,000 per kid. That's not a ton, but you can use these funds for room/board, tuition, computers, supplies, etc. It is definitely worth doing and you can invest however you want, i.e., individual stocks, mutual funds, bonds, etc. The choices are entirely yours.

If you are in VA, you get a state tax deduction of $4,000 per account per kid for the VA 529 plans. So if you and your husband want to set aside 16,000 for your kids one year, each of you can set up 2 accounts for each kid (they have to be different investments (1 could be aggressive stock fund and 1 could be conservative stock fund) and you can take the full 16,000 deduction in one year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the unhelpful post PP.

I estimated my salary because it changes every year. Merit aid is not offered at the private colleges I am familiar with (Harvard included). I said outside merit scholarships and it's true that they took away my need based award because I received outside scholarships. I also had college savings from my parents, but when your college bills topple 60K per year, there is no amount of savings to prevent the six-figure bill.

I never said I wouldn't save for college, I just am suspicious that a 529 is another way of deciding to take away financial aid. Thank you to the other posters re:Roth IRA. I'll go that route.

It was not meant to be helpful, it was meant to heap scorn and derision on you, especially your snobby disdain for state schools and your inability to grasp that if you get outside scholarships it impacts your "need" and your need-based aid decreases.

And here's one way to prevent the "six-figure bill" - attend a school with a lower price tag. With the amount you had available from your parents' college savings, attending the pricy private school was a bad financial decision. You chose to do it anyway (because "no one in your family" ever attends state schools, which is just an outstanding reason) - it wasn't a fiat accompli. Stop with the "there was just no avoiding it" whining - it's nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Why not do both? Roth and 529 plan.
why not send your kids to community college first to save money.What;s the big deal where they take English, math and arts?I don't know anybody who didn't get into college they wanted to get into after graduating from community college.
Or do parents want their kids to be in same school all 4 years and willing to pay more for it?
I'm doing 529 and we should be able to pay for about 2 years of college for our 1st kid.But I'm hoping to help him with student loans-won't sign for them but will help to pay if necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the unhelpful post PP.

I estimated my salary because it changes every year. Merit aid is not offered at the private colleges I am familiar with (Harvard included). I said outside merit scholarships and it's true that they took away my need based award because I received outside scholarships. I also had college savings from my parents, but when your college bills topple 60K per year, there is no amount of savings to prevent the six-figure bill.

I never said I wouldn't save for college, I just am suspicious that a 529 is another way of deciding to take away financial aid. Thank you to the other posters re:Roth IRA. I'll go that route.

It was not meant to be helpful, it was meant to heap scorn and derision on you, especially your snobby disdain for state schools and your inability to grasp that if you get outside scholarships it impacts your "need" and your need-based aid decreases.

And here's one way to prevent the "six-figure bill" - attend a school with a lower price tag. With the amount you had available from your parents' college savings, attending the pricy private school was a bad financial decision. You chose to do it anyway (because "no one in your family" ever attends state schools, which is just an outstanding reason) - it wasn't a fiat accompli. Stop with the "there was just no avoiding it" whining - it's nonsense.

I completely agree with this. My five siblings and I all went to name-brand private colleges, and I am grateful to my parents for pulling that off, but it is not a reason to denigrate the excellent education that state schools provide or to dismiss them as an option.

I will send my kids to the colleges/universities we can afford. Full stop. If that means that they cannot attend an expensive school like the one I did, that is not a tragedy. The fact that college education with little or no debt is a given for them already puts them ahead of the game and for that they should be, and I am grateful.

[Anonymous]

Regarding the Roth IRA, if you're only saving for retirement in that vehicle, then yes I wouldn't use it for college. However, we max out our TSP at work so we use the Roth IRA as our college savings account. If our kid gets scholarships or goes to one of the academies, then it's just added money to our retirement account (which includes a pension). We only have one kid and don't want money stuck in a 529 plan. We just make 100k, so we don't have extra to throw at a 529 plan on top of Roth and TSP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - Don't save for college in your roth IRA - that's bad advice.

As a PP suggested, save for yourself in your Roth IRA first. After maxing out your retirement, setup 529 plans for your kids.

If your HHI is less than 190K, you can also do a coverdell IRA for each kid. You can contribute 2,000 per kid. That's not a ton, but you can use these funds for room/board, tuition, computers, supplies, etc. It is definitely worth doing and you can invest however you want, i.e., individual stocks, mutual funds, bonds, etc. The choices are entirely yours.

