What are you actually saving for college poll

[Ashley&Scott]

We haven't started a specific college account.

He does have a regular savings account, so far contributions have been sporadic.

[aspentosh]

$250 per month ($200 from us, $50 from my dad).

[froggy76]

I haven't started anything yet. I was thinking I could use my reimbursement from the dependant care FSA to fund her 529. Just need to get around to submitting receipts. So, this month is $0. Next month could be $3k. Total per year would be $5k if I stick to my plan.

[hopeful2012]

Nothing yet. We are paying off our own SLs (in the 6 figures) at an accelerated rate to the tune of approximately $2k a month, but still have some with interest rates as high as 8.25%. Been out of school 3 years and plan to have everything paid off in another 5. Once we are no longer making $2k a month payments that will free up a good portion of cash to start saving aggressively for DS and #2s college baring unexpected job less/etc. DS is 2 now and I'm newly pregnant with #2. We do have a savings account for DS but all that we put in there is gift money he is received (under $1k total).

[Deleted]

We've been putting $50 a month in a 529 for years now and it has $3k in it already. I was thinking about going back to school but decided against that so now it's definitely the baby's. We're gonna up it to $250 a month when Hypo is here or maybe sooner but we won't be able to save the reccomended $1k unless I get a new job or it's 7 years from now and our student loans are paid off.

[raylongivens]

We don't set aside a set monthly amount. I put about 20% of my salary into savings (after fully funding retirement, and a percentage of that goes to kid savings. That goes toward preschool tuition and private school/college savings.

DH and I also receive annual stock bonuses each year as part of our overall comp. As this vests, it is earmarked for education.

[ijack]

Oct 11, 2012 22:25:02 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

I am going to have to stop reading these polls.

My hope is that we can still eat after we have two in daycare LOL.

here here. we put in monetary gifts for the girls or if one of us gets a bonus or something. right now we pay more in childcare than our mortgage, so college savings isn't a priority.

[drloretta]

We dumped a bunch into a fund right after we got married, and we're just letting it grow.

[savannah11]

$0. But we are lucky to have my dad who created and funds our kids' 529s. He has stated from day 1 that he intends to pay their college expenses.

[my4girls]

we save 10k per year. it'll get divvied up between any kids we have (we're hoping for one more) If we can up that amount in the future we will but that's currently what we can handle

[jackpackage]

We're saving $200/month, which is 1/10 of H's monthly SL payment. +o( When his SL and business loans are paid off in 5-8 years, we'll make college a bigger priority.

[Deleted]

$0. We'll transfer the max benefit that the state will give us once a year but we're not saving aggressively for college.

[mrssandro]

I will ramp up college savings once I get my student loan paid off and I am not paying a ton in daycare. I still save the minimum of $25 per pay period. It's adding up fast. My dad also pays into a 529 for DD. Honestly my mother couldn't save for me at all so I feel like at least I can help her with room and board when the time comes.

[h]

We save a lot with our kids' educations in mind, but we put almost all of it in mutual funds and bond funds in our names. We anticipate using it for college if all goes well, but we will have it to supplement our retirement if needed. Given that there is nothing obligating us to use it for our kids' college, I don't know whether that counts as college savings to most people or not. So I guess we are either $1000 or $0.

[vanillacourage]

$150 for each kid, so $300/month total.

My parents fully paid for my college expenses, and DH had his first three years paid for and was able to graduate with minimal debt. Not having expensive student loans has put us in an incredible financial position, without which we would not be able to live in the house we do, I wouldn't have the freedom to take a job I love in the nonprofit sector and still afford 2 in daycare, etc. It's one of the best things my/our parents ever did for us, and if we can do that for our kids too, we will.

We won't get there on monthly savings but our house will be paid off within months of DS1 going to college, so we'll have significant cash flow at just the right time.

[suburbanzookeeper]

We put $200 a month aside into her "college/house/wedding" fund - her choice, when she's ready to make it since I paid OOP for college and did not take out loans. If we have extra, we throw it in there as needed. We have a special snowflake situation for retirement (plus DH's pension) so it's not a worry.

