College Planning: Paying for a College Education
Ensuring your child has the best life possible gets more expensive every year. While there are a lot of demands competing for your hard-earned dollars like current child rearing expenses, monthly mortgage/rent payments, contributions to your retirement plans and hopefully a vacation now and then —planning for your child’s continued education is important to begin as soon as possible.
The current average cost for one year at a public college is $22,180, private school upwards of $50,770. Multiply that by four, the average years needed to graduate, and then add in all the additional expenses like books, transportation and personal expenses and you have a very pricey way to start adulthood. A good benchmark for parents is to aim to save at least 50% of your child’s projected college costs. Think of your savings as a down payment of sorts on the total cost, similar to a down payment on a home.
In our webinar, College Planning: Saving for a College Education, we address how best to save by discussing:
- Setting a savings goal
- The tools available for college savings:
- 529 plans*
- Coverdell Education Savings Accounts*
- Mutual funds, stocks, ETFs
- Savings accounts
- Money market funds
- CDs
- Roth IRAs*
- Taxable versus tax-free options
- Balancing college and retirement planning
Watch Certified Financial PlannerⓇ, Gretchen Brown, as she shows you how small steps can enhance your financial life and the wellbeing of your children, one day at a time.