How much do we need to save for college?

[Anonymous]

Only child entering high school. Realistically how much do we need to have saved for college? We currently have enough for four years of tuition at any in-state (VA) public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only child entering high school. Realistically how much do we need to have saved for college? We currently have enough for four years of tuition at any in-state (VA) public school.

That sounds enough to me.

[Anonymous]

are you willing to impose the rule "you have to stay in state or come up with the money?""?

R&B - can you afford that out of pocket?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:are you willing to impose the rule "you have to stay in state or come up with the money?""?

R&B - can you afford that out of pocket?

OP here. We want to have enough saved to fund tuition, room & board, books and car insurance. Kid will have to work and pay for incidentals and spending money. We are looking at retiring before kid finishes college, so we are trying to prepare. We have a good chunk of money saved now, but want to be prepared. We can give DS enough for public in-state school OR the majority of out of state/private school. But if he wants school that is significantly more, he will have to help fund it. At some point in the next couple of years we want to stop saving for college and save more toward retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only child entering high school. Realistically how much do we need to have saved for college? We currently have enough for four years of tuition at any in-state (VA) public school.

Seems reasonable. What is this number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:are you willing to impose the rule "you have to stay in state or come up with the money?""?

R&B - can you afford that out of pocket?

OP here. We want to have enough saved to fund tuition, room & board, books and car insurance. Kid will have to work and pay for incidentals and spending money. We are looking at retiring before kid finishes college, so we are trying to prepare. We have a good chunk of money saved now, but want to be prepared. We can give DS enough for public in-state school OR the majority of out of state/private school. But if he wants school that is significantly more, he will have to help fund it. At some point in the next couple of years we want to stop saving for college and save more toward retirement.

always retirement first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:are you willing to impose the rule "you have to stay in state or come up with the money?""?

R&B - can you afford that out of pocket?

OP here. We want to have enough saved to fund tuition, room & board, books and car insurance. Kid will have to work and pay for incidentals and spending money. We are looking at retiring before kid finishes college, so we are trying to prepare. We have a good chunk of money saved now, but want to be prepared. We can give DS enough for public in-state school OR the majority of out of state/private school. But if he wants school that is significantly more, he will have to help fund it. At some point in the next couple of years we want to stop saving for college and save more toward retirement.

Sounds good. I have never understood those who tell their child they can only consider in state schools. We told ours we had $X amount saved and went from there. DS is going OOS and it really is reasonable compared to in state once reductions are figured in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only child entering high school. Realistically how much do we need to have saved for college? We currently have enough for four years of tuition at any in-state (VA) public school.

Seems reasonable. What is this number?

We prepaid 4 years of tuition through VAs prepaid college program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:are you willing to impose the rule "you have to stay in state or come up with the money?""?

R&B - can you afford that out of pocket?

OP here. We want to have enough saved to fund tuition, room & board, books and car insurance. Kid will have to work and pay for incidentals and spending money. We are looking at retiring before kid finishes college, so we are trying to prepare. We have a good chunk of money saved now, but want to be prepared. We can give DS enough for public in-state school OR the majority of out of state/private school. But if he wants school that is significantly more, he will have to help fund it. At some point in the next couple of years we want to stop saving for college and save more toward retirement.

always retirement first.

We have been saving for retirement for years. We just want to stop saving for college at some point and put that money into retirement. I'm basically looking for a number at which we have "enough" saved for college.

[Anonymous]

I would plan for at least $10K for room, board and books and extra's but look at the school website and see what they project. We did the prepaid but we are also saving in a 529 as there is much more than tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:are you willing to impose the rule "you have to stay in state or come up with the money?""?

R&B - can you afford that out of pocket?

OP here. We want to have enough saved to fund tuition, room & board, books and car insurance. Kid will have to work and pay for incidentals and spending money. We are looking at retiring before kid finishes college, so we are trying to prepare. We have a good chunk of money saved now, but want to be prepared. We can give DS enough for public in-state school OR the majority of out of state/private school. But if he wants school that is significantly more, he will have to help fund it. At some point in the next couple of years we want to stop saving for college and save more toward retirement.

well then the only question for you to answer is whether you have considered inflation.

I don't need an answer.

[Anonymous]

You can adjust your savings a little over the next 4-6 years, but that's not going to make a huge difference, and it will come out of your retirement savings.

We are looking at retiring before kid finishes college, so we are trying to prepare.

But a small change in your retirement date would make huge difference. If you have flexibility about retirement, I wouldn't stress too much about savings but just accept that you might have to work a little longer than you hoped. E.g., if your take-home pay is $10,000/month and you want to pay another $40,000 in total tuition, you'd work 4 months longer. (Numbers are just examples, of course; scale as needed.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only child entering high school. Realistically how much do we need to have saved for college? We currently have enough for four years of tuition at any in-state (VA) public school.

You will need about $15k more each year to cover room/board/fees/books.....

[Anonymous]

OP - are you aware that in-state schools' costs are jumping? Our DS is locked in at $23K a year at UVA (rising third year) but is now, two years later $34,432. Similarly, W&Mary has jumped to $38K a year. I can't predict the future but the demand for in-state schools seems to be driving up costs so you should plan accordingly. Also, you need to familiarize yourself with the stats required for your in-state schools. it's become very difficult to get into some states' flagships.

[Anonymous]

Also ^^ more than half of our nation's kids are taking 5 years to graduate. Our DD too 5 1/2, so you need to allocate for that.