If your HHI is between 200-300k, how much will you have saved for college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:200k HHI. 1 child about to turn 8. Currently 250k in 529. We started around 6 months old, automatic monthly contributions and past few years have increased to $2200 month. All of this from passive income from investment properties. We also throw in extra money when we have it.

Goal 550k to cover college. Any extra money left over for further education if interested - grad/med/law. Left over after that to grandkids.

We bought a place in gentrifying neighborhood in DC so mortgage is low, drive used car, and don’t spend money on stuff. We max retirement and then spend money on travel and entertainment because experiences is more important to us.

The passive income really helps us with college savings. If we did not have that, then we would budget more and cut back on travel and entertainment.

Good for you and your child but the fact that school might cost this much is just insane and shows how broken things are

At what point does the system finally implode? We got to be near the breaking point where the costs are truly not justified or doable.

I thought 50k a year for privates would have done it, but we're pushing 100k for them and OOS publics are well past it too. I'm sure there will be a breaking point, but we're not there yet.

[Anonymous]

We just hit 200k this year and our kids are 3y and 1y. We have been saving $250/month per kid but we will up that now. I'm not stessing about covering college in full to be honest. DH and I had no help so Im proud that we can help at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our children are young so we still have time to save more. We set it and forget it with college savings. At last look we had $60k in the 529 and $40k in iBonds and another $22k in a Roth IRA all earmarked for college tuition. So that’s $122k and our oldest will start college in 2032. We are on track to provide in-state tuition at a public university for our 4 children (2 bio, 2 adopted). We understand room and board will be subsidized by a campus job, ideally residence life as an RA and a small amount of student loans if needed. We feel comfortable about providing our children more than what we had from our families when we started college even though it will be less than enough to cover full tuition, fees, room, board and incidentals. Hopefully at least one has a scholarship in their future.

Why does it matter if 2 kids were adopted? How does that affect college savings?

Not the adopting poster but my guess is because some annoying poster could say "you put 4 kids on earth, you are an idiot you should provide more for 2 bla bla bla..."

[Anonymous]

We make a bit more than that and stupidly bought into the va prepaid. We have that for both kids and about 50k total in invest. Junior and 7th grader. I believe one will go in state, but one is brilliant and will probably go to a private or out of state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:200k HHI. 1 child about to turn 8. Currently 250k in 529. We started around 6 months old, automatic monthly contributions and past few years have increased to $2200 month. All of this from passive income from investment properties. We also throw in extra money when we have it.

Goal 550k to cover college. Any extra money left over for further education if interested - grad/med/law. Left over after that to grandkids.

We bought a place in gentrifying neighborhood in DC so mortgage is low, drive used car, and don’t spend money on stuff. We max retirement and then spend money on travel and entertainment because experiences is more important to us.

The passive income really helps us with college savings. If we did not have that, then we would budget more and cut back on travel and entertainment.

Good for you and your child but the fact that school might cost this much is just insane and shows how broken things are

At what point does the system finally implode? We got to be near the breaking point where the costs are truly not justified or doable.

OP here. Costs are absurd. And so many people are in this gray area of not qualifying for financial assistance but not being able to afford various schools. I do think that state schools will continue to get more attractive for families. And therefore, more competitive. It makes no sense to take out $$$ loans for a name brand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just hit 200k this year and our kids are 3y and 1y. We have been saving $250/month per kid but we will up that now. I'm not stessing about covering college in full to be honest. DH and I had no help so Im proud that we can help at all.

My husband says the same but I disagree because costs are much greater now and because we have no idea what the job market will look like in the future. Not everyone graduates making bank to pay back loans.

[Anonymous]

We are saving for college with a Roth. It doesn’t seem logical to save in a 529 because who knows if college will even be desirable in 20 years or if kids will even want to go. And there is absolutely no way we are paying for private college. DCs can go to public undergrad and then get their jobs to fund private graduate degree. A lot of this overcoddling is ruining children.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I both went to private colleges (mine paid for by my parents, hers mostly with loans and grants); I don't see why we shouldn't give our kids at least the option to do the same if they can get in. Our retirement is well on track, so the only thing we're "sacrificing" by putting money into 529s is some additional discretionary spending. Big deal.

