Paying for College

The end of the year is prime time to reflect on whether you've met your financial goals. Some examples include repaying debt, saving for college, or building an emergency fund. Giving your finances a year-end checkup can help get you back on track.

A four-year college degree is expensive. How expensive? While the numbers vary depending on whether you attend a public or private university, or in-state or out-of-state institution, the data is sobering.

For an 18-year-old, going to college is exciting, a little scary, and an important step towards becoming an independent adult. For a parent, sending their child to college is also exciting and a little bit scary, as well as bittersweet. You want your child to grow, learn, and succeed in this next stage of their life. To set them up for success, here are some things you should think about and do before sending your child off to college.

Most parents want to fund their children’s college education as much as they can. In fact, 49% of parents want to pay 75% of their child’s school costs.

Both parents and students alike can become stressed out over the cost of paying for college, even if they are somewhat well off. It turns out you can dramatically reduce your stress and fund a college education by adding a few simple steps to your financial game plan. Let’s review those steps and how you can get started today.

There is no "magic wand" or one-size-fits-all plan to save for college. As you can imagine, multiple factors impact the type of account you will utilize. You may even want to use a combination of options to maximize the amount you save and minimize the tax you pay on the money earned by the account(s).