We did 15 a year for 18 years and it ended up being more than enough with market gains and the merit scholarship he earned.

we currently have one in college and one in high school. He’s at VT, we saved a lot, but had no idea we would be making as much much as we do now so we just cash flow it. The one in high school has probably 259k at his disposal, but we might cash flow as well and all leftovers will go towards grad school or whatever the max roth conversion through that account allowed.

college hasn’t really been as financially scary as we were led to believe when we were in our 20s and pregnant. My oldest could
have gone for nearly free, as he was offered a ton of merit at all of the schools
he applied to….except where he landed!

Total cost for four years should be ca $50k as he is attending in-state. He already had credits from high school.
We have $25k in 529, but I have paid cash up to now. DC is working while in school making enough to pay for his school going forward.
If his grades go down, he should stop working and concentrate on school only.

We started off just contributing what we could hoping we’d pay about 1/3 using 529. The first kid was true to that with the other 1/3s being cash and then HELOC. By the time the second kid was in college, their college was fully funded by 529.

We have 550k in 529s for a third and fifth grader. Not adding anything else. May also use 10k a year for private high school. Assume it will be in 800-1m range when they are ready for college.

I didn’t have any money saved. My son is in his junior year of college. I pay mostly with current earnings and student loans.

We put as much as we could each month/year. And, our kids are done now. One went to an OOS flagship with merit and had money left over that paid for grad school. The other went to an expensive private, and we had to use cash flow to cover some of it, and there was nothing leftover for grad school - they are on their own there

Op
For 7-8 years from now, how much should I have ready per kid? I have 2 kids who are academically decent and would be going to college back to back.

Post 4 years of college, if the kid wants to pursue let's say engineering, are parents expected to pay for it or is the norm to get a student loan?

Anonymous wrote:I have one in college and one just graduated. We aimed for $120k each, about $30k/yr, which worked out about right. One at VT and one at a private with merit

Nice!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I plan on having 200k per kid in 529s.
If that’s not enough, I can use other investments or cash flow

Sadly, that won’t be enough for even in-state when the time comes. UVA in/state is $40k. Privates like USC are at 99k a year and will cross over $100k soon. How many years to go?

Only a few years left for my kids so it will def be enough for instate

I should also add we are fortunate to have enough outside 529s to pay for private university if necessary. But I won’t be surprised if at least one of our kids goes instate like my spouse and I did

I have one in college and one just graduated. We aimed for $120k each, about $30k/yr, which worked out about right. One at VT and one at a private with merit

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I plan on having 200k per kid in 529s.
If that’s not enough, I can use other investments or cash flow

Sadly, that won’t be enough for even in-state when the time comes. UVA in/state is $40k. Privates like USC are at 99k a year and will cross over $100k soon. How many years to go?

Only a few years left for my kids so it will def be enough for instate

Anonymous wrote:I plan on having 200k per kid in 529s.
If that’s not enough, I can use other investments or cash flow

Sadly, that won’t be enough for even in-state when the time comes. UVA in/state is $40k. Privates like USC are at 99k a year and will cross over $100k soon. How many years to go?

I plan on having 200k per kid in 529s.
If that’s not enough, I can use other investments or cash flow

How much money do you plan on having ready for college per child? How have you been investing other than 529s for college education?