College funding options

Your child may have a variety of college funding options available to help them make it through their post-secondary education, including scholarships, financial aid, work-study and a part-time job.

While you may not be able to cover the entire educational cost, even a little help may have a significant impact on reducing their student debt.

Manage debt

Here’s a hypothetical example to consider in favor of saving money for college ahead of time:

Ashley spends $100,000 to pay college costs over four years with a 5.5% interest rate loan—which is the current standard interest rate charged by the U.S. Department of Education Student Loan Program for undergraduate loans.¹

Loan amount: $100,000

Interest rate: 5.5%

Years to pay off: 20 at $688 a month

Ashley would pay $165,093 over that period—more than one and a half times the loan amount. This means that every dollar Ashley or her parents can put away ahead of time could potentially save over $1.65 in debt payments after her graduation.

Put away $25,000 ⇨ Save $41,250 in repayments

Put away $50,000 ⇨ Save $82,500 in repayments

So, how do you save $50,000—or even $25,000—for your child’s education? Start early and contribute consistently, preferably to an account that grows tax-deferred.

How tax-deferral works

Here’s a hypothetical example of how a tax-deferred account could help.

Let’s say that you set up a tax-deferred savings plan when your child was born and contributed $1,000 a year—that’s less than $100 a month.

• If you earned a 4% average annual return on your investment, after 18 years, your college savings plan would have grown to about $25,650.
• If you were able to save $2,000 a year (about $167 a month), with an average annual return rate of 4%, your savings would have grown to about $51,300 after 18 years.

Compared to the above example of a loan with a 5.5% interest rate, this type of account could reduce the loan amount needed, saving more than $80,000 in loan repayments after graduation.

Tax-deferred savings plans

Here are three popular tax-deferred—also often referred to as tax advantaged— education savings plans to consider:

Coverdell Educational Savings Account (CESA) 
You may set aside up to $2,000 a year in a CESA for a designated beneficiary under age 18 to pay for qualified expenses² at an eligible educational institution, which can be either a qualified higher education or qualified elementary or secondary school.

Although the money you contribute is not tax-deductible, the savings within the account grows tax-deferred, and if the money you take out of the account is used for qualified educational expenses, it is tax-free. (See: Coverdell Education Savings Account to learn more)

529 plans
These plans provide the opportunity to either pre-pay education costs or contribute to a tax-deferred savings account. Most 529 prepaid tuition plans are sponsored by state governments and require that you live in that state to be eligible.

Money contributed to a 529 savings plan is not deductible from your current federal taxable income, but earnings within the savings plan are tax-deferred, and some states may offer state tax benefits.

When you open a prepaid tuition plan account, the money you contribute is converted to units or credits to be used for college and university education. When you open a savings plan, in addition to the contributions growing tax-deferred, they may be withdrawn tax-free if that money is used to cover eligible education costs for the beneficiary.

In addition, you may take up to $10,000 per year in tax-free withdrawals per beneficiary to pay for tuition expenses at private, public and religious K-12 schools.

Roth IRAs
This may be a more flexible option for parents who aren’t sure how much they’ll be able to contribute to their children’s education without severely curtailing their own retirement savings plan. While the Roth is a form of an individual retirement account, you can use funds from it to cover your children’s qualified higher education expenses.

While you normally would face a 10% penalty for withdrawing investment earnings beyond your total contributions to use for your retirement needs prior to age 59½, there are no penalties if you use the money for your children’s qualified higher education expenses (although you would have to pay income tax on your investment gains).

You can open a Roth and start contributing at any time if you meet the income requirements.³ (Learn more about Roth IRAs.)

Work with a financial professional to determine the best strategy for how much you can contribute to your child’s education costs out of your Roth IRA without affecting your long-term retirement financial goals.

Scholarships & financial aid

Your child may reduce their student debt further through student aid programs, work-study programs, part-time off-campus jobs and a variety of scholarships that are offered through organizations geared toward helping students pay some of their college costs.

One nonprofit organization, Scholarship America, offers a wide range of resources for students and their parents designed to help with educational funding. Visit the Scholarship America website to find a variety of options.

The site provides information on student funding opportunities in several key categories including scholarships from corporations, organizations and foundations.

The bottom line

You can save for your child’s educational costs and your retirement. It may require some sacrifice over many years, but if you start early, invest consistently, and explore a range of options for scholarships and other educational funding, you can help your child without significantly undermining your own retirement plans.

¹ Source: Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, Federal Student Aid, August 2024

² Qualified higher education expenses include the following:

• Tuition and fees
• Books, supplies, and equipment
• Expenses for special needs services required by the beneficiary in connection with enrollment or attendance of an eligible school
• Expenses for room and board for students who are enrolled at least half-time (half time is defined as a student doing half the workload of a full-time student)

³ Roth IRA contribution limit in 2024 for those under 50: $7,000 and $8,000 for those over age 50. Contribution limits are based on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). See IRS Publication 590-A Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements for more information.