Nearly three years ago, I wrote, College Planning is Impossible (But Do It Anyway!). At the time My kids were just 2 and 3. The idea behind the article is that college costs vary so much, that there’s no easy way to plan for them.
If you want to be aggressive you could save a ton of money in a 529 Plan. That’s assuming you have a ton of money… which most people don’t. The downside to that (other than the lack of a ton of money) is that if you put too much in, you have to deal with penalties or other creative uses for 529 plans. Perhaps the best thing to do is just let the kids have the remainder for their kids… or maybe some schooling down the line.
Essentially, if you overshoot the 529 savings, your money is trapped. That’s not a terrible problem to have, but it’s less than optimal. You may even think that you are planning it well, but what if Jack/Jane gets a scholarship/grant or goes to a public school making the costs very different than what you planned?
College has just too many variables and you can’t plan for them…
… except we did. And I swear it was completely by accident.
Before I get to that I’d like to cover some ways to cover college expenses. Not all will be applicable to all families or students. There’s a lot of tools in the tool box and we hope utilize them all.
Covering College Costs
I focused on 529 plans above, because that’s the traditional savings vehicle for 529 plans. Sorry Mr. Coverdell… I have you, but you are mostly obsolete. Like Smelly Cat, it is not your fault. One of the reasons I got a Coverdell was that it could cover private school costs before college, but 529 Plans can do that now, thanks to the recent changes in the tax law.
How could one cover college expenses? Here are a few ideas:
- 529 Plans – That’s obvious one. It’s a great vehicle to saving money
- Schoralships/Grants – It would be nice to get these. Some schools may give more than others, so our plan is probably to apply to a lot of schools?
- Pay off adminssions – Just making sure you are paying attention. This certainly wouldn’t save you money. You might end up in the news… and not in a good way.
- Student Loans – The old standby. It’s a big problem nowadays, so hopefully we can keep this down.
- GI Bill – My wife’s military service gives benefits that we can split between the kids. I realize that not many people may have this option.
- AP credit – If you can test out of a few classes, you can get some credit without having to pay for it.
- Community College – Most community colleges are cheaper than traditional public and private universities. It may be possible to take some basic pre-requisits for cheaply and then transfer.
I feel that it is like having multiple income streams. The hope is that through some combination of the above (with minimal loans) paying for college won’t be impossible.
But we have one secret weapon that’s not listed above. We have rental properties. The mortgages will be paid off around the time the kids start college.
This means that we’ll likely have some $35,000 or so (after expenses) each year. Is it enough to cover college costs in 11-12 years? Who knows, but it will certainly help. The benefit of this accidental plan is that we don’t have to think about whether we are saving enough or too much in a 529 plan. If there’s extra money left over, that’s just living expenses.
So how might you be able to plan this more intentionally? Unfortunately, you’d need have the money for a good downpayment around when the children are born. Then with a 15-year mortgage, the timing should be right. Of course, it’s not great being a landlord while raising newborns. OF course if you have the money for a downpayment, you put it in a 529 plan and mabye expect it to quadruple (assuming 8% annual returns) by the time the child is in college. I think prefer the real estate plan, because it is more flexible.
I’m not saying you can do it too. Like my 6 year old’s new catchphrase, “Nope, not at all.” However, it is something that you may want to explore.
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