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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I don't agree that this is a bubble. I'm a Gen X parent. When I went to college, most colleges had more capacity than they needed because they had built capacity to handle the Baby Boom. They then encountered the very small cohort of Gen X and had to scramble for students. There was a lot of competition for a small number of kids. The Millennials are an echo boom. They are the kids of Baby Boom parents and there are a lot of them. There are actually more Millennials than Baby Boomers. They are more of them competing for the same spots.
That is going to keep the price high.

We're also dealing with a switch to an information age. There will be fewer and fewer jobs that can be done with less than a college education. I plan on my kids getting both a college degree and a graduate degree to be competitive in the job market.

I expect the rapid inflation of prices will slow down, because campuses will eventually have added all the programs and infrastructures they need, but I don't expect prices to collapse.

[Anonymous]

I am absolutely in shock at how much you are all able to put into college plans. Even those of you that don't want to send your kids to a private school shell out much more money than I have left over at the end of each month.

I don't really have a point, I guess, except that now I am having an anxiety attack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am absolutely in shock at how much you are all able to put into college plans. Even those of you that don't want to send your kids to a private school shell out much more money than I have left over at the end of each month.

I don't really have a point, I guess, except that now I am having an anxiety attack.

Deep breaths. We don't put in a ton, but we do $300/month for our two kids. It's better than nothing. Not to T/J but about 2 years ago we found the Dave Ramsey system and started using it pretty religiously - it's totally changed our lives! Cash only, envelope system, savings for retirement and for college. Take a look and see if you think it can help you! FWIW, I'm an atheist Liberal and he's a conservative Republican and I still agree with like 99% of his financial advice. It's totally worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

Saving for college.... hahaha. Maybe after both kids are school-aged we can think about it, but probably not unless one of us gets a much higher salary.

[Anonymous]

I agree current tuition levels are a bubble. Millenials may keep prices high for the near future, but children 5 and under (kids of genx parents only) willl have great opportunities in admissions selections and tuition prices.

[Anonymous]

NOTHING!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree current tuition levels are a bubble. Millenials may keep prices high for the near future, but children 5 and under (kids of genx parents only) willl have great opportunities in admissions selections and tuition prices.

I agree with this to an extent. I certainly don't believe all those calculators that keep the increases in tuition at a steady rate. At that level of inflation, no one will be able to go to college except the ulta-rich. I don't know that prices will necessarily go down much, but I do think that us gen x parents with younger kids will benefit from the population decrease for that generation (have they even named our kids' generation yet?). To answer the OP, we save $10K a year for 2 kids, mostly because we can afford to right now and that is the cap of the tax deduction you can take for the MD 529. If our financial situation were to change, that would be the first expense that we would cut back on (even before travel, etc.), and even if our finances stay the same, I could see cutting back on that amount as the kids get older.

[Anonymous]

0. I put absoultely ZERO into a college fund for my son. I do have a savings account open for him, but he is the beneficiary (which mean's when he turns 18 he wont just be able to go and take out money). My parents didn't pay for my college and I wont pay for my son's. I will assist him with fees and whatnot, but I expect him to apply for scholarships, grants, loans and to have a job. Learning responsibility is important. My son WONT be one of those entitiled a-hole's that are graduating now and expecting to make 100K a year because they got an education (for free).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1, its not fair that others have saved since birth and then people come in that don't care and expect to be given free scholarships down the road in 18 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:0. I put absoultely ZERO into a college fund for my son. I do have a savings account open for him, but he is the beneficiary (which mean's when he turns 18 he wont just be able to go and take out money). My parents didn't pay for my college and I wont pay for my son's. I will assist him with fees and whatnot, but I expect him to apply for scholarships, grants, loans and to have a job. Learning responsibility is important. My son WONT be one of those entitiled a-hole's that are graduating now and expecting to make 100K a year because they got an education (for free).

He'll be entitled expecting the school to give him a discount of free tuition, or expect the government to give him money, or expect immediately raises without working hard etc... works both ways

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:0. I put absoultely ZERO into a college fund for my son. I do have a savings account open for him, but he is the beneficiary (which mean's when he turns 18 he wont just be able to go and take out money). My parents didn't pay for my college and I wont pay for my son's. I will assist him with fees and whatnot, but I expect him to apply for scholarships, grants, loans and to have a job. Learning responsibility is important. My son WONT be one of those entitiled a-hole's that are graduating now and expecting to make 100K a year because they got an education (for free).

Are you under the impresison that anyone whose parents paid for college is an "entitiled a-hole's that are graduating now and expecting to make 100K a year?"

[Anonymous]

zero here as well. Also went to college and grad school for free as did my husband. My parents had nothing saved and so we got scholarships, grants and a few loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:zero here as well. Also went to college and grad school for free as did my husband. My parents had nothing saved and so we got scholarships, grants and a few loans.

assholes i hate you, this is the typical welfare mentality

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:zero here as well. Also went to college and grad school for free as did my husband. My parents had nothing saved and so we got scholarships, grants and a few loans.

assholes i hate you, this is the typical welfare mentality

basically we have to pay more for you freeloaders thanks for causing tuition costs to skyrocket

[Anonymous]

It's not really an all-or-nothing situation, is it? I mean, there are choices in between saving for an Ivy League degree and saving nothing. We're doing what our parents did: saving some. Definitely won't be enough for an entire degree, but enough so that a part-time job, or loans, or work-study, or scholarships, or whatever will do the rest.