[USER]

I have an 11 year old and a 13 year old. I am a solo mom. I want to open 529 college savings account for them but truthfully the most I would be able to contribute is $50/month each.

Is it even worth it?

I feel that amount will barely put a dent in what they need for college.

Thoughts?

[Megan]

My first question is always, are you already maxing out all of your own tax advantaged retirement vehicles?

[Frank]

Put on your own oxygen mask first. The best gift you can give them is NOT money for college, but not having to support their mother when she is older.

While it has been an honor and a privilege to be able to support my parents in their old age, it would have been better if they had planned better.

[Deborah]

PLEASE fund yourself first. There are ways for them to pay for college.

As someone helping a parent who didn’t save now navigate care, this is far more stressful than working on campus or college loans at a state school (for engineering).

Maybe set up the 529 for easy gifting from family.

[Chris]

Encourage them to take dual enrollment classes in high school if they are academically ready / this can really save $.

When the high school years come help them research the best schools for merit or aid and steer them that way.

Helping kids through the whole process is more than 1 year of prep and planning.

Understanding how it all works like within the Choose FI world will help you avoid expensive mistakes.

[Suzanne]

As long as your retirement savings are in good shape, yes. It’s worth it.
Let’s say they’re super smart and get a “full tuition” scholarship to your local university and plan to live at home.

The “mandatory fees” at many universities can still be thousands per year.

Or I f they start at community college, they may still need textbooks. And they’re limited in the $$ of loans they can take out without a co-signor (it’s different for this generation).

$5500 freshman year, $6500 sophomore year, $7500 junior and senior year. No additional loans available unless you’re willing to co-sign (and can qualify based on credit history).

Most schools will be $10k minimum even if living at home. A modest 529 can help you cash flow the difference (cash flow + loan + summer job will almost get you there… the 529 will help plug in any unexpected gaps).

Join the Paying For College 101™ FB group when your oldest starts high school.

You’ll learn so much about choosing the right school that offers scholarships to make college more affordable for your situation.

But join EARLY – if you wait until senior year, you may have missed domestically opportunities.

[Katie]

Any amount is better than nothing. And I would definitely encourage family giving gifts at holiday/birthdays to contribute to the 529 instead.

You’ll be glad you did it.

[Kelly]

To add to some of the other comments, I recommend not to visit or apply to any colleges you can’t afford.

We started conversations very early about where they could afford to go and didn’t stray from that.

[Jason]

You’re supposed to put your oxygen mask on first.. then take care of the kids. Making sure you aren’t a financial burden on them later in life is just as, if not more important.

Keeping them focused on school (being active in their studies) and making sure they do well..

will yield more results in opportunities for them… than the amount you can stack up in donations.

I applaud the desire to do it.. but making them good students will have a bigger impact.. IMHO.

[Bee]

I started at 50$ per month too as a single mom and now I’m able to put at least $500 per month in their accts.

I started with a 529 but changed to a high yield savings when I decided that they may not choose college.

[Paul]

If they have aunts, uncles, grandparents, you can also suggest they toss in birthday money or whatever into the 529.

If the kids work summer jobs, they can toss in some too.

It might end up being more useful than you think, especially if it gets help from others along the way.

[Wendy]

That’s over $3k which can help. If they do AP classes or college classes in high school they can save more (classes they won’t have to pay for in college).

If they attend community colleges for the first two years that makes it even more affordable.

Having that money will be helpful, though not enough to pay the bulk of it.

[Lisa]

All well and good to give advise to invest in yourself first but at the end of the day colleges expect parent contributions, regardless of your ability, so do you want to take out a loan later or have something avail.

I think anything you can save is better than nothing.

[Carrie]

I think it’s always worth saving money for your kids leaving the house one day.

If you are sure they are going to college a 529 is totally worth it.

If your not maybe have them open a Fidelity teen account and contribute that each month and you can discuss with them how to invest the funds.

[Francine]

Community colleges can offer a lot of financial assistance to students. In some cases, the family pays nothing after scholarships and financial aid.

Don’t assume your kids need to spend 4 years at a university.

I have family members and friends whose kids have graduated or will graduate with associates degrees and are positioned to enter the workforce with great skills in graphic design, computer science and airplane mechanics.

I would say open the 529 and like someone said, ask family to donate as gifts, but put most of your savings in your retirement so your kids won’t have to help in your old age.

Career preparation could change a lot by the time they graduate high school and you don’t want too much locked up in college-only funds.

[Heckman]

I am a single parent with kids heading to college now – actually lowering your agi by putting more in retirement etc might help them more than a small 529 which is considered as part of support.

You can actually use chat gpt to do a lot of modeling.

The best thing you can do is help them max out gpa and sat scores to their ability and if you live in a state with free merit tuition, near colleges etc that’s a really awesome set up.

In the end I weirdly think somehow my kids ended up better off than friends with kids who have 50k saved.

They got offered more aid, we had a collective pressure from day 1 of high school that no one was paying for college and loans are limited so it was really important etc.

I actually in some weird ways feel like they kind of got lucky.

[Peter]

We do $42 dollars a month. It’s not much, but, we do get matching funds through our state (for 3 years iirc).

I figure doubling the investment is worth it.

Check to see if there are similar programs in your area, you may be surprised.

[Blake]

My best advice is to start talking to them about college expectations now.

*AP, CLEP, and/or IB in high school to try and shave a year off college.

*Do test prep for SAT/ACT, choose the one they did best on and take it multiple times with more prep.

*Working hard for scholarships. The biggest scholarships come from the universities based on grades, ACT/SAT, leadership, etc.

*Don’t get hooked on a dream school and instead keep your options open to which gives them the best merit aid.

*Don’t pick a school because your girlfriend / boyfriend goes there.
*Consider community college for the first 2 years and then a local public university where they can live at home.

*The expectation that they will work part-time during the year and do internships in the summer.

Our kids did most of these and each of them graduated with a total college cost of between $15k-$20k. Not per year, that was their total.

They earned $10k+ each year which means they could have paid for their entire college and still had extra.

We know many kids who choose a different path and they and their families are $100k-$200k in debt for it.

This is not necessary. There are many ways to do college inexpensively.

[Author]

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