No disrespect to Tech, UH, UNT, etc but it is amazing to me that this huge state only has 2 public academic powerhouses. Say what you want about California (and yes, the Libs have destroyed it), but they do have a ton of high caliber public schools.

IIRC when I was graduating HS, BU/TCU were offering in the neighborhood of $60-$80k over 4 years as a fairly standard package to anyone that was 1800+ type level on SAT and mostly A's GPA.

When our son was born earlier this year I spent a long time evaluating 529 plans, forecasted cost increases, forecasted plan growth, etc.

In short, if you assume university costs will continue to grow at a slightly slower click than they are currently, but still fast relative to overall inflation, you assume your 529 plan will grow around 6% annually, and you assume your child will receive some scholarships (there are tools online to help figure this out), then $130k now would cover a full ride, including room and board, to an elite private school, e.g., Rice. for 4 years.

So that is what we put into New York's 529 plan, which I think is one of the best. We plan on having another kid, so we can shift some of that money over to their 529 plan if need be, or if our son's undergrad education does not cost as much, then he will have something left over for grad school, etc. My wife and I as well as our parents and siblings all went to grad school, so it would not be unheard of for our son to do the same.

There are obviously many ways to go about saving for your child's college. This is the way we approached it. We valued being able to put the money away now and not have to think about it again. Each to their own though.

The New York plan is an excellent one, but many others are very similar. The choice to open any 529 and start leveraging the power of tax free growth for college is the key. Which 529 is more about preference (state, underlying funds, ability to see on same statement as other investments) than actual differences as you are talking about pennies per thousand dollars invested.

According to a recent study by Morningstar, Americans would have $237 billion more in assets if they had used 529 plans versus taxable savings vehicles for college expenses. That equates to $4,044 more per child without saving an additional penny!

(edits fixed a few typos)

Did those dollars leave the country?

I put in $300/mo for each grandkid. Expect will be a little a bit over $100K by 18. The 10 year old is right at $60K.

5 is enough

"My wife and I as well as our parents and siblings all went to grad school, so it would not be unheard of for our son to do the same."

I made money in graduate school. Maybe you meant professional school.

Stive said:

---

30-50% of projected cost.

Too many other variables in my mind to shoot for more than that. Scholarships, duel credit, cost projections, etc.

---

You can withdraw penalty and income tax free equal to the scholarships used from the 529 funds.

I want to be able to pay 100% of tuition and let them figure out room and board. Don't know if we will get there. We are way behind but starting to make up some ground.

BBDP said:

---

Stive said:

---

30-50% of projected cost.

Too many other variables in my mind to shoot for more than that. Scholarships, duel credit, cost projections, etc.

---

You can withdraw penalty and income tax free equal to the scholarships used from the 529 funds.

I want to be able to pay 100% of tuition and let them figure out room and board. Don't know if we will get there. We are way behind but starting to make up some ground.

---

While you avoid the 10% penalty for a non-qualified withdrawal , you must pay income tax on the prorated earnings that are withdrawn based on scholarships. Regarding overfunding, the ability to use the funds for grad school and to shift to other beneficiaries makes that a minor concern for most folks.

ATXAdvisor said:

---

BBDP said:

---

Stive said:

---

30-50% of projected cost.

Too many other variables in my mind to shoot for more than that. Scholarships, duel credit, cost projections, etc.

---

You can withdraw penalty and income tax free equal to the scholarships used from the 529 funds.

I want to be able to pay 100% of tuition and let them figure out room and board. Don't know if we will get there. We are way behind but starting to make up some ground.

---

While you avoid the 10% penalty for a non-qualified withdrawal , you must pay income tax on the prorated earnings that are withdrawn based on scholarships. Regarding overfunding, the ability to use the funds for grad school and to shift to other beneficiaries makes that a minor concern for most folks.

---

Tax free I believe if you have equal scholarships used...... just like if you spent it toward college.

Yep: see number 2: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.savingforcollege.com/article/amp_articles_html/the-truth-about-scholarships-and-529-plans

Ouch. You are correct... you pay income tax on the growth.

terradactylexpress said:

---

Front loaded $30k into a 529 at 1 year old. Theoretically that should cover half of 4 years by the time college rolls around

---

Did the same and had $40k in by 2 yrs old. She is just turning 3 in a couple of months.

Plan is to buy an approx $150K rental property for each of my 4 kids....and I'm half way there! Got one for my 6 year old and 4 year old, but still looking for a good property for my 2 year old and newborn.

Going with a 15 year mortgage so houses should be paid off and worth about $150K each by the time college rolls around.

I saved $100k per child, mine are both in college now. I only had about half saved in 529b's and the rest was just stowed away in CD's. I'm going to be a little short fwiw so I'd suggest your $80-100k per child is well short for children that will be going to college 15-20 yrs from now.

chn4 said:

---

Plan is to buy an approx $150K rental property for each of my 4 kids....and I'm half way there! Got one for my 6 year old and 4 year old, but still looking for a good property for my 2 year old and newborn.

Going with a 15 year mortgage so houses should be paid off and worth about $150K each by the time college rolls around.

---

Bigger Pockets fan?

I just put two through A&M. Total cost for the 13 graduate was around 90. The 17 was probably over 100. You do get some cost savings to offset that, but if you are like me, and a little spooked about running out, you supplement as you go. I wound up with about 80k per kid in various savings and had about 60 k left over when it was done

I go back and forth on how much to put in my 2 year old son's 529 plan and how much to put elsewhere. 15K is deposited each December, but I've already been instructed that I will eventually need to think of other areas for this money to avoid over-funding the account. We have no plans to use the funds for private school, so I assume some type of savings account will be the answer, but I will leave that up to the experts to decide. 2nd kid is due in July and we will be following the same path.

Touch. But I can't help but save. It's just who I am.

Their tuition and some cost will be covered by Hazelwood and post 9/11 gi bill. I put some in a 529 as well. However I absolutely refuse to pay more than 75% of their college. They need a skin in the game.

You can borrow college money, but you can't borrow retirement money

I'm funding the 529 for my kids as if college costs will continue rising as they have been, but dont think they will. There is too much working against it.

Lester Freamon said:

---

Don't count on scholarships. True merit based aid is very rare and getting harder to come by.

---

And it's even rarer at tu and Aggieland

100% this. Not trying to humble brag or anything but I was a Merit Scholar and got a really good chunk of aid from A&M (like 75% all told, contingent upon maintaining a 3.5 GPA). I don't know anyone other than other Merit Scholars who got more than $1-2k from A&M.

Most of the merit based aid I saw was at the Baylor's and TCU's of the world where their package made total cost of attending ~150% of A&M/tu

Planning/modeling for $140kish per kid. Kids are 11 & 9.

Edit - I believe my son will go to A&M or another big state school. My daughter will prob go the smaller private route. I'm assuming that I save more than needed for my son and roll over excess to my daughter.

If this is good data from the college board, it looks like the ridiculous inflation of college costs has started to level off.

https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-fees-room-and-board-over-time

94chem said:

---

I see $9500 for state universities in 1989-89, but A&M ran us about $6000/year from 1990 - 94. I'm sure people spent a lot more, but I was frugal. I got $500/semester to cover my books, and the leftover was my spending money. I also got $375/semester for my national merit scholarship, not nearly what it is today. The point is that I don't believe that it costs $21,000/year to attend A&M. I hear parents telling me how much it is, but then I hear where kids are living, what they eat. Sorry, but college students can live within their means as well. This ain't a free for all with dad's checkbook or student loans.

---

That chart is in 2018 dollars.