Prepaid 529s, anyone?

[chiisai]

Has anyone done the prepaid 529 plans? Not the options for investing, but where you pay a lump sum or monthly payment and are guaranteed any in-state public college/university tuition and fees* for one to four years (depending on how many years you buy)? *does not cover room/board/books.

(Our state's seems pretty forgiving/flexible if the child ends up not going, going to private, or out of state.)

We are probably going to do this, but we cannot afford 4 years for both our kids. We can buy 2 years each, that is do-able. 3 years is a real stretch, and we'd have to figure out how to cover it.

DH thinks that 2 years is not enough, that by then college is going to be beyond ridiculously expensive, and that 2 years of loans (plus whatever they get working, grant, etc.) will be a huge burden on them.

I think that 2 years is ok, though not ideal. I worry that if we do 3, that will miss out as a family on things - and for them in experiences - because we won't be able to do things like extracuricular activities (e.g., one sport, one instrument), vacations, special events like concerts or plays, I guess anything *extra*

Does anyone have any experiences to share about what you did re: prepaid 529s, how you came to the decisions you made?

[KrisM]

Our kids all have 2 years. My parents bought it for all their grandkids. We thought about adding to it, but decided against it figuring we didn't want too much tied directly to college costs. Here it can go to siblings, so that is a plus. We are saving outside 529s for the rest of the expenses.

[chiisai]

Thanks, Kris!

[niccig]

We are probably going to do this, but we cannot afford 4 years for both our kids. We can buy 2 years each, that is do-able. 3 years is a real stretch, and we'd have to figure out how to cover it.

DH thinks that 2 years is not enough, that by then college is going to be beyond ridiculously expensive, and that 2 years of loans (plus whatever they get working, grant, etc.) will be a huge burden on them.

I think that 2 years is ok, though not ideal. I worry that if we do 3, that will miss out as a family on things - and for them in experiences - because we won't be able to do things like extracuricular activities (e.g., one sport, one instrument), vacations, special events like concerts or plays, I guess anything *extra*

Does anyone have any experiences to share about what you did re: prepaid 529s, how you came to the decisions you made?

I agree with your DH, college will be ridiculously expensive by the time our kids get there. It already is now (I'm back in school) and we have 12 years to go before DS is college age.

I think, do as much as you can afford. 2 years is better than none, 3 is better than 2 etc. I was listening to an interview on this on the radio and the suggestion was to just do it. You can add more or put less in as time goes on, but not doing it is the worst decision. We have a 529 that isn't tied to a particular state.