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

My son is talking about doing that for his masters. I agreed to pay for his BS but anything after that is on him. He’s checked into the Airforce reserve. I believe they are the only branch that gives tuition reimbursement without having to do a full time gig.

Also note that if you are a disabled veteran at 40% or more your children can go to a State school and tuition is paid for at $400 per credit hour. I think this rate is scheduled to increase sometime soon but not positive about that.


Alabama G.I. Dependent Scholarship Program

Dale Earnhardt commemorative plates.

I use Alabama 529s for both kiddos. Been fortunate with scholarships so likely some Roths in their future. That said, I talk more kids out of college than I encourage to go.

Lastly, be careful with some of the 529 advice on this thread as it isn’t correct.

This guy knows what he speaks of, trust me!

This ^^ or scratch-off lottery tickets.

As a grandparent, I can do a gift (tax free) 17,000 a year to a 529 plan. I'm thinking Schwab, but ........, Yes there is a college one for Alabama that does offer to deduct the state tax free up to a limit (of course), 5K is all. Now, with a 529, you can also do a catch-up of $80K (something like that), ours is young, so we have time. Now, I can also make straight payments to the school as well, so no gift tax on that!!!!!! I'll be over 72, so won't be penalized for pulling from some of my investment accounts that I'm giving to now, or some of the rental income we have. The backdoor, SEP and Roth's will come in handy -- before I'm flamed, the SEP and Roth can not be done at the same time.

Also, I'm with BigED, we have rental properties, so she can definitely earn money too. There is plenty to do with those that can be done via computers --- another source for high school and college.

If you're the parent, look at a 529 for Schwab, T Rowe, or Fidelity --- even a new one Kinecta.

Just a tip --- 529 can be used for under college expenses too --- did you know a 529 can also be used for internet, software or even a computer? Yep, all that is needed for high school and college.

There are some pluses and minuses to a 529 for sure -- what if they don't go to college - ok, rollover 35K to a roth for them, no tax no gift tax, this is from your original contributions ---- what about the rest of the money -- weird, I can withdraw "my contributions," but anything it made, I have to pay taxes on it and a 10% penalty. Yeah, you can change it to another grandkid, but ...... right now I have one.

That last part is why we are still in limbo about that 529, I do like the fact I can make a direct payment to the college/high school/private school and not incurr a gift tax penalty.

Serious question... At what point did it become routine for a kid to be owed a free college degree? We didn't pay for our kids college but they both got scholarships and went. Both had any remaining debt paid off quickly after graduation. Hint, if it's paid for by someone else, in the end it doesn't mean nearly as much.

Making each generation start from scratch on their own is hamstringing yourself compared to wealthy families. Generational wealth isn't had by abandoning your children to their fate. Cultures and nations are not sustained nor advanced by expecting each generation to start from the beginning. It's not owing your child, it's owing yourself and your people. Elites aren't better than you. They just behave slightly differently. Culture!

I went to school on about half scholarships. I had to borrow and work a 40 hour week at night. Fine and fortunate coming from white trash. When I began to figure out graduate school I was told point blank by those who had gone that path before that some of what I was considering didn't happen while working full time or at all. Something else required unpaid internship. Those paths were not open to me no matter how hard I would work. If you don't finish education of your child you are leaving advantages open to others just because they do the complete job for their offspring.

Also, y'all who decry college education and who are unwilling to get an education are leaving positions of authority open to those who are incompetent but have that piece of paper. You do what they say and tend to believe their lies because you weren't educated any better.

If you come from the people who had the University of Oxford going before the people who built the Aztec pyramids, the path forward is probably not competing directly against the rock stackers. You might oughta try for something a little more advanced if you expect to stay ahead of them.

We did not really have any savings for our kids college. Hell, through most of the time they were growing up we were just trying to pay the bills and put food on the table. Thankfully the one who decided to go got a full scholarship to Auburn. My youngest girl just graduated and is going to esthetician school. That cost is 1400/month for 9 months. We will pay that out of pocket. My son is in the work force. If you have the ability to save for your kids college, that is awesome. I do think that college can be a bad investment at times depending on the degree you are pursuing.

