The cost of college is embarassing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

Well, since you were a jerk to this poster, I’ll be a jerk back. You are dumb to pay that much. All so you can brag to your friends where dc went to college? Silly

It can matter where you go to school. You can not take advantage of the better schools and blow that and many do but yes it does matter no matter what you do. Having sadi that -- there is nothing wrong with what PP did. Sounds perfect for them. Not sure why anyone would be critical. If you have it invested properly -- it could be a nice sum by the time grandkids are there. A lot more than you think. But you need it fully invested in equities. One would expect a very good return over inflation.

So the Roth has to be for the kid and not a parent? So no putting in my Roth?

use it yourself, enroll in an italian cooking class in italy and use it for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

I'm the PP you were responding too. There is another here that also said 200k, there are two of us. If you read what I wrote, you would see I said grandkids. The 200k that is in there was for my current only child that went to school for free, will go to grad school on the 9/11 GI Bill so obviously we didn't need to use it. So back to grandkids, 200k with a minimum of another 25 years of growth and contributions will be just fine. I do appreciate your concern and counsel though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

Well, since you were a jerk to this poster, I’ll be a jerk back. You are dumb to pay that much. All so you can brag to your friends where dc went to college? Silly

Anonymous wrote:Just a note on the Roth. The kid will be allowed to remove some of the Roth money to pay for a new HOUSE! Only works on the first house purchase. But if you're imagining the Roth needs to be saved until retirement age, then this is a happy correction.

Nice!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

It is enough for their child’s undergrad bc they didn’t apply to such an expensive school. Many of us think the value isn’t there.

Op that was us. I went to what is now a 90k a year top SLAC. It was a fraction of that when I went there and I thought it was too much given the education. We guided our dc to more inexpensive options and so far, so good.

Just a note on the Roth. The kid will be allowed to remove some of the Roth money to pay for a new HOUSE! Only works on the first house purchase. But if you're imagining the Roth needs to be saved until retirement age, then this is a happy correction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

It is enough for their child’s undergrad bc they didn’t apply to such an expensive school. Many of us think the value isn’t there.

Every one is different and that’s fine but if I literally had the money in a 529 and didn’t need it and my kid wanted to go to an expensive school that seemed right for them I would figure that’s what the money is for and not try to decide what the best “value” is.

I honestly think the best value is going to community college for two years but I am not going to sit on $200k and tell my kid to do that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

It is enough for their child’s undergrad bc they didn’t apply to such an expensive school. Many of us think the value isn’t there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: How much did you save in the 529? Depending on where my kid goes to school and if any scholarships pop up, I could be in the same boat.

NP - We have 200K. We'll sit on it for grandkids (God willing). By then college will most likely be 200k a year anyway so they'll need all the help they can get.

200k not enough for 4 years of college. Tuition and room/board almost 90k right now at DC’s SLAC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they receive a scholarship you can remove that much money penalty free.

Interesting. Any type of scholarship?

We looked into this for my kid. If I remember right, they have to pay income taxes on the earnings. We decided to just leave it in there and let them save it for grandchildren. If it looks like that won't be happening, we'll move it to a Roth.

can you pull it out bit by bit? having a kid pay income tax on 20k a year during college years will likely be nothing and it would set them up to pay any rent shortfall for first 5 years out of college (which, as a parent, I'm hoping to avoid). take advantage of the 35k roth conversion. leave 50k in the 529. grandkids won't be of college age for another 25-35 years. you really dont need 200k in there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they receive a scholarship you can remove that much money penalty free.

Interesting. Any type of scholarship?

We looked into this for my kid. If I remember right, they have to pay income taxes on the earnings. We decided to just leave it in there and let them save it for grandchildren. If it looks like that won't be happening, we'll move it to a Roth.

What if there aren't any grandchildren? I would talk with your financial advisor - my guess is there is a better way to manage your money than living it in a 529 for years with no guarantees it will get used.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they receive a scholarship you can remove that much money penalty free.

Interesting. Any type of scholarship?

We looked into this for my kid. If I remember right, they have to pay income taxes on the earnings. We decided to just leave it in there and let them save it for grandchildren. If it looks like that won't be happening, we'll move it to a Roth.