How much are you saving for college?

[Anonymous]

If you have young children, say under 8, how much are you saving per month for college?

We are currently saving $1K per month per child in 529 plans. Someone recently told me that was way too much. I was concerned it wouldn't be enough...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have young children, say under 8, how much are you saving per month for college?

We are currently saving $1K per month per child in 529 plans. Someone recently told me that was way too much. I was concerned it wouldn't be enough...

I think that is probably excessive by a couple of hundred. It's not like you can tap the money for other things.

[Anonymous]

If you have $2k a month to save for college alone, you probably don't have problems of "too much."

We save $300 a month, for one child, and I am happy with that, as a middle class person.

[Anonymous]

$300 total for 2 kids per month. They are 5 and 7. I know it's not even close to being enough, but it's what we can do. They have to fend for themselves for the rest. I'm OK with that.

[Anonymous]

$650 a month for a 7 month old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$300 total for 2 kids per month. They are 5 and 7. I know it's not even close to being enough, but it's what we can do. They have to fend for themselves for the rest. I'm OK with that.

+1 I agree. Will also be encouraging them to consider a strong, in-demand field and/or double major in something if they desperately want to major in English (wish I received that advice) so they're not working at Starbucks or Macy's $200K later and DH and I start wondering if they would've been better off attending community college or a trade school.

[Anonymous]

$350/month for a one-year-old.

[Anonymous]

Nothing yet for a four month old. We can barely make ends meet as it is.

[Anonymous]

I think $1k/mo for each child is excessive simply because of the nature of a 529. I'd slow that and add other investments in their names - mutual funds, bonds, or as someone posted on another thread here, a Roth. If they don't need $200k for school, it's not useful (at least as I understand the nature of 529s).
I went to a state school for undergrad and grad and as appreciative as I am for my folks for helping me out, I still worked most of the time and didn't pay tuition for grad school (I TAd). If they had saved up that much...yikes!
BUT I did use my mutual funds and stocks to buy my first condo. 4 years later, we turned it in to an investment property that we hope will pay for our kid's school (along with other investments).
Just a thought! Diversify! But way to go for saving. I know for us it's not easy.

[Anonymous]

for those not saving do you think that a grant or scholarship will work?

[Anonymous]

Zero. Once we're past daycare, we might start saving.

[Anonymous]

some people, especially those with their own massive student loans, dont have the money to put aside.
I consider myself insanely lucky to not have student loan debt - and to have a husband who has none either.

It's very rare in 2013 for that to be the case, however unfortunate I find that.

[Anonymous]

As much as we can in different investments. Unless something drastic happens and we can always hope and work for that, college will be ever more expensive and financial aid will continue to lessen-see UVA for the latest example-while loans continue to be expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:for those not saving do you think that a grant or scholarship will work?

You do realize for some people, yes even on DCUM where the median income of a family is dramatically skewed, that a grant or scholarship, along with some loans and working a job, or taking 5 years instead of 4 to work for $, etc. "will work" because there is not another option!

[Anonymous]

$300 per kid per month.

$1000/month seems high to me, even if you want to pay full freight to a one of the top privates. Have you run your numbers through a college costs calculator?