What is a "realistic" goal for a child's 529 contribution?

I know most may say:

"take care of your retirement first ,then do what you can"

we can just assume college is $10k a year for in state? so i need $40k saved. At 100 a month, for 18 years, that comes out to be $21,600.

child may be working/getting schollies

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After you fully fund every possible retirement account(401K, 457, Roth,SEP, etc), then if you have the funds left 100 or 200 a month seems reasonable.

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I disagree. But I agree you need to fund 15-20% to retirement as a huge priority first, then treat a college fund like an extra chosen expense. I don't think the average person needs to put 18% into retirement and since they are not able to max out to 24% then they can't fund a college plan.

I agree college is important.

However, semester at sea, semester abroad, all sorts of high end housing and food are not the foundation of education.

I've saved about 80K for each kid and transferred my GI bill benfits to them. I also get a stipend from my job for my kids college education.

I'm just convinced that retirement is a certainty.

College can be paid for if the kid and parent both put skin in the game. ROTC, other scholarships, part time job, smart kid can do joint enrollment their last year of high school, AP classes can cover many electives and some required courses, CO-OP opportunities still exist, join the military for a hitch and get GI bill, etc, etc

I put about $250 a month in my oldest daughters account per month and about $100 per month in my 2 young kids (8&6). I have enough cash in the oldest to pay for almost everything for 3 years of public. I am going to keep contributing while she is on college. I put some bonus money in from time to time.

It has very liberal rules about to whom it can go to.


For instance, it can be shunted to a sibling (or even parent)

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10k a year isn't high

Doing it now with Scholarships, Tops, and still costs about 6k yearly out of pocket

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Like I said, it depends on where you go.

McNeese tuition is $2800 per semester. That varies on how many hours one will carry plus books, etc....but no where near $10,000 for 2 semesters.

Good thread. I'm constantly reading up on 529 plans, contribution models and future college costs.

Our only child just turned three and we currently have $28,000 in her 529 plan (100% Age Based Aggressive 0-8 yrs)

We put $500/month into it which I know is a lot but I believe the pros outweigh the cons with her plan and we've done a good job contributing to our retirement, emergency fund and money market account

It feels good to have some type of college savings plan

In the same boat, got a 6 week old and my father in law asked me if I wanted to set up a 529 or go the mutual fund route.

My wife didn't have a 529, got a fully paid scholarship to college and we were able to use that money towards a house... Thats my only worry is locking that money into a 529.
Maybe I will try to strike a balance between a 529 and something a little more flexible.

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we can just assume college is $10k a year for in state?

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If you are talking a small low-level state university, tuition and fees only, 10K a year in 18 years MIGHT be ok.

At LSU currently, in-state cost of attendance including room and board, etc, is 25K a year. In 18 years, I see that easily doubling, if not more, unless some sanity comes to higher ed.

I have a fundamental disagreement with the idea that a parent needs to, or even should, fully fund a college education for a child (granted, it may be because my parents didn't give me a dime towards college).

If you want to help them, I think it's great, but they need to have some skin in the game, either with their own money, loans, or scholarships.

We've created this idea and expectation that all kids NEED to go to a 4 year university, which is beyond stupid. Yes, it should be an option, but college isn't for everyone.

Every month, I put $100 into an account for each of our kids (we have two), the accounts are a low-cost index fund. At this point, the accounts are in my wife and I's names, not our kids. The small amount of investment income taxes we pay on this is more than offset by the control of me being flexible with how I give them the money later on.