MM Day: How much are you saving for college?

[awkwardpenguin]

I know we've done this before, but I'm curious.  How much do you currently save per month per kid for your child(ren)'s college?

Do you have plans to increase your contributions over time?  What percentage of their total expenses do you plan to save?

[Deleted]

$250 per month per kid in a 529. We hope to cover as much as possible, along with cash or other investment accounts at that time if we are able to. No idea about percentages or target amounts. Who knows what college will cost at that time.

[closertofine]

0. Two in day care. Once that stops, I'll try to kick a bit into their 529s.

[pinkdutchtulips]

When I'm done paying for daycare, I'll use that money for her college fund

[mrsGreeko]

$50/month per kid into their 529's and $50/month/kid into their savings accounts.

We don't plan to pay for everything for them in college, we expect them to take care of some of it (be it through scholarships, jobs, grants, or loans or a combination). We also will basically tell them that in state is pretty much their option. I want them to have a stake in it.

[oswin]

We currently save $550/month per child. It's what fits into our budget right now, and if we can continue this rate for at least a few years then the kids will have a decent chunk towards college. It's hard to know how much college will cost or if the kids will go to an in-state college or an expensive private one.

[anna7602]

Nothing specifically. We save or invest a certain percentage of our income every month. We'll assess when the time comes and cover what we reasonably can without screwing up our retirement (I don't want our kids to have to support us in our old age).

Who knows where we will be living or whether DD/DS will want to study at a U.S. university at that time, so the idea of using a 529 doesn't appeal to me. 

[linz]

Zero and no plans to save. The kids will pay for it themselves. I paid for mine/got SL. H didn't go to college.

-anytime they get cash for birthdays, baptism, etc. we have put it into a savings account so they will have some money when they're older but we plan to give that to them when they move out.

[dancingirl21]

$300 per month plus we have put in 3 lump sums of $1000+ this year.

[jene]

$50/mo right now. We plan on bumping it next year

[brooklyn]

We do $200 a month for now. If we ever get significantly wealthier we'll put in more, but it's the best we can do for now.

[cincodemayo]

$0. He gets monetary gifts from my grandma we put in there - approx $250 a year. Twice a year we have kicked $50-$100 to it, as well.

Once he is in kindergarten we will reassess.

[charlotteandwilbur]

$100/month per kid, but we also started with a lump sum in each of their 529s.

[megs193]

$300 per kid per month and then we put in a lump sum when DH gets his bonus. Our goal is $10,000 per year total since that is the amount we can get a state tax deduction for.

[GotWine]

Nothing monthly. We put any monetary gifts they receive away and whenever we have some extra money we put it towards their savings.

My dad has a trust set up for each of the grandkids and whatever isn't covered by that the kids will take out in loans.

[dellabear]

We save $2500/year and the govt (cdn) gives us a $500 grant so $3000/year. It is a combination of our money and gifts from grandparents. We expect to be in a position to help more if needed when the time comes, and I'd expect them to contribute as well.

[SJ]

$200/month plus $2500 annually plus random gifts.

No clue what the target is. We are just going to see how it unfolds. We plan to help with college, maybe pay in full, but not at the expense of our own financial stability.

[patbutcher]

Dec 3, 2015 15:08:06 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

$208.33/month for Bas. To be doubled when #2 arrives.

I'm hoping, between these savings and other general savings and cash flow, to cover 1/2 of tuition + living expenses for undergrad. Education isn't as expensive here in Canada though. This is what my parents covered (as well as offering to lend us more if necessary) and I think it was a good mix of skin in the game without needing to work full-time during the school year.

Same but a lot of it comes from gifts. mil gives $1000 when baby is first born then $500 every birthday after. My grandma gives dd around $1000 a year so really we the not adding much of our own money but that will probably change with #2. We are also using the government monthly money at the moment which will dry up with the new parliament.

[chedifuen]

Nothing specific for college, we're focusing on retirement savings. I hope to have those beefed up enough that I can dial back a bit and pay for college with cash flow.

I'm only going to pay for a state school or the equivalent though. If they wish to go to an expensive private school, they will need to contribute. I know that's flameful but it is what it is.

[patbutcher]

Dec 3, 2015 15:25:46 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Dec 3, 2015 15:23:27 GMT -5 patbutcher said:

Same but a lot of it comes from gifts. mil gives $1000 when baby is first born then $500 every birthday after. My grandma gives dd around $1000 a year so really we the not adding much of our own money but that will probably change with #2. We are also using the government monthly money at the moment which will dry up with the new parliament.

It's only costing us about $30/month right now because I saved the lump sum catch-up payment. So great!

Yeah I maxed out with that payment so have to used the HH for the rest of the year plus savings to put 5k in a tfsa for her (under my name). That will be for her first house payment/wedding/ traveling / whatever she wants. I hope to do the same for baby #2 to show them how money can grow if you invest early. I got this idea from someone on MM.

[numbers]

$500/month since her birth.

Our parents fully paid for our college educations and we hope to do the same.

[niq]

Basically the turkey is V's 529/GET, and I'm the cook

[humpforfree]

Not a ton right now. I think $100/kid each month, with the option of dropping it down if we are needing to free up space in the budget. Honestly, this isn't a huge priority for me at the moment.
Our plan is that I will go back to work when our youngest enters middle school (or sooner if I get bored, done with SAH) and my salary will go to athletics/activities and college savings, since all of our essentials are already covered on H's salary. I also kind of want my kids to have a small amount of student loans when they come out so that they have a bit of vested interest in doing well and budgeting when they graduate.

[qcinoct]

$100/mo/kid. We'll increase it to the $208.33/kid (to max out Canadian govt contribution) when DS2 starts school next September

[zarapipe]

$30 a month. It's something. I will probably up it to $50 a month in January.

[thebreakfastclub]

We put away $250/month for DS. When he starts kindergarten, we will likely increase it to $500/month.

Unless we end up moving (would only be for a new job), our mortgage will be paid off half way through his junior year, so we can save very aggressively for those 18 months.

[katemoseley]

$125/month from us. My ILs have gifted $5k for each her baptism, first Christmas, and first birthday so she has a decent amount already.

[egishere]

0 right now. Hoping to change that when child care isn't costing a mortgage payment every month!

[niq]

I do sometimes laugh at myself for scolding Social Security preppers, then turning around and saving for college assuming that college costs devour everything. Some of is driven by our somewhat weird financial situation, but a lot of it is probably paranoia

[kershnic]

This topic makes me want to cry. But here I am reading it anyways.

We are saving about $50/month per kid right now, which is essentially a placeholder in the budget since it will amount to nothing compared to the cost of college. We also put in $1k each from the tax refund we got this year. (We have never gotten a significant tax refund before, so that was truly a windfall). And they each got something from grandparents at their naming ceremony - 1k each also I think.

I hope we'll be able to save a lot more in the future with reduced daycare and increased income. But we also want to move and buy a home and all kinds of other things. So I don't know.

In reality I hope that their grandparents will help, because that's the only way they're really going to have a lot of money available. I don't know whether this will be a reality or not. I also not so secretly hope that tuition remission may be an employment benefit that helps with this problem.... we shall see.