Our son is 13 and our daughter is just about to turn 11. Before we know it, they will be college-bound. My husband and I started a 529 plan about 10 years ago, but we are still concerned that it may not be enough.
I’ve partnered with Fidelity & MEFA in support of the U.Fund Dreams Tour. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
According to many financial experts, if you are putting away enough for retirement, you should start saving for your child’s college education as soon as possible. Did you know that the tuition and fees have increased 51% in only 10 years? Yikes!
If you are like me, you may be interested to find out where you stand on college planning and savings. The folks at the Massachussetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) have partnered up with Fidelity Investments to create the U.Fund Dreams Tour.
The U.Fund Dreams Tour is an interactive and educational experience that allows children to participate in fun activities while parents learn important and helpful facts about saving for college.
The Dreams Tour provides an environment where both parents and children can dream about the future while becoming educated about paying for future college costs. I think this information will help set our minds at ease and help us make informed decisions about the planning and savings for our kids.
I’m looking forward to attending one of the U.Fund Dreams Tour events this year. To find out about a Dream Tour event near you, check out their calendar to see the schedule of all upcoming events. There is something for families with children of all ages.
Both of my kids will be in middle school, which is a great time to start talking about preparing for college. We don’t want to put too much pressure on them, but we also want them to know the importance of study skills and starting to decide about possible areas of interest for the future.
I’m happy that I found out more through MEFA and its partnership. I found a great tool from the MEFA blog called Your Plan for the Future. I’m having my kids check this out over the summer.
We are also part of this partnership and are looking forward to our first Dream Tour this weekend! Sounds like a blast!
This is such a great idea. my friend has been saving since her little girl was 4. I think its great.
This is so hard, especially when you have a lot of children. We are saving for our kids, but I definitely want them learning to save themselves. We will probably do a match what they save.
My last kid will be entering college in the fall, and luckily we’ve saved up enough to help put her through. But it isn’t easy, I’m really glad that we started saving up well in advance!
I thought once my kids were grown and educated that my worries would be ever. Ummm… now I worry and contribute to my grandkid’s college funds. We’re already searching for scholarships for our oldest grandson. I’m checking the U.Fund Dreams Tour.
I know this is going to sound harsh but no!! I believe kids should have to pay for themselves! They need to learn responsibility, if they want to go to collage that bad early in life then they can start saving! Lol I’ll teach them about it, but theirs other options to! I mean look at the the bloggers Making bank!!!! That doesn’t take collage.
Any who. I’m kind of a unique sighted person 🙂
Thanks for sharing this. I didn’t realize tuition went up so much in the past 10 years. EEK! I better start saving more!
I started for one but not the other three. It’s going to be here before i know for all of them though!
It’s kinda sad to see how much prices have risen for schools. I have already started saving for both my girls. They have a savings account and they both have some money in there. We give them change sometimes as well so they can bring all that in to the bank when it gets full.
I haven’t started actually saving for my (future) children’s college funds but have definitely thought about it… yes I plan THAT far in advance. This post is actually very informative so thank you! Happy I stumbled on this page.
College is so hard to pay for. I want to help my kids where I can, but more importantly I want to teach them how to save their own money for college. This is a great way for them to start.
College, so hard to save for. I think we stop thinking about it until it’s four years away or so with the kids. I like your post here, it’s a great reminder that saving for college is important!
We have really been slacking on saving for our children’s college educations. It’s about time we get with it because I know exactly what it’s like to have financial debt from college.
My daughter starts college in the fall and we have RESP’s(Registered Educational Savings Plan) set up for both of our children here in Canada. Post-secondary education can be so expensive.
I have finally set up a college fund for my son. I had a little bit of money each month and I hope that it grows fast.
I have a UFund account, but there is not much in there. My kids are going to have to get scholarships or take out student loans like I did.