If you are in VA, you get a state tax deduction of $4,000 per account per kid for the VA 529 plans. So if you and your husband want to set aside 16,000 for your kids one year, each of you can set up 2 accounts for each kid (they have to be different investments (1 could be aggressive stock fund and 1 could be conservative stock fund) and you can take the full 16,000 deduction in one year.

Not saying this is wrong, but I know in MD no matter how many accounts you can only deduct for each kid not each account.

[Anonymous]

Do it starting young. Once it becomes part of your lifestyle it grows rapidly. By the time college arrives you'll have it paid for. Doing it for grandchildren is even better because scholarships and need do not factor in grandparent 529s. Don't waste your money on Barbie dolls and stuff that just gets thrown in the closet. Put that money into their 529s where it will grown and ultimately change their lives for the better.

[Anonymous]

OP, the reason you still have over 100K in college debt is the choices you made to get an insanely expensive college experience instead of one you could afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the unhelpful post PP.

I estimated my salary because it changes every year. Merit aid is not offered at the private colleges I am familiar with (Harvard included). I said outside merit scholarships and it's true that they took away my need based award because I received outside scholarships. I also had college savings from my parents, but when your college bills topple 60K per year, there is no amount of savings to prevent the six-figure bill.

I never said I wouldn't save for college, I just am suspicious that a 529 is another way of deciding to take away financial aid. Thank you to the other posters re:Roth IRA. I'll go that route.

It was not meant to be helpful, it was meant to heap scorn and derision on you, especially your snobby disdain for state schools and your inability to grasp that if you get outside scholarships it impacts your "need" and your need-based aid decreases.

And here's one way to prevent the "six-figure bill" - attend a school with a lower price tag. With the amount you had available from your parents' college savings, attending the pricy private school was a bad financial decision. You chose to do it anyway (because "no one in your family" ever attends state schools, which is just an outstanding reason) - it wasn't a fiat accompli. Stop with the "there was just no avoiding it" whining - it's nonsense.

I completely agree with this. My five siblings and I all went to name-brand private colleges, and I am grateful to my parents for pulling that off, but it is not a reason to denigrate the excellent education that state schools provide or to dismiss them as an option.

I will send my kids to the colleges/universities we can afford. Full stop. If that means that they cannot attend an expensive school like the one I did, that is not a tragedy. The fact that college education with little or no debt is a given for them already puts them ahead of the game and for that they should be, and I am grateful.

I swore I wasn't going to post negatively this year, but "fiat accompli" should be "fete accompli." Let's not expose ignorance on posts about the quality of education.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, the reason you still have over 100K in college debt is the choices you made to get an insanely expensive college experience instead of one you could afford.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the unhelpful post PP.

I estimated my salary because it changes every year. Merit aid is not offered at the private colleges I am familiar with (Harvard included). I said outside merit scholarships and it's true that they took away my need based award because I received outside scholarships. I also had college savings from my parents, but when your college bills topple 60K per year, there is no amount of savings to prevent the six-figure bill.

I never said I wouldn't save for college, I just am suspicious that a 529 is another way of deciding to take away financial aid. Thank you to the other posters re:Roth IRA. I'll go that route.

It was not meant to be helpful, it was meant to heap scorn and derision on you, especially your snobby disdain for state schools and your inability to grasp that if you get outside scholarships it impacts your "need" and your need-based aid decreases.

And here's one way to prevent the "six-figure bill" - attend a school with a lower price tag. With the amount you had available from your parents' college savings, attending the pricy private school was a bad financial decision. You chose to do it anyway (because "no one in your family" ever attends state schools, which is just an outstanding reason) - it wasn't a fiat accompli. Stop with the "there was just no avoiding it" whining - it's nonsense.

I completely agree with this. My five siblings and I all went to name-brand private colleges, and I am grateful to my parents for pulling that off, but it is not a reason to denigrate the excellent education that state schools provide or to dismiss them as an option.

I will send my kids to the colleges/universities we can afford. Full stop. If that means that they cannot attend an expensive school like the one I did, that is not a tragedy. The fact that college education with little or no debt is a given for them already puts them ahead of the game and for that they should be, and I am grateful.

I swore I wasn't going to post negatively this year, but "fiat accompli" should be "fete accompli." Let's not expose ignorance on posts about the quality of education.....

Fait accompli actually. I assume one or both of the previous versions was an autocorrect error.