As a parent of young children (two toddlers and a new baby on the way), one of the big concerns for me is how are we going to pay for their education. I don’t know about you, but when I went to college (class of 93) and lawschool (class of 96), tuition did not equal the GDP of a developed nation. It certainly wasn’t cheap, but it was attainable for your average middle class American family. I’m not so sure that will be the case for our kids.
If you want to see a projection of what it will cost for your kids, take a look at www.finaid.org. This link will take you to a calculator where you can project tuition costs into the future. My oldest son is four, and using the calculator and assuming he will go to a private college like I did, the cost would be $404,980.82 for four years of college. That’s only one of my kids too. The total for all three would be $1,436.649.91. I don’t know about you, but that seems like an impossible number to me.
In the modern workplace, college is pretty much a requirement. Paying for it seems like a dauting task. I have discovered a tool reecently to help, www.upromise.com. UPromise is essentially a rebate program like your frequent flyer miles or cashback programs on your credit card, but instead of sending you the cashback, the rebate goes into an account for your children. When you sign up for the site, you register your credit cards and debit cards and then as you spend money at participating businesses, money is deposited into the account. You can also register your grocery store discount card as well as shop online through UPromise participating vendors. UPromise also allows you to send out emails to friends and family who can then register their cards and earn money for your children as well. The UPromise website also features information about 529 Savings Plans and Student Loans.
If your children are already in high school and nearing their matriculation, you and your family would benefit from sitting down with a college funding advisor. There are several out there. The only one I am personally familiar with is Fox College Funding. If you would like to speak with one of their consultants, send an email to Seth Kovensky at info@liveoakfs.com. Let him know that I sent you and he will discuss your options with you.