I paid cash for his first semester. I told him upfront that for his second semester, I would only pay for the A's and B's he made from the first semester. To pay for the second semester he took out a tuition loan for 100% as his grades were a C or lower. He never went back after the second semester.

After he dropped out, his first job was installing cable for AT&T. He learned more from that job than any college could teach him. Today he is the regional manager for a national construction company maintaining all their truck and equipment security systems. All thanks to what he learned from AT&T.

Yeah, I'm paying for 100% of my child's college right now. Amazing I could do that given I didn't go to college. I've been too busy the last 30 years starting businesses and even employed several college educated people(mostly incompetent) , to notice how uneducated I was. I must be really gullible because I haven't noticed myself under the psychological control of these scholars you speak of and certainly don't remember bending to their authority but that's probably due to my ignorance.

As I said I'm paying for my daughter's college but it wouldn't bother me at all if she chose another route as long as it was a skilled specialty. Court Reporters , full time Real Estate agents, makeup artist, pilots and several others make significantly more than the average college educated persons over their life time.

Employers today are putting less and less stock in a generalized degree and value job specific training instead. A person coming out of college today with a BS in business or marketing has completely wasted their money and time, in my opinion. They spend years working menial jobs paying back student loans. Those types aren't telling the rest of us knuckle draggers anything nor do they hold any power over us other than to maybe direct us to our table for dinner.

College is great for some, not for others. If a kid wants to be a doctor or an engineer or something like that, it’s necessary. A lot of careers it’s not.

I paid for a little JUCO with both my kids, some scholarships, then I paid for the last two year when they went to Bible college. Just paid out of pocket up front. Fortunately it wasn’t too terrible.

Somebody who has the character traits to succeed will do so, whether they have a degree or not. A degree can certainly be a great benefit to those people whose career path involves working for larger corporations. Otherwise, they likely need to be self-employed to hit the big time. Either way, they will come out ahead because they have the foundational traits to outpace the competition.

Someone who wants to float through their careers, enjoy lenient work hours, lots of PTO, etc...... better go get a STEM degree.

If the kid is smart enough to complete a degree in something useful, and is mentally geared to work to complete the process, I think it’s a good to send them to college if you can figure out a route to afford it. Reason being: optionality. If they can’t find a lucrative “degree” type career they are interested in, they can always follow routes they would have taken if they didn’t attend college. It’s hard to go back the other direction if they don’t initially go to school.

We need an education lottery. I went to college on one. B average out of highschool to qualify for any instate school.

The Citadel. Class of 2007. BS in Business Admin. I own my own construction company and it’s been quite useful.

You're focused on dollars alone. I steered the subject. Peruse what I typed and think bigger picture.

Anyhow, your government is run by college educated people who couldn't get those jobs without a degree. You're not living and working outside their control. You for work months each year to support them and follow their edicts all the while. How would it be if, instead, those positions were held by people like you?

The college educated voter is why we are where we are politically. College isn't really educating as much as they are indoctrinating and molding those mush brains into something that they can control. If my daughter decided she wanted to get into politics I'd be so ashamed I'd tell people she was making her living on only fans. I've hijacked the thread enough. We'll just have to disagree.

I don't think anyone is saying everyone has to go to college, that college is for everyone or that every college graduate has a useful degree. Why not start setting something up for them if you have it? No, not all colleges, ok a lot, are teaching our kids/grandkid things we wish they wouldn't, so is life! You think I want my kids seeing all this LGQBT junk, some of the families on TV, etc. Life in general is teaching them things I don't want them to come into contact with on a daily basis and people.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. I have to trust this!!!!! I have to pray over them daily, asking God to surround them with His Heavenly Armies.

If one can put money into a 529, it's a tax free growth. A tax free growth of 8%, yes the market is doing better than this right now, but a typical average.

Math: 5K investment, 100 a month, 18 years --- 8% earning with a little for market fluctuation .5% -- You've put in a total of $26,600 over 18 years --- That's about $61,200 saved. Your investment is less than 35K ---- If the kid doesn't go to college, you can rollover the full 26,600 into an IRA for them, no penalty. The rest, $34,600 is withdrawn with a 10% penalty plus taxable income. You bump that up to $200 a month, you're over 100K for college, with less than 50K of invested money.

Or, you could just go to Wetumpka and invest it with the Indians playing Bingo.

^this