How much have you saved for college?
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Anonymous
I’m planning on paying for all of college outright, despite having almost $375,000 in my kids’ college accounts. Two reasons why: - I plan on using some 529 money to fund a Roth IRA starting next year -I plan on using the 529 funds to educate future generations |
Anonymous
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Kids are 21 and 18 now. HHI varied .. around 70K when the kids were little, rose to $100K when kids were in middle school, now $150K as breadwinner spouse is on disability and SAH spouse is working full time.
We had 40K saved for the first child and have about $10K left for senior year. We have $45K saved for second child. |
Anonymous
| We bought into the Virginia pre-paid plan when DS was 1. It will be paid off when he starts college in a few years. The plan fully pays tuition as long as he goes to a Virginia school. We will have paid into it about $77K. |
Anonymous
| HHI 130k, 0 college savings. |
Anonymous
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HHI is around 800K
Rising 2nd grader: 70K Rising K: 50K We will pay whatever isn't funded out of pocket. |
Anonymous
| 2 kids with $80k each. HHI $275k, but we stopped saving for each kid when they were 5 and we had $50k in each account. HHI was between $165k-$200k at the time. Kids are 2 years apart and we expect to be able to cash flow if needed. |
Anonymous
| We have about $250k in 529 plans - one kid, rising junior in HS. We stopped saving in a 529 when it was at around $220k, and put college savings in other vehicles. However, it's likely that our kids will attend a private school and we'll have to cash flow some. |
Anonymous
| HHI $500k. 1 kid (junior). $250k saved |
Anonymous
| We have just $250k HHI but due to inheritance and smart (lucky) investments. We have about $65k each for newly 14 and almost 11 year olds, but in brokerage $500k and in high yield savings another $350k. Between those accounts, we have college more than covered. But we haven't wanted to lock those funds in an education account because were hoping to buy a new house. With that getting less likely, we will probably transfer some of the savings account funds into 529s. |
Anonymous
| $25k. Child is 10. HHI $220k. Plan to cash flow. |
Anonymous
| All these massive 529s is powering tuition inflation. We’ll never see costs flatten/come down at this rate. |
Anonymous
| 40,000 for 5 year old. HHI was $160k but now divorcing and I’m returning to work. Put in divorce agreement we each contribute $5k/year to 529. |
Anonymous
Massive 529s are common here, on the Money and Finances section of dcurbanmoms. But they are not common in real life, where the vast majority of parents have 0 saved for college education of their kids and rarely have much saved for retirement. |
Anonymous
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According to this 2020 survey, only about half of American parents have anything saved for their kids' college educations (which is WAY more than I thought - I actually question the accuracy of that statement.) Of those who have money saved by the time the kid is in high school, the average saved is $26,000.
https://www.salliemae.com/content/dam/slm/writtencontent/Research/HowAmericaPlansHAR.pdf I don't actually believe that statistic is in any way plausible. So I looked at the survey to find out what they mean by "college savings". They asked the parents how much they have put away for their child's education. On average, parents with a HHI of $35,000 or less reported they had $3,960 in a savings account intended for college; $1490 in a 529; $1705 in a checking account; $1000 in a piggy bank, $337 in a prepaid college plan... etc. They are adding all that up to say HHI under $35,000 has $14,000 saved for college. That is not very likely. What those parents have actually saved is what is in the 529 and the prepaid accounts. A parent of a junior in high school earning $35,000 isn't setting aside the #3960 on the savings account for college - that may be their aspiration, but it is not likely that money is actually going to be available 2 years later for college tuition. Most people have bupkiss saved for college. Then, there's DCUM saving $250,000/per kid that kind of skews the data. |
Anonymous
| HHI is $350k. We have about $800k saved for 2 kids. We will need more than that. One must go to law school and the other to medical school. |