Are you saving for your kid to go to college?

I definately think parents should plan for the future but unfortunately so many Americans today are struggling with debt there's little finacial flexiblity. My husband and I have started savings accounts for both our children and now while they are young any gift money that is given to them goes automatically into their savings accounts....after all, how many widget-gidgets does one child need? We are working towards eliminating our debt and should be debt free within the next year, two at the most. That will allow us to begin making more regular contributions to their accounts. Right now I squirrel away pocket change and any money I find while doing laundry. The little bits really do add up!! I am also going to allot one-half of my earnings for my work online towards a retirement IRA for my husband and I so that won't be a burden about the same time the kids are looking at college. I also feel like it doesn't have to be an "all-or-nothing" deal. I think parents put so much pressure on themselves to have $50,000 saved up per child for college or they are "bad parents" and that simply isn't true. My husband put himself through college entirely on his own except for $300 in books his mother bought him his first semester. That was it! And he graduated debt free. My parents paid my room and board fees and $500 in tuition costs each semester and that was it....I also left college after five years with zero debt. Just becuase you may or may not be able to provide ALL your cihld's costs doesn't mean anything. You have to plan for the future as best you can and then look at where you are when the time comes.

I am investing money into a educational IRA. Hopefully the stock market will continue to rise and I will be ablt to pay for all of my childrens college bills. However, even if I can pay for all of their college, I intend to have them take some student loans. They need to be held accountable for their studies. Hopefully this will make them realize that they are not there to just have a good time. All the money that they take a loan againsts they will have to pay back at sometime, so hopefully they will work hard, get a good job so they can pay that back.

When I will become parents eventually must have been I think about how my children's education, and must be wrong one road was saved for their university fees eventually, because university fees in Jakarta were very high then I will try to be as well-off as me so that I could finance my children the lecture and the school.

We helped our first daughter out. She also worked. When she made good grades, we gave her cash bonus. This kept her on her toes and studying. She also worked for extra money to spend as she wished. College is expensive. Some kids are more dedicated than others. Some need extra motivation to succeed. Some will go just to party.

Don't forget about companies like Upromise.com and Babymint.com where you can register your credit cards and get contributions for buying listed products from the supermarket, shopping through their site at online retailers, and a couple of other things. It's not going to pay for everything, maybe the books will be covered, but it's a free contribution for things you do anyway! (You can roll this into a 529 plan or request a check at any time).