Hacks to Save for College!
You’d like to help your children pay for college, but tucking away a bit here and there for a college savings can feel like you’re not even scratching the surface of that tuition fees your child will face. These hacks are ways you can greatly reduce or supplement the costs of going to college.
This post is sponsored by Upromise. All opinions are my own.聽
Apply for Scholarship! This is an obvious answer. But the reality is, there are tons of scholarships that do not get awarded each year because no one applied. It’s one of the answers that is always on the list of things to-do, but rarely done. Make applying for scholarships a priority and schedule to apply for one a week! You can even enroll younger children in certain scholarship opportunities that arrive to start early. My 7 year old son won a scholarship last month for being a community hero!
Let Family Chip-in – When the grandparents and great-grandparents and other extended family members are thinking of gifting, ask them to contribute to a college fund. It’s a gift that will last much longer than that toy that will break in a week that you didn’t want cluttering up your home anyways.
Look for Employer Programs – Some companies offer tuition reimbursement if you work and are enrolled in college. The specific terms and requirements to qualify for the reimbursement programs vary, but if you’re looking to work your way through college, ask that question wherever you seek employment to see what options are available.
Save with a 529 College Savings Account – You can stock away any little bit you can each year and stash it in a 529 account to give your funds protection and growth until college arrives. Your funds grow without accruing additional taxation on the growth, that means less taxes paid and more money in your pocket!
Shop Through Upromise –聽Savings can add up quickly with Upromise who gives you a cash back percentage off your everyday purchases. This means, you can be saving without actually setting aside into savings! Simply visit Upromise first and then click through one of participating partners and you’ll be saving for college without adding an extra dime to your online purchases. You can score up to 5% back with participating partners!聽You can easily rack up the savings by doing your Black Friday and holiday shopping online through Upromise.
You can save even more with Upromise with the Upromise MasterCard that doubles your cashback for purchases scoring you an impressive 10% cashback every time you shop online! Want a reminder? You can download the RewardU toolbar that will remind you whenever you visit a partner’s website to shop to track your purchases through Upromise.
Your savings will rack up inside your account until you are ready to transfer them over to an eligible 529 plan, repay an eligible student loan payment, transfer to a Upromise Goal Savers account, or request a check.
These are all great tips, thanks for sharing. With my four kids born in 1 year now (including triplets) all going to out of state and private colleges now, I can’t stress enough that college is expensive and you need to start saving when your kids are little.
These are great tips. It’s important to start saving for college while the kids are still young.
We have a 529 college savings account for both children. I ended up with a lot of student loans, and I’m hoping my children can avoid that.
My daughter’s grandfather contributes at Christmas time to her college fund. It is a big help. The 529 is a great way to save tax free.
I have one child in his second year of College and one in her first year of University. It is so expensive it is important to start saving as soon as you can. These are great saving tips.
Great tips for saving for college. I can’t agree enough about the scholarships!
Great tips! My daughter is only 10, but it is never to early to start saving.
Love the tip of having family members contribute to college savings instead of doing gifts for birthdays/holiday!
Excellent list of ideas to save for college. I love using the U Promise program through my local Publix store.
These are great ways to save for college, thanks for the ideas! I will have a child graduating in like four years … ugh. It goes so fast!
These are great hacks. College can be so expensive!
These are great tips to be thinking about! We have a teenager and planning for college expenses is so important. 馃檪
I need these tips because I realized that in about 10 years, my little one will be in college. How crazy is that?! We are asking relatives for college fund gifts instead of a ton of toys this year.
These are such good tips. I was clueless about many of these going through college! I paid for my schooling with grants and loans, wish I had applied for more aid!
We are trying everything that we can to dave for college. I can’t imagine how expensive it will be by the time my kiddo gets there. Thanks for the tips I will do a few of these that I haven’t done yet.
I helped pay for school with grants and an employer program. Many people don’t realize big employers have funding options for secondary education. Thanks for the great tips!
I know what it’s like to have educational debt, considering I currently owe about $90,000. I had to take out loans and I’d really like to help my kids with their college education so they don’t have to do the same. I’ll have to check out Upromise.
These are great hacks! We need to be more vigilant in how we save for our little one.