College Savings

[mcsestretch]

Hi all.

I'm a long-time lurker and I'm finally going to post.

To make long story short, our family is almost done with Baby Step 3. It took us 18 months to pay off $51,000 in debt. Now we're saving our 3-6 month emergency fund.

I know it's dangerous but I'm already looking ahead. Does anyone know what the formula was for saving for college? I seem to remember from FPU that you take how much you think it's going to cost and multiply it by some factor based on your child's age. We're going to start on my son's 2nd birthday and I'm assuming we'll need $100,000. Any idea how much Dave recommends I save?

Thanks in advance for the information and the fantastic forums!

[Momto5RN]

i am not sure but i just wanted to say congrats on gettting where you are .

[mcsestretch]

Thanks Momto5RN. It's been a long road but I'm glad we're finally this far along.

To those who aren't here yet, keep eating that elephant 1 bite at a time. Eventually it disappears.

[khaski]

Thanks for the inspiring story! I do not know the amount, hopefully someone coming along soon will, I look forward to sitting in your shoes someday soon- we think we have another 1.5 years to go or so too..only been doing it seriously 3-4 months, but it's happening, bit by bit....

[mcsestretch]

Using a financial calculator I found online...

We're guessing that if we start saving $333 per month when he turns 2, he'll have about $200,000 to pay for college by the time he is 18. We assumed 10% ROI and 4% inflation.

We're assuming $25,000 per year college (nicest in-state tuition) at 4% inflation means that school will cost between $46,000 and $52,000 per year by then.

If we're short a few dollars, he can get a freaking job.

Of course if he could somehow get a scholarship, that would be great too.

[ilovechocolate]

Good for you for thinking ahead! You won't regret it.

Oh, and congratulations on finally de-lurking.