How to Pay for College by starting early

After going through the process of applying for colleges with my daughter recently and realizing how expensive they are becoming, I began to realize that I should have started saving 18 years ago. This article will show you how to save for college the moment your child is born!

The costs associated with college can amount to more than $100,000 and if the parents are well off, then there is barely any aid for the student, thus they'll either have to rely on funds from their parents or take out loans that they'll be paying back for years.

As I look back I sometimes wish there had been better advice for me, or some of the tools that are available now. To that end, I want to share what I know now so that some other parents may be a lot more prepared than I was!

My first advice for anyone is to join the site Upromise. It doesn't cost anything to join, but the rewards you get can soon add up. Simply put, according to their website:

"earn money for college with every eligible purchase from our partners"

There are many ways you can do this:

• Shop online through their site and earn up to 25% of every purchase.
• Eat at participating restaurants and earn up to 8% of every purchase.
• Shop at your local grocery or drug store and earn up to 3% of every purchase.
• Get friends and family to join and earn from their spending.

It sounds too good to be true, but I have earned about $500 in a year using this site - imagine what I could have earned if it was around eighteen years ago. Saving to pay for college isn't easy, but this site gives you a head start.

To get the most out of the site you simply have to sign up and then enter details about credit cards, grocery card numbers etc - then when you use these cards, Upromise automatically gets the details.

It really does work!

(Note: if you join up using the link below I will earn $4.00 if you assign any credit cards to the account).

A 529 account is an interest bearing account that has huge tax benefits - as long as you use the funds for colleges. (Note if you use the funds for anything else there are penalties, and you will pay taxes).

Most states have their own 529 schemes, and in the case of the NJ one, if the student attends a NJ college the state pays a 'bonus' into the scheme.

Now if you started a 529 scheme when your child was born, and paid $100 a month into it, without interest you'd have nearly $20,000 towards college - add the interest and you have already saved a huge amount towards the costs. The key is to set it up early, and then forget about it.

Even saving as little as $25 a month for college can soon add up over time.

Breakfast and Lunch

Do you go to the store every day and buy a cup of coffee? Do you buy one of those breakfast sandwiches? How about lunch, do you get a sandwich from the local deli? If you just cut out this once a week you would probably save $50 a month - take that money, put it in a 529 savings account and you'd have over $10,000 towards college by the time your child was eighteen.

Dinner

Do you go out to dinner once a week or get a takeaway once a week? Again, by cutting out one of these occasions monthly, you can save another $50 a month - that's another $10,000!

General

The idea is to look at everything you spend on a weekly basis and just cut it down a little - you'd be surprised how quickly this can grow - you have to be really good and forget about the money you save, but it is worth it! Saving for college is not easy, but if you are able to be frugal, even by cutting out one day's worth of extra expense, you'll be amazed at how quickly a college nest egg can grow.

Have no kids? Not planning on having kids for ten years? There's nothing stopping you following the guidelines set out in this hub even if a child isn't currently in your plans!

So what if you never have a child, you still have all that money saved up (The Upromise account is still valid, you'd just end up paying taxes when you liquidated the money).

It's a great habit to get into, and if you have a child down the road, then you're well ahead of the game!

 Every time you buy something at the store, take the change and throw it into a container. Every six months take it to the bank and put it into a savings account - you'll be amazed how quickly this can grow too! You can probably save at least $10,000 over 18 years this way!

 ^{Please note that I will potentially earn revenue when you click on some of the links on this site.}