$160,000 For College...Are You Kiddin' Me?!

$40,000 a year! That's how much my cousin is paying for his son to go to college each year. Let's go ahead and run the numbers on this. Four years of college at $40,000 a year is $160,000 to send one child to college. Remember, that 160K only covers tuition, room and board. You haven't bought books, a computer, or the numerous other items required for your son or daughter to earn a college degree. According to collegeboard.com, the average annual cost is $22,218 for a 4-year private college (up 5.9% from last year) and $5,836 four-year public college (up 6.3% from last year). If you want to read more about trends in college pricing, check out the College Board's Trends in College Pricing.

Now, I am going to make a couple of bold assumptions here:

1. You (like me) are not independently wealthy. That means you probably don't have $160,000 laying around the house anywhere.
   
2. You (like me) want your son or daughter to go to good college.
   
3. You (like me) don't want to have to mortgage your life away to do or burden your child with thousands of dollars in student loans.
4. You (like me) are thinking, "How in the world am I going to put my child (or children) through college?"

My answer to the question in number four was simple: start saving the money now! Right now, I've got time on my side (17 years to be exact). If you are in the same boat (you've got some time before the college bills start coming), here are some couple of good college saving ideas, that my research turned up.

529 Plans
529 plans are college saving plans that allow you, a relative or a friend to put money away for your child's college education. The money invested in the plan grows tax free until your child enters college. At that point, the money can be spent tax free on the child's tuition, books and fees. Let's say your child gets a full scholarship and doesn't need that money. In that case, the money in your 529 plan can be transferred to another family member and still be spent tax free. Any money invested in the plan is placed in a pool much like a mutual fund, so your money (potentially) earns interest while sitting in the plan. You can't be that! My contributions to my son's plan come right out of my paycheck each month, so I don't even miss the money. If you want to read more about the 529 plans, try these links:

• Clark Howard's 529 Guide
• SavingforCollege.com: Intro to 529s

UPromise
In addition to the 529 plan, I also opened a UPromise account for my son. What is UPromise? Basically, it is a free service that helps families earn extra money for education. UPromise has partnered with companies and businesses across the country. Anytime a UPromise member uses one of these companies or their products, they are rewarded with dollars and cents in their UPromise account. The partners are everywhere: grocery stores, restaurants, credit cards, etc. The money that you accumulate in your UPromise account can be used for college expenses. Once again, with something like this, the earlier you get an account...the better you do. Oh yeah...family and friends can also sign up for UPromise and earn rewards for your son or daughter. Didn't you know...college saving is a family affair!

These are just a couple of options for folks that have some time to save. If you are up against a the college tuition wall, here are a couple of sites you might want to check out:

• CollegeBoard.com: Scholarship Search
• FastWeb
• FinAid
  
• ScholarshipCoach.com

I hope this helps out. If you have other ideas or know some other resources for money (preferably free money), please share them with the other fathers here. Believe me, we need all the help we can get. Education may be the key...but it certainly ain't cheap!