We've got about $300k saved now for a 10 year old and a 7 year old combined and are still putting at least $15k a year into 529s. (We put some money in from an inheritance a while ago to jump-start it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I both went to private colleges (mine paid for by my parents, hers mostly with loans and grants); I don't see why we shouldn't give our kids at least the option to do the same if they can get in. Our retirement is well on track, so the only thing we're "sacrificing" by putting money into 529s is some additional discretionary spending. Big deal.

We've got about $300k saved now for a 10 year old and a 7 year old combined and are still putting at least $15k a year into 529s. (We put some money in from an inheritance a while ago to jump-start it.)

Must be nice. Some of us didn’t have as pampered of an upbringing and don’t think we need to stress ourselves out to send our kids to some private college that isn’t even worth the extra money. The people I know who make real money have high level security clearances due to military service anyway. The private school kids I know are slackers by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I both went to private colleges (mine paid for by my parents, hers mostly with loans and grants); I don't see why we shouldn't give our kids at least the option to do the same if they can get in. Our retirement is well on track, so the only thing we're "sacrificing" by putting money into 529s is some additional discretionary spending. Big deal.

We've got about $300k saved now for a 10 year old and a 7 year old combined and are still putting at least $15k a year into 529s. (We put some money in from an inheritance a while ago to jump-start it.)

Must be nice. Some of us didn’t have as pampered of an upbringing and don’t think we need to stress ourselves out to send our kids to some private college that isn’t even worth the extra money. The people I know who make real money have high level security clearances due to military service anyway. The private school kids I know are slackers by comparison.

What do you mean? All you need to do is get parents that will pay for your private college and then provide you with an inheritance. I don't see why you just wouldn't follow PP's plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I both went to private colleges (mine paid for by my parents, hers mostly with loans and grants); I don't see why we shouldn't give our kids at least the option to do the same if they can get in. Our retirement is well on track, so the only thing we're "sacrificing" by putting money into 529s is some additional discretionary spending. Big deal.

We've got about $300k saved now for a 10 year old and a 7 year old combined and are still putting at least $15k a year into 529s. (We put some money in from an inheritance a while ago to jump-start it.)

Must be nice. Some of us didn’t have as pampered of an upbringing and don’t think we need to stress ourselves out to send our kids to some private college that isn’t even worth the extra money. The people I know who make real money have high level security clearances due to military service anyway. The private school kids I know are slackers by comparison.

I didn't say I was stressing myself out about it. We're fortunate enough to have the money to spare, and I'm happier saving it -- possibly unnecessarily -- than spending it. Not sure how that comes off as stressing?

(Also, I would not describe my wife's upbringing as pampered, nor the fact that her college tuition was mostly paid for by borrowing and getting merit aid.)

[Anonymous]

In all seriousness, Are you guys in a regular 529. Mine accrues very little interest; it’s laughable how little really. What am I doing wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all seriousness, Are you guys in a regular 529. Mine accrues very little interest; it’s laughable how little really. What am I doing wrong?

We did the prepaid then the MD 529.

[Anonymous]

We locked in 3 years of tuition for our 2 kids w/ VA 529. We can cover room and board out of regular savings acct. and we expect kids to get loans, scholarships, work study, etc. to help cover the 4th year. It’s good for the students to have some “skin in the game” so they understand that money doesn’t grow on trees.

[Anonymous]

We are in MD. We were quite stressed because we have twins and we knew that the college costs would happen at the same time. When we were not making too much (around 75K HHI), FIL gave us 100K as gift and we promptly bought 5 years tuition for two kids each. In recent years, since our HHI rose to 350K, we put aside around $400K for their college. Thankfully, both kids did well in their studies and are going to state flagship on merit scholarship. That has offset the costs of room and board and we are only paying for meals.