Stop 529 contributions?

[Anonymous]

Two children, 11 and 8. We have about 100K saved for the 11-YO and 65K for the 8-YO and I'm wondering if we can stop for he 11-YO. We want to be able to fund almost the whole amount for a public university. I had read that if you save more than it costs currently (more because costs will rise faster than inflation), then that is enough because one's savings should hopefully keep pace or nearly with rising costs; 100K is definitely more than current costs. Yet when I use the calculator at savingforcollege, it tells me I still need to save much more, so I'm confused. Any advice appreciated. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Well the calculator probably more accurately estimates the increase in college costs vs savings.

[Anonymous]

At the advice of our financial adviser, we saved until we had 50K for each kid and then started saving in an account that we could use for our retirement (we don't expect to need it) or for college (which we may need to use it for). Gives us a bit more flexibility.

[Anonymous]

What about living expenses? Could that be why the calculator says you need to save more? Are you planning on paying for those? BTW, you've done a great job saving.

[Anonymous]

Why public? It sounds like you can afford the more prestigious, smaller ivy or seven sisters, which are much better than publics. Those run ~$70K a year currently....

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks. To PP, I don't think we can afford private--huge difference between saving 100K twice sand saving 280K twice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why public? It sounds like you can afford the more prestigious, smaller ivy or seven sisters, which are much better than publics. Those run ~$70K a year currently....

College is a door opener not a career maker. Why spend 2-3 times more just to open a door? It's what you make of yourself after college that really counts not what your first job is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. To PP, I don't think we can afford private--huge difference between saving 100K twice sand saving 280K twice!

+!!!

[Anonymous]

I would have been lost at a public school and likely never would have made my PhD program. At my small liberal arts I was able to do research directly with my professor, setting me up for superior internships, which led me to my graduate education and my first job. I would not be where I am if I didn't have that opportunity...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have been lost at a public school and likely never would have made my PhD program. At my small liberal arts I was able to do research directly with my professor, setting me up for superior internships, which led me to my graduate education and my first job. I would not be where I am if I didn't have that opportunity...

Not all public schools are large. And not all private schools are small. The experience you had with your professor has nothing to do with private versus public.
And if you think it did, then that doesn't say much for the education you received.

[Anonymous]

Our financial planner definitely thinks you can put too much in 529 plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have been lost at a public school and likely never would have made my PhD program. At my small liberal arts I was able to do research directly with my professor, setting me up for superior internships, which led me to my graduate education and my first job. I would not be where I am if I didn't have that opportunity...

Not all public schools are large. And not all private schools are small. The experience you had with your professor has nothing to do with private versus public.
And if you think it did, then that doesn't say much for the education you received.

Not to mention research at a liberal arts school? Does that even exist? I didn't think liberal arts schools received a lot of r&d money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have been lost at a public school and likely never would have made my PhD program. At my small liberal arts I was able to do research directly with my professor, setting me up for superior internships, which led me to my graduate education and my first job. I would not be where I am if I didn't have that opportunity...

Not all public schools are large. And not all private schools are small. The experience you had with your professor has nothing to do with private versus public.
And if you think it did, then that doesn't say much for the education you received.

Not to mention research at a liberal arts school? Does that even exist? I didn't think liberal arts schools received a lot of r&d money?

?? They have professors....what do you think professors do? At LAC schools, they teach and do research. The difference is you don't have professors who only do research (leaving the teaching to grad students).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have been lost at a public school and likely never would have made my PhD program. At my small liberal arts I was able to do research directly with my professor, setting me up for superior internships, which led me to my graduate education and my first job. I would not be where I am if I didn't have that opportunity...

I would have never made it to my PhD program (and hence "where I am today") if I had gone to private school as a an undergrad. I would have had a ton of student loan debt and would have wanted to start paying it off right away. And I have met many, many people with a similar experience. It sounds like it worked out well in your case, but in the absence of a specific reason to go to a private school, a public school is a far superior value for most students.

P.S. I did private research with professors at my public undergrad too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have been lost at a public school and likely never would have made my PhD program. At my small liberal arts I was able to do research directly with my professor, setting me up for superior internships, which led me to my graduate education and my first job. I would not be where I am if I didn't have that opportunity...

Not all public schools are large. And not all private schools are small. The experience you had with your professor has nothing to do with private versus public.
And if you think it did, then that doesn't say much for the education you received.

Not to mention research at a liberal arts school? Does that even exist? I didn't think liberal arts schools received a lot of r&d money?

Professors in all fields do research. Liberal arts schools may not get a lot of money from, say the National Science Foundation (although many of them certainly do), but they get grants from the NEH, NEA, Pew, Mellon, and any other number of institutes, foundations, research centers, and professional organizations. Haven't you ever heard the saying "publish or perish"? Working your way up the tenure track is all about getting funding to do innovative research, and then full professors keep doing it because its what they are interested in professionally.