College Funding Do you dream of your child or grandchild going to college? Higher education comes with a high price tag, but it's an expense you can meet through proper financial planning. We will work with you to tell you if your current savings strategy will cover your child's college expenses. Let us help you calculate college costs, evaluate funding options and create an education strategy that will ensure you don't have to mortgage your home to send your children to college for an education you wish them to have.

Future College Costs

Annual Cost of College for 2008 - 2009*
Source of Information	Public Community College	Public 4-Year College	Private 4-Year College
National Average from College Board	$12,841	$27,677	$44,070 +
*Costs are estimated data from the U.S. College Board. Actual costs are determined by each individual college each fiscal year.

How Can I Afford to send my child to college?

Saving money in advance and obtaining financial aid are common ways for parents to make their child's education affordable. Unless of course; you have a rich Auntee from England who insists on gifting you a blank check for little Brandon's college fund. If that's the case, you can move on to another topic or better yet, take a life insurance policy out on Ant Margaret to protect that college fund for both Brandon and Sarah.

Saving Money

Saving money is the primary way to prepare for the costs of college. Setting aside certain amounts every month or each payday will help build up a fund for college. Like any other plan, you must begin somewhere.

In order to set up a savings schedule, you'll need to think about where your child might attend college, how much that type of college might cost, and how much you can afford to save.

Between McDonald's happy meals, new soccer shoes and those trips to Disney Land every few years, you need to ensure you set some money aside in the ole College Drawer.

By putting money in some kind of savings instrument or investment, you can set aside small amounts of money regularly and your money will earn interest or dividends. Interest refers to the amount that your money earns when it is kept in a savings instrument. Dividends are payments of part of a company's earnings to people who hold stock in the company.

The chart below shows how much you would need to save each month in order to have $10,000 available when your child begins college.
The chart below assumes that you are getting a return of 5 percent on your savings. If you are able to earn more than that, your total savings will obviously be higher. As the chart indicates, if you start saving when your child is born, you will have 18 years of accumulated savings by the time your child enters college.

You would only have to save or invest about $29 each month in an account earning 5 percent in order to have $10,000 at the end of 18 years. If you wait until your child is 16, you will have to set aside $397 a month. By waiting too long to begin saving, you may not be able to afford the amount of monthly savings needed to reach your goals.

Required Savings Amounts

Amount You Would Need to Save to Have $10,000 Available When Your Child Begins College
If you start saving when your little one is	Number of years of saving	Approximate monthly savings	Amount Available When the Little One Begins College
			Principal	Interest Earned	Total Savings
Newborn	18	$29	$6,197	$3,803	$10,000
Age 4	14	$41	$6,935	$3,065	$10,000
Age 8	10	$64	$7,736	$2,264	$10,000
Age 12	6	$119	$8,601	$1,399	$10,000
Age 16	2	$397	$9,531	$ 469	$10,000
(Assuming a 5% interest rate.)
Call 530.320.5636, or Email Us For Your Free Report on The Top 5 Solutions on Saving for College.

Contact All Contractors Insurance for Free Information on College Funding

Contact Us Here