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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]by realizing that we had 18 years to save and starting early [/quote]
+1. You know college is in your parental dreams as soon as your kid is born (if not earlier). Start saving early. Two benefits from starting early: (1) You have more dollars you can put into the 529, and (2) you benefit from stock market growth over the period (your money works for you). Another poster noted that the money they paid for daycare became the college savings after their kid started school. That's smart.

This isn't hard. It just takes thinking ahead, and sticking to your goal.[/quote]

Eighteen years seems like a long time but sadly it's really not. It's a lot less time to take advantage of compounding than retirement. So starting early is important. Take advantage of the year before the kid is born when you know they're coming to put money in the 529 and let it compound. You can open it in your name and change it to the kid later.

Also, we are an UMC family who ourselves attended [b]prestigious colleges including Ivy (largely on merit scholarships). [/b]We cannot reasonably afford to pay for those types of degrees for our children. We have two young children and the projected cost of UMD in 15 years is $200K. So for two kids that $400K. Our goal is to save that and give them an in-state education debt-free. To pay $1 million for two Ivy degrees is not happening unless we have $10 million net worth at the time, which is also not happening. I will not spend more than 10% of our net worth at the time on college.[/quote]

Ivy League and comparable schools do not award merit scholarships.[/quote]

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