Page 51 - Book2E

CHAPTER 5
There’s More to an Education than Good Grades
Retirement planning and education are taxpayers’ two most important financial planning concerns. The convenience of automatic deductions and tax-deferred deductions encourage us to fund our retirement plans while education accounts for our children
are often forgotten until it’s almost time for them to register for college. The grow- ing concern for many parents is whether or not they will be financially capable of sending their children to college. College tuition can range anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000+ per year, and the average bachelor’s degree requires at least four years to complete. Add the cost of room and board, textbooks, and activities, and you can be looking at as much as $50,000 per year. Pretty scary.
With the cost of living continually increasing, you will want to be sure that at least a portion of your children’s education costs will be covered. You will be happy to know that there are several ways to do that.
Over the last few years, the Federal Government has created some ways to help make saving for an education a little easier. In addition to more standard methods of saving, there are three plans that are geared specifically to financing an education.
The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.
—Claiborne Pell