How much do you save for 529?

[Anonymous]

I'm the luckiest mom on the planet. When my 3 little ones were born my parents set up 529's for them. They put in a lot for each. As I said, I'm the luckiest mom on the planet.

[Anonymous]

Nothing right now. Might be able to afford paying cash every semester. Hoping the schools will pay him to attend their school.

[Anonymous]

$2400 per year per kid, they should each have about $65,000 in their 529s when they go to college

Provided nothing drastically changes, we should be able to also give our children about $15,000 per year on top of the 529 from other savings and income. So, they should have about $30,000 a year to work with.

My parents did not support me at all in college, I paid for everything with working and student loans. My husband’s parent’s lived like paupers in order to give their children nearly full-rides to school. We are looking for a middle ground. I think it is important for the student to have some financial responsibiliy for themselves as a young adult. I think I matured more quickly than my peers whose parents paid everything, but I was really stressed about money a lot of the time too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents did not support me at all in college, I paid for everything with working and student loans. My husband’s parent’s lived like paupers in order to give their children nearly full-rides to school. We are looking for a middle ground. I think it is important for the student to have some financial responsibiliy for themselves as a young adult. I think I matured more quickly than my peers whose parents paid everything, but I was really stressed about money a lot of the time too.

This is how my husband and I feel, which is not common on these forums. Having to partially pay for college ourselves helped us become financially responsible adults. My parents paid their part through loans, not sure about my husbands. Our goal is to save 100k per child. Maybe we will adjust that over time but as parents of a newborn that is the plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$2400 per year per kid, they should each have about $65,000 in their 529s when they go to college

Provided nothing drastically changes, we should be able to also give our children about $15,000 per year on top of the 529 from other savings and income. So, they should have about $30,000 a year to work with.

My parents did not support me at all in college, I paid for everything with working and student loans. My husband’s parent’s lived like paupers in order to give their children nearly full-rides to school. We are looking for a middle ground. I think it is important for the student to have some financial responsibiliy for themselves as a young adult. I think I matured more quickly than my peers whose parents paid everything, but I was really stressed about money a lot of the time too.

This was our approach too. We saved barely enough to cover state college cost in VA. Kid one got two options with full scholarships (one private out of state, one public in state), also got into three Ivy with a choice to pay half of the cost from 529 and to take loans to cover the rest. Kid chose school with scholarship and saving money from 529 for grad school.