Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum How are you saving for your kids college?

I know Alabama has the 529 option but it’s not easy finding the details on the ADOR website. In particular, what if I fund my Alabama 529 plan and my kids goes to college in Florida? I’ve been told there are limited investment choices. Any information or suggested alternatives appreciated.

You don’t have to use Alabama’s. You can use any 529, offered through your investment platform. Seems like mine is marylands, through fidelity.

The funds are allowed to be used under federal guidelines, that have nothing to do with state/school locations.

College seems to be a huge waste of money of you are not in need of a specialized degree these days. Other than that I would jist start an account and have them and me put money in as often as possible and see where we ended up. I would talk to my financial plannet if you have one. I am sure there are creative ways to do it now.

If I remember correctly you get a credit for 10,000 a year invested. Seems like it’s 500 bucks. Maybe the interest is also tax free, I can’t remember. There’s a few hoops to jump through but not a lot of options for investment. A good money manager got me twice what I would have gotten. I just funded 10,000 per year and pulled it out 2 weeks later. You get the credit that way

IRA or some type of CD. I wouldn’t give the state chit. Plus if your child doesn’t want to go to college, they can use that money for a starter home or trade school. They could also turn out to be bad seeds and well you know.

This

I would recommend my kids figure out a way to make a living where they control their own future depending on the Lords protection and provision, rather than spending 4yrs learning all kinds of abominable lies designed to move them further and further away from the Lord. Go to Tuscaloosa on gameday this fall. Pay attention to how the students dress and act. These are our future doctors, lawyers and business leaders. I have my doubts about how much "higher learning" is actually going on at that place. My personal experience, i went to a community college for two years. Liked about a simester getting a degree. That was two years of my life wasted. If i had got that degree and persued a career in that field, i would be making half the $$$ i do today in twice as much time working. Not to mention i wouldnt have time to do the farming i do and all the ballgames and school events i would have missed. Instruct your children to give their life to the Lord and follow the plans he has for them withall their heart and soul and just watch how he prospers them.

529. Sock away as much as you can. Money not used can be used as Roth dollars for the kids’ retirement. So it’s not going to be wasted.

The only thing worse than having a worthless college degree is not having one.

Mom and I busted their asses and made them make good grades. College prep courses in high school. All four went on full blown scholarships.

ira’s and make them take the SAT’s as many times as they can take it until they get scholarships. $150-200 per test, also sat study classes and pre -tests. small price to pay for a scholarship

Nope. I've done the math. It doesn't make sense for us. We're not wealthy. Instead, I'll have my mortgage paid off by the time they go to college.

College doesn't exactly cost what it costs. Much of it is just markup because student aid exists. So, they get that government money off you before anything else. This is why you see so many tech schools operating for students who look like they couldn't graduate from clown college. They couldn't but they do have government money to be taken off them. It's also why some four year schools will accept about anybody. There is no intention of graduation.

When I was in school, financial aid was just starting really getting going. I compared my situation to classmates whose parents had money versus my broke behinds. They got very little or no aid whereas I got it all.

Whatever you have will be factored in, to reduce available aid. Unless you're going to cover the whole ride out of savings you're shooting yourself in the foot. If your house is paid off you'll have surplus enough to pay as you go. No mortgage and paid off cars sounds better to me than paying extra for college. I actually need to look into buying an rental property so I'll appear more broke, tho.

Look into dual enrollment and AP courses. They can have a chunk of their college done when they graduate high school. The main obstacle here (I'm in GA) is that they won't be able to start the math until senior year unless they skip geometry to do Algebra II in tenth grade. AP courses were difficult when I was in school decades ago. If they've been dumbed down like everything else it's worth a go. High school AP English saved me taking college English. There may also be placement tests at the university you can use to skip taking certain prerequisites. They're worth studying for.

The point I may not have made is that there's more than one way to pay for college. It can be done in part by playing the financial aid game and in part by academic preparation.

There are a lot of degrees and schools that are really only a rich man's luxury, but there are enough that are required for better jobs to make them worthwhile. And there are bargains to be had. For instance, a construction project manager doesn't have to have a degree to find work but he does for some companies and some contracts. That's a degree that can be had from a cheap state school. The only hard part is college algebra which ain't all that hard.

Another path is taking the bridge program route up through nursing levels. You don't have to start out with a BS from a university. Starting at tech is cheaper. And, usually, if you actually want to do hands on nursing, starting at lpn is where you get those skills.

We do a 529 through Ohio or somewhere like that because, at the time we started it (20+ years ago) it had the best benefits. So, you don’t have to stick to the state you live in. My son does a dual enrollment with Southern Union and Auburn, called Pathway to the Plains. It’s an agreement between the two schools where he takes class at both schools. Takes basics at Southern Union and program oriented classes at Auburn but it only costs us the price of tuition of Southern Union. He did this for the first two years and has saved us a ton of money. Cash flowed the first two years and will tap into his 529 for his last two. He’ll come out debt free and it didn’t hit us hard having to come up with the money all at once either.

I went a little different route and used rental properties. One property has paid for my daughters pharmacy school at Auburn.

Jr. College paid out of pocket (ASN DEGREE, PTA DEGREE, and SHK DEGREE). ASN does nursing so paid nursing money of course. PTA Physical Therapy Assistant just starting out. School of Hard Knocks degree is making money hands over fist. He has a EMS/Fire degree , worked in that field for 10 yrs knows scheduling and OSHA REGS inside and out. Got out of FIRE fighting and went to work with a large company doing scheduling and training plus on sight OSHA stuff.

I’m like Charley Kirk …. College is a money grab.

Or get lucky like me and the wife. I retired making a 100k a year. The wife is still working making well north of that. Neither of us have degrees

My son graduated 2 years ago. Neither he or or any of his friends had to pay for community college. That saved a lot of money. He recieved some scholarship at Troy after that. The other 2 years are going to cost around $30,000. He is pretty frugal. He will be a few thousand short when the 529 is exhausted it looks like. He palns on getting a GA position so I hope thats it.

While in the military - I had US Savings Bonds (EE Series) taken out every pay period. My parents also owned a farm and every year, they would sell one of the calves for each of the grand-kids and buy a US Savings bond (if that was their wish - or give the cash to the parents to do with what they wanted). We used those till they were exhausted and then used our HELOC for tuition and payed it off every semester. There were some very difficult financial times for my wife and I, but he graduated with no debt and we didn't accrue any long-term debt.

Our son didn't do it, but I would HIGHLY recommend the community college system for the 1st two years or perhaps a trade school. Our son chose a degree that has paid great dividends for himself and his family and will for the remainder of his career.

I know a girl that became a master plumber and electrician, she is a one man show and only takes easy residential repair or install jobs. If she works an approximate 10 job day and chooses to work 7 days per week she makes roughly 16K$ per week and she has no shortage of work. And if you think folk don’t pay her prices you’d be wrong. She is efficient as heck too.

She lives in an apartment in a city and invest handsomely in her country place where she intends to end up.

This is how you roll, not some low level degree.

Uncle Sam!