Tips
Back to School
Whoa, you just had a major Eureka! moment, and good for you that you heeded its call. College is expensive and it’s getting pricier by the semester (or trimester, depending on how you look at it). But you don’t have to be a millionaire to meet the challenge head on—a little foresight and a lot of savvy will do, along with some perspective.
For the next 30 days you can expect to learn about:
- The payoffs of investing in college savings early.
- The common mistakes we all make during the financial aid process.
- How to leverage your assets to get your student more bang out of your buck.
- Ways your student can help bear some of the financial load.
- How to stay grounded, committed and sane during the most important numbers game you’ll ever play.
DID YOU KNOW? A typical family is on track to cover just 24% of the overall costs of higher education. Fidelity Investments surveyed 2,300 parents in 2007 and also found 42% of them hadn’t even saved a dime. Let that be a testament to you—we’re all in this together.
Posted: 11/21/09
«Previous Tip
A great way to increase 529 college savings is by registering it with Freshman Fund (Link). Freshman Fund is like a registry for college savings. Parents go to the site, attach their 529, create a public profile and email friends and family a link where they can contribute directly into the child’s 529 account in lieu of or in addition to the usual birthday/holiday gifts. Great for parents and great for gift givers and it’s environmentally friendly gifting.
DISCLOSURE: I’m the founder of Freshman Fund (Link). I was at my niece’s birthday party watching her tear through a pile of gifts taller than she was. At the end of the melee my gift was tossed aside into a pile of other forgotten gifts. I spent a-lot of time and money selecting her gift and I though it was a waste. I told her parents that from now on I was just going to contribute to her college savings. I asked them what website to go to in order to that and none existed. So I started Freshman Fund (Link).