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Paying for College
by Joyce Dutton
http://www.laconcollege.com
Many new parents find themselves faced with the prospect of
paying for the child or childrens college educations, and
with the rising prices of education many parents are
starting to make plans early. This is the best way and
saving early on and for many years will take some of the
financial burden away and allow your child the freedom of
attending college without the stress of paying for it. There
are a variety of things you should start doing, however, if
you are a new parent and want to get the most out of your
savings before your child heads off to college.
When college is 15 years or more away you should start
saving for your childs education. Or, if you dont have
children yet but are planning on having them, go ahead and
start saving to really maximize your savings. However, at
the 15 year to college mark you should open and education
IRA as well as make some investments that are more
aggressive. Now is the time for aggressive investments, not
later. So, if you want to invest in aggressive mutual funds
or the stock market, do that now and as each year passes get
a little more focused and more conservative. The point is to
save money not necessarily make money, although if you can
do this that is great as well.
When college is 10 15 years away for your child, then there
are some additional things you can do. First, consider
prepaid tuition plans that allow you to pay for college over
a period of time before your child ever reaches the first
day of school. The problem with this is you take the
decision away from your child of which college they want to
attend. Also, talk to your accountant about different
savings plans your state offers for college savings. More
than likely, there are some plans that will help you meet
your savings needs or receive tax breaks. Also, make sure
your portfolio is more secure and stabilized. Try to get
your investments in order and start saving more
conservatively.
When there are only five years until college, make sure your
portfolio is stable and all investments are conservative.
This is very important because the time til college is
narrowing down and at this time you will want to have your
savings stable and in tact.
When your child begins college if you realize you can pay
for some of his or her education, but not all, then take out
parent or student loans to make up the rest. However, take
out the least amount of money in loans as possible. Although
student loan interest rates are low, you will not want to be
in more debt than necessary.
Finally, make sure you begin saving early and more than
likely you will be able to meet your childs education needs
with little or no extra support like loans.
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