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Kids' Education
The week after Nathan was born, his parents opened a bank account for his college education and started depositing $10 bills into it whenever they could.
After 14 years had gone by they realized their modest incremental savings were probably not going to be enough to cut it. "We did not believe in investing then; we were very, very conservative," said Trudy (his mother). "We were thinking in terms of when we went to college."
Things were certainly cheaper in those days: Trudy had studied physical education at a public college in Wisconsin at a cost of $1,000 a year. She paid the fees by working in factories during the summer.
Now, the only way to help her eldest son get through college was to go back to work. She worked as a social worker in a retirement home, and Nathan wound up attending the University of Iowa, which cost his parents quite a few $10 bills since he was an out-of-state student. "We pretty much paid his room, board, tuition, books, and car insurance until he was not a student," she said. Nathan is now an actor in Minneapolis.
The family got a break with younger son Jason's education--he attended the University of Wisconsin in Whitewater, only seven miles from home. The income from Trudy's job paid for that, too. Both the boys appreciated her sacrifice, she said.
They'd better.
Money Insider Jeff Fleming comments: Saving money early in the game for education is very important but it really is not enough. How much should you save, where will you invest it, and should it be in the children's name are just a few other issues. What other funding options are available? Grants, scholarships, and student loans for instance.
Learn more about college saving strategies.
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