[mmmomof2]

We only put in $100/mo per girl plus gifts, but we started with a larger lump sum (about 15k per girl), don't want to pay for private or out of state tuition, and expect to cash flow living expenses. Maybe in the future we'll raise it, but I'm comfortable with it for now.

[beachdweller]

$0. Are all of you that are contributing also fully funding retirement? I can't figure out how it makes sense to fund the college fund if retirement accounts aren't fully funded.

[cjeanette]

Oct 12, 2012 13:06:43 GMT -5 beachdweller said:

$0. Are all of you that are contributing also fully funding retirement? I can't figure out how it makes sense to fund the college fund if retirement accounts aren't fully funded.

Not fully but H does 8% with 6% match and I do 6% with 3% match. We will both have pensions if we stay at our current jobs.

[Deleted]

We're saving some before fully maxing retirement because the government matches 20% up to a max. 20% ROI before it's even invested is pretty sweet.

[bunch]

Maxing out a 401k to what is legally allowed? No. Saving well above the suggested 15% our lowish income? Yes.

Thankfully we don't have student loans, so we're able to do that.

[h]

I max my 401(k) and save additional money in target retirement funds (my DH's employer doesn't offer a 401(k)). Anything we consider college savings is after that.

[dragonfly08]

Right now, nothing...we recently stopped the monthly contribution to our girls' 529 accounts in order to focus our finances on the addition/renovation we're doing.

But after that's finished, we'll go back to what we were doing which is $250/mo per kid.

(And yes, retirement is fully funded, no we haven't stopped those contributions.)

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2012 13:06:43 GMT -5 beachdweller said:

$0. Are all of you that are contributing also fully funding retirement? I can't figure out how it makes sense to fund the college fund if retirement accounts aren't fully funded.

Well, we max all options given to us. H doesnt have a 401K, so we only max his IRA. I max my IRA and 401(k). This is $27,000 a year, plus my employer's 3% match.

We also save money in non-retirement investment accounts.

[megalicious]

We'll start saving when DD starts public school. I figure, we're currently paying over $15k/yr for DC, if we save 1/2 of that every year from K-12 we'll probably be on track. I also expect my kid to (1) get a scholarship/grant/aid of some kind (2) Get a job as soon as she's old enough and contribute her own $$, and (3) Take subsidized loans; just like I had to do.

[megs193]

We try to save $10,000 per year. We save $500 per month automatically and use part of DH's bonus and extra paychecks to get to $10,000 to max the state tax deduction. We fully fund his 401k and IRA's for both of us and wouldn't be saving for college if we didn't.

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2012 13:06:43 GMT -5 beachdweller said:

$0. Are all of you that are contributing also fully funding retirement? I can't figure out how it makes sense to fund the college fund if retirement accounts aren't fully funded.

Yes.

[Deleted]

3k = 1k a month per kid

Periodically we throw some bonus money at their acct.s too so it comes out to be a bit more annually but that's what we saved in the last thirty days.

We do max out retirement too. 17k each in 401k, 5k each in iras, and 6k into an hsa.

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2012 13:16:00 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

We're saving some before fully maxing retirement because the government matches 20% up to a max. 20% ROI before it's even invested is pretty sweet.

We max out the kids RESP for the same reason- 20% free money!!!

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2012 13:24:46 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Oct 12, 2012 13:06:43 GMT -5 beachdweller said:

$0. Are all of you that are contributing also fully funding retirement? I can't figure out how it makes sense to fund the college fund if retirement accounts aren't fully funded.

I'm not saving yet (no kids) but I am maxing out retirement, and I can see where the education savings will fit into our budget without having to cut retirement.

If we couldn't afford both, I would probably stick with investing the $167/month to max government contributions but not go any further.

FYI, the max to get the grant is $208/ month ($2500/year gets you an extra $500). It's not $167/month.

Yes, we're maxing out retirement.