How much did you save for college this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. To the folks who have HHI in the $400K and up range, why do you even need to worry about saving for college? It seems to me that at that income level, you could actually pay for even an expensive school out of your regular income (which I am assuming will be even more when the DCs reach college age). I am one of the previous posters who is at $175K and currently saving about $18K/year.

We didn't have a high HHI when we started saving for college. That said, our savings didn't make much of a dent in the $110000 we paid for 2 in college this year.

[Anonymous]

We have 175k in each child's 529 account. More than half came from family members. Every dime given as a gift to me or the kids went into them (bday, Xmas, etc). The rest we've out in. HHI is high and we max out retirement (over 40k each as we are self employed). 2kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hhi 135k. we maxed retirement in 1 tsp and 2 IRAS, also did 8k in 529 for one child. we also pay for private for 1 child. our budget is TIGHT, and next year we won't divert as much to college, but you can definitely do better on savings or swing private, OP.

Did you eat this year?! In all seriousness, how did you manage to save so much?[/quote

I stay at home so cook and make food from scratch. we also have a meat CSA that helped us keep prices down. we have one fed and then some rental properties, so the tax situation works in our favor. also, I take care of my elderly father so there was only a bit of travel this year, which isn't ideal and will change next year. the biggest help is that we bought a house we could afford on one income and only after we had saved a sizeable down payment, then refinanced to get that payment down again. we are in a weird place as DC has started private, but I'm still at home taking care of my father. we hope this will change in about a year so I can go back to work and breathe a bit easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. To the folks who have HHI in the $400K and up range, why do you even need to worry about saving for college? It seems to me that at that income level, you could actually pay for even an expensive school out of your regular income (which I am assuming will be even more when the DCs reach college age). I am one of the previous posters who is at $175K and currently saving about $18K/year.

We made $447K this year. Paid over $200K in taxes. No, we can't just pony up $63K for college and still max out our retirement out of net income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. To the folks who have HHI in the $400K and up range, why do you even need to worry about saving for college? It seems to me that at that income level, you could actually pay for even an expensive school out of your regular income (which I am assuming will be even more when the DCs reach college age). I am one of the previous posters who is at $175K and currently saving about $18K/year.

Why wouldn't you save now and take advantage of tax deferred growth.

Put in 2014 dollars, let them grow tax free and take them out in 15 years. I am sure that I can get investment growth that beats inflation. That is why you would do it. The higher your NW the fewer ways you have to avoid taxes so you would take every one of them.

[Anonymous]

This year we saved $0 for college for our 3 DCs (two of whom are approaching college age). All 3 are in private school and it is that tuition which is really starting to be a burden even though we have a high HHI (in excess of 400k).

We do have about 550K saved for all three from previous years. About 1/2 of that amount is from grandparents. I'm glad we worried about saving for college & retirement when the kids were little and our expenses were lower. For us, income will likely go down from here and expenses for our teens are definitely greater than they were 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

HHI $240k. We saved $9K for each of our kids (age 10 and 11) this year and max out 401ks. We're still playing catch-up on college savings -- I was a SAHM when they were little and only started seriously saving for college when I went back to work FT 4 years ago. When I was a SAHM, retirement savings was our priority and we are in a good position there.

[Anonymous]

HHI $115,000. This year $2 K each, grandparents also put in $2K but in their own accounts and I have no idea how much has accumulated or growth rate (which makes it frustrating yo plan). Maxed out one tsp, one- third funded part time parent in 403B, maxed out 2 ROTHs.

[Anonymous]

HHI $150k. Saved $3500 split between 2 kids (6yo & 3yo).

[Anonymous]

HHI about 360-400 My younger son has two more semesters to go at college, private college with total cost around 60K. I saved enough in my 529 accounts for each child to go to a state school. Beyond that there are loans and merit scholarships. Younger son gets 15K year in merit scholarship, good for 5 years. He is staying an extra semester to get his Master. With 2 engineering degrees his starting salary will be 70-90K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. Kids will pay for their own college.

Why did you have kids? Do you understand the financial burden they wii face?

[Anonymous]

We have 100K for each child (ages 6 and 8) and do not plan on contributing for a while if at all. HHI was over $300K when we were actively contributing but now at $150k. We max out the 401k contributions each year though.

[Anonymous]

Zero this year. Instead I bought an investment condo for about $150k. A foreclosure. Already have $70k in equity. I dont think 529s are that great.

[Anonymous]

Saved 6k for DC this year (3 years old), HHI around 300k. Plan to continue contributing 6-8k per year to 529.