re: Son graduating - should I cash out his 529?

quote:

---

Not exactly. The 529 *account* has to be at least 15 years old. But the money being rolled over has to have been in the account for only 5 years.

---

That’s better.

I had money left over as well so I just did the paperwork for transfers to Roth’s for both kids. These accounts started with Waterhouse, then became Bloomwell. I hope the date is when I opened it as opposed to the reflagging date.

I have Coverdell IRA monies left as well. I’ll move that to the 529, then start the 5 year clock as well. I’m sure the rules will evolve over time.

quote:

---

they are not going to 3x-4x increase in the next 9 years.

---

So LSU is $35k a year for 2024-2025? I think it was $10k in 2014. That's about a 3x-4x increase. That's nuts.

LSU 2013-2015 Tuition

quote:

---

For a 9 year old, I would plan to spend at least 100k a year for college.

---

quote:

---

For a 9 year old, I would plan to spend at least 100k a year for college.

---

I am budgeting 350-400 for my 9 year old

quote:

---

For a 9 year old, I would plan to spend at least 100k a year for college.

---

This is grossly exaggerated. I'm an anal retentive that tracks every penny spent. In 2024 we spent a total of $42,000 on my kid's college education. These costs include EVERYTHING my kid spent in college (tuition, fees, rent, utilities, groceries, fast food, automotive, medical care, entertainment, EVERYTHING).

The housing is the biggest part. My parents didn't have a penny for me.

i've started saving for my kids. I've bought a rental property that will be for them to live in and that will be drastically cheaper than the lease options I'm seeing even today.

Also have built some serious equity.

My kids go to public schools. I can't fathom paying for private school from K-12 then paying for college too. I get places where that's a must and Louisiana sounds the same as Little Rock in that regard.

The balances likely won't be enough to cover all 4 years but it should definitely be a good chunk of change to get them started and not in a massive financial hole starting out.

I don't want them to feel limited in their options like I was. I turned out okay but it was hell getting there.

quote:

---

For a 9 year old, I would plan to spend at least 100k a year for college.

---

This is wayyyyyy out of touch. In less than 10 years college wont be $100k/yr to attend undergrad.

People are starting to come to the realization the expensive private undergrad degrees already aren't worth it or close to it for 80-90%+ of majors offered. People are coming out after 4 years with $120k-$200k of student debt going to a private school and not finding the jobs that pay enough in most cases to have a chance of paying them off in 10 years while living a "normal" life over the next decade. People are going to start trending away from dumb decisions like this as schools continue to get more expensive and interest rates have climbed way back up. IT's just not worth it when it will cost people $1,500/mo in student loan payments for a decade just to pay them off "on time".

On top of all that, people are starting to come to the realization there is not going to be any mass student loan forgiveness and the next administration is going to make sure people not paying are going to feel it I bet.