College fund programs

coasterqueen wrote: For those of you who have more than one child, how do you have your college funds set up? Right now we only have Kylie's set up. It's set up so that money goes into her savings account and then each month the college fund account withdraws so much from her savings. We were going to set Megan's up the same way. Right now she just has money pooling in her savings.

Dh had brought up the point before that he thought maybe we should have all the money go into one fund and then the both of them can withdraw from it when the time comes. But I'm not for sure if that's a good idea or not.

So how do you do yours? One joint fund or seperate funds? Do you see the advantage of one over the other?

mckayleesmom replied: Im ashamed to admit that we haven't started one for either child yet...We planned to start once they are both in school...bad I know, but money is already stretched. I don't think that putting them into a joint account would be a good idea. You could end up with one responsible child and one that isn't and takes more then she needs and might spend on stuff that has nothing to do with school and that wouldn't be fair towards the other.

ammommy replied: We have seperate 529's set up for the kids, so sharing isn't an option. Starting in January, we are going to try to set up automatic withdrawls to the accounts so that they don't sit relatively empty. Even $50 a month per kid will add up eventually.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Our financial advisor has it set up in 2 different accounts. I personally think this is better. We have the 529 plan on both kids. I believe we get extra rewards and stuff thru Upromise if we shop at certain locations, etc. The benefits really add up.

I dont' think a typical savings acct is a good idea and I dont' think sharing an acct is an option with the 529.

coasterqueen replied: I must admit I'm not sure what Kylie's plan is. DH's work pays for our financial advisor and him and Ryan set all that up. So I guess I need to check that. The savings account is nothing more than a transport vehicle to dump the money into the college fund. Although I guess that's not true. We do put extra money in the savings account each month for the girls as well for other things that aren't college related.

TANNER'S MOM replied: I have my kids on the get good grades.. and a job plan..lolololol

No, I am joking. I have saving for all of mine. Not sure that it will be enough for anything.

Brittany is already looking at colleges.. and some are already talking to her.

The one she would love.. is 13,000.00 for 9 months. That is for everything. Tuition, housing, books everything. But Man.. now that is high. I don't know what to do about 4 years of that.. Hello... Like I said the grades better take her where she wants to go.

Oh has anyone heard of this college.. Well University..

It's called Lee University in Tn..

A christian college for Liberal Arts

coasterqueen replied:
We pray our girls get good grades to get them far in college too. Dh and I both got scholarships for college, unfortunately it didn't pay enough for us to go and we didn't have parents to help us.

You know Mel we don't know if ours is going to be enough either. Our advisor told us that it will cost roughly $100,000 for 4 years in-state school by the time Kylie goes to college (YIKES). Then he told us how much to save each month (DOUBLE YIKES) and we aren't doing all of that unfortunately but we then refinanced our mortgage to 15 years instead of 30 so we'll be done paying on the house just a couple of years before Kylie starts college.....that house payment better get her there. Then we'll have three more years to pray we come up with more for Megan.

They will be expected to contribute to their college fund one day too, especially if we come up short paying for college!

I've never heard of that university, though. That's great they are already talking to her. Has she started applying for scholarships?

3_call_me_mama replied: Cameron has a UPROMISE accoutn through my mom adn dad and inlaws and us. Plus the inlaws and my paretns have a savings account for education. Not necessarily college btu any education. So if we want to do private school then we can use that money to pay for it. We have a 529 plan for Cameron but not for Kathleen. We satred Cameron's around 18 months, and will probaly do the same for Kathleen. I feel bad though cause Cam already has a TON more $$ than her casue both sets of Grandparetns save for her. But her godparents will help with education if we want then too. But i;'m like Mel in a sense, get good grades adn a JOB and that's how I went to college. Certainly wasn't any big account set up for me. I'm still paying off the last bit, but SCHOLARSHIPS !!! helped a lot. I don't liek the sharign idea jsut because if one goes to a very expensive college and uses up al he $$ then the other suffers and is stuck with a bunch of bills. But if one has money saved in ther eadn decided not to go to college then the money is theirs to use after they would have graduated from college. College her is ridiculous for a tiny state. Instate to University of VT (UVM) is abotu 18,000 per year mayber more. (That was 4 years ago when i graduated) that's room and board adn tuition, nto books adn lab fees and such.

OH yeah.. and Dennsi works for the Vermont State colleges so they get free tuition to any state college or UVM as a perk. (Dennis and I get free tuition to community college of VT and State colleges but not UVM) So hopefull ythey will wwant ot stay in state and that will help A LOT!

coasterqueen replied: I never thought about one going to a more expensive college than another, although we will help both girls out equally. I agree with the get good grades and get a job. DH and I, both did that. We didn't have parents to pay for our college. BUT the problem is we struggled for so long just to make it through college and now we will be paying on our student loans til Kylie is a sophmore in college! We don't want that for our girls. DH swore he would never make them struggle as hard as we did. Struggling is one thing, how we struggled to survive during college with no one to help is another. We hope they never have to do that. Although they won't get a free ride, either.

My2Beauties replied: I never knew what upromise was, I had seen it in stickers at Kroger's and stuff but never knew, I just had a girl at work explain it to me, I am going to check it out We have a savings for Hanna but I admit since things are kind of tight, I haven't put much money into it, I don't think Brian has anything set up for Desiree and she is 9 Boy do we need to start!

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
We never see the money. It goes straight to our financial advisor and he distributes it between our Roth's, 529 plans and stocks, etc. We also have a separate savings acct with 2 months (plus) salary in it for emergencies. No wonder there's not much money left at the end of the month for extras. Oh well... one day we will have the money to do the things we love...like travel.

3_call_me_mama replied: It's really hard either way you do it. My parents didn't pay for my college or really even contribute to it eventhough they are still alive. They really couldnt' afford to especailyl with 2 other kids. Hopefully our loans will be paid off before they go to college. Cause it would BITE to be paying our loans and their at the same tiem But it was a very smart idea Karen to refinace the house that way. It'll give you a chance to save up something. And maybe she'll get a full ride somewhere and then youcan have all the money for a nice vacation home somewhere It's so hard to paln for the future cause you never know what it'll bring:( btu it's a good idea to have started thinking about it at least.

TANNER'S MOM replied: Well, I am lucky and Brittany is doing well in school.

One thing is.. I am lot closer to college years than you guys.lol

But since she was in 7th grade she has been in a college bound program for Gifted Students. She has toured and traveled to different Univerisitys.

Last Summer she did 6 weeks at the U fo A here.. she stayed in a dorm and went to class like every other summer student. She did great and got some credits too.

Some colleges are talking to her already..she may get out early?? Who knows. But we are failry certain she can get a full scholarship on grades and IQ alone..
But that doesn't pay for laudry, food, transportation etc..

ANd that all adds up..

Plus we still have 3 more..

kimberley replied: hmm interesting. we have RESPs (registered education savings plan) and it comes out of MY account lol. the boys will have their own separate savings accounts later on tho. one of them is a saver, the other is a spender so it wouldn't be fair to keep them in one account. plan to start Jade's after the baby comes and i am working again.

coasterqueen replied: Mel, that is so great she's doing so well. I'm sure you are very proud of her. I think the ability to take college courses while in jr high or highschool is great. They didn't offer that back when we were in school (or at least where I went, lol).

TANNER'S MOM replied:
Aww thanks Karen.

She is smart.. and but still a teen.

It is hard b/c not all the kids are the same. Some do well and some struggle!
But I hope they all make well rounded adults.

CantWait replied: We have a seperate Education Savings fund for each child, plus a seperate savings account for when the either a) reach 18, move into a place of their own, c) graduate from highschool and want to travel, d) want to use it for school, or e) are just mature enough to handle the money.

CantWait replied:
$13,000 is actually pretty cheap if you ask me. My school was the same for 10 months and that didn't include housing. Not to mention the U.S. usually pays more for post secondary education. I'd say that's a deal.

Kaitlin'smom replied: I have a 529 account for Kait, and if I were to have another child I would add them to that, as my advisor explained to me its transferabe to other kids even nephews, nieces ect so if Kait gets scholarships and does not need it we can transfer it. I had to treat the savings as a bill so it comes out automaticlly, its not much now but I wanted to start something for her. She does have a savings account that I iwll be pulling a large chunk from after the new year to deposit in her 529, but I will keep her savings account so she has money if needed. Now I need ot set up me a retirement fund, DH has one but I would like to have one also so we have plenty when we retire.

coasterqueen replied:
I asked DH last night and Kylie does have a 529 plan. I was thinking that when the guy first met with both of us he said that if Kylie doesn't use the funds or (god forbids) dies then it can be transferrable to anyone else. So we could use her plan for both of them. We would just have to see about changing the name on the plan to both girls or something. For some reason it just seems easier having one account and if one used more we'd still make sure the other one got their equal share, it'd just be out of our pocket.

Kaitlin'smom replied:
I agree one account just seems easier, other wise for me it would be to much to remember.

the only downfall is the 529 I set up through work is not the same or supported by upromise and I have a few bucks in there so I am not sure what I will do with the upromise money

coasterqueen replied:
I haven't checked out our Upromise $$ either. We keep meaning to but haven't. Upromise is great but unless you REALLY use it, at least for us we won't accumulate that much, maybe a couple hundred dollars but I guess that does buy a few textbooks.

Can you just set up a small 529 plan thru Upromise for that?

Kaitlin'smom replied: ya I can but it wont add up to much probably just some paper by the tiem she goes or maybe with a pen I also think you have to have a certain ammount to start it and make a min contrubition, but I am not totaly sure as I have not done anythign with the money in there, heck I need to see whats in there.

Boys r us replied: We have an evergreen mutual fund set up for the kids. This is a great way to save for college b/c it offers the highest return, yet is still safe. The only drawback is that you have to have 10k upftront to set it up, which isn't always an option for some people.